#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – advice for budding photojournalists

The Times is running a competition to find its young photographer of the year. It has published 10 tips for budding photojournalists to offer some guidance.

No subscription is required to read the tips from Times new photographer Ben Gurr.

Here is one tip to give you a flavour:

Study your subject with childlike curiosity and do not forget the background.

Tipster: Sarah Marshall

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link.

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App of the week: 360 Panorama, for ‘multilayered storytelling’

App of the week: 360 Panorama

Phones: iPhone, iPad, Android

Cost: £0.69

What is it? An app to take panorama photos

How is it of use to journalists? Speaking at the Guardian Activate Summit last week, Wall Street Journal social media editor Neal Mann (@fieldproducer on Twitter) spoke about the potential for the role of “multilayered storytelling” in journalism.

He used the example of how long-form journalism could be accompanied by an additional “layer” of a map showing the location where tweets were posted and photos were taken, as Mann did when sharing updates on a recent trip to Burkina Faso. He also said how journalists are starting to share “background” to the story such as 360 degree panoramas.

If you want to try this out there’s a fantastic app for that. Using the 360 app, simply point the camera and your phone will automatically take a series of pictures and stitch them together in real-time.

The app also allows you to add comments and show the location where the panorama picture was taken.

Have you got a favourite app that you use as a journalist? Fill in this form to nominate an app for Journalism.co.uk’s app of the week for journalists.

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – taking better photos with a phone

If you have ever found yourself on a reporting job with only your phone as a camera, the New York Times Gadgetwise blog has a handy post with four tips for better phone camera shots.

The advice comes from Adam Bronkhorst, “a professional photographer who has made a sideline of specialising in iPhone photography and has written a book on the subject, titled ‘SnApp Shots’“.

One of Bronkhort’s tips is to ensure you light the picture correctly. One way to do this is to use a second phone (this probably relies on you having someone else with you).

Lighting is the bugaboo of camera phones. “Look at the lens”, he said. “It’s a fraction of an inch”. Not a lot of area to squeeze light through. Indoors, finding enough light can be a challenge, yet Bronkhorst advises against using the flash, saying, “It’s rather harsh”. Instead, he improvises, even lighting a shot with a second mobile phone. “I’ve used the phone as a torch to get light coming in from the side”, he said.

Tipster: Sarah Marshall

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link.

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App of the week for journalists: Snapseed, for fast photo tweaking on the fly

App of the week: Snapseed

Phones: iPhone / iPad

Cost: £2.99

What is it? A photo editing app that allows you to crop, straighten and enhance images from your phone.

How is it of use to journalists? It’s useful to be able to edit images on the fly, whether adding to a blog post, news story or sharing on social media.

The app has functions, including to allow you to crop, sharpen and straighten images; alter brightness, contrast, white balance; change to black and white, and add effects.

Snapseed also offers a desktop app (both for Mac and Windows) priced at £13.99 / €15.95.

Have you got a favourite app that you use as a journalist? Fill in this form to nominate an app for Journalism.co.uk’s app of the week for journalists.

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – five photo types for audio slideshows

Poynter has a post that gives five examples of photo types that it recommends be used in photo essays and audio slideshows.

The post suggests the following:

• Shot one: the scene setter
• Shot two: the medium shot
• Shot three: the portrait
• Shot four: capturing detail
• Shot five: capturing action

Take a look at the example shots in Poynter’s post.

Tipster: Sarah Marshall

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link.

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – links to lessons on using Pinterest

Director of community engagement & social media of Digital First Media Steve Buttry has compiled a list of “helpful things that others have written about Pinterest”, which include journalists themselves sharing how Pinterest is being used by newsrooms and other advice on using the platform, such as tracking the source of images.

He also helpfully links to his own advice on how journalists and newsrooms can use Pinterest.

Tipster: Rachel McAthy

If you have a tip you would like to submit to us at Journalism.co.uk email us using this link– we will pay a fiver for the best ones published.

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#Tip of the day from Journalism.co.uk – iPhone photography advice

With journalists often turning to their iPhone to capture images to illustrate a news story, here are some tips collected by the International Journalists’ Network, based on the advice of Cindi Hobgood, founder of Scout Photo Expeditions.

See the IJNet list here.

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#jpod: How news organisations are using Pinterest

Pinterest has overtaken Twitter as a traffic driver to websites, according to research by Shareaholic, a company that creates content sharing tools for publishers.

This podcast takes a look at how news organisations are using the online pinboard and social network for collating and sharing links.

It hears from Emily Steel, a social media editor at the Wall Street Journal, Carla Buzasi, editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post UK and Janet Aronica, head of marketing for Shareaholic.

Podcast: Download

You can hear future podcasts by signing up to the Journalism.co.uk iTunes podcast feed.

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Citizen journalism: Street Photographer of the Year announced

The winner of the Citizen Journalism Education Trust (CJET)’s Street Photographer of the Year was announced yesterday.

In a release, Kheoh Yee Wai, 23, (pictured above) described his winning photograph:

The mum and her child were strolling on the streets of a neighbourhood in Leeds, passing by a family that was having a barbecue at that time. They had a huge dog that kept jumping-up in excitement.

That was when I knew I had to stop and capture a candid street photograph.

To qualify for the prize, entries had to be taken on a mobile phone by an amateur photographer or citizen journalist.

Judges included award-winning photographer and former Guardian picture editor, Eamonn McCabe and Allyce Hibbert picture editor for Time Out.

Wei, was awarded a camcorder. Runners-up Pete Smith and Daniel Holland received framed prints of their photographs.

All 12 shortlisted photographs are being exhibited at the London College of Communication until Thursday, 15 March. More information is available on the LCC news and events blog.

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Tool of the week for (photo)journalists: ZangZing

Tool of the week: ZangZing

What is it? Photo storage and sharing site which is a good solution for anyone using Apple’s soon-to-be-closed MobileMe.

How is it of use to journalists? This week’s tool is one for photographers, particularly those who have been using Apple’s MobileMe.

MobileMe allows photographers to store photos, password protect them and allow client’s access to particular sets. Users can then invite a client to download the entire high-resolution photo set or a single image.

MobileMe is no longer accepting new subscribers and in June will close all galleries.

ZangZing allows MobileMe users to save and move their galleries before they are wiped and has many of the features available in MobileMe.

In addition to being able to add photos from MobileMe, ZangZing allows you to import from sites including Flickr, Dropbox and Instagram.

ZangZing does have an option to make a photo or gallery private but it requires anyone who wants to download the images to sign up for a ZangZing account.

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