CHAPTER 10 EXERCISES
1. Find and write a critique of each of three still photographs produced by either professional or amateur
photographers and published in either print or online outlets. Apply the guidelines for photo selection.
2. Select three print or online news photographs or video clips, and list all the news values for each one.
NOTE: For exercises in this chapter, you are advised to save the original photograph and then work from a copy
as you crop and size with image-editing software. Remember to save your altered photograph with a dif erent
f le name than the original so that if you change your mind or if the same photograph is used for more than one
exercise, you will still have the original intact.
3. Crop this photograph to emphasize the action. Show your cropping by marking at the horizontal and vertical edges of the picture (do not mark on the face of the photograph) OR by using image-editing software to
crop and then printing a copy of the cropped picture.
4. Crop this photograph to emphasize the sleeping student. Show your cropping by marking at the horizontal
and vertical edges of the picture (do not mark on the face of the photograph) OR by using image-editing
software to crop and then printing a copy of the cropped picture.
5. Crop this photograph to emphasize the action. Show your cropping by marking at the horizontal and vertical edges of the picture (do not mark on the face of the photograph) OR by using image-editing software to
crop and then printing a copy of the cropped picture.
6. Crop this photograph for the best newsworthy use. Show your cropping by marking at the horizontal and
vertical edges of the picture (do not mark on the face of the photograph) OR by using image-editing
software to crop and then printing a copy of the cropped picture.
7. Crop as needed and size each of these photos for a public relations recruitment magazine for a college journalism department. One picture will be published at 36 picas wide and the other at 24 picas wide. Be prepared
to justify the decision you make regarding which of the photos should be published at the larger size. Indicate
the new depth for your photos here:
36 picas wide X ____ picas deep; 24 picas wide X _____ picas deep
8. Refer to the following picture:
a. Crop if needed, and enlarge this picture to be published 51 picas wide. The enlarged depth will
be______ picas (or ____ inches).
b. Reduce the photo to publish it at 21 picas (3.5 inches) wide on a Web page. The reduced depth will be
____ picas (or ____ inches).
c. Write a caption with an overline to accompany this stand-alone photo. Here is information for the
caption:
Who: estimated 300 marchers, sponsored by ProChoice of your state
What: parade by pro-choice group, with anti-abortion adherents watching from along parade route
Where: around state Capitol building in your state
When: yesterday at noon
Why: pro-choice and anti-abortion proponents seeking to persuade state legislators to pass legislation
supporting their respective points of view; state legislature expected to vote this session on legislation
concerning abortion
Photo credit: Miles Cary, Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel
9. Refer to the following photographs:
a. To illustrate a newsletter story about ROTC at your school, size and crop one of these photographs to
publish at 25 picas wide and the other photo at 12 picas wide. Be prepared to justify the decision you
make regarding which of the photos should be published at the larger size. Indicate the new depth for
your photos here:
25 picas wide X ____ picas deep; 12 picas wide X _____ picas deep
b. Write one caption with a boldfaced lead-in to accompany both photographs, drawing from these notes
supplied by Heather McCoy, a photographer who spent much of a day with the ROTC cadets.
Reserve Officer Training Course (ROTC) cadets demonstrate dedication and commitment during their oncampus training. The group I accompanied started their day with a physical training class at 6 a.m. in the
ROTC facility. Then they ran several miles through the campus. Then they hurried back to the ROTC
building to shower and attend their other university classes. Late that afternoon they all gathered at the
ROTC building again and went by truck to go through the obstacle course at the Marine base near campus.
This year there are only about seven women enrolled in ROTC. The officer in command of the group I
observed said that the females keep up with their male counterparts on the obstacle course. Heather
McCoy, staff photographer
10. Refer to the following photograph:
a. Crop and proportion this photo to fit a layout space 38 picas wide by 19 picas deep in the zoo
newsletter.
b. If the cropped picture is published on the zoo Web site at 12 picas wide, what will be its depth?
c. Write a caption with an overline, using this information:
Who: an employee at the Knoxville Zoo
What: unloading a truckload of straw
Where: Knoxville Zoological Gardens
When: 6 a.m. yesterday
Why: straw used as bedding for many of the hundreds of animals at the zoo
Photo credit: Michael Anderson
11. Refer to the following photograph:
a.
b.
Crop and size to fit a layout space 25 picas wide by 31 picas deep in the zoo newsletter.
Write a caption with a tagline from this information:
Who: an employee at the Knoxville Zoo
What: preparing individual bowls of food
Where: Knoxville Zoological Gardens
When: 6 a.m. yesterday
Why: to feed animals at the zoo
Photo credit: Michael Anderson
12. Refer to the following photograph:
a.
Crop and size the photograph at 18 picas wide to accompany an online news story. The new width
after cropping and sizing at 18 picas wide will be _______ picas deep.
b.
Write a caption from this information:
What: Jeep stranded
Where: in 1100 block of Eighth St.
When: yesterday at 7 p.m.
Why: rainstorm; 4 inches of rain fell in less than an hour, according to local weather bureau. Police issue
warning to motorists to avoid driving into standing water because it is impossible to know how deep
the water is.
Photo credit: Michael Anderson
13. Refer to the following photograph:
a.
b.
c.
Crop as needed and size this photo to be published on a newspaper Web site at 18 picas wide, which will
be ____ picas deep.
