GSPA Conference

The first class I attended at today's GSPA conference was "Photoshop Tips & Tricks" by Mark Childers. I hoped this class would help me with layout and design for print or internet publication. Although it started out fairly basic, like using layers and the toolbar, it ended up teaching me some new things. Most of the seminar focused on using masking in pictures. Mr. Childers showed us several techniques -- how to make a mostly black and white picture with a few color areas, how to do a "zoom blur" effect, how to combine different takes of a group photo to make everyone look good, and how to make a panorama out of separate pictures. He also discussed the ethical implications of photoshopping as a journalist, and said that it should be done sparingly. Overall, I felt the session was probably more helpful for someone working on a yearbook or literary magazine, or maybe an ad designer. But it was still good to learn some new techniques.

After that, I went to "Keep Your Reader on the Hook" by Meg Ferrante. This class was about taking the boring, repetitive stories that most reporters have to deal with, and making them interesting for both the journalist and the reader. Specifically, she dealt with how to improve lede writing. Again, this session started off with basics that I already knew -- make the lede short and concise, use the "5 W's and the H", and capture the reader's imagination. But she also made me think about how I could improve my own lede writing. She showed us some examples of ledes from a high school newspaper, many of which followed the same format and which were all pretty bad. Although I don't think I have those same problems in my lede writing, it made me realize that I often stick to the same few formats. They're a bit more interesting than a basic news lede, but I definitely have some room for improvement and variety. I also realized that my stories often don't get creative and interesting until the second or third paragraph, and I want to try to pull the reader in with the first paragraph.