PHTO 202: Photojournalism
Citrus College Course Outline of Record
| Heading | Value |
|---|---|
| Effective Term: | Fall 2025 |
| Credits: | 3 |
| Total Contact Hours: | 108 |
| Lecture Hours : | 36 |
| Lab Hours: | 72 |
| Hours Arranged: | 0 |
| Outside of Class Hours: | 72 |
| Total Student Learning Hours: | 180 |
| Strongly Recommended: | PHTO 101. |
| Transferable to CSU: | Yes |
| Transferable to UC: | No |
| Grading Method: | Standard Letter |
Catalog Course Description
This course introduces students to the theory and practice of photojournalism. Students learn the fundamentals of camera operation while photographing current events both on and off campus. The ethics of photojournalism is explored through study of the top press organization’s code of ethics and through critique of real world scenarios. Photographers will learn the skill of caption writing, as well as, an industry standard digital workflow. In addition to class assignments, students are encouraged to collaborate with the Citrus College "Clarion" and "Logos" publications staff. Material fee. 36 lecture hours, 72 lab hours.
Course Objectives
- Communicate the emotion of a story through a single image
- Caption photographs with cultine guidelines
- Identify current technical, legal, and ethical practices employed by photojournalists
- Demonstrate an understanding of basic camera exposure using ISO, F stop and Shutter Speed
- Solve problems of planning, photographing, writing and editing a picture story
- Provide balanced unbiased photo reporting
- Apply image edits using a digital workflow in alignment with current Photojournalism Code of Ethics
- Create images for the purpose of building a portfolio representing a body of photojournalism work
Major Course Content
- Photojournalism Code of Ethics: NPPA, AP
- Exposure: ISO, F stop, Shutter Speed
- Auto Focus Modes, Drive Modes
- Image size/File Types
- Depth of Field: Aperture, Focal Length & Camera to Subject Distance, Aperture priority exposure mode
- The Journalistic Portrait
- Caption/Cutline writing
- Importing, Editing (Restricted Photo Journalism workflow) and Exporting images
- Metadata, Keywords, Copyright
- Henri Cartier Bresson’s “Decisive Moment”
- Action, Motion, Shutter speed, Shutter priority exposure mode
- Photo Agencies: Magnum, VII
- Manual exposure mode
- Photographic composition
- Where to find news, creating your own assignments
- Introduction to flash
- Reportage: The Photo Story
Lab Content
- Photographing Assignments
- Applying digital workflow
- Writing caption/cutlines
- Critique
Suggested Reading Other Than Required Textbook
The Photo Ethics podcast, The Clarion newspaper, Logos magazine,Los Angeles Times, New York Times and The Atlantic.
Examples of Required Writing Assignments
Write a three to five page research paper on a professional photojournalist and/or respond to weekly journal prompts relevant to contemporary photojournalism and the code of ethics.
Examples of Outside Assignments
Students will need to photograph a public demonstration or social event. Select and edit images that best communicate both sides of the story.
Based on an interview of two or more classmates conceptualize a journalistic portrait for each subject. Your interview will help you to get to know your subjects, as well as, provide key information for your image caption. Show examples of both long and short depth of field.
Photograph examples of stop, pan and blur imagery using Henri Cartier Bresson's "Decisive Moment" approach.
Based on an interview of two or more classmates conceptualize a journalistic portrait for each subject. Your interview will help you to get to know your subjects, as well as, provide key information for your image caption. Show examples of both long and short depth of field.
Photograph examples of stop, pan and blur imagery using Henri Cartier Bresson's "Decisive Moment" approach.
Instruction Type(s)
Lab, Lecture, Online Education Lab, Online Education Lecture