Photography: Light in Photography

The Importance of light in Photography

A photograph simply records patterns of light, colour, and shade; lighting is all-important in controlling the image. In many cases even illumination is desired to give an accurate rendition of the scene. In other cases the direction, brightness, and colour of light are manipulated for effect.

The Importance of light in Photography. Lighting is a key factor in creating a successful image. ... Therefore it is necessary to control and manipulate light correctly in order to get the best texture, vibrancy of colour and luminosity on your subjects.

Lighting is a key factor in creating a successful image. Lighting determines not only brightness and darkness, but also tone, mood and the atmosphere. Therefore it is necessary to control and manipulate light correctly in order to get the best texture, vibrancy of colour and luminosity on your subjects. By distributing shadow and highlights accurately, you can create stylized professional looking photographs.

A single strobe, a lighting modifier, and a couple of reflectors give you plenty of options. Nevertheless, many photographers prefer the lighting precision and greater sense of depth possible with a multi-light setup. ... Main Light. The main or key light is the primary and, usually, the strongest light.

Light is the most important part of every photo we take, it's what creates everything that we see and affects how it appears. Understanding a little bit about it can really help to improve the quality of our photos and videos.

Natural Light

Light is what allows us to see. It is what shapes and colors every object we can see with out eyes, it creates depth, mood, and color. The word photography comes from “photo” or “light” and “graphy” or “writing”, so photography essentially means “light writing” .The objective of this tutorial is to learn how to see light and use it to our advantage and create interesting and exciting photos. At the end of this tutorial you should have a basic understanding of the following fundamentals of light:

1. Exposure - how bright a scene is and how it effects our image.
2. Quality - how focused or diffuse light is.
3. Color - the color of the light in an image.
4. Direction - where is the light coming from?
5. Highlight - the brightest part of the image
6. Shadow - the darkest part of the image.
7. Contrast - The difference between the bright part of an image and the dark part of an image

How we see

When we see an object we are seeing the light reflected off of it. Sunlight contains light of every color and when it illuminates an object we are seeing certain colors of light reflected by that object that then travel into our eyes. Red objects reflect red light, and green objects reflect green light. Dark objects reflect less light than bright objects. For the purposes of this lesson the most important thing we need to know is that what we see is created by light reflecting off of everything and traveling into out eyes. A photograph is created by capturing the light that is reflecting off of our scene and traveling into our camera, where it is captured by film or a digital sensor.

There is at least one entire field of physics devoted to the study of light and how it behaves, however this type of in depth study is beyond the scope of this tutorial.

Basics of Light

1. Exposure

Exposure is the overall brightness or darkness of a scene. A neutral or normal exposure is one which creates an image that looks similar to how we see it with our eyes. A typical scene during the day has about 10 stops of light in it, and the average high end DSLR captures between 5 and 7 stops. Our eyes can take in somewhere around 20 stops. What this means for us is that what we see in real life is not what we get in the camera or on the screen or in print.

2. Quality

As well as being light or dark, light can also be soft or hard. This is primarily a function of how large the light source is compared to the subject. A large light source close to the subject creates a very soft light with soft shadows if any, the light wraps around the subject. A small bright light far from our subject creates a hard light with hard well defined shadows.
Sunlight may at first appear to be a small light source, however it is both small and soft as the earth’s atmosphere diffuses a lot of it, and it also tends to bounce and reflect off of lighter or bright objects. Fog and cloud also do a lot to diffuse and soften sunlight. While a single ray of sunlight in the forest can be fairly hard, full late afternoon sun in a brighter location (snow, concrete parking lot, dusty dirt lot) is a lot softer. Part of this has to do with the angle the sunlight travels through the atmosphere. In the morning and evening the sun is at a low angle and travels through significantly more of the atmosphere than it does at mid day, this helps to make early and late light a lot softer than midday light.

