Digital Photography - PH1004
Spring 09


Introduction to DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY Wed. 7-10:30

12 Sessions/Wednesdays, January 28–April 22

Class Schedule: 
Time: 7:30–10:30pm

Location:
Studio 16C


Office Hours:
Wednesday 6:30 - 7:30 by appointment.

Instructor:  John Sappington - john@basearts.com

Overview
Schedule
Resources

Course Syllabus

Online Syllabus (this page):

http://www.basearts.com/curriculum/SFAI.DigitalPhoto.htm
Outline: http://www.basearts.com/curriculum/DigPhotoOutline.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, GIMP, Adobe Lightroom, Adobe Elements,...), 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. Analoguel and digital 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 digital 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 photography.
Employ creative thinking skills in assessing visual images
Develop skills in manipulating photo images with new tools
Examing past work for aesthetic and technical mastery.
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 using these tools.

Assignments:

1. Scanning Techniques
2. Digital Camera Operations *manual
3. File Management Practices
4. Printing Procedures
5. Presentation Methods *Web/Internet

Reading List:

Photography: A Critical Introduction, Edited by Liz Wells, 1997, Routledge
Photography in Print, Edited by Vicki Goldberg, 1981, University of New Mexico Press
Criticizing Photographs, An Introduction to Understanding Images, Terry Barrett, 2006, McGraw-Hill
Crisis of the Real, Writings on Photography since 1974, Andy Grundberg, Aperture, 1999
River of Shadows, Eadweard Mybridge and the Technological Wild West, Rebecca Solnit, Penguin Group, 2003
Painting, Photography, Film, Moholy-Nagy, 1987, MIT Press
The Ongoing Moment, Geoff Dryer, 2005, Vintage Books

By Michael Lesy:
Visible Light, Four Creative Biographies, Michael Lesy, Times Books, 1985
Wisconsin Death Trip, Michael Lesy, ?,?

By Susan Sontag
On Photography, 1973, Picador.

By John Berger
Another Way of Telling, 1982, Vintage Books
The Sense of Sight, 1985, Vintage Books
Ways of Seeing, 1972. BBC & Penguin Books

By James Elkins
The Object Stares Back: on the nature of seeing, 1996, Simon and Schuster
Visual Studies, A Skeptical Introduction, 2003, Routledge

By Roland Barthes
Camera Lucida, 1981, Hill and Wang
Image, Music, Text, 1977, Noonday Press

---------------------------------------------------

Recommended Technical Texts:

Photoshop CS3 for Windows and Macintosh, Elaine Weinmann, Peter Lourekas, Peachpit Press 2005, www.peachpit.com

The Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers, Scott Kelby, New Riders Publishing, 2005, www.scottkelbybooks.com

Alternate Technical Texts:

Photography, Barbara London, John Upton, Ken Kobre, Betsy Brill, Prentice Hall

Photography, Revised Edition, Henry Horenstein, Russell Hart Prentice Hall

Required Supplies / Equipment:

A 5 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/DVD-R, Write-once : Approx. capacity 700+MB/4.2GB

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:

20% of student grades will be based on class participation. Students must attend class in order to effectively participate.

70% 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.

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.

Syllabus Overview Expectations, Requirements, Objectives, Best Practices.

Assignment:

• Bring Camera to second class meeting with cables (usb/firewire), or card reader.
• Locate and begin reading Camera Manual - Cover to Cover.
• Set Camera to highest resolution / lowest compression.
• TURN OFF THE FLASH! Until further notice.
  
  
• Make 5-10 Digital Camera images between the first and the second class meeting
  - Bring these to share on the 2nd class meeting. - (1)
  
  
• Begin JOURNAL of questionable functions, settings, usage, portfolio ideas, reading notes etc...
  
• Email john@basearts.com with your current email address
  - include SFAI Digital Photo in the subject line.

Lomographic Society
http://www.lomographics.com

Lecture:

Digital Technology

Transferring images from camera/media to system.

Begin fundamentals of camera technology/exposure.

Lab:

Work with camera connection / file transfer

Assignment:

Shooting in Low Light without a flash. - (1)

Feel free to experiment, try to find the lowest level of light possible to render a readable image.

Depending on what you may or may not know regarding ISO, experiment with this setting in your camera as well.

Experiment with White Balance Bracketing:

Artists:

Lazlo Moholy-Nagy
Man Ray
Bruce Conner
David Hockney

Olivia Parker
http://oliviaparker.com/newindex.php

Reading:

Moholy-Nagy - From Pigment to Light - 1936

Camera Manuals continued - journal with questions/notes from the manual.

