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Digital Photography
ART 82 - 4186
Fall 2004

Location:
Room 1261

Class Schedule: Lecture / Lab, Monday & Wednesday 4:00 - 7:00 PM
Office Hours: 3-4 Wednesday

Instructor:  John Sappington - john@basearts.com

Overview
Schedule
Resources

Course Syllabus

Online Syllabus:  http://www.basearts.com/DigitalPhotoSRJCfall.htm

DESCRIPTION:

This course is an introduction to approaches and techniques of digital imaging with a focus on the use of the digital camera and Adobe Photoshop. The course will cover the technical and practical aspects of the digital camera, and the use of image editing software (Adobe Photoshop), covering traditional darkroom concerns and exploring the technical particulars and aesthetic potential of digital photography.

This course will present and overview of digital imaging techniques as applied to the art of photography. Traditional and new electronic photographic methods are studied as a vehicle to understand the implication of this medium as an art form. Emphasis is placed on the creative process while exploring electronic image making as a means of communication used by contemporary artists.

Outcomes and Objectives:

Explore digital photography.
Understanding and applicable use of the tools of digital and electronic photography.
Employ creative thinking skills in assessing visual images
Develop skills in manipulating photo images with new tools
Examing past work for relevance
Practice aesthetic criticism

Topics and Scope:

Synthesize digital tool manipulation with photographic images.
Produce work using a variety of digital equipment.
Investigate how digital tools change photographic images.
Analyze the work of current artists and designers using these tools.

Assignments:

1. flatbed scanning techniques
2. printing procedures
3. combining text with scanned graphics

Recommended Technical Texts:

"The Photoshop CS Book for Digital Photographers"
,
Scott Kelby, New Riders Publishing, 2004
www.scottkelbybooks.com

Alternate Technical Texts:

"The Photoshop Book for digital photographers",
Scott Kelby, New Riders Publishing, 2003
www.scottkelbybooks.com

"Photoshop 7 Professional Photographic Techniques",
Janee, Nyree Costello, Gavin Cromhout, Vikas Shah, friends of Ed, 2002
www.friendsofed.com

"Photoshop 7 for Windows and Macintosh",
Elaine Weinmann, Peter Lourekas, Peachpit Press 2003
www.peachpit.com

Required Supplies / Equipment:

A 2 Megapixel (or greater) digital camera is required.

Students are required to obtain backup media to store class example files and work in progress.

Optional media types are:

- 100MB/250 Mb Zip disks

- CD ROM, Write-once or Re Writable: Approx. capacity 700+MB

- Flash cards, memory sticks, etc..  

Students are also required to have an e-mail account.  This can be accessed through the lab and may be a free account like those available from Hotmail, Yahoo, Freemail, Excite, etc.  The instructor will assist students in obtaining an e-mail account if necessary.  Students will be expected to check this e-mail account at least twice a week.  General class announcements will be reported via e-mail.

EVALUATION:

50% of student grades will be based on class participation.  Students must attend class in order to effectively participate.

50% of student grades will be based on the completion of assignments.  These assignments will not be graded for skill or content, but will be evaluated for technical completion. 

10% of the student grade will be determined by the final portfolio presentation.

ATTENDANCE POLICY:

Students are expected to attend all of every class meeting unless they have received prior permission from the instructor. Attendance will be taken at the beginning of each class meeting. Anyone absent when attendance is taken will be assumed absent from the class.   If you are late to class it is your responsibility to make sure your attendance is acknowledged by talking to the instructor. 

If you are intending to drop the class, please notify the instructor.  You should not assume that the instructor will automatically drop you because of absences.  If you stop attending classes and you do not drop the class, and the instructor has not dropped you from the class; the instructor may be required to give you a grade of F for the class.

Digital Photography
Schedule
(subject to change)

 

Week 1
 

Syllabus Overview Expectations, Requirements, Objectives, Best Practices.

Assignment:

Minimum 5 images in any form - representing your interests, motivations in photography.

Email john@basearts.com with your current email address - include SRJC Photography in the subject line.



