some help needed with a shoot

While making my journey in photgraphy I'm working (for free) for a very small community newspaper. I get the expierience and the opportunity to shoot far more interesting things.

On Friday evening I have been asked to shoot the beginning of a 12 hour vigil around a neighborhood war memorial. In Canada it's Remeberance Day, in the US it's Vetrans Day.

I scouted the location tonight to get an idea of what I might be up against. A picture will follow of one my hand held test shots tonight. It's in a communnity centre with lots of vapor lighting everywhere. The position I shot from was what I hoped might be the best, but I may shoot from the other side of the monument looking directly at a rather ugly building behind. Why, less wierd ambient light.

The ulitmate shot will be B/W. For this test shot, again hand held but I will be using a tripod Friday evening the settings are: 1DMKII, 24-40L at 24 mm, 2.8, 1/2 sec, ISO 400.

Keep in mind there was a LOT of fog this evening so the flash went everywhere. Thats why there is a haze to the test shot.

I also have a Gary Fong Lightspere on the 55o EX flash head. I may lose the Fong diffuser on Friday.

I'm also wondering if I wouldn't be better getting the flash away from the camera. I really like the idea of getting the flash behind the young cadets that will be surrounding the Memorial but I'm not sure if just one light is going to be enough to produce those long shadows that look so stirring is this kind of shot. It's either deal with the ambient or knock it down and meter accordingly.

Your thoughts are most welcome! I need some ideas here folks so I'm asking the experts!

Jeff

Here's another question.

I looked at the prices of pocket wizards tonight and they are quite expensive in Canada. Are there any other recommended wireless slave units available for occasional use? I know I can get the Canon ST-1 I think it's called but that rules out line of sight triggering to some extent.

Thanks!

Jeff

Hi Jeff!

Congratulations on your assignment. You have first class equipment. Tell me how far you are away from the monument in feet? I presume this picture was not with flash?

In any case, you do not need a diffuser. You need the opposite! We must get as much light forward as possible. I'd remove the diffuser. The fog if any will diffuse, but that doesn't really matter. You need light.

I would get instead a white card or a white disposable card plate behind the flsh with an elastic band or get a similar cheap one from your photostore that just sends the light forward. Better Beamer has a nice casing for this.

I'd return to the memorial ASAP and take more shots. Try at least 800 or 1000 ISO.

This current exposure will be a guide for the background, at roughly 1/10 sec at 2.8 with the optimum flash. Work in manual and get it right before hand.

I'd check whether or not you have a reserved spot and if there will be unobstructed bview. You may need a step stool or even a ladder depending on the crowd. If so, the tripod might be out!

Bracket exposures!

Have enough memory so you don't have to fiddle in the dark.

Good luck,

Asher

Thanks Aher,

I doubt there will be a huge crowd..so that will not be an issue.

I'm looking to create a more stark b/w shot than a open shot as the picture showed.

There's just too much lousy vapour light around. No matter where I shoot from I'll have one of those in the shot if I shoot wide.

I'm thinking I'll use the 70-200l to get in close on one cadet and the monument, with others in the brokah behind to create the somber mood. We as the US has have lost an inordinate amount of service people in the past year in the Middle East. (Please no politcal comment) So I want to capture the idea these young people are standing vigil when in other years they might not have.

I'll return to the site thusday night for some tripod and high ISO shots...although I have to tell you the ones I shot at 1000ISO tonight were so grainy and cloudy, but I'm making an assumption it was the fog that created this illusion.

It was in my mind to lose the Fong light adaptor and to simply create a snoot around the head of the 550 to direct the light to one source in a tight shot. I think thats my best option. The wide open monument with cadets all around is out. Just way too much added light to be able to capture this..at my ability.

Any thoughts?

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

As well as the big scene, don't forget the small detailed shots, the feet, the hands, the books, the wheel chairs and so on.

Best wishes,

Ray

Jeff,

To get the whole group of cadets is no big deal. Just rent another flash and have frame to hold both. cost about $5!

Asher

Since the vigil will be 12 hours in length ending at 9 AM..I'm also thinking of returning at sunrise to get a picture then...might be a better option. But I don't want to walk away from this challenge of shooting at night. This one has me stumped! How do you get a shot of an odd shaped monument..think of the odd angles...at night...with green/yellow vapor lighting everywhere?

To me this is more a lesson than anything else. I want the shot..bad...but as much as I have poured over my books..I can't find a suitable solution to this problem. I kow I can dodge and burn in PS..but I'd rather get it as close as possible in the shot. Isn't that what it's all about?

