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Photography 2:
Social Documentary
Written by
Michael Freeman
About the author
Michael has also produced a unique series of guide books for the digital
photographer and this is published by ILEX, who are digital media
specialists.
Introduction
Beyond the basics
What is social documentary photography?
The scope of social documentary
Extra resources
The equipment you will need
Following the course
Assignments
Your portfolio
Your logbook
On completing the course
Project and tutorial plan
4: Documentary styles
The appropriate lens
Wide-angle
The subjective camera
Project 36: wide-angle technique
Project 37: telephoto technique
Black-and-white film
Grain
Printing
Project 38: black-and-white
Project 39: making connections
The photo essay
Project 40: laying out a photo essay
Cropping
Project 41: a cropped print
Assignment 5: photo essay
Your portfolio
At the end of your course
Appendix A: if you plan to submit your work for
formal assessment
Appendix B: information concerning the proper use of
materials and equipment
Further reading
Project 22: action - peak moment
Look at the snowboarder. Apart from the other qualities of this action picture,
it shows the snowboarder at the right split-second - at the height of the jump
with snow spraying out behind. This is one of the peak moments in this sport.
With very active subjects, timing is critical, and is less easy to achieve than
with normal movement.
Capturing the peak of action calls for great accuracy: when a footballer goes
for a header, a small fraction of a second can make all the difference. Many
people believe that a motor drive or auto winder is essential equipment
because of its ability to fire off a number of frames faster than could be done
by hand-winding, but in fact it is useful only in a few circumstances. The
problem with a motor drive is that few operate faster than about 6 frames per
second; at the fast shutter speeds needed (around 1/500 second), you would
cover only about one per cent of the action if you kept your finger pressed on
the shutter release.
Nothing beats releasing the shutter once at the right moment. The motor
drive is then useful mainly because it frees you from winding on for the next
peak of the action. The basic skill is to be able to stop movement in the image;
this means having a good knowledge of what shutter speeds freeze what
degree of action. The table that follows gives an idea of this for different kinds
of activity.
One of the most important things to realise is that the shutter speed that will
stop movement depends not only on how fast the person or object is
travelling, but on how fast the image of this moves through the viewfinder
frame. The actual speed, therefore, is less relevant than it might at first seem
to be. The smaller you are prepared to accept the moving image in the frame,
the easier it will be to catch a frozen image of it. Also, movement towards the
camera appears slower than movement across the frame. Changing the
position from which you shoot may sometimes be a solution on an occasion
when the light is sufficient for the shutter speed that you want to use (see
table above).
Following the action
Simply using a fast shutter speed and freezing the image is not the only way
to treat movement. It is not even always the best result. There are times when
it works better to convey a sense of action with blurring rather than a crisp,
motionless image.
One of the most useful techniques is panning - following the movement with
the camera in such a way that the image is kept centred. Swinging the camera
in this way is useful not so much because it helps to keep the image sharper at
slower shutter speeds (which it does), but because the background can be
blurred and so the subject is isolated. Select a shutter speed just fast enough to
hold the image of the subject. This is illustrated in The Art of Photography, and
the image below.
For the project, you will need a situation in which there is fast movement; it
could be, for instance, a vociferous market trader holding up merchandise
and waving his arms about. You will need to reserve this project until you
come across a suitable subject. Then take at least 10 photographs from the
same camera position with the same lens in which you try to capture 10
different gestures and/or expressions. When you have the prints, examine the
sequence of pictures and write a short commentary on the differences
between them. Order them in preference. The pictures that follow are an
example of this kind of action. Which is the critical point in the sequence?
This is a sample from Photography 2: Social Documentary. The full course contains 41
Projects and 5 tutor-assessed Assignments