Digital Photo Media I

DIGITAL PHOTO MEDIA 1 S

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Christ Church Episcopal School

photo by Dan Harris

INTRODUCTION TO DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY In this course we will be using digital imagery. You may use either a digital camera or a film camera. Students using a film camera will need to have their film transferred to CD by a local photo lab at the time of film processing to save time; otherwise, students will have their film negatives printed and then they can scan their prints into the computer.

There are many kinds of digital cameras available today. They can be put into two basic types:

Point & Shoot:

Digital SLR:

ADVANTAGES Simple, easy to use, small,

DISADVANTAGES Difficult or impossible to adjust

relatively inexpensive. I highly recommend one with an optical viewfinder plus the LCD screen

exposure controls & focus.

May be hard to see image in LCD screen in bright sunlight.

Lenses can not be changed

Total adjustments of all exposure & focus controls Easy to view/focus in bright sunlight, lenses can be changed.

Larger, heavier, more expensive, It’s the clear choice for the pros and serious amateurs. Image quality likely better.

Do Megapixels Really Matter The answer is yes, ... and no. Up to about six megapixels and answer is yes. After that, the quality of the image depends on a lot of factors, the number of megapixels is only one factor. And two six megapixel cameras from different brands/types may yield different quality images. And, most cameras have adjustments for image quality, from low to high.

Here are a few terms you need to know: FILE TYPES: JPEG: (pronounnced“jay-peg”) a compressed file.

Usually the default file type for most cameras. Some cameras have two or three different JPEG settings from lower quality, highly compressed (you can get more images on your memory card) to higher quality.

TIFF: high quality, uncompressed files. This file type, if your camera has it, is rarely needed. Unless you know you want to make a very large, poster-sized print, then it is not worth it. With a default JPEG image you may get 300 images on your card; but with a TIFF image you may only get 6 images on the same card. Its a huge difference. And during this class you will learn how to use Adobe Photoshop software to create high quality images/prints from JPEG camera files.

RAW: the highest quality you can get from a digital camera. Usually only high end digital SLR cameras have this setting. It is not necessary to use it for this class.

Many softwares ( like MS Word) can not import RAW files.

C O N T R O L L I N G

F O C U S

For years photographers learned how to control focus to make images more interesting.. It’s called DEPTH OF FIELD. The above picture is an example of Shallow D.O.F. Three things control Depth Of Field: 1. DISTANCE: focus on something close and the background will be out of focus and vice versa 2. APERTURE or f-stop. The bigger the lens opening the less D.O.F. The smaller the more D.O.F. This may be difficult on a digital point & shoot - so try changing your ISO setting to a lower number for less D.O.F. 3. FOCAL LENGTH OF LENS. The more you zoom out (telephoto) the less D.O.F. Zoom in (wide angle) gives more D.O.F.

Try to experiment - just keep your shutter speed higher

than 60 to prevent camera shake and blurred pictures

Shutter speeds are important ULTRA SLOW SHUTTER

SLOW SHUTTER SPEEDS

MEDIUM SHUTTER SPEEDS

FAST SHUTTER SPEEDS

Less than 1/2 of a second

Less than 1/30

From 1/60 - 125

From 1/250 - and faster

Very slow shutter speeds can be used after dark to expose still or moving scenes. Painting with light - candles, flashlights can be very interesting

Slow shutter speeds can make flowing water look silky and moving objects blurry such as runners and during bike races

These are the shutter speeds that are the minimum to take pictures holding your camera any slower and you risk blurry images

These are the shutter speeds that will let you capture moving objects and they will be sharp. The faster the shutter the faster the action that can be captured

DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY ASSIGNMENTS There are four Assignments. Each is designed to have you learn the fundamentals of Photography.

1. ASSIGNMENT #1: COMPOSITION & DESIGN: Think of Music - you need variety - the same note played over and over is b-o-r-i-n-g. In music there is Counterpoint - meaning high notes need low notes and vice versa. The same is true in Photography. Think of opposites: light vs. dark; big vs. small; vertical vs. horizontal. How many other visual opposites can you think of ?

Positive & Negative Space: move your camera around so even the background space looks like an interesting shape.

Rule of Thirds: try to place the most interesting shapes 1/3 from the side or top. Most of the time the center of interest is better not in the center. Remember - rules can be broken.

These are examples of CCES Student Work for Assign. #1.

Notice how the shapes are interesting - even if that means not showing all of something. Mystery can be interesting!

Notice how only part of the ferris wheel is shown

This one uses Leading Lines to divide the picture into triangles - can you see it?

More examples of CCES Student Work for Assign. #1.

