Long Term Project: 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 long term assignment is to create a photo series as a final project and present it to the class during finals week.

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, pre-approved by instructor
• Shoot as many examples that you can as long as they fit into the theme, there is no maximum limit, minimum is 15 final images
• 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, good application of all photography principles such as composition, lighting, subject
• Post processing is allowed, however most of the work done to the image should be done before the shutter is clicked. Post processing should enhance in a deliberate way.
• Series concept must be approved before work begins
• Post final 15 images to your blog along with a contact sheet
• 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. Models were shown popular meme images of the President of Uruguay, Yao Ming and the "Ermagerd, Gersbermps" meme and asked to recreate those expressions.

All work is due June 5th.

Have fun! - Mr.W

Post Processing Enhancement Exercise

Hello Students,

Your new assignment is to enhance four of your images from your class work with the methods detailed below. Use a good portrait and a good landscape image and work through the following tutorials. Read through the color enhancement assignment and find a way to enhance the colors in your image to make it rich and vibrant. Next try the process listed afterward to modify additional images using the cross processing, tilt-shift affect and the "Dragan"method to create deep shadow and gritty detail in your images.

Post Processing Project:

• Work through the 4 methods below, color enhancement, cross processing, dragan effect and tilt-shift
• Use portraits for 3 of the exercises and a landscape for the tilt-shift
• Work through the tutorials carefully and follow each step. Your results should look similar to the examples here in color/detail
• Post your four images to your blog before and after processing, 8 total...

Part 1: Color Enhancement Post Process:

• Choose your best portrait from your previous photo shoots and create a copy of it, open the copy up in Photoshop
• Read the entire tutorial below and try each step out on your photo, adjust settings as needed to boost and enhance the image for best results, this will be different for each image
• Boost the color and depth of the photo with the tricks outlined in the tutorial
• Create an image border
• Add your first initial and last name to the lower right corner as a watermark

For many beginning photographers, any version of the image editor, Photoshop, can look quite daunting to use. With all the menu options, palettes, tools, filters, layer styles and various changes you can make to an image, it’s difficult to know where to start. This article provides some ways to get started with the most popular image editor in the world.

Here’s a copy of the original image used in this introductory photoshop tutorial. Notice it’s lacking control and saturation of color. It’s a little flat.

To get started, simply open a portrait or facial shot similar to the one I’m using here.

1. Duplicate The Background Layer

The first thing you want to get used to doing is making a copy of the background layer of your image. The Layers palette should open by default, but it is also found by clicking onWindows>Layers in the menu bar of Photoshop.

Select the Background Layer and click on the little triangle at the top right of the palette. When the palette options open, click Duplicate Layer, or you can use the shortcut keystroke, Command+J.

By duplicating the background layer, you can make all types of adjustments to duplicate layers without permanently changing the bottom background layer. If you make some adjustments you don’t like, you can drag the duplicate layers (with all the adjustments and effects you made to them) to the trash at the bottom right of the layer palette.

2. Automatic Image Adjustments

When you start learning how to use Photoshop to improve your photos, you might want to try out some of the automatic adjustments that can be made, even if you don’t understand the tools themselves.

The basic image enhancement and adjustment tools in Photoshop are found underImage>Adjustments in the menu bar. In the Adjustment palette, there are various tools likeLevels…, Auto Contrast, Curves, Brightness/Contrast.

To introduce you to these adjustment tools in this introductory photoshop tutorial, I’m going to suggest that you use the automatic and preset features of these tools. As you begin to understand them more, you will make use of manual adjustments.

So with your background layer duplicated and selected, click on Image>Adjustments>Auto Levels in the menu bar. When you release the mouse of the menu item, the automatic Levels adjustment should enhance or at least affect the shadow (dark), midtones, and highlights (bright) areas of your image. Often, a photo can be improved in Photoshop with just the automatic adjustments applied.

3. More About Layers

Now let’s revisit how layers work. Go back to the Layers palette and click on the little eye next the Duplicate layer that you just applied the Auto Layers adjustment to. When you toggle that little eye off, it means that you’re turning off the adjustment or effect that you made in that layer. Since the adjusted layer is on top of the background layer like a clear transparency, you can toggle the eye off and on to see how the adjustments are applied to the background layer (also remember: you can drag the duplicate layer to the trash to get rid of the adjustment(s) all together).

4. Automatic Curves

Okay, let’s return to a few other automatic adjustments and enhancements you can make to your photo. Go back to Image>Adjustments and then click on Curves. The Curves box will open. This box may look seriously scary with its grid, points, lines, and ear droppers. But don’t worry about that. We’re simply going to use some automatic adjustments to see how Curves can impact your photo.

Click on the button next to the word Preset. In the drop-down box, select Medium Contrast (RGB). If you don’t see much of a change in the contrast of your photo, go back to the Preset button and try Strong Contrast. You should be able to see the effect of the Preset on your photo before you click OK. Curves works similar to Levels but with more intensity in contrast.

