Assignments December 11-14

Documentary Photography Project – Due Wednesday before class is over

If you can’t get it to post to your blog you will have to email the completed project to me, kanglin@district70.org

You will present/show your project in class Thursday (if you present Thursday you will get 20 extra credit points) and Monday

Create a Spark presentation with the following included: at least 6 photos that you took, 6 other photos (can be photos you took, if from the internet or magazine you must include the photographers name), titles for each photo, voice over telling the story, music, transitions, creativity in telling the story.

You will be graded on photo quality and having 12 photos (70 points), having the photographer authors (20 points), titles (10 points), story in voice over and shown in photos (40 points), creativity (10 points).

 

Assignments December 11-14

Starts with T – Due Tueday before class is over

Take photos of items that start with the letter T. Upload your best 3 to your blog in a gallery 3×1 with titles in the caption area. Title the blog post “Starts With T.”

THEME BASED PHOTO SERIES – Due Thursday before class is over 

Create a series of photographs which work together to conceptualize a theme or story idea. You will upload your best 6 photos to your blog in a gallery 3×2 with titles in the caption area. Title the blog post the name of your theme that you chose. Check out this link to get some good ideas for your project.  https://photographyicon.com/photography-themes/

Movie Poster – Due Thursday before class is over

Create a movie poster from a photograph that you took. Make sure that you can see the title. Be creative. Use Adobe Express to put the poster together. Title your blog post “Movie Poster.”

Assignments December 4-7

  • Vibrant Colors- Due Monday before class is over

Take photos that show vibrant colors. You can edit these photos to add more saturation or vibrance to enhance the colors. Upload your best 3 photos Monday before class is over in a gallery 3×1 with titles in the caption area. Title the post “Vibrant Colors.”

  • Smiles – Due Wednesday before class is over

Capture people in their natural environments with their natural smiles. Still pay attention to lighting, background, and point of view. Upload your best 3 photos Tuesday in a gallery 3×1 with titles in the caption area. Title the post “Smiles.”

  • Silhouettes 2 – Due Thursday before class is over

Make usual photographs look different, or add extra meaning to them, by simply cutting out some silhouettes on a sheet of paper and taking a shot through it. You can choose harmonic combinations, like shooting nature through shapes of animals, or go for contrast and shoot some highly technogenic landscapes through shapes of trees. Edit and upload your best 3 photos to your blog in a gallery 3×1 with titles in the caption area. Title your post “Silhouettes 2.” Below are some examples.

Assignments December 4-7

Documentary Photography 

Students consider the function of social-documentary photography. They will research Dorothea Lange’s documentary projects, and create their own photo essay about a subject of interest to them. Students will document an area of struggle in their life or take on a struggle to document within their community. We will watch this video on photojournalism and this video on Colorado Women Taking on Hunger and discuss the different types of documentary photography and what it is. Here are some tips on taking documentary photography. 

47. Social Documentary and Dorthea Lange – Due Monday 

First we will look at the photographs below from Dorthea Lange and discuss those. Dorothea Lange and more on Dorothea Lange

Research the term “social documentary” and draft a definition. Also research two related terms currently in use by artists, art historians, and art critics: “concerned photography” and “compassionate photography.” Write out your definition and explain. Also research on the Internet three images by Lange that were part of social-documentary projects she undertook (for example, additional photographs she took while working for the Farm Security Administration). Include those three photographs and what you learned about her documentary photography. Title the post “Dorthea Lange Writing.”

48. Choose Topic – Due Tuesday before class is over

Choose and research a topic of struggle in your life or take on a struggle to document within your community that will be the subject of your own social-documentary project, presented in the form of a photo essay (a series of related photographs focusing on a specific topic that is intended to be viewed collectively, often with captions). 

The photo essay was popularized by Lange and other photographers during the 1930s. Photo essays by Lange were published in various magazines and reports from the 1930s to the 1960s. What is the difference between a photo essay and a single photograph about the same topic? What can a photo essay do that a single photograph cannot? Why is photography especially well suited for the essay format?

Students discuss topics for their photo essays and brainstorm ideas for how to visually express them. Students also brainstorm interview questions for individuals they may photograph as part of the project. 

Write a plan summarizing the key story you hope to tell in your photo essay and strategies for doing so, keeping in mind your definition of “social documentary.” Using the storyboard ideas below, brainstorm and create your story. You will include at least 6 photos of your own and 6 more photos that can be from the internet, magazines, or drawings (include who the photographer was). Upload to your blog as your topic and include your plan. Title the post “Documentary Photography Topic.” This should be a direct post, not a Word attachment. 

