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.

Work Day

Today is a day best spent getting caught up if you're behind and missing assignments in the class. This doesn't mean that you can go out and shoot today during class.  You can't. 
This is an opportunity to be organizing the photos that are already in your iPhoto. 
Whether it's using Photoshop to "File", "Automate", "Photomerge" your scenes for your "Photomerge" assignment, or creating contact sheets for "Andy Goldsworthy", "LTP", or any other assignment you may be missing.  You should use this time wisely to get work done today.
Your substitute will not be checking out cameras to you today.
I will be back tomorrow.
If you're done with everything you can work quietly on other homework today during class.

Photomerge

Take FIVE 360 degree Photomerge photos, meld them successfully, without any shadowy lines. Make sure to set the proper exposure Manually for each series of Photomerge photos.
This assignment is due for 5th Period by the end of class on Friday, April 20th.
This assignment is due for 6th Period by the end of class on Thursday, April 19th.

The Shutter Speed Assignment

For this assignment you will need to have 5 Photos taken at with a Slow Shutter Speed, and 5 photos taken with a Fast Shutter Speed.

All ten photos will need to be properly exposed to receive full credit for each photo!!!

The 5 Slow Shutter Speed photos should express a motion through "tracer" or "blur" effect that occurs at slower shutter speeds. Try to incorporate an interesting environment as your backdrop.
(Example: Cars at night on a freeway with a cityscape in the background. The car lights look like a river of light with buildings in the background.)

The 5 Fast Shutter Speed photos should "freeze" time in the middle of an action.
(Example: Having someone jump in midair. Their body should have NO blurry or tracer effect. It should be perfectly frozen in time and properly exposed.

All 10 photos are due by the end of class on Tuesday the 1oth or Wednesday the 11th.

The Andy Goldsworthy Assignment

Do an online search of "Andy Goldsworthy" to see more examples of Andy Goldsworthy's work.

For this next assignment you will be going out into nature and rearrange or manipulate it in the style of Andy Goldsworthy. Take multiple photos from different angles. You'll be turning in your best photo of each nature scene that you've manipulated.
For this assignment you'll need to manipulate 10 different scenes in nature. You'll be turning in your 1 best photo for each scene you've made.  Take multiple photos of each scene you make so you have plenty of great options to choose from.
These 10 photos are due Monday, April 2nd.

Here are some examples done by Heather Ellis from Digital Photography last year.

Line/Texture/Pattern Assignment

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Guggenheim Museum Frank Loyd Wright was a master of line and pattern in the buildings he designed. One of the most famous is the Solomon Guggenheim Museum in New York City.





For this assignment, you will capture 20 images that explore line, texture, and pattern in the world around you.

Line



In this photograph the window frame literally frames the image of the patterns on the roof. Using one object to frame another is a great way to add depth to your photos. Experiment with a frame that adds contrast in terms of light or texture when compared with your subject.





This photograph used the macro function of the camera to capture the texture of an everyday object, tire tread. The image was enhanced with more contrast and the sharpen filter. You'll find lots of examples of lines, patterns and texture on cars. The macro setting on your camera will let you focus on objects only inches away.


Texture

In these images from Mark Moody's website, we see the macro used on the crab's eyes. There is contrast in color as well. Notice how the angle of the shot creates an impression of size. This photo would not have the same impact if it didn't use hard lighting.







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Implied Lines

This photograph uses objects in a line. You'll have to scout around for these images but keep your photographic mind's eye open and you'll find them!




Pattern
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A Pattern is a repeated decorative design or a sequence of images or shapes regularly found in objects or on surfaces.


Assignment:

You will photograph a total of 20 photos:
*5 of these photos must use extreme 'hard lighting' using a single light source to accentuate the detail in the texture.
*5 of these photos must have Line, Texture, and Pattern in the same photo.

This assignment will be due by the beginning of class on Monday, March 26th .

Criteria for Success: Your work should show experimentation with composition, macro camera settings, using hard lighting to accentuate texture and pattern, using of depth of field to limit and expand focus.

Eye Candy! - You're looking for images that will catch your eye. You'll find examples of lines, patterns and texture in everyday places.  Try and fill up the entire frame of your photograph with those lines, textures, or patterns. Use them to create strong images with a lot of contrast!

What to do today, Friday March 9th

Hello my fine Photography students. 
My apologies for being absent 2 Fridays in a row.  I will be back Monday.
Today I want you to focus on completing your "Famous Photographer" essay and photo collection.
No one is allowed to go out and shoot today, or check out cameras after school.  Sorry.
Everyone has had plenty of time to complete the 2 photography assignments, so they should be ready to be graded by Monday.  Make sure that you have them organized and ready for me to grade then.
Be good to your sub and have a great weekend!

Famous Photographer Assignment

Today you will be doing some research online while I start grading your 'Rules of Composition' assignment.
You are to search the web for 'Famous Photographers'.
I want you to find a photographer on the internet who's work you find appealing to your visual senses and write a half page essay on your photographer and their photos.
In this essay you must include what rules of composition are being used in the photographer's work and what type of mood or emotion their work evokes in you.
Are they a Landscape, Portrait, Documentary, Studio, Sports, or Abstract Photographer?
Describe what you see in this Photographer's work.
Are there any similarities or consistencies in this Photographer's work? What are they?
When were they born? Are they still alive?  When did their work become famous?
You will then save at least 10 samples of this photographer's work in a folder called 'Photographer' that you will create on your desktop.
You must save at least 10 examples of their work in this folder that you will later integrate into a Photoshop document with the your essay.
Make sure you take the time to find a photographer who's work you admire and are interested in.
Your essay and photos are due by Monday, March 12th.
Good luck!

5 Angles Assignment

For this next Digital Photography assignment you will go out and find 5 objects or subjects. EACH OBJECT OR SUBJECT YOU WILL PHOTOGRAPH FROM 5 DIFFERENT ANGLES. MAKE SURE THAT EACH ANGLE AND PHOTO IS FROM A MUCH DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES AND DISTANCES THAN THE PREVIOUS ANGLES.
Once you've completed this assignment you will have 25 photos total.
This assignment is due at the end of class on Wednesday, March 7th for 5th period and Thursday, March 8th for 6th period.  You will need to use your class time efficiently to be able to import your photos into iPhoto.

6 Rules of Composition

Please click on the link to this website and read through ALL of the 'Guidelines for Beginning Photographic Composition.'
You will use these guidelines to critique your classmate's photos.
This material will also be included on your next test.

http://asp.photo.free.fr/Composition/photoProgramCompMainClass

For the "6 Rules of Composition" assignment you will be required take 10 examples of each of the 6 Rules.

1. Simplicity
2. Rule of Thirds
3. Balance
4. Leading Lines
5. Framing
6. Color Contrast

This assignment should be completed and ready for grading by the end of the week we get back from break.