Tips on "citizen" photography

Non-professional photography gets a boost, as the motto "right place, right time" becomes the guideline. Guardian.co.uk blogger Ravi Somaiya has shown that it doesn't take much to snap photos of celebrities, relating back to the Getty Images-Flickr deal that might turn the everyday person into a photo source for publications.

"Because the imagery is not shot for commercial services, there is more authenticity. Advertisers are looking for authenticity," said Jonathan Klein, co-founder and chief executive of Getty Images.

"Citizen journalism" such as including yourself alongside a celebrity may "work" better because it shows interaction, said Rob Bennet, a New York Times photographer and Photojournalism professor at Columbia University.

"You need good information or a good sense of where celebrities are going to be. Situations develop quickly so you have to be able to use your camera to be up and firing very fast. A certain tactfulness can go a long way, coupled with a willingness to take calculated risks. You're also going to have a lot more luck outdoors in the daytime than indoors," said Bennett.

Although the economic explosion that lead to the wide-spread availability of cameras gave a more "authentic" feel to photographs, editors may have to put more effort into verifying that a photo wasn't taken under illegal circumstances, such as a breech of privacy.

Source: Guardian.co.uk

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