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Chicago Sun-Times Fires Photo Staff, Will Train Reporters to Use iPhones For Photos
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Good - me too. I am sure there are a few more, but as someone involved in the newspaper and music businesses, I have seen firsthand how a lot of sad realities hit when people don't pay for your industry's products. It does adversely affect quality and puts many talented people out of work, which is a shame.
This is nothing new, the BBC has had their reporters filming with small domestic cameras for years after getting rid of two thirds of the news gathering camera crews.. No one noticed but the BBC saved a lot of money. Its only time that they will be using some sort of phone with wifi or 4G connection for live reports.
Wow
When I was a kid, press photographers were actual figures in the culture. They used Press Graphics, the big camera that looked like a portrait camera, with a huge negative -- roughly 5 x 4 -- and the flash that was so big it seemed to explode in your face. When I worked in radio, it was at first the practice to take a recording engineer with you in the field, and then you'd do the editing yourself with a razor blade. Really. A little metal block with a groove in it so you'd always cut at the same angle, for smooth transitions.
I think the difference here is that, no, we're not going to have paper newspapers, as it were, much longer. It's too expensive to cut down the trees, manufacture the huge rolls of paper and buy the capital goods of those huge printers that could turn out millions of papers a day in big cities. It's going to be digital. What I hope to see is that the same amount of professionalism in the era when everyone will release their product much the same way. The great writers, editorialists, crusaders and so on. I doubt that every picture will be taken by reporters, since a lot of photo stories are beyond the abilities of iPhone users, or the writers of Sunday features in the rotogravure section or their equivalent. But that's not the everyday photos, the shot of the demonstration in front of city hall, the politician making a speech, etc. And there, without the need for a photographer to haul the cameras, the tripod, plus batteries and film(?) or the Canon Mark whatever they use, the reporter can get up the stairs, get a quote, record a video of the subject saying the same thing, and then grab a couple of shots while talking with him in a very fluid and candid way. Cameras, to use Steve's analogy, are like trucks. Some people need them, but the most popular camera in America is likely the iPhone. Bowing to the inevitable. The craftsmanship of the past isn't necessary except in limited circumstances. The photographers will be replaced by different craftsmen, of course, because that's the way it works.
When I was a kid, press photographers were actual figures in the culture. They used Press Graphics, the big camera that looked like a portrait camera, with a huge negative -- roughly 5 x 4 -- and the flash that was so big it seemed to explode in your face. When I worked in radio, it was at first the practice to take a recording engineer with you in the field, and then you'd do the editing yourself with a razor blade. Really. A little metal block with a groove in it so you'd always cut at the same angle, for smooth transitions.
I think the difference here is that, no, we're not going to have paper newspapers, as it were, much longer. It's too expensive to cut down the trees, manufacture the huge rolls of paper and buy the capital goods of those huge printers that could turn out millions of papers a day in big cities. It's going to be digital. What I hope to see is that the same amount of professionalism in the era when everyone will release their product much the same way. The great writers, editorialists, crusaders and so on. I doubt that every picture will be taken by reporters, since a lot of photo stories are beyond the abilities of iPhone users, or the writers of Sunday features in the rotogravure section or their equivalent. But that's not the everyday photos, the shot of the demonstration in front of city hall, the politician making a speech, etc. And there, without the need for a photographer to haul the cameras, the tripod, plus batteries and film(?) or the Canon Mark whatever they use, the reporter can get up the stairs, get a quote, record a video of the subject saying the same thing, and then grab a couple of shots while talking with him in a very fluid and candid way. Cameras, to use Steve's analogy, are like trucks. Some people need them, but the most popular camera in America is likely the iPhone. Bowing to the inevitable. The craftsmanship of the past isn't necessary except in limited circumstances. The photographers will be replaced by different craftsmen, of course, because that's the way it works.
Damn so spending thousands on a professional photographer to take our wedding pictures could have been saved by hiring a friend with an iPhone?
