Reportage Photography Or Genre Basics, Part One

A good photo report is akin to a documentary film. A professional photographer who shoots a photo essay should be able to display an event without staging and without embellishment. Therefore, reportage photography is an art that requires the photographer to complete self-giving and considerable skill.

This article is intended to show a novice photographer who shoots in the genre of reportage photography, what aspects of this genre of photography should be paid attention and how to photograph photo essays correctly.

By the way about photographic equipment.
Regardless of which genre works the photographer works in: whether he takes sports events or acts as a photographer for a corporate, special photographic equipment is required to create a photo essay. In short, in order to make the product qualitative, one of the important factors is the availability of a quality tool.

The basic requirements for phototechnics, which a professional photographer must take when taking photo essays, are that firstly: the camera should be fast enough. The camera should produce a large series of images in the shortest possible time. This will give you a chance not to miss a single moment of the shot.

Part of the cameras can shoot large enough series of photos in a very short time, but at the same time reducing the resolution of images to one megapixel. I think, it should not be explained that this permission is not enough not only for viewing, but also for printing. Even in the format of 10 to 15. Therefore, when choosing a camera, a professional photographer should definitely pay attention to this feature.

Secondly, you need to pick up a fairly fast memory card. It should be understood that photos taken with great speed should be preserved with no less speed. Otherwise, the rate of the camera will not be of any use. Therefore, the carat must have a high writing speed.

Thirdly, a number of lenses are required, which has a zoom and good aperture. From fixed lenses, there will be no special sense, despite the quality of the image that they allow. Professional photographer, reportage photography and fixed lens - simply incompatible with each other.

This is due to the fact that often a professional photographer who shoots a photo essay must be very mobile. No less mobile should be a camera, especially in those cases when a professional photographer is constrained in movement or can not quickly change the position and approach the object of photography. In this case, you need to forget about fixed lenses and create photos on zoom lenses, as well as on lenses with a wide viewing angle.

Fourth, it is necessary to select a camera with a sufficiently high focusing speed, both in conditions of good illumination and insufficient.

Reportage photography in some cases is carried out in poor light conditions, therefore, the presence of a flash camera flash is simply necessary, as well as a sufficiently high operating ISO camera.

Features of reportage photography
As I said above, good reportage photography is based on the principle of documentary films. Therefore, each photo essay should have a thoughtful plot, photographs that show the beginning of the story, its string, culmination and end. In this case, the photo essay will look finished and will be viewed with interest from start to finish.

It should be understood that a professional photographer who shoots a photo essay should be literally a man of invisibility. He must see absolutely everything, but he should not be seen. This is due to the fact that people involved in this or that event, often seeing that they are being removed, begin to pose. But this should not be in any case.

The task of a professional photographer and his special art is to see and shoot everything and remain invisible while creating beautiful photographs in their, they say, natural form.

It should also be understood that expressiveness of photos depends on the expressiveness of what is happening. If the event is meager, then the pictures, in principle, will be the same.

To make the most effective photo-report, you can imagine yourself as a person just sitting on the side of the road and who, thanks to gray and inconspicuous clothing, remains invisible to everyone, but at the same time sees and remembers everything that happens around, absolutely without interfering in what is happening. This is the key to successful photo-shooting.

One of the main skills that a professional photographer must take when taking photo essays is to instantly assess the situation and to be in the right place and at the right time, without delay assessing the need for a plan and foreshortening. Good moments are very fond of disappearing in an instant, without waiting for them to be captured, therefore the photographer's camera should be on alert.

In the next article I will consider the features of reportage photography of the most common events, from which a photo report is often made. Sincerely yours, professional photographer Leonid Starikov.