Digital Camera Review - Technical Glossary
http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Glossary/
http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Glossary/Camera_System/


Local Galleries and Suppliers

REVIEW
------------
Camera Configuration

- Highest Resolution
- Lowest Compression
- No Flash
- Shooting Modes - (*P), Av, Tv, M
- ISO - (*Auto, 50, 80, 100, 200, 400), 800, 1600, 3200
- White Balance - Auto, Explicit Selection, Custom

-------------
Experiments with :

- Half Step Shutter Lock
Auto Exposure
Auto Focus
- Auto Bracketing
- White Balance Bracketing
- Exposure and Focus Modes - Multizone/Pattern, Center-weighted, Spot
- Exposure Compensation

-------------
Best Practices Camera

- Formatting media card after every major upload
(erase all, delete all, format)

-------------
Work Flow

Adobe Bridge - preview, review and editing

Lecture:

Camera Operation

Lab

First File Transfers

Assignment:

Bracketing Exposures

3 Subjects - 3-5 exposures for each with alternate exposure. - (3)

1st exposure according to meter reading.
2nd + .5(.3, .7)half step greater aperture/shutter selection or more exposure (over)
3rd + 1 whole step (full stop) greater aperture/shutter selection (over)
4th .5(.3, .7) half step smaller aperture/shutter selection or less exposure (under)
5th - 1 whole step smaller aperture/shutter selection or less exposure (under)

Artists:
Eadweard Muybridge
Paul Strand
Eugene Atget
Minor White

Sites:

Lecture

Lecture:

• Layers Palette Introduction
• Adjustment Layers
• Levels Adjustment Layers
  
  
  Photoshop User Guide - 42.6Mb PDF
  

Lab:

Assignment:

- Equivalents: Motion / Blur

3-5 Images which illustrate the side effects of shutter speed / time value selections. - (6)

Shutter / Time Values:
Fig 1

Reading:

Henri Cartier-Bresson - 234KB

Artists:

Henri Cartier-Bresson
http://www.magnumphotos.com/Archive/C.aspx?VP=XSpecific_MAG.PhotographerDetail_VPage&l1=0&pid=2K7O3R14T1LX&nm=Henri%20Cartier%20%2D%20Bresson

John Divola
http://www.divola.com/

Uta Barth
http://www.sieshoeke.com/artists/uta-barth

Hiroshi Sugimoto
http://www.sugimotohiroshi.com/portfolio.html

Lecture:

• Adjustment Layers
• Levels Adjustment Layers
• Histogram
  
• Size / Resize / Resolution
• Curves - Adjustment Layers
• Channel Mixer- Adjustment Layers
  
• Size/Resize/Resolution
  
• Shadows and Hightlights
• Working with layers as masks

PS Best Practice #1 - Duplicate the pixel based background layer as first step on opening a .jpeg.

PS Best Practice #2 - All adjustments to adjustment layers - no pixel damage.

Lab:


Review :

Bracketing
Equivalents (Shutter and Aperture side effects)
Wrap up current technical experiements

Readings:
Robert Adams - Truth
Robert Adams - Beauty

Artists:

John Baldessari
Sophie Calle
Nick Waplington

Michael Light
http://www.michaellight.net/


Lauren Greenfield
http://www.creativephotography.org/education/educatorsGuides/girlculturefacultyguide/

Henry Wessel
http://www.renabranstengallery.com/wessel.html

Stephen Shore
http://www.masters-of-fine-art-photography.com/02/artphotogallery/photographers/stephen_shore_13.html

Todd Hido
Larry Sultan

Sites:

Lab:

• Converting Layers to Smart Objects
• Sharpening with Unsharp Mask
  
  
  
  

Lecture:

Lab:

Printing
5 prints - 5 pnts. - 8x10 minimum - (8)

Revised Handout - Processing a Digital Image.pdf

Shooting Field Trip : Greg's idea with my input...

Greg has made a proposal that I think is fantastic but would like to modify slightly and open for input from all of you... The suggestion is to pick a subject and all photograph it together(see below for further clarification). I would prefer that we go out for a hike into N. Beach or China town and shoot together working with individual issues that each of you would like to improve. We could set out some key concepts/techniques to address.

If any one has further suggestions, concerns, requests please email me and I'll forward to the group. Also, I propose we do it soon so it doesn't impact our last 2 classes.



