Raw vs Jpeg

This is an argument I have seen played out on many occasions between photographers, most recently on social media and in particular on my favourite new fix: YouTube, where there is no shortage of advice and opinions.

Two high profile ‘educators’ or vloggers, (not sure if they are working photographers or just YouTubers) publicly slugged it out via their video channels, each arguing the case for either format.  None of their arguments made much sense but that’s probably just as well. However, the fundamental point of which is better, completely missed the point.

Just like the cameras and lenses photographers choose to use for a specific job, so too can be said of which format a photographer should use be it RAW or Jpeg.  I would go further and to be fair, this point was made…sort of, a beginner would do well to learn as much as they can before shooting in RAW, for no other reason than there is a certain amount of post processing required to extrapolate what they have shot in-camera before they can use the image.

It stands to reason therefore, that a person just starting out in photography will have little if no experience on how to process a RAW file and would be better served shooting Jpegs until such time that they have gained the required level of skill to extract all the detail from a RAW file.

And to be honest, this is an area that I have yet to fully exploit as my skill level in post is pretty basic as I have never needed to use photoshop other than the basic tweaks and for captioning.

To this end, the only time anyone would readily choose to shoot Jpegs would be those working as a press photographer, where the single most critical aspect when on a job -apart from the obvious – is speed.  They do not have the luxury of trawling through hundreds of images converting RAW files into Jpegs before transmitting them to their respective publication or agency.

Of course speed is all relative. When I was working on assignments back in the day of film, speed could be a matter of hours or in some cases days. Naturally, this was before the age of the internet and lead times were much longer. You had time to return to your publication, pop into the darkroom, place your rolls into the drop tanks of developer and so on…

If further afield, you had the option of handing your undeveloped rolls of film to a courier who would then either jump onto a bike or in extreme cases if abroad, onto a flight back to base. 

Then we had portable scanners and wire transmitting equipment and things became a lot faster until we finally reached the point of rolling news and the internet and speed was down to a matter of minutes.

Today, everyone from fashion to landscape to wedding photographers and most probably everything in between, should be shooting in RAW to maximize the full potential of the image they have captured.  And despite what anyone says or tells you, maximize they will and do.

Embellishing the news

NBC’s Brian Williams, one of America’s most famous news anchors, was forced into making a grovelling apology live on TV this week for embellishment or in other words…lying.

Its not the first time a journalist nor indeed a photographer has over-egged the pudding – so to speak – nor will it be the last.  It is however, a huge embarrassment to all concerned. Moreover, it has seriously put into question his credibility, not only for this story relating to his supposed involvement in a helicopter crash during the Iraq war, but puts into question all his other stories.

Photographers have similar dilemmas: photo-shopping being the prime culprit in recent years.  An extra cloud of smoke here, a head removed there and that’s just the news photographers, who when found out, have been sacked from their respective employers and their archives deleted.

When it comes to landscape and the fashion industry, it is more about the competence of the computer operator than the photographer. This is a subject I touch upon in Baptism of Fire, the ‘art’ of the photographer who has been almost reduced to a finger on a shutter release, the ‘real art’ or as I call it ‘the dark arts’, comes in post production.

But this is nothing new of course. Embellishment, for want of a better term, has been around ever since the camera and journalism was invented. The most famous of which and to this day is still subject of many theories and speculations is Robert Capa’s image of the Falling Soldier in the Spanish Civil War. Was it staged or did he actually capture the moment? Another iconic image surrounded in controversy is the second world war photograph of the Raising of the Flag on Iwo Jima by Joe Rosenthal, for the same reason, was it captured as it happened or staged a little later?

Despite both images being under immense scrutiny for being staged, they are quite different in severity…in my view.  Whereas Rosenthal’s image may or may not have been staged, the raising of the flag itself is not in question, merely did the photographer capture the exact moment or did he ask the marines to repeat the act for the camera.

Capa’s on the other hand, if the controversy has any legs, is far worse as he will have captured something that did not happen at all; at least not that particular soldier at that particular time.

The latter unfortunately has been repeated countless times and in more recent years with alarming results when it comes to the question of ethics. During the war in Georgia, a photographer working with a major wire agency, filed photographs depicting a mother wailing over what appears to be her son, shot in the town of Gori. However, there are two existing images: one showing the body near a lamp post with the woman standing over the body, the other showing the body much further along the street with the woman crouching over the same body, arms aloft, implying unbelievably that the body had been moved for aesthetic reasons. It does truly beggar belief that a photographer would seriously have the audacity to move a dead body in order to get a better picture. But then, there are stories of photographers carrying teddy bears and such like to add a little more drama to an image. It happens…allegedly.

