This study traces the development of night photography, from February 7, 1839, when the effect of the moon on a Daguerreotype was first recorded by Alexander Von Humboldt, to the present. The contributions of the following photographers who advanced the field of night photography are discussed: Margaret Bourke-White, Paul Martin, Brassai, Bill…

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…

In addition to surveying the writings of Henry Holmes Smith, this paper explains his importance as a theoretician and practitioner of photography. After a discussion of Smith's ideas on "reading photographs" and his concerns with the ethics of photography, particularly of photojournalism, the essays in the book, "Henry Holmes Smith:…

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…

This paper outlines the process of a photographic landscape documentary project which set out to unveil the face of Utah's West Desert (a 42,000 square-mile, sparsely-populated, broad, rugged land of salt bed "playas" and high mountain ranges) comprising one-third of the state and which hoped to make the West Desert, recently under…

An interview with W. Eugene Smith, well-known photographer and photographic essayist, is presented in this paper. The introductory section of the paper contains a biographical sketch of Smith and a discussion of his photographic essays on a number of topics, including World War II scenes, life in a Spanish village, the work of a black midwife in…

Photojournalists who sometimes do freelance work should have an awareness of the legal issues relating to their work. The history of litigation involving photographers is clouded by misapplication of existing law, ambiguity in applicable law, and lack of knowledge on the part of all parties. Nonetheless, certain basic principles, if followed,…

Photography has always been examined within a representational paradigm that does not accurately reflect its true nature. A new paradigm for thinking about photography based upon the work of language theorists and semioticians, and particularly upon the communications triangle of discourse theorist James L. Kinneavy, provides a vocabulary and…

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…

Journalism instructors are concerned that the credibility of images and consequently of words will suffer if the image content, as the photographer took the picture at the time, is altered by a computer operator far removed from the actual scene. Any discussion of picture manipulation ethics must take into account where and why a picture was…

Visual criticism is a major component of the new visual communication. Visual communication has changed through the advent of new technology which allows images to be combined and manipulated with relative ease. Visual criticism analyzes the forms and practices of image production and examines the roles of images in society creating a new dialogue…

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…

The United States Civil War was the first American war to be documented extensively by photographs, and these photographs have had tremendous impact and importance. During the war and immediately following, the cost and difficulty of reproducing photographs limited their appeal. Economic pressures actually caused Matthew Brady, the most famous…

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…