Thank You Students!

Thank You Digital Photography Class of 2014

Thank you to all my great students from this years ROP Digital Photography class. There were some very impressive portfolios and projects and I thank you all for your hard work and dedication.

This blog will go live again for the spring semester 2016 ROP Digital Photography class at Santa Cruz High School.

- Mr.W

End of Year Course Survey

Hello Students,
With current legislation regarding education in California and a looming budget crisis for California schools, it is more important that ever that we gather information about your experiences in ROP courses and your future plans for education and career.

Please click the link below and fill out the survey. It takes about 3 minutes and is very important to ensure that ROP courses are made available for future classes.

Link: ROP End Of Year Course Survey

Thank you!

- Mr.W

New Assignment: Photography and the Law

Hello Students,

In our modern era, photographers and their rights are constantly being challenged, abused and misled. It is important to know your rights and what means are available to protect you, your intellectual property, equipment and ownership of the images you create and to protect your individual rights under the law.

What are your rights as a photographer?

These are general guidelines regarding the right to make photos and should not be interpreted as legal advice. If you need legal help, please contact a lawyer.

1. You can make a photograph of anything and anyone on any public property, except where a specific law prohibits it. e.g. streets, sidewalks, town squares, parks, government buildings open to the public, and public libraries. 
2. You may shoot on private property if it is open to the public, but you are obligated to stop if the owner requests it. e.g. malls, retail stores, restaurants, banks, and office building lobbies. 
3. Private property owners can prevent photography ON their property, but not photography OF their property from a public location. 
4. Anyone can be photographed without consent when they are in a public place unless there is a reasonable expectation of privacy. e.g. private homes, restrooms, dressing rooms, medical facilities, and phone booths. Despite common misconceptions, the following subjects are almost always permissible: accidents, fire scenes, criminal activities, children, celebrities, law enforcement officers, bridges, infrastructure, transportation facilities, residential, commercial, and industrial buildings 
5. Security is rarely an acceptable reason for restricting photography. Photographing from a public place cannot infringe on trade secrets, nor is it terrorist activity. 
6. Private parties cannot detain you against your will unless a serious crime was committed in their presence. Those that do so may be subject to criminal and civil charges. 
7. It is a crime for someone to threaten injury, detention, confiscation, or arrest because you are making photographs. 
8. You are not obligated to provide your identity or reason for photographing unless questioned by a law enforcement officer and state law requires it. 
9. Private parties have no right to confiscate your equipment without a court order. Even law enforcement officers must obtain one unless making an arrest. No one can force you to delete photos you have made. 

Case Study: Obama Image Copyright Case

Mannie Garcia, Associated Press, Shephard Fairy

Mannie Garcia is a photographer that worked for Associated Press (AP) and took this iconic photo of President Barack Obama, which was then converted into a digital artwork by the artist Shephard Fairy. AP claims that Shephard Fairy violated their copyright of the image. Mr. Fairy claims that by altering the photograph he had created an original artwork. Mannie Garcia even joined in claiming that he owned the original rights to the photograph and it became a 3-way legal battle. All parties eventually conceded and came to an out of court settlement and agreement, with no parties admitting to copyright having been infringed. What do you think? Did Mr.Fairy violate the copy rights of the original photo? Who owns the rights in the first place? AP or Mr. Garcia?

Case Study: Colorado University Independent vs Photographer Andy Duann

Photo by: Andy Duann

When student photographer Andy Duann heard there was a bear stuck in tree on the CU campus he did what any crack photographer would do, he got to the scene just in time to take this photo. The image quickly went viral and was used in print by the universities student paper, the Colorado University  Independent newspaper. CUI then sold the image to major newspapers. When the photographer argued that he owned the original image the case seemed ready to be argued in court. Fortunately CUI recanted, AP pulled the image from its publications and Andy Duann's rights to the image were restored. This was a relatively quick copyright skirmish, but garnered national attention because of the viral nature to the image. What do you think? Was Andy Duann working as a photographer for CUI? Who do you think owns the rights?

Photography and the Law - Assignment Details:

• Use the internet to research issues pertaining to photographers rights and/or copyright infringement issues and cases
• Find one issue or case to write about that you find interesting
• Write a 1 page paper outlining the issues in question, evidence, arguements, examples, images and outcomes. Was the issue/case settled? If so, how? Do you agree or disagree with the outcome? Why?
• Post to your blog when complete, be prepared to present your issue, information and arguements to the class. Please provide examples of the photographs in question if possible.

Have fun!

  - Mr.W

Basics of Studio Lighting

Hello Students,

Having a studio environment and using studio lighting is the best way for a photographer to have total control over the lighting and background elements in their photos. Different lighting positions are used to enhance facial features, eyes, hair... and to create different moods, atmosphere and effects in the photo. We will cover some basic lighting set ups and then you will work in groups to create examples of the different lighting positions for portraiture.