Jeff

btw..I'm 52 and this is a new venture for me..lol...I'll explain why in another post.

Ray West said:

Hi Jeff,

As well as the big scene, don't forget the small detailed shots, the feet, the hands, the books, the wheel chairs and so on.

Best wishes,

Ray

Click to expand...

There will be no veterans on site during the vigil..so there are no shots as you indicated..god I wish! The local paper I shoot for has a printer that has a dot size of about a 1/4 inch it seems..lol

I will shoot for my own use the hands of the cadets..the shoes in a line...that sort of thing. But for a "pseudo newspaper" shoot as I'm doing one wants to capture the somber moment. Thats what I'm trying to accomplish. I can give the paper all the shoe shoots I like and they'll run the one of the nice tree's behind! I think you get what I'm working with!

This is the night shot of the vigil..and it's giving me fits trying to figure it out with only one light.

I'm more than willing to head off tomorrow and get another flash head if needed, but I don't think it will help. The shot I envisioned in my mind had open dark space behind...that is not available.

Glad I took the time to scout first! Now I have to change my thinking and go for the tighter shot to eliminate as much of the vapor lighting as possible...at least thats my thought based on my ability.

If it's foggy that night as well..well its out of my range of expierience so I'll come back in the morning at sunrise and get moody fog shots in daylight. But it really is ticking me off that I cannot figure out how to get this done! arrg!

Jeff

Congratulations on your assignment. You have first class equipment. Tell me how far you are away from the monument in feet? I presume this picture was not with flash?

Click to expand...

No Asher..this was with flash. This is why I'm thinking I need to get the flash away from the lens to poduce long shadows.

Otherwise..i think it will be a lit from below shot. Looking up at the cadet and the memorial.

I'm stumped!

Jeff

Age is a matter of thought!

btw..I'm 52 and this is a new venture for me..lol...I'll explain why in another post.

Jeff, I was 51 on Sunday. My present to me was a workshop and some lenses. I officially started as a pro 3 weeks ago. Learning and practice will keep you young. 50 is the new 30!

Oh - and the light>? I have no answers. My seminar is on lighting! I say when in doubt try all the camera and lens settings. One of the mwill work!

Hi Jeff,

As a journalist you are there to ask and try to answer the "5 W's" Who, Where, When Why, and What. You explore as many of these concepts visually as you can but there are others where the pen and paper are indispensible. Getting names and writing accurate captions is extremely important. Don't pose anybody.

Don't overthink the lighting-- you are there to make an accurate record. If you want ot use flash just try to get it as far from the lens as possible so the fog doesn't reflect straight back into the lens. But if this was my assignment I would LOVE the fog, open the lens, boost ISO and try to use as little flash as possible. Fog is a great natural diffusor for those limited spectrum vapor lights, and the flashlights and candles that might be there, too. Your test image assures me this job can be done! Grain/Noise is OK in newsprint. The quality of the content is more important.

If you are familiar with RAW shoot that way. If not, and you have enough CF capacity shoot RAW and Jpeg together. You will be able to get a reasonably color balance and better exposurre correction from a raw file but you can fall back on Jpeg file if you are overwhelmed on your first assignment.

Good luck!! Post your results back here or email me offlist

Best wishes
Eric Michelson
www.pixelleadership.com

Thanks Eric for the focus and the detailed help. Much appreciated to see this on your 2cd post.

BTW, you are the first person to use the word "list"! I could kick myself! I forgot to ban that word!

Asher

Hi Jeff,

As a journalist you are there to ask and try to answer the "5 W's" Who, Where, When Why, and What. You explore as many of these concepts visually as you can but there are others where the pen and paper are indispensible. Getting names and writing accurate captions is extremely important. Don't pose anybody.

Don't overthink the lighting-- you are there to make an accurate record. If you want ot use flash just try to get it as far from the lens as possible so the fog doesn't reflect straight back into the lens. But if this was my assignment I would LOVE the fog, open the lens, boost ISO and try to use as little flash as possible. Fog is a great natural diffusor for those hard vapor lights, and the flashlights and candles that might be there, too. Your test image assures me this job can be done! Some Grain/Noise is OK in newsprint. The quality of the content is more important.

If you are familiar with RAW shoot that way. If not, and you have enough CF capacity shoot RAW and Jpeg together. You will be able to get a reasonable color balance and better exposurre correction from a raw file but you can fall back on Jpeg file if you are overwhelmed on your first assignment.

