Shooting Assignment #1: Ordinary to Extraordinary

For your first shooting assignment, you will transform an ordinary, everyday subject into something extraordinary by using a principle of composition.

Your subject should be large enough to photograph from many different angles and points of view, (DO NOT photograph small objects like we did in class). For example, you might photograph an old car parked on your street, or your deck, or the outside of your house, or even a favorite friend. Whatever you choose, you must follow these rules:

1) You must photograph outside, on a sunny day. Wait until noon when light casts interesting shadows and highlights. DO NOT PHOTOGRAPH INSIDE!
2) You must photograph your subject in a variety of ways, using the principles of composition to guide your approach, (see slideshow below).

When photographing, consider the following:
1) LIGHT METER! Read it correctly to avoid over or underexposure.
2) BRACKET your exposures! This means take a picture, than switch to a similar aperture by one stop and photograph it again.
3) Apertures of f5.6 or f8 at a shutter-speed of about 1/250th or 1/500th of a second typically work well for bright, daylight conditions.
4) Use your focusing prism to make sure your subject is in focus!
5) Load, advance,rewind, and unload film from your camera correctly. When in doubt bring your camera in to me, DO NOT OPEN IT!
6) Consider creative controls like depth-of-field and movement. Remember small apertures make deeper depths-of-field and slower shutter speeds will record movement as a blur.

Have fun! Your first roll of film should be shot entirely, (24 exposures), rewound, and ready to process by Friday, Oct. 31st. Don't procrastinate and don't rush!

Sketchbook Assignment: Principles of Composition Scavenger Hunt

To learn how to identify the principles of composition in photography, it's helpful to look for examples of how photographer's use them all over the world, everyday. Create a 2-3 page sketchbook entry in which you neatly cut out and paste clear, high-quality visual examples of each of these photographic principles. Here's what you must include for a 40 point grade!

1) You must include the entire image, no cutting into it or cropping.
2) You need to find two different examples of each principle of composition for a total of 16 images!
2) High quality images = no pixelation, and each must be larger than 3" in one direction.
3) Neatly cut out and carefully pasted/glued into your sketchbook. Label each principle of composition with it's name, (see examples above)and write the source from which you found the image, (artist's name, magazine title, etc.)
4) Explanation-identify what you see in the photograph that demonstrates this compositional principle.

Check out the following links for online sources for finding master photographers:

Photography NOW
Masters of Photography
ProFotos-Photography Masters
Photokaboom

See the principles of composition powerpoint lecture below to refresh your memory on how to find them!

Principles of Composition - Upload a Document to Scribd

Processing Film: A Troubleshooting Guide

This troubleshooting guide is included in the book, "Black and White Photography, A Basic Manual" by Henry Horenstein. It's a great book that explains shooting techniques, film processing, and other black-and-white photography ideas that you can use!

Below is a guide that can be used to identify problems you may have had loading, processing, and exposing your film. If you notice a defect or visible problem with your film, use this guide to identify the probable cause:

Film Processing Troubleshooting Guide - Upload a Document to Scribd

Light Metering reading

Here are the questions you need to respond to using complete sentences in your sketchbook. The reading assignment is worth a 20 point grade, and is due Thursday 10/16.

1)Explain the difference between an “incident” light meter and a “reflected” light meter.
2)Explain the difference between an “averaging” meter, and a “spot” meter.
3)Identify one advantage of using a hand-held light meter as opposed to a reflected light meter.
4)What is a gray card? What can you use as a substitute on your body, and how is it helpful?
5)Compare the picture on page 116 to the top picture on page 123 before answering the following question: When photographing someone against a bright background like the sky, explain how can light-metering correctly to avoid creating a “silhouette” effect (like picture on pg. 116).

6)Explain the process of bracketing. Why would you bracket your exposures?

Light Metering - Upload a Document to Scribd