Evening light in developed areas of the world is also softer than morning light as air pollution builds during the day and helps to diffuse the sunlight further. This pollution normally dissipates a lot at night when temperatures are cooler and the world is asleep, making morning light crisper and cleaner.

arly morning light

3. Color

Sunlight varies in color greatly and this color is measured as temperature in degrees Kelvin. Normal daylight film used to be calibrated at about 5600K which produced a nice image in the middle of the day but was much warmer (towards the red side) in the morning and evening. The diffusing effect of the atmosphere also colors daylight, and normally daylight can vary from a warm 4000K in the late evening to a cool 6500K on a cloudy day. 6500K is considered to be the actual color of daylight without the effect of the atmosphere. Tungsten lightbulbs put out a light that is really orange at around 3200K and fluorescent bulbs can now vary greatly in color. Note that when you are adjusting the color of a RAW photo with the color slider it makes changes opposite to what you would think initially. Moving the slider to a lower number makes images appear cooler, while a higher number makes images appear warmer.

4. Direction

Light travels in a direction for the most part. It may be hard or soft, but the sun is a single light source and that light travels in straight lines radiating out from it. It may bounce and reflect off of things, but try to keep in mind that it has direction. Because of this things can look quite different depending on which direction we view them from, they can be front lit, back lit, or side lit. And everything in between. Remember that this applies to all light sources as well and not just the sun.
We can use natural objects to block or redirect (reflect) the light and change it’s direction, or we can place objects ourselves. 

5. Highlight

The highlight is the brightest part of an image. When we are dealing with a single light source this is normally a reflective surface or object facing the light source.

6. Shadow

Shadow is the darkest part of an image. When we are dealing with a single light source this is normally a non-reflective object or surface facing away from the light source or in the shadow of something else.

7. Contrast

Contrast in an image is the measurement of the difference between the highlights and the shadows. If there is a lot of range between the two there is very little contrast, if there is little range between the two then an image is said to have high contrast. Images shot on a cloudy day usually are low in contrast, and images shot in the bright sun are generally high in contrast.

Things to consider when shooting
1. See the light - What does it look like?

Learn to see what the light actually looks like before you shoot. Take a look around, is it bright or dark? Where is the light coming from? Are there shadows and highlights? How is the contrast?

Take the time to evaluate the scene you are shooting and look at it from different angles, not just for composition but for light as well. If you’re shooting front lit in an area of high contrast i.e. bright highlights and dark shadows, it may be very difficult to see anything, try looking at it from a backlit angle.

Look at large areas of light and shadow and see if you can use them compositionally. Plants and greenery and other translucent objects often look better backlit.

2. Control the light - Can you make the light work for you?

Can you use a scrim to block unwanted light, or a reflector to add some light? Sometimes it doesn’t take much to change average light into good light. The easiest way is usually to choose a different time of day when the light works for you. Early morning or late afternoon/evening traditionally has the best light, but sometimes there is less than an hour of the day when the light might be perfect for what you need. Light between two trees or buildings for example.

Positioning Light

The source your light is coming from has a huge impact on how it falls on your subject. Light originating from behind the camera, and pointing directly onwards gives you very flat lighting. It will also cause shadows to fall in the background of the image. Side lighting produces a far more interesting light, as it shows the shape of the subject much more and cast it in partial shadow giving it a more dramatic look. Rembrandt lighting is an effective common example of this lighting type. Lighting sourced from the back of your subject gives an alternative effect. This time most of the light is hitting the side of the subject making it brighter, which creates a more distinctive and dramatic photo.

Shaping Light

Adding a diffuser to your light source can reduce glare and harsh shadows and also diminishes blemishes on your subject. It gives your artificial light a softer more natural looking result. You can diffuse light numerous ways. Using soft boxes, umbrellas and sheer heatproof material work really well to achieve this result.

Manipulating Light

Light can be manipulated to fall on a particular area of interest on your subject. This can be achieved through the use of diffusers and reflectors. Collapsible Reflectors shape sunlight or bounce flash light with on area you’d prefer to highlight. Spot lights can also be covered in light shapers that enable you to have more control over the direction the light will fall and how broad the light spans.

