Assignment #3 - High Key/Low Key

This assignment is basically two assignments in one. Treat it as such and it will be easier to break down.

Have I taught you the bracketing procedure yet? No? Ok, don't freak out and see if you can figure out what I'm asking here. If you can't figure it out, don't freak out and plan on learning a LOT next week in class.

Enjoy your weekend.

You will shoot high-key and low-key images. What is high-key? The majority of the image (95%+) will be tones of light gray to white. It will help you to think of shooting white objects placed on a white background. So, then the opposite of high-key is low-key right? Think of low key as dark gray-ish to black objects. Shoot your dark objects placed on a dark background. You might need a tripod/beanbag for these shots.

For both of your shots you will want to pay close attention to the background. Don't let stray light/objects ruin your clean shot. Also it helps to isolate the objects by getting close. Take a look at the examples below.

You will want to shoot both of your high-key and low-key shots using the bracketing technique that we learned. Go from very very VERY underexposed all the way to very very VERY overexposed for each of the shots...both high-key *and* low-key.

Using the extreme bracketing you will find that buried somewhere in those images is a nearly perfect exposure. That will be your starting point. We will take those good exposures into post-production in the studio.

Here are some examples:















HERE IS A SLIDESHOW of student work.

Yes, this is an assignment that I even give to my basic black and white high school film class. Here's the proof...



Things you will definitely want to be paying attention to:

Focus - make 'em sharp!

Light - will make or break the entire assignment. Move the light around the objects if you are shooting indoors...move the objects around into different light if you are shooting outdoors.

We will lecture and show examples of this in class. This WILL BE an assignment you will want to go back and re-shoot a few times. Don't consider doing it wrong the first time a failure...consider it good practice.

Requirements:

Shoot in RAW
Shoot in Color
Shoot using Manual Mode
Bracket the living heck out of these shots
Shoot using Manual Focus
Shoot images that are interesting to look at

Blog: One post containing two high-key and two low-key images, also put some examples of the exposures that your camera told you were 'correct'.

Write a little about what you learned.

Due Date: Tuesday February 9th.

Assignment #2 - Numbers

Assignment number two. It's really your first real REAL assignment. Kick some tail.

Here are the requirements:

You will make 100 images. No more...no less.
You will make your first frame contain the number zero (0).
Your second frame will contain the number one (1).
Your third frame will contain the number two (2).
Can you guess what your fourth frame will contain? Yep, a number three (3).

Rinse and repeat.

You will end up with 100 images, starting with number 0, ending with 99.

THESE MUST BE SHOT SEQUENTIALLY...NO CHEATING!

Remember, no deleting, no re-shooting numbers, if you make a mistake on the exposure, go on to your next number. Fix your exposure for the next number before shooting (duh).

I want you to start setting your white balance correctly in the camera. You have not been taught this yet but we will go over it in class. Also this assignment must...repeat...MUST be shot on Manual (M). We will have several lectures about exposure to teach you just what and how your camera is doing what it needs to do.

DO NOT TAKE THIS ASSIGNMENT LITERALLY. Be creative in how you represent the numbers you will shoot. Bonus points if you photograph them in braille. Extra bonus points if you can photograph 99 Bigfoots (Bigfeet?) for the final exposure. DO NOT drive you all over town. DO NOT go walking up and down the street looking for addresses that work. You can shoot this assignment within the comfort of your own home. There are easily 100 sequential numbers in your house.

Due on your blog on Thursday, January 26th.

I will NOT allow you do to ANY POST-PROCESSING FOR THIS ASSIGNMENT. Post the SEVEN most unique images.

Quote for the day:

"Photoshop is a crutch for those who are too lazy to get it right in the camera."
I said this, it is my quote. If you quote me, attribute me. If you don't quote me I will be sad.

Good luck!

Some examples...

A Look Back In Time...In Color!

This is a very neat article. Look at the photography. Look how the photographs are titled.

CLICK HERE.