When you begin to recognize lighting patterns you can experiment with placement, shadows and light effects.

Studio Lighting Patterns:

Lighting patterns pertains to how the light and shadows fall across the face. We all know that harsh outdoor lighting can be unflattering to our subjects, casting deep shadows under the lips, in the eye sockets and neck area. By using studio lights we can create pleasing light patterns with rich tonal value to accentuate our subjects facial contours. Different lighting set ups work better for women and men separately, and it is important to know the basics, once you have an understanding of basic light patterns you can begin to experiment and achieve the results you desire in each of your portraits.

1: Split Lighting

Split lighting is a simple, single light set up. It is called split lighting because it divides the face into light and dark areas. This setup tends to be rather dramatic in effect. To achieve this look the light is placed 90 degrees to the left or right of the subject. Any lighting pattern can be used on any facial position, but the light may need to be moved in relation to the subjects face for best results.

Term Definition - Catch light: Sometimes the subjects eyes may be too dark in a split lighting set up, so often a "catch light" is used in front of the subjects eyes to fill the reflections in their eyes and to avoid a "dead" look in their eyes. This catch light can be a big diffused umbrella light, not bright enough to affect the split light set up, but just enough to cause some reflection in the eyes, brightening up the subjects look over all.

2: Loop Lighting

Loop lighting is when lighting is positioned to create a shadow of the viewers nose falling across the face. To create this look the light position must be slightly higher than eye level and about 30-45 degrees from the camera. This positioning may need to change with each person, everyones face is different. Learn to read your subjects face, in loop lighting the shadow of the nose and the shadow of the cheek shouldn't touch. Adjust light as needed to achieve this. Loop lighting is a common method as it is usually flattering to the subject and is easy to achieve.

3: Rembrandt Lighting

So named because the same lighting is used in Rembrandt's paintings. This set up is identifiable because the shadow created by the nose and the cheek do touch, creating little triangle highlights under the subjects eyes. Proper Rembrandt lighting should also use a catch light on the shadow side of the face to keep the eyes from looking lifeless. This is a dramatic lighting set up that creates a deep mood. If your subject has high cheekbones this is a good method, if their nose is very short or shallow you may need to adjust your lighting to achieve the light triangle so endemic of this method. To create Rembrandt lighting the subject must turn slightly away from the light and the light must be above the top of the head. Not everyone's face is ideal for this method, so do what looks best and is most flattering.

4: Butterfly Lighting

This lighting setup is named because of the butterfly shaped shadow that is created under the subjects nose. In this setup the light is placed above and behind the camera. This setup is used for glamour lighting and to create shadows under the cheeks and chin. It can be flattering for older subjects as it tends to minimize the shadows in wrinkles, which would be more pronounced in side lighting. Sometimes in Butterfly lighting a reflector is placed under the subject, sometimes the subject will hold the reflector themselves. This pattern flatters subjects with thin faces and high cheekbones.

Studio Light Styles / Broad Lighting:

Broad lighting isn't a pattern itself but a style of pattern, any of the above patterns can be broad or short. Broad lighting refers to the subjects face being turned away from the camera so that the lighted area of the face is broader and the shadow areas are smaller or shorter. This type of lighting can make a persons face appear wider and may not be flattering, or it can be used to make a thinner persons face seem fuller.

Short Lighting:

Short lighting is the opposite of broad lighting, the subjects face is turned towards the light making the shadow area smaller, and often more flattering. It puts more of the face into shadow, adds depth to the image and tends to me more slimming and flattering.

Link: 6 Portrait Lighting Patterns

Studio Lighting Assignment:

Pair up with a partner and sign up for some time in the studio. We only have one studio so we will need to share. When you use the studio be extremely careful when handling the lights to avoid broken bulbs and broken equipment. Take turns acting as models and create examples of the following light setups:

• Split lighting
• Loop lighting
• Rembrandt lighting
• Butterfly lighting
• Broad lighting (in any pattern)
• Short lighting (in any pattern)
• Experimental (choose a light position/pattern/technique and get creative with it)

Post process your images as B&W images to demonstrate the proper lighting patterns, B&W can show tonal patterns and light/dark areas with more clarity than a color image. Post your 6 best results to your blog when complete.

Have fun!

- Mr.W

New Assignment: Keep It Surreal

Hello Students,

Your newest assignment is an exercise in surrealism. You must pre-plan your image with a few pencil sketches so you can plan and shoot all the elements you need. Post processing is acceptable and encouraged, you can use all the software tools available to you to achieve the final image you have in your mind.