The same picture will run 38 picas wide in the print edition of the newspaper, which will be ____ picas
deep.
Write a caption from the following information. Use an all-capital, boldface lead-in.
Who: John Smith (No. 41 in white uniform) from Central High, Bryan Langford (No. 3 in dark uniform) from
Halls High School
What: Smith’s touchdown run during fourth quarter; 30 seconds left to play
Where: Central High Stadium
When : last night
Other: Central High had the ball on Halls’s 45-yard line; Smith took handoff from quarterback, went around
right end and scored; Bryan Langford had hold of Smith’s jersey as Smith turned corner, but Langford lost his
grip; no other Halls defender could catch Smith; this was winning score; Central won 14–7.
Photo credit: Miles Cary, Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel
14. Refer to the following photograph:
a.
b.
Crop and proportion this photo to fill a space on the layout 51 picas wide by 28 picas deep. You may
crop one or more of the young dancers from the photo if necessary.
Write a caption for the picture. Unfortunately, the list of names of the children has been misplaced, and
it is close to deadline time, so you will have to write the caption without naming the children.
Who: five girls waiting their turn to audition
What: audition for “The Nutcracker”; 28 girls auditioned
Where: at Monroe Auditorium
When: auditions last night; “The Nutcracker” to be presented at the Monroe Auditorium December 1 through
December 6
Photo credit: Miles Cary, Knoxville (Tenn.) News-Sentinel
15. Crop and size the following photo two different ways:
a. Without cropping anything, size the photo so it can be reproduced at 25 picas wide, which will make
the depth ______ picas.
b. Crop and size the photo so the piece of sculpture alone will be published in a space 25 picas wide by
46 picas deep.
16. Using online or print sources, find an example of each of the types of informational graphics described in
this chapter. For each example, attach a brief written critique, describing whether the proper type of graphic
is used to illustrate the type of data, whether all the elements of a good graphic are used and whether other
guidelines for good informational graphics are followed.
17. T e public relations department of an insurance company is preparing a brochure to promote life insurance
sales. A selling point will be the cost of raising a child from birth to age 17. Decide which type of informational graphic is most appropriate for this information and use the following f gures to create a graphic.
A family with a before-tax income of $59,300 and raising a child born in 2006 can expect to spend a total of
$197,700 on the child by the time he reaches age 17. From birth until the child is age 3, the cost is estimated at
$10,600 per year. Ages 3 to 6 = $10,910 per year; $10,780 per year for ages 6 to 9; $10,610 per year for ages 9, 10
and 11; $11,340 for ages 12 to 14; $11,660 for ages 15 to 17. These figures come from the U.S. Department of
Agriculture, Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion and are adjusted for estimated inflation during the 17year period.
18. A reporter has included the following information in a story. Decide which type of graphic is most appropriate for the information in each paragraph and use the figures to create two graphics.
a. According to a survey at the local shopping mall yesterday, a 7-year-old child here in Centerville receives an average of $4 a week from his or her parents as an allowance. A typical 8-year-old gets $5 a week allowance. By
the time the child is 10, parents typically give an average of $8 per week allowance. On average, an 11-year-old
will get $9 for a weekly allowance; at age 12 that increases to $10; $12 by age 13; $15 at age 15; and $20 at
age 16.
b. What do children spend their allowances on? Our survey indicates that this varies from age to age, but
here is the breakdown for the average 16-year-old respondent: 20 percent on food; 12 percent on music; 26
percent on clothes; 10 percent on gifts, including church contributions; 6 percent savings toward a specific
purchase; 1 percent on school supplies; 25 percent on tickets for movies, concerts, athletic or special events.
19. Create an informational graphic that shows gains that women have made in winning elected offices. The
graph should compare the number of women in office in 1992 and 2006. The information comes from
The White House Project, a nonpartisan and nonprofit organization working to advance women in
business, politics and media.
The U.S. Senate was composed of 97 percent men and 3 percent women in 1992. By 2006, women composed 14
percent of the senators. In the House of Representatives in 1992, 7.7 percent were women and 92.3 percent were
men. By 2006, women held 66 seats in the House of Representatives. In total, 80 of the 535 members of
Congress (both houses) are women (15 percent overall). The number of women governors has changed from 8
percent in 1992 to 16 percent in 2006. Women members in state legislatures were 18.4 percent in 1992 and 22.5
percent in 2006. The United States ranks 69th in the world in terms of women’s representation in national
legislatures or parliaments out of 187 countries, as of March 2006. In April 2005, the United States ranked 49th in
the world, but our standing declined between 2005 and 2006.
20. Create an informational graphic from the following information. Your instructor may direct you to use a
widely available spreadsheet program like Excel or to draw your graph on paper. Find a suitable piece of
artwork to incorporate into your graphic. These figures come from Internet World State, a Web site tracking
world Internet usage.
The percentage of the United States population who used the Internet increased between 2000 and 2008. Keep in
mind that the total population increased each year and the annual percent of Internet users is based on that year’s
population. Here are the numbers (note that figures for 2006 are not available from this source):
2000 = 44.1%
2001 = 50.0%
2002 = 58.0%
2003 = 59.2%
2004 = 68.8%
2005 = 68.1%
2007 = 70.2%
2008 = 72.5%