Once you’ve achieved the best possible result with your lighting setup, you can also create a more effects through Adobes light room. This software has the capability to enhance and improve your digital photographs. Giving you the options to change colour balance and temperature, improving tones, sharpening, reducing noise, cropping, and even converting to black-and-white. Lighting can be the difference between a breath-taking photo and a poor one. Mastering how to use light to your advantage and getting the best possible result out of your setup will also separate your work from your contemporaries and put you on the path to achieving professional looking imagery.

Anchoring: Public Speaking

Public Speaking

Whether we're talking in a team meeting or presenting in front of an audience, we all have to speak in public from time to time.

We can do this well or we can do this badly, and the outcome strongly affects the way that people think about us. This is why public speaking causes so much anxiety and concern.

The good news is that, with thorough preparation and practice, you can overcome your nervousness and perform exceptionally well.

Become a confident and compelling public speaker.

The Importance of Public Speaking

Even if you don't need to make regular presentations in front of a group, there are plenty of situations where good public speaking skills can help you advance your career and create opportunities.

For example, you might have to talk about your organization at a conference, make a speech after accepting an award, or teach a class to new recruits. Speaking to an audience also includes online presentations or talks; for instance, when training a virtual team, or when speaking to a group of customers in an online meeting.

Good public speaking skills are important in other areas of your life, as well. You might be asked to make a speech at a friend's wedding, give a eulogy for a loved one, or inspire a group of volunteers at a charity event.

In short, being a good public speaker can enhance your reputation, boost your self-confidence, and open up countless opportunities.

However, while good skills can open doors, poor ones can close them. For example, your boss might decide against promoting you after sitting through a badly-delivered presentation. You might lose a valuable new contract by failing to connect with a prospect during a sales pitch. Or you could make a poor impression with your new team, because you trip over your words and don't look people in the eye.

Make sure that you learn how to speak well!

Strategies for Becoming a Better Speaker

The good news is that speaking in public is a learnable skill. As such, you can use the following strategies to become a better speaker and presenter.

Plan Appropriately

First, make sure that you plan your communication appropriately. Use tools like the Rhetorical Triangle, Monroe's Motivated Sequence, and the 7Cs of Communication to think about how you'll structure what you're going to say.

When you do this, think about how important a book's first paragraph is; if it doesn't grab you, you're likely going to put it down. The same principle goes for your speech: from the beginning, you need to intrigue your audience.

For example, you could start with an interesting statistic, headline, or fact that pertains to what you're talking about and resonates with your audience.

Planning also helps you to think on your feet. This is especially important for unpredictable question and answer sessions or last-minute communications.

Tip:

Remember that not all occasions when you need to speak in public will be scheduled. You can make good impromptu speeches by having ideas and mini-speeches pre-prepared. It also helps to have a good, thorough understanding of what's going on in your organization and industry.

Practice

There's a good reason that we say, "Practice makes perfect!" You simply cannot be a confident, compelling speaker without practice.

To get practice, seek opportunities to speak in front of others. You could also put yourself in situations that require public speaking, such as by cross-training a group from another department, or by volunteering to speak at team meetings.

If you're going to be delivering a presentation or prepared speech, create it as early as possible. The earlier you put it together, the more time you'll have to practice.

Practice it plenty of times alone, using the resources you'll rely on at the event, and, as you practice, tweak your words until they flow smoothly and easily.

Then, if appropriate, do a dummy run in front of a small audience: this will help you calm your jitters and make you feel more comfortable with the material. Your audience can also give you useful feedback, both on your material and on your performance.

Engage With Your Audience

When you speak, try to engage your audience. This makes you feel less isolated as a speaker and keeps everyone involved with your message. If appropriate, ask leading questions targeted to individuals or groups, and encourage people to participate and ask questions.

Keep in mind that some words reduce your power as a speaker. For instance, think about how these sentences sound: "I just want to add that I think we can meet these goals" or "I just think this plan is a good one." The words "just" and "I think" limit your authority and conviction. Don't use them.

