I recently watched the movie War Photographer by Christian Frei.The film was released in 2001 and won numerous awards. It’s a documentary about photojournalist James Nachtwey and his career as a war photographer.

Nachtwey has spent much of his career covering conflict in many different regions of the world. Many times he puts himself in great danger to document the story.

A recent post on PhotoPhilanthropy.org titled, “War photographer: a dangerous idolatry“, brings up the question about moral obligations surrounding war photography and applying it to photojournalism or humanitarian photography.

The article discusses the issues about photographers obtaining permission to photograph their subjects. It states that in war type situations it may be difficult to obtain permission but in “non-violent-photography” there should be “some level of collaboration between photographer and subject”.

In War Photographer you see examples of both. In one instance Nachtwey is shooting during intense fighting where asking permission would be impossible and in another scene Nachtwey is documenting a family grieving over a lost family member. In the latter he states, “Those pictures could not have been made unless I was accepted by the people I’m photographing”, referring to the fact he had collaborated with the family prior to shooting.

Hans Durrer wrote an article on Soundscapes stating, “when the people portrayed feel ashamed of their portraits, there clearly is something wrong with this kind of photography.” Durrer believes there should be “chemistry” and “collaboration” between the photographer and the subject.

My personal opinion is, it depends on the photographer and the situation. More so the situation. The photographer ultimately is going to have to make the decision on how to shoot their subject. Typically I do have some type collaboration with my subject before shooting, but have also shot without asking permission. In both cases I felt like I captured the moment in a respectful manner.

Below are two of my images. The “Child Praying” image was shot on the spur of the moment, while the image od the “Old Man” was taken after some collaboration.

Filipino Child Praying - June 2006

Old Man in Dhaka Bangladesh - Feb 2010

Both Gregory and Durrer’s articles bring up great points and I think neither is right or wrong, they are just part of the ongoing debate.

NOTE: In this article I use the term “photographer” referring mainly to photojournalist, humanitarian photographers, and war photographers.

Feel free to post your comments on the topic below.

RESOURCES:
War photographer: a dangerous idolatry
Soundscapes – Hans Durrer
War Photographer – Documentary
James Nachtwey

Several images I took in Haiti after the January 2010 earthquake were used in a video for the song “In the Name of Love” performed by the Gospel and Urban group Krystaal. The video states, “Proceeds go to World Vision’s Haiti Emergency Relief fund.” Below is the video used to promote the song via the Internet.

Watch “In the Name of Love”

You can also download “In the Name of Love” Here

Krystaal - Save a Child Poster for "In the Name of Love"

The battle continues year after year for photographers, Canon vs Nikon. I have to admit I think both are extremely good cameras and each have their own pluses or minuses. In the end though I refer to the old saying, “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people”, meaning it’s really the person behind the camera that makes the difference.

But getting back to the initial topic.

Which camera do you prefer, Canon or Nikon? Why?
What type photography do you shoot?

The maze of streets around Port-Au-Prince all look very similar. Concrete and rubble spill into the street where a home or even a school once stood. Because many buildings have walls surrounding you can walk past a collapsed home without knowing. Only a crooked roof or partially destroyed wall will offer a clue to the destruction behind the wall. Due to the lack of machinery people must dig through the rubble by hand.

The images below were captured in a small town named Carrefour located just east of Port-Au-Prince. February 10, 2010

A man digs through the rubble of a destroyed building near Port-Au-Prince, Haiti

The top floor of a two story home is visible behind a wall that guards this home in Port-Au-Prince

A basketball goal stands behind a collapsed school. Schools in Haiti have morning and afternoon sessions so many students were in school when the earthquake struck.

As always feel free to comment!

In this photography tip I am going to show you a little secret I use to get a little extra “punch” using the Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer in Photoshop.
Time: 10 minutes
Steps: 7
Level: Everyone
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ABOUT THIS IMAGE
I have chosen an image of a Haitian girl praying. This was shot in an orphanage just outside of Port-Au-Prince a few weeks after the 2010 earthquake. I was shooting a mission group doing humanitarian work in the small orphanage. See the story – “Ten People Died Here”
Why I Using Photo Tips to Send a Message

LESSON

STEP 1 – Open Your Image in Photoshop
Here is the original image in Photoshop converted to BW. (See Convert to BW Tip)

STEP 2 – Map Out Areas of Contrast

Typically I subtract or decrease the contrast when working on an image. I map out areas of interest or greater contrast to areas of less interest or less contrast. Though I tend to map out the areas in my head I created a “contrast map” below to give you an idea of the process. The higher the percentage means higher contrast area. Because they are the main focus, the girls eyes are 100% and I work down from there. This means the eyes will have the greatest contrast in the image.

STEP 3 – Add Brightness/Contrast Adjustment Layer

-In your layers palette click on the Adjustment Layers circle.
-Now click on the Brightness/Contrast… menu item.
You now have an Adjustment/Layer on top of your original image. Remember any work you do on this layer will not effect your original image. If the layer is highlighted in blue then you are working on the correct layer.

