Last Week!

All assignments and portfolios have been graded and returned with a comment sheet inside the portfolio. Grades will be submitted on line next week on or before May 12th. Please try to pick up your final portfolios before May 19th.

Have a great summer!

Assignment #9 Self Portrait

Here's you chance to make your work all about you! In this assignment make a self portrait that is about you, you may be in it in whole or part, it may be as others see you or as you think you see yourself to others.

Robert Cornelius, self portrait 1839

Hippolyte Bayard, Self Portrait as Drowned Man

1840

Critique for this assignment is April 20

Assignment #7 Studio portrait

Photography can be an additive practice as we have discussed in class, but no where is this more evident than the lighting studio. You begin with a black room, add a back ground, set lights, determine  camera angle and lastly choose a subject.

In this assignment you will enlist the help of a human subject, no younger than 14 years old and photograph them under controlled lighting conditions in the lighting studio. Pay attention to direction of main and fill lights and ratio between each source. In the studio, everything matters.

Richard Avedon

Artists to research are: Karsh, Avedon, Halsman, Leibovitz, Scavullo and Penn.

Assignment/critique April 18

Assignment #8 Night Photography

Assignment #8 Night Photography

The world is a very different place at night, light, which normally falls from the sky to the earth, now radiates up. Pleases once illuminated are now in deep, deep shadow. The color of light is also an issue, mixed light sources record in a range of color.

What are our tools in night photography?

ISO experimentation, with excessive noise in mind, try a range of ISO's on your camera depending on conditions.

Tripod. While not always necessary (see further on for how to cheat on this), a tripod will give you the greatest flexibility to get the angles you need while keeping your camera steady for those long exposures. The department has some for limited check out.

Wide-angle lenses. This is a personal preference, but I love the way they work in night photography. If these are out of your price range – don’t worry! Try it out with whatever you’ve got as the only thing that will limit you is your imagination.

A lens hood. To minimize lens flares from light entering at angles outside of your frame.

A flashlight. Sometimes you’ll want to draw attention to or simply lighten up an important part of the foreground which is too dark.

Tools lie all around us in everyday objects to help us make our work better in this; I’ve used bicycle lamps, lampposts and newspaper boxes to get it done.

The same composition rules that apply to day apply to night, except with night we have our long exposures to take advantage of and more negative space to consider.

Stan Strembicki, Florence, Italy 2005

Assignment #6 The Narrative Image

This assignment is driven by our TA this semester and her lecture that will be presented on March 9th.

Assignment due for crit April 6

Assignment #5 Still Life

Photography has a grand tradition of the still life, in fact some of the earliest work every done were still lifes.

In this assignment you will select and object of your choosing and using either natural or artificial lighting, photograph it.

Assignment due for critique March 28

Assignment #4 Environmental Portrait

“The subject must be thought of in terms of the 20th century, of houses he lives in and places he works, in terms of the kind of light the windows in these places let through and by which we see him every day.”

Arnold Newman

                                                 "Willie The Lion Smith"  by Arnold Newman 1960

Simply put, an environmental portrait is a portrait of a person that includes enough of the environment around that person to provide context that helps the viewer understand more about the defining characteristics of the subject. One of the keys to a successful environmental portrait is that the portion of the scene included in the frame should be "representative" of the environment or context you want the viewer to associate with the subject. The relative importance of the subject to the environment is also important in defining an "environmental portrait." The subject should be the most prominent element in the scene, with the surrounding elements providing strong supporting context. If you are too close to your subject to include enough of the environment, then the image simply becomes a normal portrait. On the other hand, if the subject is so small in the frame that other elements become more prominent, or viewers cannot discern the defining characteristics of the subject, then the image would be better classified as something other than an environmental portrait.

"Baker" August Sander

Shoot a minimum of 50 images/frames. You can shoot this assignment at a number of locations and even on different days. The subject must be part of the process and may include others, no candid photos of random people you have not met however! No animals or no humans under the age of 14 year as primary subject matter.

Submit one print, any size for in class critique *** NOTE NEW DUE DATE March 7!!!

Assignment #3

“You must milk the cow a great deal, to get enough milk, to make a little bit of cheese”

Henri Cartier-Bresson

There come certain moments in our lives when any number of forces (both those we can control and those we can’t) merge together.  Everything comes together as if fate had planned it that way.  To simplify this in a phrase; being in the right place at the right time.