 

Reading:

Review Course Outline - http://www.basearts.com/curriculum/DigitalPhotoOutline.htm
&

Review Internet Resources


Search Artists:

Carl Maydans Dies - NY Times
http://www.nytimes.com

Van Deren Coke

Henri Cartier-Bresson



Websites for people who are researching cameras:

http://dpreview.com
- Veronica Juelch
www.steves-digicams.com - Guillermo Madrigal
http://www.keh.com - Marke Blue

Portfolios:

Zack Geier
http://student.santrosa.edu/~zgeier

Eli Smith
http://members.dslextreme.com/users/junpei/photography.html
http://apfhex.deviantart.com/gallery/

Kathy Enedy
http://hometown.aol.com/graphicvision1/index.html
http://hometown.aol.com/graphicvision1/Art54.html

Marke Blue - suggested
here is a link for a photographer, who makes large format b/w digital
negatives from color print films: http://danburkholder.com

Week 2
 

Lecture:

Digital Technology


Camera / Scanner
Scanning Procedures

Transferring images from camera/media to system.

Begin fundamentals of visual phenomenology / camera technology.

Lab:

Scanning

Assignment:

Scan 2-5 - 3 dimensional objects
Scan 2-5 existing prints / images into photoshop


 

Reading:

William Eggleston Exhibition, Los Alamos @ SF MOMA - August 21st
http://www.sfmoma.com/exhibitions/exhib_detail.asp?id=162

Search Artists:
Lazlo Moholy-Nagy





Week 3
 

Lecture

Photoshop Introduction

  • File Browser
  • File Types, Formats
  • Layers

Camera Operation - Exposure basics

 

Lab

Clean up scans/camera images beginng file preparations.


Assignment:

Bracketed Exposures - Choose a subject and make 5 bracketed exposures.
1st exposure according to meter reading.
2nd + .5 half step greater aperture selection or more exposure (over)
3rd + 1 whole step (full stop) greater aperture selection (over)
4th .5 half step smaller aperture selection or less exposure (under)
5th - 1 whole step smaller aperture selection or less exposure (under)

*Be sure to make notes of the exposures in your journal.

Experiment with the shutter speeds + and or - one shutter speed is equal to a full stop.



 

Reading:

Companion Website for Photography-By Barbara London, John Upton, Jim Stone, Ken Kobre, and Betsey Brill
http://wps.prenhall.com/hss_london_photo_8

Search Artist:
Misha Gordin



NO CLASS FOR MONDAY SEPT. 6 - LABOR DAY HOLIDAY - SEE YOU WED.
Week 4
 

Lecture:



Photoshop

  • Cropping
  • Selections
  • Layers

Lab

Review Bracketed Exposures
Contact Sheets
Bracketed Exposures

Assignment:

Shoot Same Scene throughout a 24 hour period.

Pick a location and photograph it periodically (morning, noon, evening, night) throughout the course of a day.
Be sure to shoot one with and one without the use of the flash.



 

Reading:

The Lomographic Society -
http://www.lomography.com/ - from Mason Baird
http://www.lomography.com/about/
Welcome dear photo-adventurer. you are just about to discover the most interactiv, vivid, blurred and crazy face of photography worldwide. we heartily and most warmly invite you to dive into our unique online photo-features, to taste our cameras and -most of all- to become a lomographer. help us to simply build the biggest snapshot portrait of our planet and to revolutionize the picture communication from the hip. prost.



Search Artist:

David Hockney


Week 5
 

Lecture:

Photoshop:

  • Saving Selections
  • Adjustment Layers
  • Masks


 

 

Lab




Assignment:

5 in 1
Through a process of cropping, copying and/or layers
create from a single image source 5 different image files.





 

Reading:



Snapshots of William Eggleston

Special Event and Book Signing
William Christenberry, artist
Andy Grundberg, critic and photography chair, Corcoran College of Art and Design

September 18, 2004
3:00 p.m.


Phyllis Wattis Theater - SFMOMA
Capturing images of everyday Southern life and vernacular culture, William Eggleston developed a highly personal style that flirts with the banal and exploits the visual vocabulary of the snapshot. In this special event, Grundberg presents a critical perspective on Eggleston’s extraordinary career. In relation to Eggleston's practice, Christenberry talks about his work, which also pays tribute to his Southern roots. The event concludes with a conversation between these colleagues and friends.