STEP 4 – Adjust Your Contrast Level

-Make sure you have the Brightness/Contrast layer selected
-Select the ‘Use Legacy’ box
-Now slide the Contrast Level to the left. -35 or so should be fine.
NOTE: I prefer the Legacy setting just out of habit. You may choose not to select. For this tutorial though keep the box selected.

Your image has now lost much of it’s contrast. Don’t worry though. Since this is a layer, you are not hurting your original image.

STEP 5 – Magic Time…Start Painting

Now you are going to “paint” areas of contrast back into your image. Remember our main area of interest is the girl’s eyes. To start we are going to paint at 100% opacity over her eyes.

Select the “brush tool”
Size the brush smaller than her eyes. QUICK KEY (use [ or ] to resize brush)
Select “black” from your color selector
Make sure your brush is set to 100% Opacity. QUICK KEY (hit “0″ key to set opacity to 100%)

Now paint just the girls eyes. You should see her eyes just like the original image. When painting on the adjustment layer you are essentially erasing away the adjustment layer. So at 100% brush opacity you erase 100% of the layer away.

Next set your brush to 90% opacity. QUICK KEY (hit “9″). Paint over her face.
At 80% paint her hair, neck and upper body, and so on.
Look over the “map” we created and finishing painting the image.

STEP 6 – Finishing touches

The final step is to touch up any areas that may stand out. Try to get a good blend throughout your image. I try to keep the effect subtle but since you are working on an adjustment layer you can get as crazy as you like without hurting your original image.
Below is a Before and After image of the photo. I left the effect a little strong so you could see the difference. On the final image I would dial the contrast back a bit using the opacity of the Brightness/Contrast layer.

BEFORE

AFTER

STEP 7 – SUPPORT THIS SITE
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Learn more about “Why I Shoot Humanitarian Photography”

RESOURCES and TOOLS
Below are some of the tools used in the tutorial. You can use a mouse but a tablet helps you to be more precise in your work. I prefer a the WACOM tablets.

Jimani border crossing into Haiti

This is the Jimani border crossing into Haiti. Just through the gate is Haiti. It is crowded with buses, trucks, and other vehicles making their way to Port-Au-Prince. It creates a huge bottleneck for getting much needed supplies to earthquake victims. We sat at the border for three hours before we could pass. The road after the crossing is a narrow two lane dirt road just wide enough for two cars.

Haitian Market

All along the streets of Port-Au-Prince are vendors selling everything you can imagine. This image captures just a tiny glimpse of street life in Port-Au-Prince.

Leaning home

Many buildings crumbled to the ground in the Haitian earthquake but there are thousands of home still standing that are unsafe to live. Families have taken to the streets to live under tarps or if they are lucky in small tents.

One of my night’s in Haiti was spent sleeping on the concrete at an orphanage in Carrefour. I awoke to the children in the orphanage saying their morning prayers. The orphanage did not collapse but due to the damage the children must remain outside. Just down the street from the orphanage is a home that did collapse. Ten people were crushed to death when the home fell.

A man searches through the rubble of a home where ten people died.

A resident of this building told me that ten people died when this building collapsed during the Hatian earthquake.

A girl prays her morning prayer

PHOTO TIP – See this photo in “Add Punch With Contrast Layer”

The streets in Haiti are lined with piles of rubble, some only wide enough for a single car to pass. Homes have been abandoned and people have moved into the streets or in tent cities. There are no bulldozers or heavy equipment. People dig through the rubble with their bare hands.

The men in this image dig through a school that collapsed from the earthquake.

Resources:
More Haiti Images

A boy stands on the street corner in Santo Domingo playing PSP with a small billboard ad on his back

We met Martine and Jean Luc of Diakonos International who have an orphanage in the town of Carrefour, just west of Port-Au-Prince. The orphanage is home to some forty children. Tomorrow morning we plan on taking a bus from Santo Domingo to Port-Au-Prince. Hopefully we can leave around 8am as it may be an 8 hour trip.

Out of the nine bags we brought only one is missing. Unfortunately it’s the one with Barbi and Lisa’s tent. Because of aftershocks it is not safe to sleep inside so the tent issue will be something to contend with tomorrow.

Probably the strangest thing today was we had to wait an hour while our plane was de-iced…in Florida.

On February 8th I will be traveling to Haiti. I am going to document a small orphanage outside of Port-Au-Prince that takes care of 35-40 children. This orphanage has very little support and often wonder where the meals will come from each day.

I count on having no way to post dispatches via the Internet but will post text message updates to this page. Hopefully they will show up under “Latest Updates” in the far right column.

Our plan is to land in the Dominican Republic. We will stay overnight in Santo Domingo and begin early Tuesday morning making our way toward the Haitian border. Once in Haiti we will stay in a small town called Carrefour on the outskirts of Port-Au-Prince.

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