From: jsast@unix.cis.pitt.edu (Jonathan S. Anderson)
Newsgroups: alt.news-media
Subject: Photo Journalism and new improvements?
Date: 9 Apr 92 17:01:05 GMT
Organization: Univ. of Pittsburgh, Computing & Information Services

A few years ago, I attended a photojournalism conference sponsored by
the Pittsburgh Press.  The press does this conference every year and gets
some of the best photographers from all over to attend.  (I highly recommend
this conference to any budding photographers out there)  Anyway, as usual
they brought samples of all the newest technologies to the conference.

The technology that caused the biggest stir was digital cameras.  The concept
was simple.  You slipped a floppy disk or some other storage device
into your camera and went your merry way sans film.  At the current level of 
technology, reproduction of such photos is not that great.  The problem
is not with getting the picture onto a computer screen where it can
be cropped and pasted right into the newspaper, but rather the printing was
bad.  Currently, it will cost an arm and a leg to buy any equipment that
has the resolution needed to be of proper quality for newsprint and the
equipment would be rather bulky besides.  The technology may be quite
commonplace in a few years, however.

As you can imagine this technology caused quite a stir at the time.

Some things to think about and possibly discuss:

1) If the image can be stored digitally, it could also be easily transmitted
via radio signal to waiting editors.  While the photographer is taking
pictures, his editor could be back at the photo desk cropping them!  Imagine
how much faster the news could get to the reader.

2) Images could be much more easily stored and cataloged in a filing system
without the need to make occasional reproductions of old photos.

3) Techniques such as burning, dodging, pushing film, etc. would become
virtually obsolete.  Any light or dark spots in the image could be compensated
for directly on a computer terminal.  Even a poor exposure could be adjusted
right at the monitor.  The potential for better photographs is infinite.

4) If there is no film to keep, it is more and more difficult for "disgruntled"
types to take your images away from you.  Sure, a policeman or military official
might be able to grab your floppy disk, but the camera could also be 
transmitting the same image to any one of a thousand places.  Would this be
placing the photojournalist into more danger.  In the past, some officials in
various places are notorious for grabbing film, hitting the journalist a few
times and releasing him.  What would happen if the official knew his photo
was taken and there was nothing he could do about it?

5) On a practical level, the public's faith in journalists' integrity may
falter.  Currently, the public has the impression that what they see in a
picture must be truth.  (Many of us know the wonders of spot tone and
"artful dodging", but even so... Pictures generally do not lie.)  If an
image could be stored in a computer, the computer could just as easily be
used to alter that same image in any way desirable.  Journalistic integrity
should keep this from happenning, but just the fact that it is possible
could force the public to lose faith in that same integrity.

6) On a more realistic level, many photographers would be very tempted to
edit out objects in backgrounds.  How many photojournalists do you know that
are out there looking for the cleanest background possible?  Depth of field
would no longer be a worry.  If a tree trunk is growing out of someone's head,
you simply erase the tree instead of burning or cropping it out.  Does this
lend to any unethical behavior on the part of the journalist.  What becomes
of the art if anyone can take the perfect photo?


Any discussion on this topic might be very interesting and fruitful.  I haven't
seen many postings yet concerning photo-j.

-Jon Anderson.


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  Jon Anderson                                      jsast@unix.cis.pitt.edu
      "Won't you look down upon me Jesus, you gotta help me make a stand,
       You've just got to see me through another day.
       My body's aching and my time is at hand,
       And I won't make it any other way. "                 -James Taylor
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