A similar word is "actually," as in, "Actually, I'd like to add that we were under budget last quarter." When you use "actually," it conveys a sense of submissiveness or even surprise. Instead, say what things are. "We were under budget last quarter" is clear and direct.

Also, pay attention to how you're speaking. If you're nervous, you might talk quickly. This increases the chances that you'll trip over your words, or say something you don't mean. Force yourself to slow down by breathing deeply. Don't be afraid to gather your thoughts; pauses are an important part of conversation, and they make you sound confident, natural, and authentic.

Finally, avoid reading word-for-word from your notes. Instead, make a list of important points on cue cards, or, as you get better at public speaking, try to memorize what you're going to say – you can still refer back to your cue cards when you need them.

Pay Attention to Body Language

If you're unaware of it, your body language will give your audience constant, subtle clues about your inner state. If you're nervous, or if you don't believe in what you're saying, the audience can soon know.

Pay attention to your body language: stand up straight, take deep breaths, look people in the eye, and smile. Don't lean on one leg or use gestures that feel unnatural.

Many people prefer to speak behind a podium when giving presentations. While podiums can be useful for holding notes, they put a barrier between you and the audience. They can also become a "crutch," giving you a hiding place from the dozens or hundreds of eyes that are on you.

Instead of standing behind a podium, walk around and use gestures to engage the audience. This movement and energy will also come through in your voice, making it more active and passionate.

Think Positively

Positive thinking can make a huge difference to the success of your communication, because it helps you feel more confident.

Fear makes it all too easy to slip into a cycle of negative self-talk, especially right before you speak, while self-sabotaging thoughts such as "I'll never be good at this!" or "I'm going to fall flat on my face!" lower your confidence and increase the chances that you won't achieve what you're truly capable of.

Use affirmations and visualization to raise your confidence. This is especially important right before your speech or presentation. Visualize giving a successful presentation, and imagine how you'll feel once it's over and when you've made a positive difference for others. Use positive affirmations such as "I'm grateful I have the opportunity to help my audience" or "I'm going to do well!"

Cope With Nerves

How often have you listened to or watched a speaker who really messed up? Chances are, the answer is "not very often."

When we have to speak in front of others, we can envision terrible things happening. We imagine forgetting every point we want to make, passing out from our nervousness, or doing so horribly that we'll lose our job. But those things almost never come to pass! We build them up in our minds and end up more nervous than we need to be.

Many people cite speaking to an audience as their biggest fear, and a fear of failure is often at the root of this. Public speaking can lead your "fight or flight" response to kick in: adrenaline courses through your bloodstream, your heart rate increases, you sweat, and your breath becomes fast and shallow.

A certain amount of pressure enhances performance. By changing your mindset, you can use nervous energy to your advantage.

First, make an effort to stop thinking about yourself, your nervousness, and your fear. Instead, focus on your audience: what you're saying is "about them." Remember that you're trying to help or educate them in some way, and your message is more important than your fear. Concentrate on the audience's wants and needs, instead of your own.

If time allows, use deep breathing exercises to slow your heart rate and give your body the oxygen it needs to perform. This is especially important right before you speak. Take deep breaths from your belly, hold each one for several seconds, and let it out slowly.

Crowds are more intimidating than individuals, so think of your speech as a conversation that you're having with one person. Although your audience may be 100 people, focus on one friendly face at a time, and talk to that person as if he or she is the only one in the room.

Watch Recordings of Your Speeches

Whenever possible, record your presentations and speeches. You can improve your speaking skills dramatically by watching yourself later, and then working on improving in areas that didn't go well.

As you watch, notice any verbal stalls, such as "um" or "like." Look at your body language: are you swaying, leaning on the podium, or leaning heavily on one leg? Are you looking at the audience? Did you smile? Did you speak clearly at all times?

Pay attention to your gestures. Do they appear natural or forced? Make sure that people can see them, especially if you're standing behind a podium.

