Photojournalist Job Description, Duties, and Responsibilities

This post provides detailed information on the photojournalist job description, including the key duties, tasks, and responsibilities they commonly perform.

It also highlights the major requirements you may be expected to fulfill to be hired for the photojournalist role by most recruiters/employers.

What Does a Photojournalist Do?

Photojournalists capture images of events, incidents or people to create a press story.

The photojournalist job description entails editing and preparing pictures taken in real life situations to obtain visual materials used to support news stories.

In performing their duties, photojournalists visit several locations to obtain photographs of people, events or scenery for journalistic purposes.

They usually work for news agencies, magazines or documentary companies. Their role involves covering of important occasions such as the Olympics, national election, mass protest and other relevant events.

Photojournalists usually operate a range of cameras and image-enhancing equipment such as artificial lighting, lenses, and filters.

They use these tools to capture clear images, which depict a situation and tell a convincing story.

Their work description may also write a brief narration to describe or caption an image.

As part of their responsibilities, photojournalists conduct research to gather useful information about a subject prior to photo shoot.

They process images by developing negatives and using specialized computer software such as Photoshop or Print Shop Pro to edit and enhance image, and also present photos to supervisors for review and approval.

Photojournalists as part of their duties liaise with reporters to position images in a manner cohesive with news stories.

They arrange their schedule and appointments in a fashion that allows for daily completion of assigned tasks. They also keep record of photographs using image databases.

In fulfilling their role, photojournalists may work as freelance press photographers to cover an event and sell the images to a newspaper or web news agency.

They negotiate price of photography and services provided. They also convert images to digital format to allow for web use.

Photojournalists as part of their description use email and other messaging applications to forward images for publication.

They often work in rather dangerous conditions such as poor weather, war zones and other life-threatening conditions.

They also maintain work instruments and ensure they are fully functional for field work.

To get into the photojournalist career requires a Bachelor’s degree in photojournalism, journalism, law, or in a related discipline.

To succeed on the job, the qualities you will need include an eye for details, technical skill, and a lot of courage.

Photojournalist Job Description Example/Template

Photojournalists perform various functions in their bid to provide the best pictures to support a news story.

The job description example below gives major duties, tasks, and responsibilities that commonly make up the photojournalist role:

• Use a variety of cameras to take photographs of important locations, people, events or moments
• Process photos by developing negatives or editing digital images to produce clear visuals
• Compose headlines, captions or other descriptive tag to interpret a photo
• Use photo editing software such as Print Shop Pro or Photoshop to edit or enhance an image
• Travel to local and international regions to cover the photo requirements of a story
• Collaborate with reporters to ensure images correspond with news stories
• Present photos to editors or supervisors to review and approval
• Negotiate the price of images and photography services when working as freelance press photographers
• Manage time effectively in order to achieve assigned tasks
• Conduct research to verify facts about an event or incident prior to photo shoot
• Keep record of photographs in an image database
• Manipulate parameters such as lighting, focus, depth and distance to obtain clear images
• Capture images of life-threatening situations such as crisis, war or extreme weather conditions
• Specialize in one or more aspects of photography such as sports, press, documentary or freelance photography
• Conduct interviews to obtain facts which validate a news story.

Requirements – Skills, Abilities, and Knowledge – for Photojournalist Job

If you are seeking to work as a photojournalist, here are typical requirements most employers may expect you to meet to be qualified for an interview:

• Education and Training: To become a photojournalist, you require a Bachelor’s degree in photography, photojournalism, or journalism. Knowledge of photo editing programs such as Photoshop and other similar software is necessary for the job. Photojournalists are also required to maintain a portfolio of images which highlight their photojournalistic abilities
• Eye for details: Photojournalists are able to capture images which are visually descriptive and validate a news story
• Technical Skill: They are able to operate various photography tools and equipment to obtain images for a publication
• Courage: They display some level of courage when working to obtain images under life-threatening circumstances.

Conclusion

If you are hiring for the position of photojournalist, you can simply apply the sample job description provided in this post to quickly make one for use in the recruitment process.

You can improve your chances of attracting the best candidates for the job by creating a detailed work description, which you can achieve by using the photojournalist duties and responsibilities given in this article.

Also, if you are interested in becoming a photojournalist, this post shows you the duties and responsibilities of the position to expect to perform in the career.

With this information, you can decide if photojournalism is the right career for you.