COMM 242, Advanced News Photography (Photojournalism)
Final exam review

Exam will cover: Text chapters 6-9 and 14-16, lectures, guest lectures, web resources, quizzes and assignments. Covered material includes law and ethics, color theory, photo history, travel, news, portraits, and sports, photo clichés, manipulated photography, and portfolio preparation. While most exam questions are taken from class material and not from the text, textbook material will help students expand their knowledge and so be better prepared for the exam. Expect about 30 multiple-choice questions. A simple Photoshop exercise will be included, as described below. While the final is not comprehensive, about three questions will be taken from the midterm exam. Note: questions below will reflect some topics covered in the final, but may or may not be actual test questions.

1. Explain the technological development around 1900 that made it possible to directly publish photos in newspapers and magazines.

2. You're faced with an assignment of a blah speaker behind a podium. Suggest three ways to avoid a cliche picture.

3. How can you avoid a boring "grip n grin" photo?

4. Suggest three other cliché photos to avoid in news photography.

5. Name two kinds of portraits photojournalists commonly take. Which is preferable, and why?

6. Assuming you must take a mug shot, suggest four things to consider when posing the subject.

7. How does the difference between "deontological" (duty-based) ethics, and teleological (greatest good for greatest number) ethics relate to photojournalism practice? Offer an example.

8. Explain the difference between additive color generation process and subtractive color generation process.

9. Doing an environmental portrait on location, you're faced with fluorescent office lighting, similar to that of this room. Assuming you can't set up studio lights, what can you do?

10. What are the "big three" in sports photography?

11. Two kinds of photos sports photographers look for are....

12. What is the single most important skill to develop in sports photography?

13. The farthest the light from a flash on camera will reach is about how many feet?

14. What's about the minimum shutter speed you need for most sports action photography?

15. What is a monopod, and give an example of a situation in which it would come in handy.

16. How do you define a "sense of place" in travel photography?

17. Which kind of photography will produce the most manipulated photographs?

18. At which of the big three sports are you most likely able to get by with using a 50 mm or 85 mm lens, and why?

19. Why do we ask for identification of people in photos?

20. Concerning the history of photography: what was the biggest problem inventors needed to conquer in the 1800s to make photography possible?

21. To emphasize great depth of field, what aperture (f-stop) might you choose?

22. Describe a situation in which you might be legally trespassing, even while photographing while standing on the public sidewalk.

23. What was George Eastman's revolutionizing invention?

24. Which is the least flattering time of day during the summer to take outside photos?

25. In sports photography what is "zone focusing?"

26. When the text advises, "crop ruthlessly," what does the author mean?

27. You've taken a photo of someone grieving over an accident on University Drive near campus. Do you have legal right to publish this as a news photo in the Spectrum, and why or why not?

28. Considering photojournalism ethics, what is a "photo illustration," and when would you want to label a picture as such?

Photoshop final exercise: You'll be given three photos that need work in Photoshop. Under a deadline of 30 minutes, for each of the photos you'll need to: 1. Crop for content. 2. Use Levels or Curves, and/or burn or dodge areas which appear too light or too dark. 3. Adjust color cast. 4. Fix red eye. 5. Remove dustspots. 6. Sharpen focus. 7. Save as JPG file, and e-mail to me as an attachment.