You will have your favorite image and the editor his or hers. Let the editor choose which image to run. Since you're not getting paid good Canadian $ you should get paid with insight and advice.

Best wishes,
Eric Michelson
www.pixelleadership.com

Eric Michelson said:

Hi Jeff,

As a journalist you are there to ask and try to answer the "5 W's" Who, Where, When Why, and What. You explore as many of these concepts visually as you can but there are others where the pen and paper are indispensible. Getting names and writing accurate captions is extremely important. Don't pose anybody.

Don't overthink the lighting-- you are there to make an accurate record. If you want ot use flash just try to get it as far from the lens as possible so the fog doesn't reflect straight back into the lens. But if this was my assignment I would LOVE the fog, open the lens, boost ISO and try to use as little flash as possible. Fog is a great natural diffusor for those hard vapor lights, and the flashlights and candles that might be there, too. Your test image assures me this job can be done! Some Grain/Noise is OK in newsprint. The quality of the content is more important.

If you are familiar with RAW shoot that way. If not, and you have enough CF capacity shoot RAW and Jpeg together. You will be able to get a reasonable color balance and better exposurre correction from a raw file but you can fall back on Jpeg file if you are overwhelmed on your first assignment.

You will have your favorite image and the editor his or hers. Let the editor choose which image to run. Since you're not getting paid good Canadian $ you should get paid with insight and advice.

Best wishes,
Eric Michelson
www.pixelleadership.com

Click to expand...

Eric many thanks for your thoughts. All are valid.

Those 5 W's are important. I always set out with a goal in mind of some sort and then go with the flow once I get there. The conditions will never be what I expect them to be and being able to adapt on the fly is something I'm learning each time I get sent out on an assignment. It's actually like being is school again..homework!

The shot I took the other night was horrific to say the least...but I wanted to pre scout the location, and if possible under the worst conditions...that way I have a fighting chance when I get there for the actual event. It helps me pre plan my angles etc.

I shot the memorial vigil tonight and the fog would have made for amzing shots..but alas..tonight no fog.

The memorial sadly is not normally lit at all which I personally feel is a disgrace to any monument honoring war vetrans. At 52 I'm one of those people lucky enough to never been faced with the prospect of going off to war. I was born after WWII and too late for anything else. But I truly respect those that have served their countries.

So, back to tonight, they lit the monument tight on either sde with basic lawn floodlights. Looked really quite striking. So the flash was not an issue or needed. I took along the 5D as it handles low light a bit better than the ID MkII. Really nice results.

I did learn tonight as well not to get stuck like a deer in the headlights in my thinking. I wanted desperately to get a nice tight shot of one the young female cadets....and I didn't see that actually the floodlight below her was way too hot on her face. Simply moving a few feet either way might have resolved this. I was too caught up in the composition. Again..a learning process that I'm enjoying.

I did find it hard to judge angles in the large 5D viewfinder..i wear glasses so that makes even harder...because of the essentially black backgound. The lighting was so stark in an upwards direction..getting the gound angle correct was a bit tricky. The ballhead I'm using (a manfrotto) was slipping a bit tp make it worse. Again...another thing I learned. I was able to adjust the rotation slightly in RSP to correct any off angles.

I will post some of the pics once I'm done processing.

I also got a lesson today on off camera triggers for flash. The Pocket Wizards..the industry norm it seems were a bit too rich for my budget considering this was a one time need, for now.

I picked up a Morris trigger set..one channel only...no one else would be there! As it turned out I didn't need it. I thought about putting it behind the monument to get a long shot with tall shadows but it really would not have worked.

The cadets had an ugly building behind them with late night window lighting here and there...would not have been a good shot. I did play with the off camera flash for a while and really like the results...however the Morris units do not communicate TTL. So ya gotta know your flash! A light meter is definately in the future purchase list as well as those Pocket wizards! I'll find them much cheaper on EBay I'm sure. Here in Toronto they're asking about 375.00 per unit on the Plus II ....ouch!

Thanks again to all who posted...I've absorbed every word.

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

I hope the images work out fine. In general, such first events are never as bad as you fear nor as good as you want. Still, you'll have enough images most likely.

Next time, keep it simple. Don't think of tricks you havn't done before. When you point that camera, you must know you can get the shot in an event. You may not have a second chance. So you need to shoot these events thorough street photography, friends or whatever so that you can look and shoot and that's it.