Planning Guide

Storyboard

Adobe Express Tutorial – Due Wednesday before class is over

We will go over how to use Adobe Express in class. When we’re done you will submit your tutorial. 

Documentary Photography Project – Due Next Wednesday

If you can’t get it to post to your blog you will have to email the completed project to me, kanglin@district70.org

You will present/show your project in class next Tuesday or Wednesday during finals

Create an Adobe Express presentation with the following included: at least 6 photos that you took, 6 other photos (can be photos you took, if from the internet or magazine you must include the photographers name), titles for each photo, voice over telling the story, music, transitions, creativity in telling the story.

You will be graded on photo quality and having 12 photos (70 points), having the photographer authors (20 points), titles (10 points), story in voice over and shown in photos (40 points), creativity (10 points).

Assignments November 27-30

Tiny Bits of Beauty [Environment] – Due Tuesday before class is over

Find and take photos of images of easily overlooked beauty that most people miss. Enlarge or enhance the image and what makes it appealing via photo editing program. Upload your best three photos to your blog as “Tiny Bits of Beauty” and make sure to title each photo and put into a gallery 3×1. 

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Haunting Eyes – Due Wednesday before class is over

Submit three photographs that have haunting eyes. By haunting I mean: poignant and evocative; difficult to ignore or forget. It can be eyes of men, women, children, elderly, or animals. Please show some of the subject, not just the eyes. Make sure there are not too many distracting elements in the photo and consider cropping the picture to focus better on the subject. Upload as a gallery 3×1 with titles to your blog as “Haunting Eyes”

Faceless Portrait – Due Thursday before class is over
The theme of this challenge is open to interpretation. What is a faceless portrait?
There are many ways to remove a face from an image beyond the popular headless body or hand-on-face methods. Think of fun and quirky or deep and meaningful, whether staged or spontaneous, shadows or head turns, show me a portrait. Use the body and environment to tell a story. Just don’t show me their face, looking forward for this one! Upload your best 3 photos, with titles, in a gallery 3×1, title blog post “Faceless Portraits.”

Assignments November 27-30

Depth of Field Writing – Due Monday before class is over

We will go over depth of field during class using this website. Then, in a blog post explain the difference in shallow depth of field and large depth of field. Find two photos online- one which shows a large depth of field and one which shows a shallow depth of field. Explain in both images: what in the image shows that it is a large depth of field, what shows that it is a shallow depth of field, are either of them better than the other, and why?

Depth of Field – Due Tuesday before class is over

-Read this link to help understand depth of field and how to control it in your shots 

– Then go outside and take two photographs of the same subject, trying to get two different depth of fields. You will set the camera mode to AV (aperture priority). Make sure to focus on the same subject for both shots you take.

-In Photo #1 You will get a shallow depth of field. Zoom out to the longest focal length of the lens which is 55mm. Set the aperture on f5.6 (the widest aperture at 55mm) and take note of what the camera sets the shutter speed at. Make sure it is not below 60th of a second. Get in good and close to your subject

-In Photo #2 You will get a good depth of field. Put your lens at 18mm (which is the widest lens mm on your lens). Set your aperture at f16, and take note of what the camera sets the shutter speed at. Make sure it is not below 60th of a second, or open up the aperture to f11. Stay a bit further back to get a better depth of field.

You will upload the two photographs in a gallery 2×1, title each photo the corresponding depth of field. The blog post should be titled “Depth of Field.” Below is an example.

Macro Mode Images – Due Wednesday before class is over

Using this website, we will discuss the differences between Macro and Micro Photography and then you will take your own photos to show different varieties in macro images. You can find interesting shapes and patterns and abstract your image, or you can find plants, bugs, toys, food, or any other subject and make your image seem larger than life. You will upload your best 6 photos to your blog with titles in a gallery 3×2 by Wednesday.

Shoot Like Aaron Siskind – Due Thursday before class is over

Research the work of Aaron Siskind, an American photographer who shot abstract black and white images, which focus on nature, architecture and human form. Take some photos on the MONOCHROME setting, or edit the photos to be black and white, in the style of Aaron Siskind, edit them with good density and contrast, and post 3 black and white images on your blog with titles in a gallery 3×1.  Below are some student examples.

 

Assignments November 13-16

  • A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words Writing – Due Monday before class is over

The phrase “a picture tells a thousand words” is pretty well-worn, yet the concept has proven true time and time again. Look at any picture that captures a moment in action – the words needed to explain it could go on for days. Some pictures hold many stories.