Last, look at how you handled interruptions, such as a sneeze or a question that you weren't prepared for. Does your face show surprise, hesitation, or annoyance? If so, practice managing interruptions like these smoothly, so that you're even better next time.

Key Points

Chances are that you'll sometimes have to speak in public as part of your role. While this can seem intimidating, the benefits of being able to speak well outweigh any perceived fears. To become a better speaker, use the following strategies:

·         Plan appropriately.

·         Practice.

·         Engage with your audience.

·         Pay attention to body language.

·         Think positively.

·         Cope with your nerves.

·         Watch recordings of your speeches.

If you speak well in public, it can help you get a job or promotion, raise awareness for your team or organization, and educate others. The more you push yourself to speak in front of others, the better you'll become, and the more confidence you'll have.

Anchoring: Mic Technique

Mic Technique

 

Types of microphone

Whether you’re doing voice-overs for a synch-sound or video project, recording interviews, or simply narrating a story for a kid’s podcast, microphone technique is the first stage of your signal path, and it’s where good production value for your acoustic recordings will begin.

Omni-directional mics have a much smoother frequency response (especially in the low end), and are less susceptible to wind and breathing noises.

Placement

Once you've chosen your mic, you'll need to consider mic placement. Whether standing with a handheld, or clipping to a stand, or even resting your mic on something soft like towels or a big sponge (if you're REALLY stuck without stand), you should try to keep your mic or mics pointed away from very close walls, and at least a few feet away from any such walls, and especially kept out of any corners, unless you’d like to purposely over accentuate some lower frequencies.

Tabletops are also tricky, and you should point mic(s) as directly away from the surface as possible to limit another type of phase interference between the direct sound and any short reflections of the same sound off the tabletop. The ratio of the direct sound to the reflected sound in the room can also cause that overly 'roomy' tone if the ratio is too low. This can be optimized by getting a mic as close as you can to the source without overdriving the signal, since the stronger the direct signal is the less obvious the sound from room reflections will be in relation to it. Just keep in mind that this will also make it harder to set optimum levels with so many emphasized peaks, so try to back off the mic a tiny a bit for louder passages or emphasised lines, unless you've got a properly setup compressor to smooth out those exaggerated close proximity peaks.

If you’re doing handheld interviews for the first time, you should practice your grip (as well as your interviewing manner) by cranking the gain a bit and listening to the handling sounds to learn what you can, and can’t get away with when moving about or griping the mic barrel. Remember that a firm grip is best, and to always hold the mic towards your subject to catch any afterthoughts or interruptions, and only briefly speak your parts into the mic if you need to add anything to the recording yourself. Giving yourself an ‘off axis’ sound by only speaking into the side of the mic, will not only help differentiate you (from your subject) in the recording, but it will also leave the mic pre-angled at your subject in order to more quickly put them right back on axis, and not miss anything they say.

With dynamic mics you will notice what’s called the ‘proximity effect’ when you get very close to your source, and start hearing a noticeable boost in the low frequencies. This effect might be desirable for vocals, and can be modulated by moving in or away from the mic. This proximity will also exaggerate popping sounds and consonants such as P’s, B’s, D’s, and T’s. You can limit this effect by turning the mic slightly ‘off axis’ by placing or pointing slightly away from those explosive expletives that are being projected directly out from in front of the speakers mouth. If you’ve ever seen the fancy looking ‘polar patterns’ for your mic, you will start to see different ways to approach the mic as well for different response levels. For now though, you should simply point the most responsive part of the mics pickup pattern just slightly off axis to any problematic sources. For explosive voices or sensitive condensers you can also fashion a pop filter out of hosiery or thin socks by stretching them over a modified wire coat hanger, and placing that in front of the mic, but just try backing off the mic a bit to see if that helps first. As always, staying close to the source of the problem with the simplest solution is likely the best approach.

How many microphones to use

Be very careful if and when mixing more than one open mic signal together (perhaps in hope of creating a stereo recording), because any slight shifts in 'phase' of the common signal (caused by slight differences in the precise distance between your subject and either mic) can cause very audible phase cancellations once they are mixed back together. Try to stick to mono recording if recording one speaker only or perhaps even for a two person interview. This will sound more clear and coherent when mixed with into stereo with for example music, ambience or sound effects.