Assign. #1 Requirements: take several shots of objects using the concepts of Composition & Design. Try different angles - some vertical and some horizontal. Move in closer and take some more. You must have a minimum of six finished pictures using iPhoto and Photoshop.Remember - most Photographers take a lot of shots and then select the best to show. You should shoot at least 15 - 20 images.

Prelim. Part of Assignment: 15 - 20 images in iPhoto Project Grade: Final Images in Photoshop - minimum of five.

IMPORTANT: Every student must have a Memory card for his/her camera that is used only for CCES Photography class. You should get a at least a 512 MB card - a 1 GB card is an even better idea.

A LITTLE PHILOSOPHY FROM YOUR TEACHER IMPORTANT NOTE FOR DIGITAL CAMERA USERS: For years it has been clear that certain, basic "point & shoot" film cameras are not appropriate to the teaching/learning of the true photographic process. The ability to adjust film speed, shutter speed, aperture and focus has been crucial to the process of learning the controls necessary to develop a creative vision. Therefore, manual 35mm SLR cameras have been the standard for learning how to see and translate that into prints on paper in the darkroom.

Now we are in the midst of a digital revolution for photography. The reality today is that many of the newer digital cameras are sophisticated yet do not allow even the most basic of camera controls. Many of today's digital cameras do not allow for shutter speed, aperture, manual focus or film speed controls, or, if they are adjustable, it is not necessarily intuitive nor obvious to the student user.

Therefore, the beginning student tends to simply use the automatic default settings and point and shoot. As a result students cannot learn the concepts needed to truly master the art and technique that for so many years separated the snapshooting amateurs from those who have learned how to master the controls necessary to give truth to their creative vision.

While there are SLR digital cameras on the market that offer complete creative control to the user, these tend to be more expensive than the 35mm SLR film cameras they are replacing. Hence, students, especially beginning students, tend to not have them. This sets up issues within the educational community that are causing ripple effects across the country.

While some schools have readily adopted new digital technologies into their curriculum, others, realizing the above statements, are adopting different solutions - from not allowing beginning students to use digital cameras to even the elimination of the traditional darkroom. This is causing a lot of controversy among educators and photographers.

My current philosophy mirrors that of Tim Rudman, Fine Art Master Printer, "The temptation to discard the old in favor of the new should be tempered by an appreciation of the wisdom and perspective that is to be gained by both understanding and experiencing the older technologies and processes that led to the newer ones."

OK - YOUR FIRST ASSIGNMENT TAUGHT YOU ABOUT COMPOSITION & DESIGN: Not only Photographers use these design concepts, but also Hollywood movie directors, Graphic Designers, Advertising Design Pros. Now - on to the next assignment, because there’s more to learn:

In music there is Counterpoint - meaning high notes need low notes and vice versa. The same is true in Photography. Think of opposites: light vs. dark; big vs. small; vertical vs. horizontal.

How many other visual opposites can you think of ?

2: ASSIGNMENT # 2: SHALLOW DEPTH OF FIELD AND CREATIVE LANDSCAPES: Three things control depth-of-field (dof) Definition = how much is in focus in front of and behind your subject (point of critical focus) SHALLOW DEPTH OF FIELD EXAMPLE Look carefully at the picture of the little girl on the first page with her hand under the flying critter - WOW - that’s REALLY Shallow D.O.F. Only the insect is in focus - everything else is out of focus.

How did they get this effect?

The answer is that three things control Depth Of Field: a.Lens Aperture or f-stop / the larger the opening (f-2.8) the less dof and the smaller the opening (f-22) the more dof. b.Distance - the closer you are to your subject the less dof there is and the farther away you are the more dof. c.Focal Length - the longer the focal length, such as 200mm the less dof and the shorter the focal length, such as 28mm the more dof. For a 35mm camera, a 50mm lens is a Normal Focal Length (which "sees" the same way as your eyes) Any lens less than 50mm is called a wide angle and any lens greater than 50mm is called a telephoto lens. It’s usually smaller numbers for digital.

So, in the picture above, all three things were used to create Shallow D.O.F. But WAIT - can you control all these things with all cameras? Well, NO. Anyone can get closer and most cameras have a zoom lens, but a lot of inexpensive digital cameras won’t let you control lens aperture, or it may be possible, but not simple. That’s one good reason pro photographers choose digital SLR’s - for the creative control. Yes, it’s true even for Hollywood digital motion picture cameras - they use manual controls all the time for creative effects.

IN & OUT of FOCUS

Examples of SHALLOW DEPTH OF FIELD

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The other part of this assignment is Creative Landscapes - try to put everything you learned in Assign. #1 to good use - now get back further and include more and use 3-D space instead. Remember your composition play-offs. Here are some examples:

Assign. #2 Requirements: take several close-up shots of objects using the concepts of Composition & Design. Try different angles - some vertical and some horizontal. Move in even closer and take some more making sure you have objects in the background far away. Then do the opposite - get further away and take pictures of landscapes. You must have a minimum of six finished pictures - some using Shallow D.O.F. and some showing Creative Landscapes using iPhoto and Photoshop. Remember - most Photographers take a lot of shots and then select the best to show. You should shoot at least 15 - 20 images.