"To be a surrealist... means barring from your mind all remembrance of what you have seen, and being always on the lookout for what has never been." - Rene Magritte

"My idea of a perfect surrealist painting is one in which every detail is perfectly realistic, yet filled with a surrealistic, dreamlike mood. And the viewer himself can't understand why that mood exists, because there are no dripping watches or grotesque shapes as reference points. That is what I'm after: that mood which is apart from everyday life, the type of mood that one experiences at very special moments."- Ian Hornak

What is Surrealism?

Taken from the Heilbrunn timeline of Art History: "Surrealism originated in the late 1910s and early '20s as a literary movement that experimented with a new mode of expression called automatic writing, or automatism, which sought to release the unbridled imagination of the subconscious. Using Freudian methods of free association, their poetry and prose drew upon the private world of the mind, traditionally restricted by reason and societal limitations, to produce surprising, unexpected imagery. The cerebral and irrational tenets of Surrealism find their ancestry in the clever and whimsical disregard for tradition fostered by Dadaism a decade earlier. The visual artists who first worked with Surrealist techniques and imagery were the German Max Ernst (1891–1976), the Frenchman André Masson (1896–1987), the Spaniard Joan Miró (1893–1983), and the American Man Ray (1890–1976).

Keep It "Surreal" Assignment:

• Research surreal art, artists and photography for inspiration
• Brainstorm a few ideas and create a full page pencil sketch of your idea. Try to think of all the visual elements you would like to incorporate... consider setting, backgrounds, models, objects or props, costume, stylistic effects
• Begin shooting your photo(s) and use photo manipulation to achieve your desired look
• All processes are available to you, cropping, fine edge selection, airbrushing, colorization, layering, enhancement effects etc... try to achieve a worked over and artistic look to your image
• Post your your blog when complete

Inspiration:
Secret Garden Surreal Photo Series
Martin De Pasquale surreal photo manipulations
Arthur Tress: Haunting Surreal Photographs from the 60s Inspired by Children’s Nightmares
Laura Williams surreal self portrait
Kyle Thompson surreal self portrait
Oleg Oprisko dreamlike images
Surreal portrait breakdown
Fruit slice surreal image creation
Levitation photography tutorial

40 surrealistic photo manipulations

Image by Gala Darling

This photo was shot live, no amount of post-processing or Photoshop has been used to achieve this effect. It took 26 attempts and 5 hours. Philip Halsman would count to four, where Dali would leap into air, and three assistant will throw the cats, another will throw a bucket of water, and Mrs. Halsman held the chair.

Student Work Examples:

New Assignment: Pareidolia Field Mission

 

Your next assignment is a study in pareidolia. Pareidolia is the perception or recognition of a specific pattern or form in something that is essentially different. In this case we will be looking for faces in objects or faces in everyday places and buildings/architecture. When an artist uses elements of pareidolia in a painting or illustration it can have a double-meaning. In photography the same effect can occur if the photographer sees the right conditions for it. Check out the samples below...

Assignment Specifications:

• Walk the campus looking for hidden faces in buildings, plumbing, fixtures, bookcases, trees, etc...
• Take many shots and choose your 10 best.
• Enhance the color of your photo to match the mood your "face" has... is it happy? Scared? etc...
• Post your 10 final color corrected photos to your blog. Label each photo with the emotion your face is showing.
• Start your blog post with a short summary of the project details.

Grading Specifications for a total of 10 possible points:
      2 points: All 10 shots posted with title/labels
      2 points: All 10 shots color corrected and cropped/aligned properly
      2 points: Short project summary included in post
      2 points: All shots are in focus with appropriate lens choice (macro for very small, etc)
      2 points: All shots show proper exposure levels

Sample Images:

Pareidolia In Photography:

Chance image: An alarm clock where a "sad face" could be perceived.

Sometimes buildings provide shapes which can be interpreted as "faces"

Pareidolia In Art:

"All is Vanity" by C. Allan Gilbert. Life, death, and meaning of existence are intertwined

Giuseppe Arcimboldo: Librarian

Student Examples:

New Assignment: Creating A Photo Series

Hello Students,

Creating a photo series is an exercise that can happen spontaneously or deliberately. It is a process that can take days, weeks, years. Your newest assignment is to create a photo series as a final project and present it to the class during finals.

What is a Photo Series?

Most photo series will have a continual theme that is pre-defined and all images in the series will revolve around that theme. Some series are created deliberately, some are collections of works that take years or decades to develop and are pulled from a photographers body of work as a definitive series collection. 

Photo Series from a body of work:

Take for instance Philip Halsman, famous portrait photographer who shot everyone from Albert Einstein to Marilyn Monroe. After a photo session with the Ford family he asked one subject to jump for his camera, soon he began to ask other subjects to jump for his camera at the end of their photo sessions, and so began the creation of an important photo series of celebrities jumping. Halsman released a book entitled "Jump" in 1959. Halsman believed that even the most stoic photo subject might be able to hide behind a stern facade, but that their true face is revealed when they are jumping.

