Thursday Feb. 21 New Assignments

Weather Feeling shots. What is the mood feeling of this time of year: Reflect our typical Feb. weather in 3 shots.

Glacier shots: You are to take 2 good shots of the Glacier. These photos can be taken from anywhere.

Today in class we learned how to use the crop, clone stamp tool and the blur and smudge tools. We spent some time looking around the filter program. Taylor gave a short presentation on Portraits.

Skatepark shots: focus on angles and possibly bring a prop to the skatepark. Please make sure you vary your shots so that I receive a variety of different shots with the main focus being angle. Shots 10

NEW Conceptual shots: 3 photos of a conceptual word. In this assignment, you are working as a conceptual photographer taking a word and then transforming it into a photo. For example if the word is joy, then you would try to come up with a photo which represents this idea. 

Go to getty images or Evolve images in Google and type in a conceptual word and get some ideas by viewing what kind of photos are connected to this word. (marks 15)

All three photos do not have to be of the same conceptual word. You need to write the name of the word under the photo and a brief description as to why  you chose it. Here are some samples word ideas: joy, love, surprise, death, end, beauty, peace, balance, creativity, fun, excitement, weathered, old, decay, freedom etc. You are not expected to complete all of these shots today....but you might start the research part of this assignment...trying to figure out what concept you want to go with to get the shot.

Uncertainty: The girl look a little uncertain as she gazes upwards.

Content: The dog looks like he is pleased/content with his day at the beach.

Busted: Just kidding, I couldn't resist!

Thurs. Feb 14/2013

Yesterday we reviewed a number of functions in Photoshop, students had a test drive on Pixlr and/or Pic Monkey when trying to do spot colours. At this point students should be able to edit for lighting and cropping. You should also be able to put photos into black and white and be aware of how to use the filter tools in Photoshop. I am away today, please be respectful to Ms. Beckett, use your class time productively, ask for help from the teacher or others in the class, and when you are out taking photos, you are on task! With great freedom comes great responsibility.

STUDENTS SHOULD MAKE SURE PHOTO CARDS ARE PURCHASED BY NEXT TUES, OTHERWISE YOU MAY NOT BE ABLE TO TAKE PHOTOS. A REMINDER THAT CARD 0 HAS ALREADY GONE MISSING.

Assignments

Still Life: 8 photos in total all compiled into one set on Flickr. Photos should consist of the following:

• 2 Moon snail shell shots, photos edited into black and white
• 2 Flower shots, edited for spot colour
• 4 other still life shots (student choice)

NEW ASSIGNMENT Circles: 10 shots of objects that  are circles or have part of the shot has a circle in it ( you do want your circle to be the focal point. 

Criteria: clean backgrounds, focal point is the circle, think creatively so photos reflect this, in focus, a variety of shots, keep in mind all of the compositional elements we have learned so far. You may do some editing, but do not overdo with filters, I want to be able to see you know how to shoot a good photo.

Reminder: We will have a number of short lessons on Friday.

Tues Feb 12 ..Update of Learnings/Assignments

The first few weeks is a bit intense for students new to Photography as they try to grasp every bit of new knowledge, all I can say is keep the questions coming because this is how you learn. Here is an update of what you should know how to do by the end of this week.

Assignments:

• Head shots:  2 shots that you have taken of someone, these are both head and shoulder shots. The shots can be of two different people. These shots should be flattering shots of the individual. Try to capture an essence of the individual in the shots. You are to save the originals on your L Drive under Photography in a sub folder entitled head shots. Next you will use the photo editor Pixlr of which I will include a link after this post to edit each head shot ( use a frame and an effect...do not go crazy in your efforts) Then you should post all 4 shots...your 2 originals and your 2 edited shots in a set on Flickr. Make sure your originals are between 50kb and 2 mb. If you need to resize see info on how to do this further down. Marks for this assignment 10

Editing software: There are a number of free programs you can use for editing photos. The one I most prefer these days is Pixlr which has a basic programs for filter and quick fix junkies and an advanced program which is VERY similar to Photoshop which is the program we will be using in class, and is generally the industry standard. You should be familiar with how to use a number of different programs. If you are a Mac user there are a multitude of Photo Apps which I am still trying to weed my way through.

Here is the link for Pixlr     http://pixlr.com
Here is the link for Pic monkey  http://www.picmonkey.com/?gclid=CLX3jozks7UCFap_QgodOwgAZw

Rule of thirds: Feb. 6

Today in class we printed out a copy of a good photo and then explained why it was good using the elements of composition. This assignment was to be handed in for marks.
Check out the following links to learn more about rule of thirds and how to become a better photographer.

Rule of thirds

Tips for becoming a better photographer

Welcome to Advanced Photography: Semester 2

The focus of this course is on improving and building on basic photographic skills and techniques. We will use photography as a medium for artistic impression. Students will independently create, design and present images that reflect their own individuality and style. Students will create and manipulate personally meaningful images in order to elicit audience response. Some other topics of study include: developing skills in Photoshop CS3, creating art from photography, and learning about careers in this field.

Strong computer skills, access to a camera, and prior photographic skills will be an asset. Students MUST have their own 2GB sd card and a jump drive for transfering photos from home to school. This is like your notebook and is very important. Try to have this for next Mon.

Please review the following links (this means do some reading!) Be prepared to review and discuss and have a short quiz on this information.
Ten Questions: Composition
Camera modes
Fill the Frame
Focal Points

Browse the Digital Photo School site to see what it is all about and rate it out of 10 ( 10 being great, 1 being poor) as a photographic source for students. Explain why you believe rate it they way you did.