Photojournalism is a branch of photography however it differs from regular photography on a number of levels. Photojournalism is story/event centric while photography is image centric. Photojournalism always intent to tell a story or convey a concept may it be a sports event, a fire or an award ceremony. The most important element of photojournalism could be condensed into one word, “faces.” Photo editors love to see people’s faces for the news. Facial expressions help to tell a photo’s story and convey emotion. Photojournalism is a merger of photography and written language into a coherent communication medium.
Ethics
Ethics is the most important element that separates photojournalists with photographers, while photographers can manipulate the event or image, a photojournalist is supposed to stick by the rules and give a representation of what he see with his eyes. The audience must be able to trust that the image they see is a true representation of reality. A photojournalist must never interfere with a situation. He/She can never direct or pose their subjects, unless the situation calls for a portrait.
Post-Production Ethics
During post production manipulation of photos is forbidden. Post-production work should focus on correcting color problems, exposure and latitude problems, and slight sharpness problems. Though cropping is allowed any other form of manipulation is indeed forbidden.
Communication skills
Without compassion and trust, one cannot relate to their subjects. To excel as a photojournalist one must convince people to allow you to document their lives, to give you access to their story. Stories are never born in editing rooms or press conferences, they come from people. To be with them a photojournalist must convince them and be one among them.
Elements/Layers
Every image has many layers to it a politician addressing the crowd shows the politician, however the layers are the crowd, security guards and visual elements in the image. The elements don’t necessarily have to be on a large scale even elements and details that are minimal can influence the content and the theme of the photograph.
Emotion
The most important element of telling stories is emotion. The photojournalist has to be an expert at reading and more importantly anticipating facial expressions. Emotions are the driving factor that induces narrativity in photojournalism. The right emotion in the photograph can drive the story successfully. A deep understanding of semiotics can be of great help for photojournalists.
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