Then Future president Richard M. Nixon. (Copyright Philippe Halsman Estate)

Photo Series as Visual Cultural Anthropology:

As another example of a photo series consider the work of Photographer Ari Versluis and profiler Ellie Uyttenbroek. They have been working to document the distinct styles in their hometown of Rotterdamn and elsewhere. Often shooting subjects they find on the streets, this pair find individuals that follow a distinct dress/lifestyle and shoot them in consistent poses and arrangements in order to show the similarities among these unique individuals. They call their body of work "exactitudes", a mix of exact and attitude. Their work is so exacting it is essentially a display of visual cultural anthropology, a documentation of the styles that are heralded as unique, but how unique are we really? Their work brings into question the very idea of that value that we hold so high... individuality.

French Touch - Bordeaux 2006
By Ari Versluis and profiler Ellie Uyttenbroek

Miss Shapes - London 2008

By Ari Versluis and profiler Ellie Uyttenbroek

Other Photo Series to Explore for Inspiration

Gallery- Children of Russian Oligarchs

Gallery- Where children sleep

Gallery- People with Passions

Gallery - Halsman's "Jumpology"

Gallery - Sophie Gamand's Wet Dog Series

Photo Series Assignment:

• Create a photo series that follows a theme
• Shoot as many examples that you can as long as they fit into the theme, there is no maximum limit
• Create enough images to have a strong series, 3 or 4 examples will not suffice, the final result should be impressive and follow a central or underlying theme
• Images must be properly exposed, composed and show creativity
• Post processing is allowed, however most of the work done to the image should be done before the shutter is clicked
• Series concept must be approved before work begins
• Create a powerpoint or keynote presentation for your project to display your images during presentation to the class. During the presentation be prepared to discuss your work, concept and how you achieved your results. Be prepared to discuss the themes involved in your work and how you translated your concept into imagery, what is the deeper meaning behind your work if there is one? Is your work a commentary or observation, what does it mean to you?

"Meme yourself" Photo series by Seth Wilson 2013

All work is due June 8th,

Have fun! - Mr.W

New Assignment: Photo Stitch Process

Hello Students,

Your new assignment is to create a portrait, landscape or abstract image using the multi-layered photo stitch effect. You will have to use your creativity, skills and photography knowledge to develop your final image... look at the example below and invent a technique to match the style.

Photo stitch of our studio by Seth Wilson

Photo Stitch Effect Assignment:

• Create a portrait, landscape or abstract image
• Zoom in and shoot between 15 to 20 images, enough to cover the person/scenery
• Combine with Photoshop and align, rotate etc to merge the image
• Set a background color if your image has a border showing
• Post to your blog when complete

The Brenizer Method:
The Brenizer method is a way to use photoshops "photomerge" process to stitch your images together try it out of you want to get a smoother result to your photostitch, check out this tutorial: Brenizer Method Tutorial

"Portrait of Ray" created with the Brenizer method and photomerge from 30 images plus post-processing in Adobe Photoshop

Have fun!

  - Mr.W

New Assignment : "Andy Warhol-ize" A Portrait

Andy Warhol was a painter, printer and filmaker and one of the originators of the pop-art movement. His images were often of mundane subjects such as a campbells soup can, and had deep levels of contrast.

Your next assignment is to process one of your photographs into the Andy Warhol signature style. Follow my tutorial below. Use a portrait you shot in one of our previous assignment for this project. Make sure you have similar levels of color/detail/variation as the examples on this page.

After you complete the tutorial post your results to your blog...

The Andy Warhol Process in Photoshop CS5:

Open up one of your favorite pictures that you have taken during this class in Photoshop.

Create a copy of the background layer

Go to Image > Adjustments > Hue/Saturation

Pull down the Saturation slider until your  image is black and white

Next, go to Image > Adjustments > Brightness/Contrast

And adjust the brightness and contrast until your image looks "high contrast"

Then go to Image  > Threshold

And adjust the Threshold slider until your image looks satisfactory

Next, create a new blank layer

And grab the Polygonal Lasso Tool, and draw an outline around the elements in your image

Next pick a color from your swatch palette or color picker and fill the selection with your color (Option-Delete, or go to Edit > Fill)

Now change the Blend Mode of your color layer to Darken, this is located on your Layer Palette

And now your image will show through the color

Continue this process until all of your image is filled with color, create a new layer for each color, this is important as you will go back and edit each layer later on.

For an added effect, airbrush the edges of your image with a large brush and black fill color

Then change the Blend Mode to Dissolve

Next, Shift-Select all your layers and go to Layer Palette Sub Menu > Create New Group From Layers. Now you can create copies of those layers and edit the colors of each group like I have below...

Have fun!

- Mr.W