Looking at New Photographers

Find new photographers to be inspired by! In this class I expect you to take risks and grow as a creative person.
An important way to do this is to explore what other photographers are doing.

Look for current photographers on these websites:

Lensculture
https://www.lensculture.com/

Art-Support
http://art-support.com/photographers.htm


Today your assignment is to find 3 contemporary photographers.

• Write a brief biography about the artists and thier type of work. DONT COPY AND PASTE!!!
• Upload 3-5 photos to your blog, include the titles and dates.
• Explain why you chose them, and what you find interesting in thier work.
• Discuss how you could use thier ideas and work to inspire something new in your photography.
• Use photography vocabulary from  the Critique Guide, and Art (principles and elements of design) in your responses

Pop Quiz-Review of Exposure Basics

Today you will show me your skills. 200 Points!!!

You will take 4 pictures.

Demonstrate the following. Write down ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture for each pic

1. Freeze Action in a photo with Bugs Eye Perspective

2. Show Motion Blur in a photo from Birds eye perspective

3. Show Shallow depth of Field in a picture uisng Rule of Thirds

4. Show Deep Depth of Field with a diagonal Perspective

Post your 4 pictures to your blog with ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture for each pic.

Cropping Photos

There are many times, in fact most times, when you will want to Crop a picture you take. to crop means to cut out the areas of a picture you do not want. it is used to help create a definite focal point, or point of interest, and can also be used to adjust your picture so that it complies with the Rule of Thirds.

Tools used:

Crop Tool
Ratio
View menu

I will give a demonstration of these tools in class, and you can find a detailed tutorial at the site below:

Photoshop Essentails  - Cropping Images in Photoshop CS6

Your task today is to select 1 photo you have taken and crop them according to the Rule of Thirds. 

You may choose the Ratio, but state which Ratio you have chosen in the blog post.

Include the original version of the Photograph.

Here is an example below.

Cropping Assignment

Original Uncropped

Cropped . Original Ratio, Rule of Thirds

Photoshop Adjustment Layers - Hue/Saturation - Levels

Change a color photo to black and white
Open a photograph you have taken
Using the Hue-Saturation Adjustment layer, convert the picture to black and white.
Post the original and De-Saturated (black and White) to your blog.



Original Color



Desaturated



Adjusted Levels



Histogram

Photoshop - Using Adjustment Layers

Today I will demonstrate how to use Photoshop Adjustment Layers.

We will practice the following in class:

• Convert a picture from Color to Black and White using the Hue/Contrast Adjustment layer
• Adjust Levels using the Levels Adjustment layer

Creating adjustment layers

Do one of the following:
For Hue-Saturation (Converts to Black and White)

1. Click the New Adjustment Layer button  at the bottom of the Layers panel, and choose Hue/Saturation

2. Move the Saturation slider all the way to the left

3. Click ok

Here is a video showing how to do it.

For Levels (Adjusts Contrast in your picture)

1. Click the New Adjustment Layer button  at the bottom of the Layers panel, and choose Levels

2. Move the Shadows, Midtones, and Highlights Sliders to adjust the range of contrast in your image

3. Click ok

Here is a video showing how to do it.

This link will take you to a description of using Levels in Photoshop. The photo in the example is in color but it works the same in black and white.

We will try this for ourselves in class and post the results on our blog Friday.

AP Photo Critique

AP, or Associated Press, is "the world's largest collection of historical and contemporary photographs". 

Today you will choose a photo from AP Images to critique. Follow the example below to do your critique.

1. Copy and Paste the photo to your blog.

2. Add the link from the AP site to your blog.

3. Paste the description of the photo from the AP site to your blog.
Description: Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men pray ahead of the Jewish New Year at the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray in Jerusalem's old city, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013. Israelis happily welcomed the Jewish New Year late Wednesday despite uncertainty and turmoil brewing on both its northern and southern borders. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

4. Answer the following:

• Who was the photographer?
• What country and city was the photo taken in?
• What event was photographed?
• Describe the event that was photographed.
• Why is the event newsworthy? Why is it important to us?

5. Write a Critique. Use the Critique Guide in the link above.

Perspectives Blog Post Assignment

Post 2 pictures each of the Following. Label each picture:

2 Bug's Eye Perspectives

2 Bird's Eye perspectives

2 Eye Level Perspectives

2 Horizontal leading Lines

2 Vertical leading Lines

2 Diagonal leading Lines

2 Pictures that combine leading Lines and Perspectives

Perspectives

Read this! Get Up and Move Around!

Bugs Eye Perspective

Eye Level Perspective

Birds Eye Perspective

Horizontal Leading Lines

Vertical Leading Lines

Diagonal Leading Lines

Birds Eye and Horizontal



Vertical and Horizontal

Post 3 Examples of the Rule of Thirds

Post 3 pictures using the Rule of Thirds. For each photo give a brief description of how the composition follows the Rule of Thirds.

Here is an example:


This picture follows the Rule of Thirds because the student is sitting in the lower left third, where the lines would intersect, and the end of the hallway is in the upper right third.

Composing Your Photos Using the Rule of Thirds

Today you will take pictures using the Rule of Thirds. You will need to post 3-5 examples of the Rule of Thirds to your blog. For each example write an explanation of how the rule of thirds was used in each picture.

The rule of thirds is probably the most often referenced photography rule of composition.  It is all about subject placement within the frame.

Imagine that your picture space is divided into thirds both horizontally and vertically, like a tic tac toe grid.

The photography rule of thirds tells us to align our subject with one of the points where those lines cross. That means our subject is one third of the way “into” the picture space – from either the top or bottom, and from either the left or right. And that means it’s not in the middle.



Here is an example of the rule of thirds for a landscape photo. The focus is on the land area rather than the sky so the bottom two-thirds of the photograph are filled with land and the top third is sky.

Here are additional links explaining and demonstrating the Rule of thirds.
http://digital-photography-school.com/rule-of-thirds
http://learnprophotography.com/rule-of-thirds
http://www.ultimate-photo-tips.com/photography-rule-of-thirds.html

http://www.photographymad.com/pages/view/rule-of-thirds

Aperture - Depth of Field Excercise

Today you will experiment with capturing both shallow and deep Depth of Field.

Post your examples to your blog demonstrating both shallow and extended Depth of Field.

You should have 2 examples of both deep and shallow depth of Field.

 follow the format below for each picture:

This pic was shot at ISO 400, Shutter Speed 1/125, aperture f5.6. 
The DoF is very shallow:

This pic was shot at ISO 1600, Shutter Speed 1/60, Aperture f32. 
it has an extended Depth of Field.

Aperture - Depth of Field

Aperture is the opening in the lens that controls the AMOUNT of light that you allow to enter the camera. It is measured in a thing we call the F number.



As you decrease the size of the Aperture you increase the amount of the picture that is in focus. This is called Depth of field.

Watch the following video for a good explanation of how Aperture works. We'll began using different F Stops and doing Depth of Field exercises later in class.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUbjkMm_v-A


Depth of Field is the amount of the image that is in sharp focus

Here is the a link that describes how and when to use Aperture Priority

Here's link that descibes how to take better pictures using Aperture Priority.

Use the Nikons to experiment with Depth of Field around the building. Take pictures with both Shallow and Deep Depth of Field. We'll post them next class.