The activities of the photography staff at three metropolitan newspapers were observed to identify those routines used in making photographic assignments, carrying them out, and selecting the best photographs for publication. Among the observations were the following: (1) assignments could originate from any "desk" or editorial…

The influence of the German picture magazines and their editors and photographers on publisher Henry Luce and his staff during the early years of "Life" magazine has been overlooked. However, there is strong evidence in the Time, Incorporated, archive files indicating that the year Kurt Korff spent as a consultant to the company's newly…

A study was conducted to present a national sociological profile of daily newspaper photographers, their attitudes, professional concerns, and relationships to their jobs. Data were collected through a national mail survey. Photographers from 240 daily newspapers in 44 states were represented by the 436 respondents. Most respondents were between…

Focusing on the effects that color photography has had on the content of photographs published in daily newspapers in the United States, a study conducted interviews with both photographers and photo editors and also carried out a content analysis comparison of photographs published before and after the use of color at a small daily, "The…

To investigate the reaction of the public to being photographed on the street, a study was devised whereby seven photojournalists approached people on the street, photographed them, and requested identification for a questionnaire follow up. Of 102 people approached, 87% cooperated fully with the photographers and 81% of that group returned the…

The preliminary development of social documentary photography can be traced in the early issues of "Charities," a journal established in 1897 by the New York Charity Organization Society. During the journal's earliest years, 1897 to 1902, photography was already associated with social work in the minds of the public; but…

State natural resource magazines' tremendous potential as information sources and their unique economic situation led to this study of space utilization in individual issues. Three issues from each of 40 state magazines published in the summer of 1977 were divided into five subscription-rate and four staff-size categories. Category averages for…

Photographs, treated as evidence of patterns of communication, can make a so-far neglected contribution to communication research. Specific reference is made to three issues: the kinds of evidence to be found in photographic materials, the assessment of the evidentiary quality of a photograph or group of photographs, and the considerations to be…

This paper examines the still-video camera and its potential impact by looking at recent experiments and by gathering information from some of the few people knowledgeable about the new technology. The paper briefly traces the evolution of the tools and processes of still-video photography, examining how photographers and their work have been…

A study was conducted to determine the effect on perceived meaning of the way a photograph is reproduced and to discover whether there would be an interaction between the complexity of photographic subject matter and the complexity of reproduction method. Each of 160 college students in a sophomore-level American history course was given a packet…

Noting that efforts of governments to control newspapers are more problematic where news photographs are concerned, a study compared the news photos printed in an English-language Argentinian newspaper during and after a period of totalitarian rule. The study sample was a simulated "week" of issues, consisting of one day from each month…

For each work assignment, photojournalists must decide whether to use black-and-white or color film and how to frame the picture. These decisions are considered crucial, yet little is known about how the presence of color and design complexity affect how people process the information in photographs. A study tested whether color and design…

A semiological study examined the products and processes of sexual identity/identification by "reading" newspaper sports photographs from three distinct but interrelated ideological positions (the dominant heterosexual culture, a residual reading which resists the dominant interpretation and asserts equality, and an emergent reading that…

Photography editors from three major newspapers and three former presidents of the National Press Photographers Association were surveyed to establish a framework for discussion of ethical questions concerning digital retouching of photographs and its impact on the credibility of photojournalism. Although photographs have been repaired, spliced or…

A comparison of photographs in four German magazines published from 1926 to 1933 with photographs appearing in "Fortune" and "Life" from 1930 to 1938 reveals specific patterns and techniques by German photographers, who later emigrated to the United States, that served as models for "Life" and for subsequent American…