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Three children sit in front of a pile of rubble. Who are they? Are they related? Where are their parents? What was the building before it was destroyed? What are they looking at? What happens next?

Choose a historical image from one of these sites and then do the following activity:

https://www.boredpanda.com/must-see-historic-moments/

 

https://pulptastic.com/40-rare-historical-photographs-must-see/

Write a short, half-page story from the person’s point of view. What is this person thinking in this moment? What do they see? Who could they be talking to in their mind (a parent who’s not there, a loved one, an enemy, another person in the picture)? It’s always better when a story has a listener, even if that listener can’t hear what’s going on inside a character’s head! Include the image. Title the blog post “Photo Writing.”

  • Song – Due Wednesday before class is over
Find a song, or even a speech that you like. Take a series of images that can be used to create a slide show version of that audio-work. Make sure that you take enough photos to fill the time space of the song or the speech. Put it together in a video. Here is an example, that may be helpful.  Below is an example from a student. Though there is some animation, they could have been done with still images, or you may choose to add some animation as these have. You need to include the title of the song or speech and the author somewhere in the video. You can use any program you are comfortable with. Title the blog post “Song.”
 
  • Meticulous – Due Thursday before class is over

Meticulous means to show great attention to detail, very careful and precise. For this assignment you will meticulously arrange everyday objects that can be found around your home.

First, look at the photography work of Emily Blincoe. 

Select your favorite work by her and put it on your blog with a short explanation why this image caught your eye.

Search you home for a variety of objects and items that can be used to create your meticulous arrangement.

Find a simple suitable background for your shot. This could be a plain pillow case, large piece of paper, or anything large enough with no pattern. Set up your arrangement and be meticulous and pay attention to details. Make sure you are in adequate lighting, and please remember how important good lighting is in photography.

Take a few photographs from above, looking straight down at your arrangement. Go in as close as you can. Make sure your image is tack sharp!  Never rely on just taking one shot.

Edit your favorite photographs with Lightroom and then post to your blog.

Meticulous arrangement of objects, which are then photographed have been used in advertising and commercial photography for years.

Your blog post will contain your favorite image by Emily Blincoe and explain why. Then a gallery 3×1 with 3 of the images that you took. These three images will all be different objects that have been meticulously put together. Title the blog post “Meticulous.” Title each image in the caption area. Below are some examples.

 

Assignments November 13-16

  • Photography Writing – Due Monday before class is over

Start a new story inspired by a photo that you find on one of the websites that we use in class. Include the image in your post, caption it with the photographers name, and then write a story about the photo, 300-500 words. Begin with “That was the day the world changed…” Title the blog post “Photo Writing.”

  • Still Life Toy Photographs – DUE Thursday 

We will look at the examples.  It’s interesting to photograph still life subjects using unexpected approaches. This takes an object out of its normal context, so that you can see it in a different light. In this case, you’re going to make a formal portrait of a toy. You will upload your best 6 photos by Wednesday before class is over, with titles, in a gallery 3×2. Title your blog post “Toy Photos.” Before you begin think about the following:

  • Do you want to convey the significance that a plaything from your childhood has for you, or will you choose a random toy and portray it in unexpected ways?
  • Consider the portrait’s background. Will it provide context, color, and visual interest or will it be a neutral setting that highlights the subject?
  • As you compose your image, experiment with lighting, viewpoint, balance, and emphasis to reveal the toy’s story.

 

  • Different Point of View – Due Thursday before class is over

Be creative and show me different points of view, lower or upper. Be artistic, any subject or angle which will be interesting for the viewer will be accepted. Photographs in black and white or in color are welcome. Upload your best 3 photos by Thursday before class is over, with titles, in a gallery 3×1. Title your blog post “Different Point of View.” Below are some examples.

Assignments November 6-9

  • Focus on Reflections – Due Wednesday before class is over

Take a series of images that use reflections or refractions of light. There are many great examples HERE.

This image is by Miki Asai, her website is HERE.

You will upload your best six photos to your blog in a gallery 3×2 with titles. Title the post “Reflections.”

Photo by Miki Asai

Photo by Miki Asai

  • Paper Cut-outs & Photos – Due Thursday before class is over

Find little quirks in the environment around you, a bent post, length of chain, crack in a sidewalk or wall… and add a character to the environment that connects with it in a creative way. Many more samples at this LINK. Do it on paper so as not to disturb the area or deface property. You can draw the images or you can cut them out of magazines or print from the internet, then set those images up to take photos. Below is an example and make sure to look at the link above for more samples. You will upload your best six photos to your blog in a gallery 3×2 with titles. Title the post “Paper Cut-Outs & Photos.”

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