What's due this week?

 Please work on the first assignment, Introduction to Composition... Here is what is in you Syllabus....

Introduction to Composition

We will learn to use line, mass, value (tone), contrast, color, and selection consciously in the creation of your images.

A big part of the photographer's art lies in one's ability to organize the visual chaos of the visible world. You learn to clarify, simplify and present your environment with intention and control. Here, we will learn to go way beyond "taking pictures", accepting whatever "comes out of the camera", and move to "making photographs" through your careful looking at your subject before shooting.

Reflect on the concept of selection and looking at the edge of the frame to consciously decide what to include and not incude in your image. Appreciate light and form and how that is central to your work for this class.

Video discussion of student work on this assignment. I discuss what I am looking for this week and go over the good, the dull and the ugly....about 13 min long....

Look at the work of Edward Weston. Consider this image:

Edward Weston used his 8"x10" camera to photograph this small green bell pepper set in a simple wooden bowel by window light. Notice how he moved in, and filled the frame with the form of the pepper. The simple elegance and direct presentation of the pepper has transformed it from a mere description of an ingredient in tonight's dinner to an image that is transcendent.

Read Photography—Not Pictorial, Edward Weston, Camera Craft, Vol. 37, No. 7, pp. 313-20, 1930

Browse through Weston's other natural forms.

Take a look at these classic Black and White images which of these ideas can you apply in your own work and editing?

Learn about lenses with this excellent article from B and H.

Assignment: Downtown

Photograph shapes, reflections, light and pattern in an urban or town environment paying particular attention to the shapes you select in the frame and the quality of light on the subject.

Avoid being far away or showing a whole building. Always shoot with natural light. Never use flash in this class... get in close, fill the frame.

Read about Paul Strand.... His work in New York City in the early 20th Century defined how photographers could use new ideas of modernism championed in painting to great effect.

Read The Art Motive in Photography, Paul Strand, The British Journal of Photography, Vol.70, pp. 612-15, 1923

Browse through my portfolio of images from my "Connecticut Towns" project, particularly Stonington and Noank

You may work in black and white. Photoshop makes it easy to convert and tone your images. Adjust the tones using Photoshop's levels editing tools.Submit your best 6-10 images on the blog. (Links in academic expectations below). Post a minimum of 50 in Google Drive.

Photoshop allows better control of where you edit for light... watch this short video on how to edit your images before posting...

Another Video I recorded June, 2013. Important to watch and incorporate into your work.

TECHNICAL: Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO, how do they relate to one another?

Submit 6-10 of your best, edited in Photoshop images to the blog.

To get to 10 images, you need to shoot at least 50 pictures then pick the best of the group.  Please post all 50 or more to your Google Drive.  Create a sub folder labeled Assignment 1 and place your edited images there... Please look at the videos linked above where I demonstrate how to edit for light in Photoshop and discuss what to look for in this assignment.  All work is due by Monday morning at 9 am....