Much more could be said about Curves and Levels, but this is just an introduction. You can play around with the points in the Curves box and see how they affect your photo. Remember, the changes you make are non-destructive to your photo, so you can experiment as much as you like. The illustration below explains a little about how the three main points in the grid function. If you make a mess of things, simply click Cancel and start over, or click OK when you’re satisfied with how the photo is looking.

5. Make Colors Pop

Okay, now lets move on to learn about other enhancements that can be made. One of the tools I use on nearly all the images I bring into Photoshop is one called Soft Light. Here’s how it works.

Go back to the Layers Palette, drag all the layers, except the background layer to the trash. Click on the Background layer and create another duplicate of it. Now click on the Normal button at the top of the Layers Palette. In the drop-down box, select Soft Light. When selecting this adjustment, it should make the colors of your image pop, or at least intensify the contrast of your images. The contrast of most digital images always need to be improved. This technique does that job extremely well without too much loss to detail.

If the Softlight application is too strong, select the Opacity button at the top of the Layers Palette and decrease the opacity of the layer/effect.

6. Image Border

Another tool that beginning Photoshop users might want to know is how to add a border around an image. Again there are a few ways to do this. One way is to select the top layer in the Layers palette. Next click on Image>Canvas Size. In the dialogue box that opens up, change the Width and Height to both to .2. Choose a color for your border. Make sure the center of the Anchor box is selected. Click OK and you should see a border around the image.

Part 2, 3 and 4: Cross Process, Tilt-Shift and Dragan Method:

Take your favorite images from your recent portrait assignments and create 3 different versions of each image by working through the online tutorials posted below. Post your 4 post-processed images and 4 unprocessed images (before and after) to your blog when complete:

Link: Cross-Processing:

Cross processing is an effect where the film is developed with the wrong mix of chemicals. Work through the tutorial to recreate this effect and make your photo look like it's source was film and not digital. The border around the film is called the "film rebate". Search for one on google images to use on yours.

Link: Tilt-Shift:

Tilt shift photography is a technique where the lens angle is changed to create a focused center area. This tricks the brain into thinking it is seeing something very small. This is the effect we see when we squint our eyes at a small object.

Wilson's Easy Tilt-Shift Method:

• Duplicate your base layer
• Apply Gaussian Blur to create soft focus layer
• Use the Eraser tool with a large brush (1/3 heigh of image roughly) and set brush hardness to zero
• Shift-click on the left of the image then the Shift-click on the right to erase a stripe revealing the lower layer
• Laugh in the face of the overly complicated tutorial link above...
• Save as a jpg and bask in the glory of your photoshop mastery

Link: Dragan Effect:

Andrzej Dragan's photography is known for having an intensity in detail and tonal depth. Try to mimic his technique with photoshop by working through the video tutorial.
Prefer a plain tutorial? Check out this link: Dragan Effect in 5 steps

Have fun!

 - Mr.W

New Assignment: Remake a Classic Work of Art

Hello Students,

Your next assignment is an exercise in planning, preparation, creativity with location and costume and direction of your model. The idea with this project is to remake a classic work of art using photography.

Photographic recreation of Egon Schiele's "self portrait with physalis". Photography by Jared Wilson

Remake A Classic Work of Art With Photography:
Now that you have studied all aspects of exposure and how to capture light, you will apply your composition skills, attention to detail and ability to use natural light to recreate a classic work of art. Mastery of exposure control is important, along with creativity and planning and accuracy. You will need to shoot many levels of exposure and try different methods to capture the best light, because there is no post processing allowed in this assignment. In camera manipulation only. You can adjust exposure, color balance and even use in-camera effects if you please, but no lightening or darkening of your exposures in Photoshop, etc. It must be capture "in camera" for maximum points.

• Look through the examples and links below for clarification and inspiration
• Research and find a classic work of art that inspires you. Your final choice of artwork to remake must be approved by your instructor before proceeding
• Keep it classic, think old masters. Im not looking for contemporary artwork, album covers, fashion photography or cinematic references. We want artwork from between 1450 to 1830's and you must be able to identify the artist.
• Final result is a photo only, no color correction, cropping or special effects allowed. If you do it correctly the majority of work happens before you take the picture. For this project post processing is banned. You will need to pay attention to the light in your image and recreate it as best you can. Take many images and adjust exposure, white balance and use in-camera filters or effects to achieve your desired results.
• Put all of your creative energy into the arrangement and recreation of elements. Pay attention to costume, color, light, position, framing, facial expression, body and limp position etc... the key is in the details. Take shots and look at them closely, if something isn't right than re-shoot.
• Elements in your artwork can be re-imagined of course. Strive for recreation of details with whatever you have available and at hand
• Choose and get approval on your artwork of choice before proceeding!

Grading:

This project will be evaluated on your ability to meet the requirements as well as the intention of the assignment. Your work should show careful planning and execution. You are the artist with a vision and it is your responsibility to direct your costume, scene, model and props to achieve your desired results. Having total control over all elements is key to a successful photo shoot.

Very high performing student work: This is a stunning rendition of Francisco De Zurberan's  "still life with a plate of apples and orange blossom" circa 1640. Careful attention was paid to composition and lighting for this splendid photo rendition. Credit: Jake Gill, 2017.

