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!