Returning to Brian Williams, his embellishment is nothing more than a journalist getting carried away with events. He really wanted to be in that first helicopter when it came under fire – especially after it had landed with no casualties – he wanted bragging rights and to be able to dine out on hair-raising anecdotes. All war-correspondents have anecdotes, whether they actually happened as retold or happened at all is another matter.

 

Baptism of Fire: a freelancer’s behind the scenes look at covering areas of conflict is now available from Amazon as an e-book and no, you do not require a Kindle. http://tinyurl.com/l57rqa6

“Theo liasi has written an honest, no frills account of life as a war photographer. His was the reality of a freelancer with no one to cover his back. His conclusion Is surprisingly funny given the subject matter. Well worth the read especially if you are contemplating a career in this area”

Baptism of Fire: Luke Somers & the freelance photojournalist

They always say ‘the first causality of war is the truth’, but this should probably now be revised to read the ‘proponents of the truth’ and inevitably that would mean journalists and more specifically photojournalists, who by the sheer nature of their work, have to be in place to get the picture.

2013 saw 105 journalists killed in the line of duty. This year the figure is likely to be somewhat similar and of those most will have been freelancers. On Saturday the world discovered yet another freelance photographer Luke Somers, had been executed by his abductors in Yemen.

In recent years, more and more freelancers are losing their lives doing the job they love and for scant reward. Without rehashing what I have already written in my book Baptism of Fire, it is becoming ever more apparent that today’s media rely more than ever on contributions from freelancers from around the world.

Of course it makes perfectly good sense for publications and news organisations to use freelancers on several counts; most organisations have scaled back their photographic departments in cost cutting measures as readerships continue to decline especially in the print media.

It is also cost effective to hire a freelance photographer, who has usually travelled to a region under his own steam in the hopes of selling his work once there either on a promise or if lucky a guarantee.

The news organisation will not need to hire a bodyguard, an interpretor, transport, accommodation or insurance etc…moreover, local freelancers are often used and if we are perfectly honest, they are expendable as opposed to sending a well established staff member to a hot spot.

The Bosnian crisis back in the 90’s saw the first case of journalists being deliberately targeted with a bounty on their heads in a bid to suppress news but in particular images getting out. Lately, we have seen a steady rise in the number of photographers being taken and used as propaganda fodder by the various warped terrorist organisations. None of it bodes well for the future of photojournalism and in particular for the freelancer, who is usually working alone without the backing of a major news organisation.

It does beg the question; who in their right mind would want to pursue a career as a freelance photojournalist but the truth is…plenty. Yet I doubt there has ever been a more precarious time in the history of photojournalism than today.

Baptism of Fire is now available as an e-book from Amazon and no, you do not require a Kindle….

http://tinyurl.com/nc4wsap

Baptism of Fire

Baptism of Fire

After several years and more, Baptism of Fire is finally finished and up online available through Amazon’s Kindle platform. A labour of love? Hardly, it has been anything but. At times it has a right royal pain, not physically obviously but mentally it has been taxing.

I describe Baptism of Fire as a memoir of my time as a freelance photojournalist covering areas of conflict. It has to be a memoir as opposed to an autobiography as it relies on my memory – sketchy as it is – diaries, notes and anecdotes rather than concrete facts. Besides, an autobiography is really reserved for people of status or at the very least in the public eye. Moreover, its not the usual frontline stuff of embedded with soldiers enduring the rigours of battle scenes and ducking incoming bombs although there is some of that. Baptism of Fire really concentrates on the victims.

My primary objective was always to report on the civilians rather than the military aspect for better or worse. Sometimes inevitably, there was a crossover as the frontlines became fluid and you found yourself in the thick of it. Not a situation one ever really wishes to find oneself but it does happen.

My decision to put pen to paper came about after many repeated demands as to what was it like, why did you go, what did you see and that kind of thing. I also wanted to describe the process and the effort needed to set off on such assignments and possibly dispel some of the mystique or even dare I say glamour of a photojournalist.

There does appear to be a misconception that the life of a photographer especially that of one who embarks on earning a living through reportage as being something rather special…if only. The realities fall way short of those preconceived notions from a bygone era, sitting in cafes in some European capital waiting for the next assignment to fall into one’s lap.

I also wanted to highlight the vast differences between a freelance photojournalist and those who are contracted to a news organisation. The differences are akin to light and day and usually revolve around resources and finance.

To my dismay, I have during the course of writing Baptism of Fire discovered the passing away of two dear friends mentioned within who both died prematurely ironically in the same year. I fear there may be others and so in part I dedicate Baptism of Fire in their memory: Dr Dennis Williams and Marcel Van Soest.

Baptism of Fire is now available from Amazon as an e-book & no, you do not require a Kindle…

http://tinyurl.com/nd7fa9p

Dr Dennis Williams 1944 – 2011

Marcel Van Soest (right) 1965 – 2011