For large meetings it may still be useful to consider multi-channel recording, placing several microphones around the room, recording each microphone on its own channel. The multiple channels can be mixed down to mono later, selecting for each speaker whichever channel gives the highest ratio of speech to room noise. When post-processing, simply choose one channel for each speaker, mute the others, then mix down.

Be aware though that Audacity especially on Windows may not be able to record multi-channel from all hardware and that this may be very dependent on the audio drivers used. Multi-channel recording also increases CPU usage and disk space usage. Be sure to test the hardware in multi-channel mode in advance, as running out of CPU capacity could cause recordings to have drop-outs or fail completely.

Technical Issues

Dynamic Range

One feature of recording people speaking is uncertainty of recording level. Speakers vary in volume, and may not be aware of the best microphone techniques so for example may stand in different positions relative to the microphone. In some cases, such as meetings and conference recording, there may also be remote participants who are being heard through a radio or television receiver. The result is wide recording level variations that can be managed through better microphone placement and techniques (above), audio compression before recording (coming soon), or the good old fashioned 'riding' of input levels if you're feeling brave and confident enough that you won't ruin a recording with excessive fader/knob 'moves'. The best results would likely result from subtle applications of all of the above.

Human Issues

Speaking Technique

Generally the less attention speakers pay to microphones the better their talk, and a way to minimize awareness is to not even mention the subject.

Hidden microphones can put speakers more at ease. They still know the microphone is there, but not being repeatedly reminded of it helps.

A basic way to create a hidden microphone is to cover a black-colored microphone and its visible section of lead with a layer of lightweight open weave clothing.

Reluctant speakers can sometimes be enticed forward by informing them that they get to review their recording and can say no to its distribution if they wish. This approach is only suitable for some situations of course, but it does elicit more spoken material. Reluctant speakers tend to fear things that don't usually happen, and usually say yes to distribution afterwards.

Anchoring: Scripting for Radio

Scripting for Radio

Writing for radio is different than writing for print. You’re writing for the ear, not the eye. Listeners have to get it the first time around- they can’t go back and hear it again (unlike re-reading a sentence in a magazine). And while a reader may get up and come back to an article, a radio listener who gets up may not come back. So you want to grab their attention and hold onto it for as long as possible. Writing feature stories like the ones aired on B-Side is also different than writing news copy. You can loosen up a little. You can be more literary, more creative, more personal. This handout is a quick guide to writing a script for a feature radio story.

Getting Started: Logging Tape
After you’ve finished your reporting, it’s time to log your tape. This means listening to everything you’ve recorded and writing it up. You should transcribe quotes, note who’s saying what, time how long the tracks are, and (if you’re using a minidisc) note the track numbers. Highlight or mark tracks you know you want to come back to. You don’t have to log the tracks you know you won’t use. Example

Choosing Your Acts 
After you’ve logged your tape, you should select the tracks you want to use (tracks are also called cuts, soundbites, or actualities). Cuts generally shouldn’t be longer than 30 seconds- you only have a few minutes and besides, most radio listeners have short attention spans. (If you have a great long cut, you can break it up with your narration or edit it down). Don’t just choose cuts purely based on what’s said- also consider how it’s said. Think about how your cuts will fit into your story structure- do they describe something, tell a story, make you laugh, make you scratch your head? Your actualities should advance the story and make it interesting.

Starting to Write
As you start writing your script, you probably already have a good idea what your story’s going to sound like. You’ve listened to all the clips and ambiance, maybe selected some music. You may have talked about the story with a friend or editor. Basically, you already have all the elements floating around in your head. Start writing your script by laying out all your cuts in the order you think you’re going to use them. Then start writing your narration around them.

Anchor Intros 
The place to start is usually the “anchor intro”- this is what the announcer/host will say to introduce your story. An anchor intro quickly sets up your story and puts it in context, without giving away too much. It should also introduce you, the reporter/producer.