John

-----Original Message-----
From: Greg Tabar [mailto:gtabar@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, March 30, 2009 1:33 PM
To: John Sappington
Subject: Suggestion for photo class


Hi John,
As we wrap up the class, I would very much like to see a 'hands-on' session. It would be very helpful to pick a subject, such as a backlit object, and then practice photographing it during the class. You could walk around and correct our mistakes, as well as make suggestions on the best way to capture the image.

I have found that this method is the best way for me to learn, and you could show us a lot of great tips that we could immediately apply. I'm sure some of the other classmates would be interested, too. Could we try it? Maybe you could send out a questionnaire to gauge the interest level?

Some sample scenarios that would be very useful and that would add-on to our existing learnings are:low light, fast action/blur, backlight, portraits, or any other difficult-to-shoot scenario.

Artists:

Jeff Wall
Bernd and Hilla Becher
Gregory Crewdson
Richard Barnes

Lecture:

• CD and DVD Burning

Photoshop:

• Working with and around Selections
  
• Photo Filters- Adjustment Layers
  
• Sharpening
  Unsharp Mask
  Sharpening
  LAB Color Mode/Luminance Sharpening
  
  
• History Brush
• Compositing
• Extract
• Selections - Paths (Pen)
• Blending Options

Lab

Printing Continues...

• Lens Selection
  
  Lens Selection:
  Link to external sites of interest regarding lens selection.
  
  DPReview Lens Reviews
  http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/
  
  DP Review Lens Widget:
  http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/
  
  Angle of View:
  Fig 1
  
  
  
• Lighting
  - Utilizing Ambient Light
  - Flash

Composition

-tone
-balance
-line
-framing

Artists:

William Carlos Williams

William Klein
Lorna Simpson
Richard Prince
David Hockney

Reading:

Susan Sontag - Plato's Cave

-----
Rule of Thirds
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rule_of_thirds
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Rule_of_thirds_1845_George_Field_Chromatics.png

Golden Mean
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio

Reading:

Lens Selection:
Link to external sites of interest regarding lens selection.

DPReview Lens Reviews
http://www.dpreview.com/lensreviews/

Angle of View:
Fig 1

http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials.htm
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/camera-lenses.htm
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/hyperfocal-distance.htm

Camera RAW

dcraw is an open source computer program which is able to read numerous raw image formats, typically produced by high-end digital cameras. dcraw converts these images into the standard PPM and TIFF image formats. This conversion is sometimes referred to as developing a raw image (by analogy with the process of film development) since it renders raw image sensor data (a "digital negative") into a viewable form.

Legal / Copyright Issues

Wikipedia entry regarding model release/liability waivers for subjects in a photograph.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Model_release

Example Model Release Forms - my boilerplate examples
http://www.basearts.com/curriculum/legal/photo release examples.txt

Dan Hellers very wording primer regarding the release. (who is Dan Heller? http://www.danheller.com/)
http://www.danheller.com/model-release-primer

Photo District News Online Business/Legal Section
http://www.pdnonline.com/pdn/businesslegal/index.jsp

CAA

Intellectual Property and the Arts

This section provides links to CAA’s activities on intellectual-property matters as well as to useful websites and resources of other organizations.

CAA’s members are both copyright owners and users of copyrighted material. Artists and authors create new works, and many also quote from or repurpose material created by others. CAA encourages all members to become familiar with intellectual-property law as it affects you.

http://www.collegeart.org/ip/#CopyrightBasics

Creative Commons is a nonprofit organization that offers flexible copyright licenses for creative works.
http://creativecommons.org/

Electronic Frontier Foundation
http://www.eff.org

Intellectual Property Online: Patent, Trademark, Copyright
http://www.eff.org/IP/

U.S. Copyright Office
http://www.copyright.gov

Digimarc
www.digimarc.com
http://www.digimarc.com/mypicturemarc/

The Free Expression Policy Project
http://www.fepproject.org/fepp/fairuseintro.html

Orphan Works

An orphan work is a copyrighted work where it is difficult or impossible to contact the copyright holder. This situation can arise for many reasons. The author could have never been publicly known because the work was published anonymously or the work may have never been traditionally published at all. The identity of the author could have been once known but the information lost over time. Even if the author is known, it may not be possible to determine who inherited the copyright and presently owns it. Nearly any work where a reasonable effort to locate the current copyright owner fails can be considered orphaned. However the designation is often used loosely and in some jurisdictions there is no legal definition at all.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphan_works
http://www.copyright.gov/orphan/