The French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson describes this sensation in his work as being “The Decisive Moment”.  A point in time and space when those forces (people, buildings, autos, animals, shapes, forms, weather etc.) arrange themselves in front of his camera to present a complete statement, both visually and emotionally.  Everything is revealed with perfect clarity.

But this is a very quick and fleeting moment.  The power created by all these forces dissolves as quickly as it arises.  Cartier-Bresson sees it as his responsibility as a photographer to be aware of such moments and to photograph them at precisely “the decisive moment”.

HCB with his Leica ready for the "moment"

Your assignment, shoot at least 50 photos of these decisive moments you find in your world.  These are best found outdoors and in situations where there are lots of people around.  Use ISO 400 speed setting and try to use higher shutter speeds if your subjects are moving, around 250-500 of a second.

Carry your camera in the ready mode, that is pre-focused and the exposure controls adjusted for the lighting situation you are in.  Try concentrating on the three basic elements (time, space, and objects in space, like people).  Observe their interaction.  You skill will increase with practice and timing is everything.

Turn in a minimum of one print that best presents the idea of the decisive moment. The print may be of any size.

For more information, check out the works of Cartier-Bresson in the art and architecture library and the works of Elliot Erwitt and Gray Winnogrand two other photographers who deal with these elements.

Gary Winogrand

Critique for this assignment is FEB 29 

Assignment #2B Motion

The camera has the unique ability to freeze motion or to show an entire motion to the point where it is only a blur.  Both of these qualities can be used in a photograph in interpret movement as you would like it to be shown.

A few things to remember are:

1.  A higher shutter speed will be required to freeze motion when the motion is parallel to the film than when motion is toward the camera.

2.  If you are using a slow shutter speed, those less than 1/30 of a second, you should use a camera support.  A tripod is best, however you can brace the camera on a bench, a wall, or place it on the ground.

3.  Panning means to move the camera with the subject in motion.  This will allow you to freeze motion which is faster than your fastest shutter speed.  Panning requires practice, so try this a number of times.

 1. Make a series of exposures that show the effects of freezing motion with a high shutter speed.

 2. A series of exposures to imply motion using slow shutter speeds.

 3. Finally  a series of exposures that  demonstrate the use of panning technique.

 Remember that you must adjust the f stop to match the shutter speed you have selected to get a correct exposure.  You may find that you can not use a low or slow shutter speed in the bright sun, as there is too much light present.  In that case, you must go someplace where there is less light or wait till dusk.  The same is true of high shutter speeds, which often require you to open the lens to get enough light to make a correct exposure, this may not be possible indoors, for example.

Critique is FEB 15

Assignment #2A Depth of Field and Focus

Depth of Field and Focus 

As you have learned in your lecture, depth of field is the area, from the near point to the far point, which will be in focus in your photograph.  This can be used in many ways to make your photograph have more impact, to isolate the subject from a distracting background or to give a photograph more apparent depth.  Just to review:

1.  Depth of field is directly related to the f stop which you use.  A small f stop like f 16 will give greater depth of field (more in focus), and a smaller f stop (like f 2.8) will make the depth of field shallower.

2.  When you want fairly accurate indications of depth of field, you should use the depth of field scale on you lens.

3.  Focusing on a subject close to the camera will give less depth of field than focusing on a subject farther away.

 Assignment:

1.  Make at least 2 photographs which show shallow depth of field.  Remember to use a wide f stop (like f 2.8).

2.  Make at least 2 photographs to show great depth of field.  Use a smaller

f stop (like f 16)

3.  Use the remaining images to show subjects in background out of focus,

objects in foreground out of focus, and other variations of use of limited and expanded focus.

Critique is FEB 15

 Don’t forget, as you change the f stop, you must compensate the exposure by also changing the shutter speed.  In some cases, it will be too bright to use a open apeture like f 2.8, or too dark to use f 16.

by J.H. Lartigue

Assignment #1 Exposure variation

In this assignment you will shoot a series of exposures and iso settings on your digital camera as follows:

1.  Set Colorspace to Adobe RGB
2.  Set Quality to RAW & jpg-large
3.  Set Mode to manual
4.  Now set ISO to the base exposure (100 or 200)


-Shoot same subject at each iso at normal exposure, the one over and one under exposure
then:
-Shoot one subject at iso setting 100; 400; 800; 1600 and if you have it 3200

This then is what you'll end up with, shoot a total of 4 scenes. In shooting the assignment, think about how color is important to the design and subject. Consider color AS subject.

This assignment is pass/fail, bring in one set of jpg images on a jump drive for in class review. Select best image for shoot and post on class blog.