Over a year ago every contributor was given the ability to upload to the 17吃瓜在线 Live News Feed via FTP or through our web uploader. Maybe you have experimented, but weren’t really sure what news needs or the best way to work for the 17吃瓜在线 Live News team. Well these are our tips to get you started, keep you inspired and help you have the聽best chance to see your picture in the news.
First of all, what do we, or more importantly the media, want?
That’s about as easy to answer as how long is a piece of string? Almost anything can be a news image. The key things are it has to be a striking enough image to cause a reaction, be of the moment, and be able to stand on its own. This could be anything from breaking news, a royal visit to throngs of people taking to the city centre in protest or celebration.
You don’t need to be covering major events to get a news usage. We get plenty of usages from contributors that are photographing things in their own towns. Be aware of what’s going on around you. If you know your patch you might just hear a story that is local, but would have national or international interest.
Know what’s going on in the world. Is there a way you can photograph the local angle? Strong reaction to a highly anticipated sporting event or election result make great pictures.
Worldwide events benefit from localization. If there is an eclipse, supermoon, storm or even just a misty morning, find a view, building, or monument that is well known and work it into your picture.
Think about the seasons. Be the first person to tell the story of an upcoming season or something unusual or abnormal about the current season.
What does it mean to be of the moment?
This means that the picture you take can only be taken at that moment, not the next day or six hours previously.
If you find out a store is closing its doors for good, don’t just take a picture of the building, try to arrange to be there when they shut the doors, or when they move the furniture out or employees leave with all their things in boxes on the last day.
This does take some research. Look at the papers daily. See what pictures they use. Could you get something similar locally? You might not be in Brazil, but is there a local dance or music club who perform regularly in colourful costume?
If there is a new statue unveiled in your community, be there and photograph the unveiling. If a group has a new campaign, photograph people putting the posters up. And you might think weather is the same day in and day out, but there are certain variations that the public pick up on, make sure your subject (view, building, person) reflects this.
Now that you have the pictures, what do you do?
File quickly, generally within an hour of taking your pictures. Our clients are working to tight deadlines and they expect pictures as soon as possible. This means transmitting remotely throughout the day instead of waiting to go home .
Make sure your captions are accurate. Spelling, grammar or punctuation mistakes can cost you a sale. It’s important to name the location, celebrity or sports figure(s) in the photograph.
How can you file quickly and name all the people in the picture?
Plan ahead: pre-write your captions, or for team sport or social events with lots of people work with a program that offers code replacement like Photo mechanic. It is one of the best for captioning and it’s聽easy to integrate into your Photoshop or Lightroom workflow.
Try to follow our guidelines for complete captions here. Send a tight edit. The best way to make your pictures stand out is to only send your best images into the Live News Feed. We need 6-18 images with a good variety of action, reaction, landscape, uprights, close-ups and over all wider landscape pictures taken from interesting angles with no duplicate or similar frames. A small edit can be sent faster and appears on the news feed聽sooner.
Make sure your pictures are good quality. We know you can’t plan for spot news pictures and unexpected events, however, weather pictures, and picture of the day type images should still be technically proficient. Have a look at our Quality Control failure reasons to remind yourself of what not to do. Shoot for your equipment.
If you ever need a bit of photo inspiration you can check out our News or the Live News Feed.
Finally, let your humour and personality shine through in your pictures, it might be as simple as causing the editor to giggle that puts you on the front page.