Eggleston will make a special appearance for a book signing following the program.

$12 general; $8 PhotoAlliance and SFMOMA members, students with ID, and seniors.
Tickets are available at the Museum with no surcharge or through Ticketweb.com.



Search Artists:
Jerry Ulesmann


Week 6
09.20.04
09.22.04

Lecture


Adjustment Layers

Color Modes
Luminance / Color Corrections

  • Curves
  • Levels




Lab

Selections/Cropping Cont...



Assignment:

Shoot Same Scene throughout a 24 hour period. Pay particular attention to the movement of the shadows and your primary subject.

Pick a location and photograph it periodically (*morning, noon, evening, night) throughout the course of a day.

 

Reading:

Search Artists:
Chuck Close

Week 7
09.27-29.04

Lecture

Photoshop:

  • Burn / Dodge
  • Clone
  • Healing
  • History



Lab

Preparations for Midterm

Assignments:


24 hour
5-n-1


 

Reading:

Digital Photography: The Dubitative Image, from Snap to Grid: A Users Guide to Digital Arts, Media and Cultures, by Peter Lunenfe
Art and Technics, by Lewis Mumford

Week 8
10.04-06.04

Lecture

Discussion

Lab


 

Reading:

Review Photograms and Montage works... Click Here
Moholy-Nagy
Man Ray
Jerry Uelsmann


Week 9
10.11 -13.04

 

Mid-Term Reviews

20 Images - Source: Scanner or Camera

Contact Sheets

Lab


Assignment:

Evaluation Form (Please Complete and Submit from your home system)


 

 

Week 10
10.18-20.04

Lecture

Photoshop:

  • Text Tools
  • Batch Processes



Lab



Mid-Term Reviews Continued...as required


Assignment:
Composites - 5 total - minimum 3 images per image

 


Search Artists:
Richard Prince
John Baldessari
Duane Michaels

Week 11
10.25-27.04

Lecture

Photoshop: Printing

    Reviewed
  • File Types
  • Color Management
  • Resolution
  • File Preparation
  • Proofs / Printing Options from w/in PSD


Lab


Assignment:



Proof Print

 

Reading/Discussion:

"Thinking about photography: Debates, historically and now.",
Photography: A Critical Introduction, Edited by Liz Wells
"Appendix A: On the Theory and Practice of Seeing",

Week 12
11.01-03.04

Lecture

Photoshop:Printing

Lighting

- Utilizing Ambient Light
- Backlight
- Flash Modes
- Corrections




Lab - Tuesday
Injet Printing - Field Trip to Analy Hall Lab - Proofs
Paper Surface / Textures / Types

 

Reading:

Apprendix B: on reading visual texts

Printers - Materials - Supplies

PS Print
http://www.psprint.com/

Preparing files for print - Pagemaker, Illustrator
http://www.psprint.com/helpcenter/preparingyourfiles/digitalcheck_pm.asp

Digital Art Supplies
http://www.digitalartsupplies.com

Week 13
11.08-10.04

 

 



Lab

Thurs:
Discussion -
Inkjet Printing in Analy Hall - Art Lab

 

Assignment:

15 Image minimum representing primary subject of your photography for critique with visiting artist and photographer - Caitlin McCaffrey 11.24.04

Reading:
The Decisive Moment - Cartier-Bresson
Leaflet, Written for Los Angeles Museum - Edward Weston
A Personal Credo - Ansel Adams

Search Artists:

harold edgerton - http://web.mit.edu/museum/exhibits/flashinsp.html
minor white

todd hido
jim goldberg

Week 14
11.15-17.04

Lecture

Photoshop: Web Output

  • Image Ready
  • Optimization
  • Automation Techniques


Lab


Assignment:
Presentations for Visiting Artist Critique
   
Week 15
11.22-24.04

Lab

 

 




Thurs:

15 Image minimum representing primary subject of your photography for critique with visiting artist and photographer - Caitlin McCaffrey 11.24.04

 
Week 16
11.29.04-12.01.04

Lecture


Legal / Copyright Issues

Protecting your images
Respecting the work of others


Lab


Week 17 12.06-08.04
Begin Final Critiques
Week 18
12.13.04


Final
Critique

4-7 pm
Room 1261