Digital Photography
ART 82 - 4186
Fall 2005

Location:
Room 1261

Class Schedule: Lecture / Lab, Wednesday 4:00 - 7:00 PM
Office Hours: 3-4 Wednesday by appointment.

Instructor:  John Sappington - john@basearts.com

Course Syllabus

Online Syllabus (this page):

http://www.basearts.com/curriculum/SRJC.DigitalPhoto.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. Scanning Techniques
2. Digital Camera Operations *manual
3. File Management Practices
4. Printing Procedures
5. Text and Image, Alternative approaches to graphic use of photographic materials
6. Presentation Methods *Web/Internet

Recommended Technical Texts:

"Photoshop CS2 for Windows and Macintosh", Elaine Weinmann, Peter Lourekas, Peachpit Press 2005
www.peachpit.com

"The Photoshop CS2 Book for Digital Photographers", Scott Kelby, New Riders Publishing, 2005
www.scottkelbybooks.com

"The Photoshop CS Book for Digital Photographers", Scott Kelby, New Riders Publishing, 2004
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

Black and White Photography, A Basic Manual,, Little Brown and Company

"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/DVD-R, 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:

40% 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.

Digital Photography
Schedule
(subject to change)

• Course Outline

• Photography Resources
  http://www.basearts.com/resources.html#photography
  

Syllabus Overview Expectations, Requirements, Objectives, Best Practices.

Assignment:

• Bring in a minimum 5 images in any form - representing your interests, motivations in photography.
  
• Email john@basearts.com with your current email address - include SRJC Digital Photo Fall 05 in the subject line.
  
• Locate and Read Camera Manual - Cover to Cover
  make notes in journal of questionable functions, settings, usage.
  
• Set Camera to highest resolution / lowest compression
  
• Bring Camera to second class meeting with cables (usb/firewire)
  

Lecture:

Digital Technology

Camera / Scanner
Scanning Procedures

Transferring images from camera/media to system.

Begin fundamentals of visual phenomenology / camera technology.

Lab:



Assignment:

SHOOT IN THE DARK!

Reading:

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


Artists:

Moholy-Nagy
Man Ray

---

Nicolas Nixon
Mary Ellen Mark - current feature photographer for New Yorker magazine / journalist/art photographer
?

Review Photograms and Montage works... Click Here

Sites:

Lecture:

Camera Operation - Exposure basics

Photoshop Introduction

• File Browser
• File Types, Format

Reading:

Artists:

Shoichi Aoki
Pablo Ortiz

Sites:

-- B&H Photo Video and Pro Audio (www.bhphotovideo.com)
-- Blue Pixel’s (www.bluepixel.net)
-- Extensis (www.extensis.com)
-- GretagMacbeth (www.gretagmacbeth.com)
-- Lexar (www.lexar.com)
-- Nik Multimedia, Inc. (www.nikmultimedia.com)
-- Wacom Technology (www.wacom.com)

dpchallenge.com weekly website photocontest, free open mempbership and other membership for contests.
deviantart.com, can set up your own online gallery that can be critiqued

Lecture:

• Contact Sheet
  
• Cropping
• Selections
• Layers
  • Adjustment
  • Photo Filter
  • Curves
  • Levels
    
• Paths, Bezier Objects
• Pen Tool
  
  

Review Bracket Exercise

Tour Analy Art Lab

Assignment: - Custom Digital Contacts
- 3 Subjects - 9 minimum shots exploring the subject presented via contact sheet II with customized layout and concern for creating a story of the object.

Reading:


Appendix A - Seeing and Writing 2 - On the Theory and Practice of Seeing - handout
Appendix B - Seeing and Writing 2 - On Reading Visual and Verbal Texts - handout

Recommended: John Berger - Ways of Seeing

Artists:

Sites:

Lecture

Photoshop:

• Adjustment Layers
• Levels and Curves Continued

Lab

Discussion:

Appendix A - Seeing and Writing 2 - On the Theory and Practice of Seeing - handout
Appendix B - Seeing and Writing 2 - On Reading Visual and Verbal Texts - handout

Artists:

Sites:

Russell Brown Tips & Techniques
Image processor for Photoshop CS
http://www.russellbrown.com/tips_tech.html

 Directions/ Maps to Graton

2:00 - 4:00 - Graton, California - Shooting Field Trip

4:00-6:00 - Ned Kahn Studio Visit

Reading:

Directions/ Maps to Graton

Artists:

Ned Kahn - http:\\www.nedkahn.com

Sites:

Assignment:

10-20 Selects from Graton Shoot - Open Critique

Discussion:
History

Lecture

Photoshop:

• Curves
  
• Photo Filters
  
• Burn / Dodge
  
  
• Compositing
  
• Clone
  
• Healing
  
• History
  

Lab

complete critique of Graton -

Assignment:

5-n-1 - Take an existing file and crop to create 5 different image files. Focus is on re-framing and composing. Not compositing.

Composite - 1 of 5 - Create one image file from the components or pieces of minimum 5 image files. Create multiple variations on the composition at will.

REVIEW: 5-n-1, 1 of 5

Preparations for Midterm Interviews - Assigning Times for Interviews

Reading:

"Thinking about photography: Debates, historically and now.", Photography: A Critical Introduction, Edited by Liz Wells

Artists:

Sites:

Mid-Term Critique

Lab

You are only required to show up for the time of your interview.

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

Lecture:

Lighting

- Utilizing Ambient Light
- Backlight
- Flash Modes
- Corrections

Lab

Reading:

Artists:

William Eggleston


B&H - Flash Gel and Diffusion Samples

This book has alot of filters for diffusion.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=45184&is=REG

This book has more colors.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=productlist&A=details&Q=&sku=45189&is=REG

Only have to pay $.01 plus shipping ($4), no gimmick.

Lecture
Photoshop: Printing

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

Lab:

Assignment:

3-5 images of light. Where light is the central subject or primary focus of the image.
Consider both ambient or existing natural and artificial light sources and utiliting the flash.

Be sure to also experiment with the flash in daylight. What impact does it have ... ?

Reading:

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

http://www.colormatters.com/entercolormatters.html - A great site on color and its impact on psyche, the body, the culture, the planet, design, etc.

Artists:


Sites:

Lecture:

Reading:

Digital Photography: The Dubitative Image, from Snap to Grid: A Users Guide to Digital Arts,
Media and Cultures, by Peter Lunenfeld


Artists:

Sites:

Lecture

Photoshop: Web Output

• Image Ready
• Optimization
• Automation Techniques

Lecture:


Photoshop: Web Output Continues...

Legal / Copyright Issues

Protecting your images
Respecting the work of others

Lab

Reading:

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

Digimark
www.digimark.com

Adobe copyright resources
http://studio.adobe.com/us/tips/tip.jsp?p=1&id=54&xml=phs7addcopyright

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

Reading:

Artists:

Sites: