Digital Photography II:
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Skill Scales Review
Photo 2 students begin the semester by reviewing photo 1 concepts. Students then produce two scales to demonstrate proficiency. The first scale involves using aperture settings to create a series of images that move from a shallow depth of field to a deep depth of field. The second scale involves the use of shutter speeds to control the appearance of action, moving from ghostly blurred motion to completely frozen motion.
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Negative Space and Silhouettes
Negative space is simply the space that surrounds the object in an image. It helps to bring balance to a composition and is just as important as the positive space. Students will learn how to purposefully underexpose an image to create hard silhouettes in order to better understand the relationship between the positive and the negative space in an image. When taking these photographs, it was important to keep the backgrounds simple so as not to draw attention away from the silhouette, choose objects with interesting outlines and space, and focus on the subject to get a sharp edge. We also discussed how to ground an image by having any vertical or horizontal lines run parallel to the frame.
Light & Shadow
Students explore various ways to represent light and shadow in photography. This project requires students to use their newly acquired knowledge of dynamic range and manipulating light to achieve well exposed photographs. It also requires that students learn to think differently about what may be considered the subject of a photograph. They begin to understand that it does not always have to be about an object itself. Space, abstraction, shape, movement, unity, and contrast are further discussed.
The World in Black and White
The black and white project allows students to develop a better sense of value and how colors translate to grayscale. We start by looking at professional photographs that are of everyday items, but talk about the effect that making it black and white has on the mood and emotional qualities of the image. Students describe how the images make them feel and cite visual evidence for why that is. The subject matter in these photographs could be anything they were interested in, as long as it communicated some sort of mood or emotional state.
Portrait Photography
Building off of the studio lessons, students have the opportunity to put their light skills to use through the production of a series of portraits. They are required to come up with a concept for their portraits that aims to build a relationship between the lighting, atmosphere, and mood of the photographs.
Architecture
Students explore shape and form through Architectural Photography. This was one of three projects students were photographing for during their trip to Providence, RI. The challenge was to create a well composed photograph that pulls out architectural details, emphasizes form through light and shadow, and serves to communicate what they find interesting about a single structure or group of structures.
Tilt-Shift
This is a short, fun lesson that further evolves a student's understanding of Photoshop. Students take photographs with specific vantage points and distances in mind in order to transform everyday scenes into miniature environments. What is normally done with an expensive, specialized lens is accomplished through the careful taking and selection of an image, along with a post production process that utilizes specific filters and adjustments in Photoshop.
Commercial Photography
Students are introduced to photography from a career related approach. They discuss and research photographs that are used in print ads in order to establish some guidelines. They then apply this knowledge in a commercial photography assignment in which they must photograph products of their choosing. We discuss aspects such as branding, product features, appealing to an audience, the meaning of color, location, juxtaposition, and reflections.
Photojournalism
For the photojournalism project, students are required to come up with a real news story to base a series of photographs on. They are required to write an article in which they focus on a particular person, business, event, or issue. Once the article is in place, students work to narrow their vision and create a list of possible photographs that would help to support their story. They then execute their series and come together to talk about which images work best and why.