Photojournalism Colour Styles and Camera Settings

Forkbeard

Forkbeard

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Hi, I've got a little project to do for a friend who is on the fringes of politics tomorrow and was after a few pointers. There's going to be a signing between two people and a 'handing over ceremony', all done outside, plus a demonstration/rally later on in the day. I was wondering about setup and shooting modes that would best suit the situation.

So far I've come up with: shooting JPG, aperture mode, ISO between 100/400. The signing I'm thinking about f5.6/6.3. For the crowd, a mixture of f8 for group/crowd shots and the same f5.6 for any portrait/small group shots. I'm using a 18-55 kit lens and a Nikon D3200.

I'm hoping to get sort of muted colour photojournalism style shots, so it's set to neutral with the contrast stepped up a notch and the saturation knocked down also.

Does this all seem appropriate? It's the first time I've done anything like this and don't want to balls it up!
 
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Can I ask why Jpeg and not RAW or RAW + Jpeg

RAW is a much more workable file allowing you to change thingins like exposure, contrast etc in lightroom ro the like afterwards
 
The only two reasons not raw are a) I don't have huge amounts of space on my current memory cards, and b) I'm not all that clued up on editing them. I also don't have any decent software for raw.
 
A 32GB SD card is less than £15 in PC world, and if space is an issue then I'd call it well worth the investment.

Editing RAW is very much like editing jpg, but with more tolerance. If Nikon don't provide some basic software then it would be worth downloading Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) free software for the initial processing. As far as is possible, do your processing into a particular style after capture, because it will reduce the likelihood of 'if only'.

Regarding apertures, if conditions are dull then you'll probably need be more concerned with keeping shutter speed up most of the time. However I'd suggest smaller apertures for a crowd (to get more people in focus) and bigger for portraits where you're trying to pick people out from the background.
 
I'm not sure what a " sort of muted colour photojournalism" is. The editors I shoot for want clean, crisp shots that emphasise the story. Editorial shots in general shouldn't be manipulated beyond cropping, brining out shadows, and sharpening.

Nothing too fancy in other words.
 
That's pretty much what I mean by muted or neutral - emphasizing the subject matter rather than making the picture look 'pretty' with too much saturation etc.
 
Fair enough. I'd shoot on drive rather than single shot, and use some fill flash. And get them smiling!
 
jon ryan said:
I'm not sure what a " sort of muted colour photojournalism" is. The editors I shoot for want clean, crisp shots that emphasise the story. Editorial shots in general shouldn't be manipulated beyond cropping, brining out shadows, and sharpening.

Nothing too fancy in other words.
Click to expand...

:agree: Since when has photojournalism has to have muted colors :confused:
 
Forkbeard said:
That's pretty much what I mean by muted or neutral - emphasizing the subject matter rather than making the picture look 'pretty' with too much saturation etc.
Click to expand...

Then don't worry about processing :)
 
Watch for looks between the people, sometimes an expression will say more than the signing. Get there early and have a good look around, if theres a rally/demo you'll often find a load of police hidden around somewhere.
Be ready to shoot if something happens, but keep your wits about you, remember if it kicks off you may well become a target.
I'd suggest you get a head shot of everybody present, these are always handy for stock shots for the paper.
I'd set the camera to normal or standard colour, you don't need subdued colour for the paper, but you don't want the saturation cranked up either.
 
Thanks for the input, I think they turned out OK.
 
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