Prelim. Part of Assignment: 15 - 20 images in iPhoto Project Grade: Final Images in Photoshop - minimum of five.

3. ASSIGNMENT # 3: CREATIVE USE OF LIGHT, SLOW SHUTTER SPEEDS & MOTION. This project has three parts. You may concentrate on one or try some of each. The first part is all about interesting use of light and shadow. The word “Photography” is made up of two parts: “photos” from the ancient Greek, meaning light and “graphy” meaning writing or drawing. We cannot have photography without light - it is what makes photography possible. Here are some examples of student work that make use of interesting light and shadows.

ASSIGNMENT # 3 continued. Here are some more examples of student work showing interesting patterns of light and shadow. Which ones are natural and which ones did the student create using things like flashlights?

Motion Blur is another part. These photos show motion blur due to a slow shutter speed. Or, maybe they used Photoshop to create the illusion of blur. Can you tell if they did or not?

Actually, the pictures above are all “real” meaning the students used a slow shutter speed to make things look like they are moving. The two on the left make use of a tripod so things that are not moving look sharp while the two on the right were taken “hand-held” so everything is a little blurry. No Photoshop was used on these four pictures.

Night shots are another possibility. These pictures were taken at night or in a dark room. Can you tell how they were created - hint: no Photoshop was used:

OK: these next two were done with Photoshop - of course:

Assign. #3 Requirements: take several shots of objects and scenes that look interesting because of strong patterns of light and/or shadow. It’s possible to create interesting shadows by moving things between the light and your subject. Also try some shots of things or people that are moving and see if you can create some motion blur - if you can change shutter speeds try using speeds slower than 1/30 or try setting your ISO to 100 or even less. Experiment to see what works best. Then try some shots at night outdoors with some source of light or even indoors using flashlights or candles. Again, you must be willing to experiment to see what works best. Don’t shoot a couple of shots and give up - keep trying and you will be surprised how much fun this is and how interesting your photographs look. Don’t forget your Composition & Design. take a lot of shots and then select the best to show. You should shoot at least 15 - 20 images.

Prelim. Part of Assignment: 15 - 20 images in iPhoto Project Grade: Final Images in Photoshop - minimum of five.

4. ASSIGNMENT. #4 For this assignment you will have several options: Creative Portraits; Still Lifes; Comic Book Life; Combining Photos together. Note these examples of Creative Portraits - see how light and shadow make the interesting and compelling - even mysterious for some.

Assign. #4 Requirements: take several shots of portraits - either of yourself (you may need help) or others.

The concept is to be creative - so the typical snapshot portrait will not work. Again, you can create interesting shadows by moving things between the light and your subject.

Don’t forget your Composition & Design. Take a lot of shots and then select the best to show. You should shoot at least 15 - 20 images.

You can also set up still lifes and shoot them. Or take parts of one image and combine it with another picture using Photoshop.

Prelim. Part of Assignment: 10 - 15 images in iPhoto Project Grade: Final Images in Photoshop - minimum of five.

5. INDIVIDUAL PROJECT(S): After finishing the above Photography projects we will move on to individualized student projects. Each student will be able to choose from a list of projects and then sign a contract and begin work on their final project(s). While the possibilities will be broad enough in selection so that every student can choose one or more that fits their interest, every project will be taken from the vast array of visual media that plays such an important role in our culture. The contract will specify which project(s) each student will complete, the due dates for the various work-in-progress components and a final grade for the project(s) upon completion. there will be ample time allowed to not only work hands-on but also to do in-class research on the topic. Examples of such projects may include documentary photography, the photo essay, landscape, panorama prints, or hand-color prints.

Another potential project would be to create an iPhoto book from a group of photographs taken on a particular topic or theme.

D IG ITA L P H O TO MED IA I The last two weeks of class, we will be printing, trimming and mounting your best work for our Photo. I Art Gallery Exhibition.

Select at least five of your best prints from any of the above assignments and we will mount them for our Final Critique. This counts as 25% of your final grade. You will be graded on your print presentation and on the quality of comments and questions you present during the final presentation.

FINAL PRINTS - printed,mounted and ready to be hung in the Exhibition week before finals PRESENTATION / CRITIQUE: Last two days of class before finals.

Grade Distribution (all based on a point system where every student can achieve up to 110 points on every assignment, including re-working and/or turning in additional work to earn up to the maximum of 110) Assignments Prelim. Grades = 25% Project Grades = 50% including the individual project Final Project/Exhibit = 25%