Telling a Story 
As you write your narration, try to tell a story with a beginning, middle, and end. Draw listeners into the story by setting a scene, raising a question, playing a weird noise, or introducing a character. Use narrative elements like foreshadowing, suspense, and scene changes to move the story along.

Mix Things Up
Use tracks of varying length. A series of 20-second acts interspersed with 10-second tracks will get pretty monotonous. And when you wrap up your story, don’t end with an actuality or just a sign off. You should get the last word, even if it’s just a short sentence.

A few aesthetic considerations to keep in mind as you write your script:

Be conversational. Your narration should sound as natural as possible, like you’re telling a story to a friend. This is not the same as trying to imitate spontaneous speech. Instead, this means writing in a style that sounds as relaxed as possible. Use phrases and words you normally use. When you read your narration aloud, do you sound like yourself?

Be visual. Give your listeners a chance to imagine the people, places and things in your story. Create a sense of scene; describe people; include interesting sounds. Avoid a story that’s just a series of talking heads or facts.

Be concise. Long sentences loaded with ten-cent words and relative clauses usually don’t work too well in radio (but there are exceptions). Mix up your sentence structure. It’s surprisingly easy to fill 3 or 4 minutes of airtime- so don’t overwrite.

Be energetic. Use the active voice. Use punchy verbs and contractions. Mind your tenses – don’t switch back and forth between past and present. Most radio stories are done in present tense. Some exceptions include commentaries, and news stories about past events.

Be experimental. For variety, stick in a tape-to-tape cut (one actuality leading straight into another without narration in between). Mix acts and tracks. For example, if someone is droning on and on, you can play them under your narration- this will convey a sense of them rambling. Even the most straightforward story can have an unusual or memorable element in it.

Be thoughtful. Try to go beyond just presenting the facts. Let your listeners know why your story matters. Is there a lesson to be learned, something to be taken away? You don’t have to get too heavy or cerebral- just take it a step or two beyond pure description.

Writing for the Ear 
The way you listen to speech is different than the way you read. A few tricks to make sure your listeners stay tuned in:

Keep ideas intact. Don’t break up subjects and verbs. Compare these three sentences:
– Nancy Smith, who is the founder and CEO of the Acme Corporation, says the widget market is booming.
– Acme Corporation founder and CEO Nancy Smith says the widget market is booming.
– Nancy Smith is the founder and CEO of the Acme Corporation. She says the widget market is booming.

Nancy Smith gets lost in the first one. The next two sentences express the same idea without losing track of who’s being talked about or who she is.

Write transitions in and out of your actualities. You don’t have to be obvious, but acts shouldn’t seem abrupt or forced. If you give someone’s name three sentences before you play their clip, you should mention their name again before they start talking. This will remind listeners who’s about to talk.

Likewise, don’t follow an actuality from one person by naming another person. This can make it sound like Person #2 just said Person #1’s actuality. o You don’t have to write in complete sentences. You can also break up sentences for emphasis.

Acts and Tracks

Radio scripts generally follow a common format. Here are a few guidelines:

Label each actuality “ACT”. Note who’s talking and how long it is. Actualities are usually distinguished from narration with boldface, italics, capitalization, indentation, or some combination of these.

Label each track of your narration “TRX” or “TRK”. Note how long it takes for you to read it. o Use parentheses or brackets to note when ambience (labeled “AMB” or “AMBI”) or music is playing. The more specifics about how this sound will be used, the better. This will help your editor and will remind you what to do when you’re mixing the final version.

Give the phonetic spelling of hard-to-pronounce words and names in parentheses after the name. Write out numbers and abbreviations – it will slow your read down if you have to figure out how to say 1,459 when you could read “one thousand, four hundred and fifty nine” Not that you should use such a specific number in your story-use approximate numbers.

Note the estimated length of the entire story (without the anchor intro) at the top of the script. A rough rule of thumb to use: one page of single-spaced script usually corresponds to a minute and a half to two minutes of produced tape.