Children stage a patriotic demonstration. Southington, Connecticut, May 1942. Reproduction from color slide. Photo by Fenno Jacobs. Prints and Photographs Division, Library of Congress

export test

Photographer Ad On Craig's List

Look what I found this morning.



So occasionally I like to surf through Craig's list to see what jobs are being offered and what kind of photographers are advertising there. This morning I found the ad shown above and I started to go through my list that we covered in Lecture #2. Can you see how many items that are on my list that this person is using to promote himself as a photographer?

Click on the photograph and it gets bigger.

Start counting...

Assignment #1 - Scavenger Hunt

Ok gang, this first assignment is designed to get you used to using your camera, understand it's functions and really, most importantly, to have some fun.

I want you to follow these instructions for this assignment. Following instructions with exactness is crucial to many of the things we will do in photo. It is a very process-intense thing to do all of this right, so pay attention and you'll do fine.

1. Take your camera and set it on 'P'.

2. Try and find the following objects to photograph: tree, bird, dog, car, cat, platypus, friend, mom, dad, sky, floor, hand, something red, something green, something scary, something funny.

3. Try to mix it up with your shots. Get close, get closer, get REALLY close. Let the camera focus before you take the picture. Take several views of each object. You don't pay much more to take a million shots instead of just one...so why not play with your angles, the point of view, the close-ness, the far-ness, etc... Don't you DARE just take one image. I will smack you if I see you starting off being a lazy photographer.

4. Get at least 30-50 shots of whatever it is you have found. It is NOT important that these images are perfect works of art. These images are PRACTICE! These images will give us some files that we can work with next week to teach you how to upload your images to your portable hard-drives, how to set up your blogs, etc... Something to work with is better than nothing to work with, so be sure you get something in your camera.

5. DON'T FORGET TO BRING YOUR CAMERA/MEMORY CARD/CARD READER/HARD DRIVE TO CLASS NEXT WEEK! This is really important...if you don't have your images to class then the assignment is LATE and your grade will suffer. Not only that, but if you don't have your images with you then you won't be able to follow along with me as I do my demo.

6. Open your instruction manual read it and play with the various settings on the camera. Learn it's controls as much as you can. You don't have to understand everything, just the basics for now. We will go over in class in a very detailed manner everything you will need to know. For now just the basics are good. This will be the only assignment you ever shoot on 'P'. The rest of the shooting will be on 'M'. If you are really ambitious you can set your camera on 'M' and mess around with it.

7. If you are REALLY ambitious, start over from the beginning and re-photograph what you shot at first. You might be surprised at what you learned and how much better the images turn out.


TO COMPLETE ASSIGNMENT #1 YOU MUST DO THE FOLLOWING BY THURSDAY, JANUARY 19TH.

1. Post three of your your favorite, UNPROCESSED images from all of your shooting done for Assignment #1 to your blog.

2. Process the same images in Lightroom, make them as good as you possibly can, and post to your blog.

3. Process the same images AGAIN in Lightroom, this time make them as ugly as you possibly can, ignore everything I ever told you about making an image good, and instead make it so ugly I want to puke. Post to your blog.

4. Write what you learned, what you did, something to let me know you are a thinking being on your blog. Extra points for a Haiku.

All three images (and their different variations), should be posted in ONE SINGLE BLOG POST...the title of which shall be: Assignment #1 - Scavenger Hunt

First Image Of 2012

Each year I like to go out and make a final image on December 31st, then go out again on January 1st to start off the new year right.

I have been experimenting with some new material from Harmon/Ilford that makes a positive image onto a piece of photographic paper. This is a four-panel image made with my 8x10 camera. It is a location I like to photograph repeatedly and this would probably be the 30th time I've been there in the past 10 years.

We'll talk about this type of image making more as the semester progresses, so if this is all lost on you don't worry about it. Some of these terms will become clearer as your knowledge of the darkroom and of different cameras increases.



Lee Creek, Great Salt Lake, 2012