High performing student work: This is a lovely recreation of Daniel Hernandez Morillo's "woman carrying firewood". The student photographer, Gracie Thomas, took great care with costume, pose, light, props, setting and composition for spectacular results.

This is an example of low performing student work. The student grabbed a bike, a blanket and a model at the last minute and took a snapshot. Little care is put into setting, light, costume, pose, composition.

Required Reading Links:

Example - Old Master paintings recreated by photographer Josef Fischnaller

Example - Famous painting recreated
Example - Portraits of photographers daughter in style of old masters
Student Example: Noah Maschan
Student Example: Stephanie Urbina Diaz

Student Work Samples:

High Performing:

Medium Performing:

Good Luck!

- Mr.W

New Project: Keepin' 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. Plan every detail of your shoot for best results. I expect QUALITY work.
• Begin shooting your photo(s) and use photo manipulation to achieve your desired look with Photoshop
• 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 image to our flickr page 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:

Long Term Project 1: Portfolio Development

Hello Students,

Having a polished and professional looking portfolio is key to your success in finding work after High School and moving on to developing a career. Download the ROP Portfolio Handbook to use as a guide for creating your own portfolio, a requirement in all ROP classes.

Portfolio's are due by early May and must be ready for presentation, evaluation and critique (make it perfect!) but that is no reason to slack on this project. You should put great time and care into creating the professional side of your portfolio and then you will be ready to add your creative projects as the semester progresses. You will complete a digital version as a PDF file for evaluation. Class winner will be able to print and prepare their portfolio for inclusion in the Portfolio Showcase competition. Everyone can print a copy to keep and report covers will be provided if possible.

Remember that the best portfolio in class will be sent to the portfolio design competition that ROP has at the end of each school year, your portfolio will compete against other graphic design classes across the county, and there are prizes!

A judge evaluates print portfolio's from past entrants...

Portfolio Cover Design Assignment:

• Design an eye catching cover design for you your portfolio
• Include your name, the title of this class, the school you are currently attending and the year
• Design your cover for standard letter size 8.5X11 inch paper
• When you are done post your portfolio cover design to your blog
• Cover design is due on Thursday

Portfolio Development Long Term Assignment:

• Your portfolio must be created in Indesign and the final file must be a multi-page PDF document
• Use the Pages palette to create multiple pages for your portfolio with Indesign
• Your portfolio cover, table of contents and all materials should look clean and consistent. Use consistent design style across all aspects of your portfolio, this includes color, typography, layout and style

Your Portfolio must contain in this order: See portfolio handbook for more details...

1. Cover page with your name, class title, year. Spend some time on this, it should show good design skill and be reflective of your personality
2. Table of contents
3. Letter of Introduction
4. Resume
5. Handwritten Job Application 
6. List of References
7. Letter of Recommendation -  cannot be from your ROP teacher or a family member
8. 3 or more work samples with written explanation about the work, why is it important to your career choice? What did the project entail, what were the challenges and difficulties? Give us details.

How Your Portfolio Is Evaluated:

• Contains required content and format
• Well organized
• Free of grammar mistakes
• contains ROP related work samples
• Shows creativity
• Nice appearance
• Shows skill development
• Appropriate for use in job search
• Professional appearance
• Nice presentation
• Shows good design and wise choice of color palettes
• Shows consistency across all pages
• Reflects your style, personality and interests

A print portfolio can take many forms, it can be professionally bound, stitched by hand or bound with a spiral ring... how will you create your portfolio, what will make it stand out above the rest?

Tips For Winning The Portfolio Competition:

In the last few years the portfolio competition has gotten fierce, especially for the graphic design category. Other schools have printing facilities that we don't, so you must use your creativity, ingenuity and eye for design to stand above the rest. Consider purchasing a large format portfolio binder and printing work samples at 11X17", or consider making a hand-bound book format to showcase your work. The limits are only contained by your creativity!

Use this as a rough guide to laying out your own portfolio...

Ok, have fun!

Previous Student Portfolio Cover Design Samples:

P.S. There are more samples on the back table for review...

Hello Students,

To develop your print portfolio we will use Adobe InDesign's powerful layout software to create multiple page document with compelling design, color, typography and content. Use this post and the details below to explore and become familiar with InDesign

Launch and Explore InDesign

• Go to the dock and launch InDesign, or look in your Applications folder to find the app
• Go to the File Menu and create a New Document
• Go to the Window Menu and set your Workspace to Advanced
• Explore the tool bar, click on the text tool and draw a text box to create text, try the shape tools and look for the color modifiers to change colors at the top of the screen
• Open all the palettes under the Window Menu and explore all the functions, look at the quick guides below for reference
• See if you can create text of different sizes, change the colors, modify the text kerning and tracking and draw shapes in different colors and with different borders
• Try importing an image, use File Menu/Place... you can insert a photo into a shape, or drop it onto the page you want
• Try opening the Pages Palette and create multiple pages
• When you are comfortable, begin creating your portfolio!

Hidden Tools and Shortcut Keys

Character Formatting Panel In InDesign

Paragraph Formatting Panel in InDesign