Anchoring: Voice Projection

Voice Projection

Most people feel that they are not able to project their voice and articulate the words properly.

Presenters often want advice on projecting their voice. They see voice projection as a solution to not talking loud enough.

What’s the underlying reason for not projecting voice properly?

There are three possibilities:

1. You don’t know how to use your voice effectively to make it go louder.

2. Nervousness is subduing you, and as a result you’re speaking too quietly.

3. You’re not looking at the people you’re speaking to.

 

1. Can you use your voice?

Learning how to project your voice is obviously the solution to the first problem. The vast majority of people do know how to increase the volume of their voice. It’s a natural human skill. Sure, to be an opera singer you might need some technical training on voice projection – but not to be a presenter.

Most likely, you already know how to use your voice.

Have a play with your voice

Test this out in a large room with an honest, compassionate and playful friend. Stand at opposite ends of the room. Focus on your friend – can you make yourself heard across the room? Now have a play with your voice. Experiment.

How soft can you speak? How loud can you speak? Can you make it boom?

Can you make it squeak? Your voice is carried on your breath so experiment with your breathing – breath from your diaphragm (put your hand on your belly to check that you’re doing this) and see how your voice sounds.

Get feedback from your friend on how your voice sounds. In this stress-free

environment, you’ll probably find you can use your voice just fine. If you are having problems (and your friend agrees ie: it’s not just your perception) then you might need more help from a voice coach or singing teacher.

 

2. Nervousness is subduing you

So you know how to use your voice, but when you’re in front of an audience that ability deserts you! Fear and nervousness are a normal part of public speaking for many people. And for you, it makes you go quiet.

Here’s what I speculate might be going on for you.

You might have a thought that goes like this:

“I must be approved by every person in the audience. If they don’t approve of me that would be awful.”

If you believe this thought, you defend yourself against the possiblity of disapproval by speaking quietly. After all, if they can’t hear or understand what you say, they can’t disapprove.

But this thought is untrue and irrational. I recommend using strategies from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to deal with thoughts like this. That means first challenging the thought and then replacing it with a more rational and empowering thought.

Challenge the thought

It’s not true that you must have everyone’s approval. Sure, you’d like it – but it’s not essential to your survival. Part of becoming comfortable with public speaking is becoming comfortable with the idea that you won’t always get approval from every person in your audience. I like this Bill Cosby quote:

“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”

Replace the thought

Here’s a more rational and empowering thought to replace it with:

“I’d like people in the audience to approve of what I have to say, but I’ll be able to cope if they don’t.”

Note that this isn’t a positive affirmation like “Everyone will approve of me”. That’s not necessarily true – sometimes people don’t like you or what you have to say. And as a result it’s not believable. The replacement thought that I have suggested is truthful and believable. And it will make you feel more confident.

 

3. You’re not looking at the people you’re speaking to

There are some people – and maybe you’re one of them – who don’t look at their audience when they’re speaking. Maybe you look at the screen, at the floor, at the ceiling, or into the middle distance.

When we speak one-on-one to someone, we naturally modulate our volume so that they can hear us. If they’re close, we speak softly. If they’re across the room, we up the volume.

This natural ability comes into play when you look at the person you’re speaking to.

I’m not talking fleeting eye contact. Choose one audience-member to talk to and imagine you’re having a one-on-one conversation with them. Speak just to them. Make a connection with them. Look for their reaction as you’re talking.

Then choose another person to talk to. When you talk like this – with the intention of connecting with each individual audience member – you will naturally project your voice so that they can hear you.

You may be uncomfortable with this sustained eye connection. But what you’re uncomfortable with may be just right for your audience. You can test this out by gathering together a range of friends or colleagues. Experiment with eye connection. Then ask them to tell you whether it was uncomfortable for them.

 

Summary

You probably don’t need to learn how to project your voice. You can already do that. But do look at the thoughts that might be making you nervous. And use your natural ability to modulate the volume of your voice by speaking to each person in your audience.