This is disgusting and twitter, reddit, and Instagram are to blame!
This is disgusting and twitter, reddit, and Instagram are to blame!
The most shocking part of this story is the claim the Chicago Sun-Times practiced journalism. Who knew?
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Cancelled our subscription lo the local paper when it became nothing more than wire service stories and the local coverage all but disappeared.
Obviously this decision wasn't made by someone with any amount of photography experience.
They're going to be in for a rude surprise real soon...
They're going to be in for a rude surprise real soon...
I thought that happened in the mid 80's? That was when I started noticing the complete breakdown of grammar in newspapers.
Out of curiosity, how large are these going?
You drifted off into nonsense with this part. Whenever someone suggests this, it simply means they're not used to raw processors. Phones depend on on immediate processing, and it's just about what renders a pleasing image in the majority of cases as easily as possible. DSLRs have a different range of requirements. Performance at different ISO ratings matters. They're generally set up to capture as much information as possible with fairly low default sharpening settings. It doesn't always look as good straight from the camera, but the quality and level of control tend to be higher in spite of lens design restrictions in mirror based cameras (like how wide angles are really reverse mounted telephoto lenses). This would have made more sense if you were arguing that the phone quality was both good enough and simpler. Better is ridiculous, and of course I've used both. DSLRs have been basically good enough to print at a decent size since the 1Ds 10 years ago.
I work at a newspaper, and this doesn't shock me. Some people in the biz get it. Others thing that you should just throw everything on a website and see what sticks.
Reporters taking photos with iPhones is a very good tool -- in addition to regular photographers. So if a newspaper has two photographers who can only be at two events on a given day, your reporter might be able to get a good shot of a police interview or school board meeting speaker. With the right training it is a good addition to the usual photographs taken by people who taken bazillions of them.
But it doesn't replace them.
Did anybody at the CST ever ask, "How will this affect sports photos?" You cannot -- cannot -- take a good sports photo at night in a fast-moving sport with an iPhone camera. First of all, you can't zoom in. Second of all, SHUTTER SPEED. Third of all, NOT ENOUGH LIGHT. I tried to get some shots at a soccer game on an iPhone back in the day and with my dad's $500 SLR in the twilight. Blursville.
So again, some place is going the cut costs route instead of the "preach why we pay these people and why X reporter or photographer is a better source than @chitownnuwz." If anybody needs to know, go look at the Boston Globe reporting after the Boston Marathon bombing compared to the rampant rumors on Twitter and Reddit that had two guys -- the wrong guys -- metaphorically strapped into the electric chair in a couple of days.
I'm sure a lot of you understand this from articles written on MacRumors. So many of the rumors are written with the caveat of "this guy is usually right on what he writes" or "this guy saying the next iPhone will be powered by farts has been once right in his life when he guessed that the iPhone 5 would be offered in black." Credibility matters.
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I just signed up for a subscription to the big paper in Atlanta, but honestly I'm not liking it much because the layout is very much a daily newspaperish "we'll update our top stories once a day" thing and you have to hunt and peck for the actual latest stories.
I did it kind of as a move of solidarity, but I don't know for how much longer. I honestly don't read it most of the time because I work for the very local paper and end up finding out about the statewide news working there or through some other outlet.
Maybe I'll give it a couple more months and just give them more feedback. "I don't like having to dig for the actual breaking news." They also put too many damn education stories as the big, dominant story with a photo. I have zero kids and live three or four counties out from Atlanta where all the cheating went on.
I think the Washington Post is going to paid this summer. I wouldn't mind paying as long as it's not way too expensive for what I do. I usually read the political section and columns. I'd pay $15/month for that.
Keep reminding your friends that there are people who are paid to do all of the stuff they see on news websites. Ads DO NOT cover the entire cost for almost anything outside of network TV. It's the fault of people in the industry 15, 20 years ago who decided to just give it all away. I just hope the whole thing doesn't crash before rebuilding once enough people realize what we do.
