Lighting homework for 3/1

Hi all,

Here are your assignments for Thursday.

READING Assignment:
Krause, Jim. Photo Idea Index. Pages 254-269.
DUE DATE: Thurs. 3/1 before class.

PHOTO IDEA Assignment:
The theme this week is light.. Look for photos with interesting lighting. Especially pay attention to the direction of the light and how hard or diffuse it is. Add at least one picture to your photo idea page. Include the source, photographer’s name and your comments.
DUE DATE: Thurs. 3/1 before class. Be ready to explain the lighting in class.

READING Assignment: for next week:
Hobby, David. Strobist.com. Lesson 1.1 - Light Position and Angle.
http://strobist.blogspot.com/2007/06/lighting-102-unit-11-position-angle.html
DUE: Tues. 3/6.

What is photojournalism?

The Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University has a strong photojournalism program. The photo department has a Facebook group that may interest you.

Currently in the FB group they are having a discussion about the difference between photojournalism and documentary photography. Thought it would interest you all.

Original discussion 2/14: Permalink

Conversation continues 2/15 on: Permalink

The FB group also has good announcements about internships and other opportunities.

Lightroom contact sheets

Here are some further instructions for printing your contact sheets in Lightroom.

In the Print module:
Choose Contact Sheet/Grid.
Do not select Zoom to Fill.
In the Layout tab, set the Page Grid to Rows 5, Columns 4.
Adjust the Cell Spacing and Cell Size to fill the page.
In the Overlays tab, select:
Page Options: Page Numbers,
Photo Info: Filename.
Page Setup is in the bottom left corner. Format for: Adobe PDF 9.0
Print or Print One and save a pdf.

Is that clear?

Pictures of the Year competition

Laura Boushnak won a POY Award Of Excellence for this photo of prosthetic legs in a Lebanese refugee camp.

Here are links for POYi, the Pictures of the Year international competition:

Homepage: http://poyi.org/

Live streaming of judging: http://univofmo.adobeconnect.com/poyi/

2012 winners so far are on homepage.

2011 winners: http://www.poyi.org/68/winners.php

Previous winners: http://poyi.org/69/archive.php

What makes a good photo?

In class on 2/9 we brainstormed what makes a good photo? Here is the excellent list we created:

1. composition: the arrangement of subjects in the frame
2. lighting: direction of light (and other qualities)
3. clear focal point (this can be done with focus, color, contrast, etc)
4. there is a clear purpose: the photo conveys the goal/message of the photographer
5. the subject is interesting
6. unique perspective
7. creativity
8. depth of the image, multiple layers
9. emotional response
10. technical skill

Memorize this list. We'll discuss this more next week.

Lightroom tutorials

In class today I will give an introduction to Lightroom. You can find many useful tutorials to Lightroom on the Adobe website:

• Main tutorial page: http://www.adobe.com/support/photoshoplightroom/gettingstarted/index.html
• Main help page: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Lightroom/3.0/Using/index.html

• Overview tutorial: http://bit.ly/hkwgm2
• Metadata tutorial: http://thelightroomlab.com/2008/11/working-with-metadata-presets-in-lightroom/
• Full manual: http://help.adobe.com/en_US/Lightroom/3.0/Using/lightroom_3_help.pdf

• Training videos: http://tv.adobe.com/show/learn-lightroom-3
• Video on importing: http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-lightroom-3/be-organized/
• Video on editing: http://tv.adobe.com/watch/learn-lightroom-3/select-rate-and-prioritize-your-images/

Photo Idea galleries

It is valuable to always keep looking at the work of other photographers. I save a copy of any photo I find intriguing, and shots that gives me ideas I will want to try later.

Your photo idea galleries will serve this purpose. Each week you'll copy at least one photo to your Photo Idea gallery. I want you to include some specific notes detailing what in the photo interests you.

Where to look for photos? Here are a few sites to get you started:

• a photo a day
• flak photo
• Fraction magazine
• Image, deconstructed
• NYT's Lens Blog
• National Geographic
• NPR's Picture Show

You can also choose a keyword and search in:

• Getty Images Archives
• flickr
• Google Image

Photographers discussed in class 1/31/12

I talked about photographer Chase Jarvis who uses cell phone cameras to take great photos and says "the best camera is the one that's with you. Here is his "Best Camera"web page.

The book I chose for my monograph is "...all the days and nights" by Doug DuBois.
(This is the photo I described for you.)

Your homework reading is by Freeman Patterson.