What to do today, 6/6

Today you are to continue working on your CPE project, either your artwork, or the iMovie project.  You cannot check out cameras today.  Your Still Life Assignment is not due now until Friday the 15th.

Still Life

Still life photography is the depiction of inanimate subject matter, most typically a small grouping of objects that are either human-made or "natural." Still life photography, more so than other types of photography, such as landscape or portraiture, gives the photographer more leeway in the arrangement of design elements within a composition.

Still life photography is a demanding art, one in which the photographers are expected to be able to form their work with a refined sense of lighting, coupled with compositional skills. The still life photographer makes pictures rather than takes them. Knowing where to look for propping and surfaces also is a required skill.

Assignment:
You will go out and take 15 still life photographs. Use the links below to give you some ideas for composing your still life photos. You can think small or big. Compose your objects and shoot from different angles and with different light.

Links:

* David Latchman's Still Life Photogaphy
* The Photo Contest of Still Life
Google Images


Criteria for Success: These photographs should take full advantage of lighting and composition. Experiment with using light to create a mood in your composition. You should also experiment with texture and line. Use a tripod to eliminate any camera shake and to ensure sharp images.

When you've completed taking these Still Life photos, you'll make a contact sheet that is 11"- Width and 8"- Height.
Columns = 5
Rows = 3

The naming convention for this assignment is _stillThis assignment is due on Monday, June 11th.

What to do today, May 22nd

First of all, please notice up on the White Board that there is a great opportunity for you to earn extra credit for coming to the Shorewood/Shorecrest Film Festival on Wednesday night @ 7pm in the Shorewood Theater.  The more friends and family.  The more you bring, the more extra credit you will receive.

To earn this extra credit you must attend the Film Festival from 7-9pm and fill out a brief questionnaire that I will hand out at it's conclusion. I will then hand write the amount of people you brought with you in the corner of the questionnaire.

You can then bring me the completed questionnaire the following day to earn the extra credit.
It will be a very entertaining 2 hours so we'll hope to see you there!

Today -  Turn in your "Life As You Know It" assignment.

8x11 Contact Sheet
5 - Columns
10 - Rows
Save as a JPEG
_life


When you're finished, work on your CPE Artwork.  Remember, you will need TWO VERSIONS of this artwork.

What to do today, Monday the 14th

Today you are to read the overview of your final project in the posting directly below. Notice the bold and italicized text for #3.  These are your instructions for creating the artwork for your DVD in Photoshop.
You can begin today by creating this document in Photoshop and drag any of your own photos onto this .psd file that you would want to use on the Front and/or the Inside cover.
You will be eventually creating 2 versions of your artwork for this final project, so have today be an experimental day of what pics you might want to use on your artwork.

C.P.E. Final Project

IMPORTANT! YOUR C.P.E. MUST BE TURNED IN WITH YOUR COVER ART CUT, AND INSERTED INTO YOUR JEWEL CASE. PROJECTS WITHOUT ARTWORK IN THE JEWEL CASE CAN ONLY RECEIVE A MAXIMUM OF 75%. REMEMBER TO WORK ON YOUR COVER EARLY SO YOU CAN PRINT IT OUT AND NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT THE LAST MINUTE RUSH TO PRINT.
For this project you will be turning your photos into a video using iMovie. You can use the Ken Burns effect to navigate around individual photos or use your photos as stills, it's up to you.
You will give this project a face and name of your very own choosing and use it on the album cover, that will have a cohesive design with the text and imagery used on the inside of your cover. The end result will be a nicely packaged DVD that you will burn using iDVD.
What will your project be about?
Will you keep it, or give it to someone else as a gift?
Either way it should be something of meaning that you or someone you know can look back on when they're old and remind you about the little things that make up life in the year 2011/2012.
Here are the Requirements:
1. The C.P.E. DVD must be a minimum of 10 minutes long with the title of your project and your name at the beginning of the video.
2. The C.P.E. DVD must have an audio track of at least 1 or more songs of your choosing. (I find that it's always best to find music that fits the mood or theme of the photos you're presenting, but that is not a requirement for the C.P.E.)
3. The C.P.E. DVD must have a cover that you design in Photoshop CS. The project template will be 9.50 in Wide x 4.75 Height with a resolution of 600. Use your Selection Tool to click on the ruler on the left hand side of the Photoshop document and drag that 'Ruler Guide' to mark the center of your project (4.75 inches). The Ruler Guide should SNAP into place in the middle of your project. This is where you will fold your project to make the Cover and the Inside Cover. Both will have a cohesive look them that will add to the overall look of the C.P.E.  Your Front Cover will have the title of your project and your full name.  Your Inside Cover must have textual content.  This could be a poem, a dedication, a quote, or whatever you like, just as long as there is text that appears on the Inside Cover.
4. You will be required to create 2 versions of your Artwork.  You'll choose which one to print at the end of the semester.
5. The C.P.E. will then be burned onto a DVD using iDVD.
The C.P.E. is due on the last week of the semester and must be cut and inserted into a jewel case to receive full credit.
Don' wait on this project! Get out and take some great photos, Rock the C.P.E., and most importantly, have fun!
Your C.P.E. is due on the last week of the semester!

Life As You Know It

What do you want to remember about this time in your life when you're old and gray? Which people?  What things?  What feelings?  You will be surprised by what you forget about this time in your life when you become older.  Sometimes it's just the little things.

Example:  I found a photo of me and my girlfriend standing in front of a gas station in 1994.  What was surprising about this?  The sign in the back that read Gas .97 cents a gallon.  "Wow!"  That was some cheap gas back then!  I didn't remember until I saw the photo.  

What people, places, or things represent how life is for you at this moment in time?  What's society like in general?  What about Shoreline?   Your home?  Your fashion?  Your friends?  Take a photo of these iconic objects or people in your life. 

Utilize at least one rule of composition in each of these photos. 

This assignment is not due until May 21st, but now is a good time to start capturing "Life As You Know It".

You will be required to turn in these 50 photos on a contact sheet 8"w X 11"h, 5 columns , 10 rows, with a naming convention "_life".

My hope is that you will want to use these photos for your final CPE project, although it's not required.

Action Photomerge

Now that you've mastered the Photomerge assignment, you'll be taking 3 more Photomerge "Scenes" but this time with a subject in each of the photos in your "Scenes", making multiple versions of the same person in each "Scene".
Make sure to put your subject in the direct center of each of your photos.
Your 3 "Action Photomerges" will be due at the end of the first 100 minute period on the week we get back from Spring Break.