I'd probably forget about the tripod for now or wizards and just work in a consistent way. At least for this type of work.

We're looking forward to your work. If you need help in sorting through your images, let me know.

Asher

Hi Jeff,

I hope the images work out fine. In general, such first events are never as bad as you fear nor as good as you want. Still, you'll have enough images most likely.

Next time, keep it simple. Don't think of tricks you havn't done before. When you point that camera, you must know you can get the shot in an event. You may not have a second chance. So you need to shoot these events thorough street photography, friends or whatever so that you can look and shoot and that's it.

I'd probably forget about the tripod for now or wizards and just work in a consistent way. At least for this type of work.

We're looking forward to your work. If you need help in sorting through your images, let me know.

Anyway congatulations on your work. You have a great attitude. You appreciation and empathy comes through!

Asher

Test post on image size

This is one of the shots of the cadets from last Friday evening. I wanted to see the size first and then will refine the post and include other pictures.

Jeff

70mm (EF24-70) f4.0, 1/13 at ISO 1250

This is a wonderful picture.

It shows sincerity and a dedication for fallen soldiers.

It reveals more. We see the dedication, delicacy and delicateness in the naiveté of youth, lost before their time. Those, so sacrificed, stand memorialized in the massive cold construction. One that will span generations separated from the fallen!

Congratulate yourself on a job well done. I really like the picture.

Share the EXIF and what is the file, RAW or jpg?

In any case this should make a great print! I didn't ask how you cropped it. That might even be a separate subjecy. I knpow you didn't borrow a 6x6 film camera, LOL!

Asher

More from Rememberance vigil

With some thanks to Asher I've worked out the difficulities I was having in file while posting. Up until a few weeks a go I simply had not posted work to any forum or website. Asher and I went through some basics for web postings that I will create into a thread for this forum later.

Many thanks to all of you who contributed to this effort. Eric Michelson, thank you for your wonderful post on the 5W's. I kept it in mind as I worked. I was not there to record yet another Remeberance day but rather a psersonal one for the cadets who chose to stand in that very cold evening. And, it rained. Not just rained it poured at 2:30 AM. As I laid there in bed, awoken by the sound of the rain all I could think about were those kids out there in the cold. Not one of them left their post during their alloted 90 min time frame. Says something rather remarkable about todays youth that is often very much overlooked. They do care. We might not understand HOW they care, but they do.

Here are some of my favorites from the shoot. Your comments of course are most welcome.

All were shot with a 24-70L, ISO ranging from 1000-1600 on a 5D. Some cropping has been done for asthetics. I tend to not worry about the final cropped size. If it works better as a square..so be it! They can make frame matts square. It's the final output that concerns me more. Some straightening still has to be worked on.

The monument itself is deceiving. Geometrically it is not realtive to any other side. It's like a polygon I suppose? So if you thnk the monument isn't square..you're right! It isn't no matter which direction you look at it!

Now to the photo's!







There are few others I will post later.

One thing I do find I'm having a problem with is focusing. I wear bifocals ( yes I do have a set of distance only glasses but keep forgetting to bring them!) I have to rely on the focusing squares for my pictures and it can be hellish sometimes trying to make sure it's the face..and not a miniscule piece of backgound the camera has focused on. Canon does not make a diopeter that will work for my needs.

Looking forward to all comments.

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

You nailed it. The first picture you posted is the keeper. It answers all the questions I, as a picture consumer or a picture editor, would have.

A community paper would want the names of the two young women. I presume you were able to get them. If however they were not allowed to speak to you and you couldn't hang around, which is often the case for a beat photographer who has 2-3 assignments daily, ideally you would figure from whom to get them.

The cropping is fine. The somewhat generic buildings around take me out of the moment. Don't feel bad about the softness of the focus of the two girls. The photo does what it has to do.

For fun try turning it into a BW print.

Nice work, carry on!

Eric Michelson said:

Hi Jeff,

You nailed it. The first picture you posted is the keeper. It answers all the questions I, as a picture consumer or a picture editor, would have.

A community paper would want the names of the two young women. I presume you were able to get them. If however they were not allowed to speak to you and you couldn't hang around, which is often the case for a beat photographer who has 2-3 assignments daily, ideally you would figure from whom to get them.

The cropping is fine. The somewhat generic buildings around take me out of the moment. Don't feel bad about the softness of the focus of the two girls. The photo does what it has to do.

For fun try turning it into a BW print.

Nice work, carry on!

