Tips for Taking Photos on the Picket Line

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Scott Doherty, Executive Assistant to the President speaking to a rally in Regina

Please designate someone to take photos on every shift.

One of the key tactics that will help us achieve our goals is a strong, continuous, and fresh presence on social media. To achieve that, we need a constant flow of coverage of our awesome members on the picket line.

Do:

  1. Go horizontal. Turn your phone sideways and get a picture that is wide, not tall.
  2. Get close. Don’t zoom, instead get physically closer to your subject and eliminate empty space (sky/ground) so we can get great high quality images of our members.
  3. Take more pics than you need and sort them later. Send us only the best ones (with everyone’s eyes open).

Don’t:

  1. Don’t zoom* Smart phones use a digital zoom that degrades the quality of the photo. If you feel the need to zoom, move closer!
  2. Don’t send small files. If your email app asks you, send the original/large file. We need high-resolution photos.
  3. Don’t apply filters. Please don’t use iPhone’s Live Photo features or any other bells and whistles like filters or vignettes. Those features are nice but give us the #nofilter photo so we have the flexibility to edit as needed.

 

Videos:

If you can film short (5 – 15 seconds) “b-roll” (eg. Members walking a picket line or a short “One Day Longer – One Day Stronger” chant, that is helpful. As with photos, the higher resolution, the better.

Video should be shared via Dropbox or Google Drive or another cloud-based service so you don’t burn all of your cell plan data. If this sounds too complicated, we can help—or don’t bother, static pictures are the priority.

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cell phone, turn your phone sideways when recording video

 

How many should I send?

1-5 photos per day is plenty.

Are selfies okay?

Yes! Especially if you get your fellow picketers in the background.