Pictures are tough to get

Before coming to the Tribune-Phonograph, I’ll admit that I wasn’t very experienced at taking pictures for print.

My extremely amateur picturetaking experience involved being a decent picture taker for my fiance’s (now wife’s) Instagram account, taking pictures of my eighth grade trip to Washington D.C. on a $50 digital camera and taking mental photos of other kids’ math test scores in high school. So when I arrived at the newspaper, you can imagine the shock I was in for when I learned I would have to produce quality photos for the whole newspaper every week.

I had worked at a newspaper while going to school in Oshkosh but we didn’t have cameras and actually had our own photo editors who took photos of events and sports. I didn’t mind taking pictures, but I just wasn’t good at it and frankly, I’m still not very good. I have been grateful to have had Nathaniel start working here when I did because his background in TV and film has provided me with some pointers on which settings to use in different gyms or fields. I had taken a couple of TV and film classes in college but they never really grabbed my attention. Turns out, I should have worked a little harder in those classes as they could have probably provided me with valuable information about cameras that I could use now.

I remember asking Nathaniel early on in our time at the Tribune-Phonograph, “Is there a way you can get pictures that don’t have a blurry baseball bat or volleyball?” I thought, it can’t be that hard to get everything in the photo perfectly in focus and without blur. A short time later, I was at a volleyball tournament in Marshfield taking pictures. I spent probably 90 percent of my time there tinkering with different settings as I tried to get pictures with a non-blurry ball. Adjusting the shutter speed, ISO, focus, aperture and maybe even white balance at times is all part of getting a perfect shot. Even as I wrote that previous sentence, I had to turn to Nathaniel and ask him whether ISO and shutter speed were the same thing. So clearly, there’s much to learn.

There are so many more things that go into a good photo than just pointing at the subject and clicking the button. It has given me a newfound respect for photographers and photo editors whose sole job relies on them getting good shots.

There’s plenty to learn and I’m sure as I get more and more opportunities to take pictures in different settings, I’ll only get better at the craft.

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