Click to expand...

Thanks Eric!

I have the names of all those I shot that night. My problem comes as you posted a while back with the paper. I do not have the luxury of sitting with a photo editor..or even an editor for that matter. I send them the best of the bunch..they pick one and then it looks like crap in the printed version! The paper is a side job for all involved.

I have to give them well it shots. Seriously it seems like they are printing with a 1/16th of an inch dot system! Everything I give them turns out so DARK in the the paper it's absurd. I'm thinking of talking to the printing company to find out why?

The woman that puts out the paper..published every three weeks..took a course..one...in Quark many years ago. None of her software and computer equipment have been upgraded in 9 years. She is still composing the paper after taking one course in Quark nine years ago. What on earth have I connected with...lol Her monitor is a 14 inch original Mac monitor. You can barely see any image on it!

Are you starting to sense my frustration? The paper is up for sale but there will be no takers. For me this is just a doorway to potential contacts and people and events to shoot.

I do appreciate your comments.

There are other shots from that night..and some better than these but I posted what I felt was a composite rather than a best of.

I'd rather hear what I did wrong than what I did right.

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

As Eric said, its the first one you posted, as is. However, I think the first of the group of three, cropped off the left side, black out the lighted window, would be better (for Asher, the intent, the shadow of the dead looking down on the scene from the corner of the memorial, gives another, deaper meaning) He willl say it better when he sees the shadow.

However, the subtle shades will be lost, from what you say in the printing process. You will have to decide on that, if it is that bad, then maybe turn it into a line drawing, such as the troops may have done in ww2.

I am pleased you managed so well.

Best wishes,

Ray

ps, if the paper is up for sale, if it would not cost you money, i.e. it makes or could make a profit, then buy it, and ditch the printer.

Ray West said:

Hi Jeff,

As Eric said, its the first one you posted, as is. However, I think the first of the group of three, cropped off the left side, black out the lighted window, would be better (for Asher, the intent, the shadow of the dead looking down on the scene from the corner of the memorial, gives another, deaper meaning) He willl say it better when he sees the shadow.

However, the subtle shades will be lost, from what you say in the printing process. You will have to decide on that, if it is that bad, then maybe turn it into a line drawing, such as the troops may have done in ww2.

I am pleased you managed so well.

Best wishes,

Ray

ps, if the paper is up for sale, if it would not cost you money, i.e. it makes or could make a profit, then buy it, and ditch the printer.

Click to expand...

Thnaks Ray..all valid comments.

Everyone has a point of view.

As to the paper, well it's really been a very limited local rag so to speak. I don't have the resources to go out and sell to the local merchants etc. The problems with the printer are not the printers fault..lol. They're giving them files that are for the most part extemely unworkable. Earlier this evening I called the printer to ask what to do..he told me to quit! lol

Essentially from the printers standpoint, unless they essentially come into the 90's with their production requests, he's dropping them. It's just too much work.

That alone tells the tale!

Jeff

Jeff,

There's a saying, "Non illegitimis ad carborundum" which more correctly should be, "Noli nothis permittere te terere". It implies that you should withstand these problem folk and thee will thrive!

I think you did very well in this task. It was difficult and you can through. eric is right that it's worth looking at B&W as they can screw it up the least.

I'd also make some prints to give to the cadets and maybe they would like you to make Christmas card or a calendar for them. Let us know if you might want to do that and we can point you in the riggt direction. The important thing is to make pictures to give to people with your card. If you haven't got one, make it, simple, professional your name and "Photographer".

Again Bravo. Now you will have to beat that!

Asher

Asher Kelman said:

Jeff,

There's a saying, "Non illegitimis ad carborundum" which more correctly should be, "Noli nothis permittere te terere". It implies that you should withstand these problem folk and thee will thrive!

I think you did very well in this task. It was difficult and you can through. eric is right that it's worth looking at B&W as they can screw it up the least.

I'd also make some prints to give to the cadets and maybe they would like you to make Christmas card or a calendar for them. Let us know if you might want to do that and we can point you in the riggt direction. The important thing is to make pictures to give to people with your card. If you haven't got one, make it, simple, professional your name and "Photographer".

Again Bravo. Now you will have to beat that!

Asher

Click to expand...

Asher I agree..the prints for the cadets have already been arranged. My name is not important on their copies. To me it would be wrong to include that.

