Master Sgt. Don Southerland, USAF
Figure 12-3.—Award-winning feature photograph.
immediately draws the reader’s attention either to the
cutline or to the accompanying story.
Feature News
The purpose of the photo feature is to tell a story
about a given subject, selected and planned by the
photojournalist, using real people or real things, in real
or believable settings. As the photojournalist, you
arrange everything to appear as if the story were actually
happening; you will have frill control over composition,
posing, arrangement and expressions of the subject. An
example of an award-winning feature photograph is
shown in figure 12-3. You should create a lighting effect
that establishes mood or realism in your photograph, and
select the precise camera angle needed to give emphasis
to your photographs.
In shooting the feature story, you are rarely hurried
and there are opportunities to change your setups if you
are not entirely satisfied. You also may take time to
exercise your technical know-how (in processing
control) to produce a photograph of the highest quality.
An additional advantage of feature photography is that
you may “cover” yourself by taking additional
photographs; the straight news photographers afforded
little more than a split second for the quick “grab” shot.
COVERAGE PLANNING
Planning is essential to good news photography.
When you are aware of the subject or event you want to
portray, plan the photographic coverage so the story may
be told through photographs alone, if necessary. The
photographs must have imagination and a professional
news touch if the results are to be acceptable to the news
media.
Strive for simplicity, interjecting the human
element into your photographs. Create impressions, use
people and always remember that it is people and what
they do in everyday life that make news.
Keep the following tips in mind when you plan
coverage of news events:
12-4