Technology is getting better all the time. The movie Crank 2, with Jason Statham, was shot primarily with consumer & prosumer grade camcorders. They had a advantage over the larger more expensive ones. Their small size allowed them to mount them in tight corners. They said the quality was good enough for film making.
I recently interviewed a news reporter for the Caller-times newspaper for my technology show. I asked her some of her favorite devices. She said by far was her iPhone. She used it for taking interviews, getting pictures for the paper and so on.
They seem to do things much differently from a newspaper. They actually film her entertainment segment "Top 5" that gets shown on TV 3 news & radio every week. I was quite surprised when I found out she often films her own segments because she has to wait a few hours or so till a cameraman is available. It faster if she does it herself.
Now the news media, whether newspaper or local or national television, now realize how powerful these mobile devices are. Its not always about the quality, its more about catching the latest news as it happens. So the best way to catch this late breaking news is by the general public themselves. Most people have smartphones capable of taking hi resolution pictures or video. Often many news coverage is using this cell phone coverage just because it was taken at the scene.
I recently interviewed a news reporter for the Caller-times newspaper for my technology show. I asked her some of her favorite devices. She said by far was her iPhone. She used it for taking interviews, getting pictures for the paper and so on.
They seem to do things much differently from a newspaper. They actually film her entertainment segment "Top 5" that gets shown on TV 3 news & radio every week. I was quite surprised when I found out she often films her own segments because she has to wait a few hours or so till a cameraman is available. It faster if she does it herself.
Now the news media, whether newspaper or local or national television, now realize how powerful these mobile devices are. Its not always about the quality, its more about catching the latest news as it happens. So the best way to catch this late breaking news is by the general public themselves. Most people have smartphones capable of taking hi resolution pictures or video. Often many news coverage is using this cell phone coverage just because it was taken at the scene.
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Paying a bunch of senior management at a company whether or not big decisions need to get made is kinda expensive, too.
I love how every business is trying to make their jobs contact and need-based. It's like the 1% has forgotten everyone else needs a steady paycheck, too.
I think news photography is overrated, as the art and creativity is constrained by relevancy. When was the last time you saw a photo in a news story that could be considered art?
I also find it incredibly stupid that people still use smartphone cameras when there's small mirror-less cameras that can fit in your pocket.
I also find it incredibly stupid that people still use smartphone cameras when there's small mirror-less cameras that can fit in your pocket.
This is about as intelligent as firing all journalists writing articles - I mean, "everyone can write". Might as well in-source highschool students to write the articles. No problem!
the iPhone doesn't even produce images at the same level as the eight year old 5D.
LOL
the iPhone doesn't even produce images at the same level as the eight year old 5D.
And just a few pages later:
http://www.robbmontgomery.com/2013/05/mobile-reporting-smartphone-laptop.html
"Learn how to use your smartphone to produce high quality multimedia"
Sad but true...
1) Completely correct. The 'snap-on' lenses for the iPhone *do* provide a range of options that the stock iPhone does not. Thus increasing it's flexibility. But that doesn't give you the same light-gathering capability of the larger DSLR lens, nor does it give you the same lens *quality*.
2) Also completely correct, but entirely beside the point, and exactly why they're *TRAINING* their reporters. A pro with an iPhone will almost always end up with a better picture than a rookie with a DSLR, because a good photo is almost always more dependent on the photographer than the camera. On the other hand, the vast majority of photos that you see in newspapers or magazines have had an editorial hand applied to them. Even if nothing else is done to them, they're almost always cropped for better presentation.
On the other hand, it's a rare situation for a newspaper to *ever* have had a photographer available to go out on a job with *each and every* reporter. This improves on that ratio quite significantly.
They might find themselves in trouble when they need to take great night time photos. The iPhone 5 is good, but not that good!