Jeff

Jeff O'Neil said:

....My problem comes as you posted a while back with the paper. I do not have the luxury of sitting with a photo editor..or even an editor for that matter. I send them the best of the bunch..they pick one and then it looks like crap in the printed version! The paper is a side job for all involved.

I have to give them well it shots. Seriously it seems like they are printing with a 1/16th of an inch dot system! Everything I give them turns out so DARK in the the paper it's absurd. I'm thinking of talking to the printing company to find out why?

The woman that puts out the paper..published every three weeks..took a course..one...in Quark many years ago. None of her software and computer equipment have been upgraded in 9 years. She is still composing the paper after taking one course in Quark nine years ago. What on earth have I connected with...lol Her monitor is a 14 inch original Mac monitor. You can barely see any image on it!

Are you starting to sense my frustration? The paper is up for sale but there will be no takers. For me this is just a doorway to potential contacts and people and events to shoot....

Click to expand...

Hi Jeff,

Firstly, I'll join the others before me and congratulate you with the great job and ditto pictures.

Re. the printing problem, I am sure you are aware that this is a whole area of "science" in itself, i.e. the conversion of RGB images into CMYK and targeting them for press print. I have for instance the Real World PS book by David Blatner and Bruce Fraser, which dedicates many chapters to this very topic. Having read quite some about this topic myself, I am convinced that you have to preprocess your files according to the printing target before handing them over to a printer. Otherwise they'll do a generic job of converting them, and as you've discovered yourself quite badly at that.

Rest assured, your pictures are great and I am deeply moved by the first one. Better luck and a bit of pre-press preparation on your side can prevent a similar disappointment the next time .

Cheers,

Cem

Cem,

Thank you for your kind words, and also to the others that have posted in this thread.

The entire idea of taking photographs for a newspaper is something very foreign to me. This little local community paper has been around for 17 years and one makes assumptions that they have some idea of what they are doing!

You are clearly correct in your statement that some pre-processing needs to be done on my part for the printer. Unfortunately that assumes the woman who is putting the paper together won't "play" with the photo to make it look ok on her monitor. I've talked to the printer..and he basically told me don't even try. They refuse to do anything different. He's tried and they cannot understand so I'm not about to try.

I've found it best to send them slightly over exposed shots, I do this in RSP, and then they come out ok in the paper. Otherwise the pictures I send them are so dark you can often not make out what is truly in the picture. Frustrating to be sure, but it's a start.

For me it has opened doors to photo opportunities I would otherwise have not know of. And I get the benefit of saying I'm with a local newspaper and I use that to get closer or go behind the scenes etc.

It's very much a leaning curve for me. Every week a new challenge and I'm cutting my teeth on the fly! Somewhat revitalizing an old guy!

I only wish I had dedicated more time to photgraphy back when I was in my 20's.

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

Everyone has many good ideas here. this has been a very good thread. As a new member this an impressive forum. I'm not really a forum guy, I'm turned off by the usual posturing, but OPF is one that is constructive and positive!

I'm not familiar with Raw Shooter interface and features although I do know it makes very good conversions. I assume you shot RAW files which is great. Here's another bit of advice. Stick with the paper at least through the winter to build your clips. Nothing beats the experience of assignment work and you have absolutely nothing to lose and you can always make portfolio prints to show side by side with your 5-10 best clips next spring.

Go the library, find the back issues and look how the pictures photographers provide them print. Compare them to how the pictures in the professionally produced advertising print. If they are printing better, or even pretty well, you know it's not printer but how the editor is providing them to the printer.

If you know any nearby agency or designer that is producing the nice looking ads, approach them and ask them how they are preparing the BW images for print. Perhaps they are setting target black points of 35 or 40. Anything below that will clip. So the deepest black in your image would be remapped to 40 rather than 0, but this value will end up as 100% black ink on newsprint. Target white point might be 225, knowing that any value above will have no dot and will be paper white anyway.

Alternately you can guess. Compare your file to the image as printed and their photo printing in general. Look at all the values that are pure black and compare that to the numbers in your image. You can set the output levels number in photoshop, or during processing in Raw Shooter, so that ultimtely you determine when shadows will go 100% black. I would suggest your next submission to the paper would only be a slight change in output levels to see if you are heading in the right direction. You can adjust from there.

Newspaper halftone printing can't produce 256 shades anyway. Shades of gray in bw newspaper is an optical illusion. It's only black dots of varying size, just one color. The brain creates the tonality. By truncating your output levels you may be sending them only 200 shades of gray, But at least that way the less dots get too fat and overlap each other.