Day to Night Mixed LightingEffect

Turning day to night adds a dramatic effect to day time exposures.  Think of what kind of feeling or drama you plan to evoke in your photographs.  Portraits work well for this style of photography but you are welcome to try and light an outdoor space or object too.  Using this technique, the sun becomes your fill light and the flash is your main light.
Technique
Setting Up the Flash

1. Use an off camera flash for a more dynamic looking image.  A flash on a stand works well and position it so that you don't lose detail in your focal point. The position of the flash is important. Also the reflective umbrella will create more harsh/defined shadows.
2. Use the Manual setting on your flash at FULL power.  1/1
3. You can minimize the amount of light in several ways... move the flash away from your subject; turn down your flash power; or change your aperture.

Setting the Camera

1. Set your camera to "M".
2. Start with your camera's MAX sync speed to flash (usually 1/250).
3. Lower ISO 100.
4. Adjust the aperture to set exposure- set your exposure/light meter to expose your main subject correctly. Best if you can use a smaller opening (higher aperture).

Assignment

1. Take 3 different scenarios using the day to night mixed lighting technique.
2. Experiment with the key shifting effect for each scenario. Bracket with your shutter from 1/1 to 1/250 (use full shutter speeds 1,2,4,8,15,30,60,125,250).
3. 1 Contact Sheet (30-40 photos).
4. 3 Images. One from each shoot (different location / subject).

Due December 8.

LINK to YOUTUBE VIDEO

12 Studio Still Life Project

This is a mostly a technical assignment, but you need to factor in some visual design principles and composition too. The objective is for you learn about lighting a variety of surfaces in the studio. You need to follow specific lighting procedures and pay close attention to technical considerations: depth of field, white balance and exposure.  Compose an aesthetically pleasing and creative composition. Use the standard lighting styles to effectively light glass, metal, textured objects.

Create three different studio still life compositions incorporating the assigned lighting techniques for each metal, glass and texture. Compose a setup for each: include backgrounds, a table and covering, and use one or two lights. Here is the Still Life Project Criteria

Find studio photograph examples of each technique: metal, glass, texture and post them to your blog.
Set-up and photograph your items.
Create a contact sheet.
Post three 5 x 7 prints [one+ of each] on your blog/journal and save to the share file for a critique.
Due November 24th

11 HDR Landscapes

High-dynamic-range imaging (HDR) is a set of techniques that allow a greater dynamic range of luminance between the lightest and darkest areas of an image than current standard digital imaging techniques or photographic methods. This wide dynamic range allows HDR images to more accurately represent the range of intensity levels found in real scenes, ranging from direct sunlight to faint starlight. The two main sources of HDR imagery are computer renderings and merging of multiple photographs, the latter of which in turn are individually referred to as low-dynamic-range (LDR) or standard-dynamic-range (SDR) photographs.

Exposure Compensation

HDR Tutorials

HDR Intro
Photoshop CS3 HDR Tutorial
HDR tutorial part 1

HDR tutorial page2

HDR Assignment:

1. Find some examples of cool HDR images for your journal/blog.
2. Using the exposure compensation mode on your digital camera and take several sets (3 or more) of images of one topic with different exposures.
3. Keep your camera steady and in the exact same place for each exposure. Good to use a tripod.
4. Try 5 different landscape scenes with multiple exposures in different location.
5. Download, save a contact sheet to the share folder or to your blog.
6. Merge 3+ images into one HDR photo.
7. Use Adobe Photoshop to merge together. Then try Photomatix.
8. Upload 2 or more of your HDR images to your blog / journal.

Due November 24

  

11 Painting with Light

For this project, find a dark room, and/or go out into the night with your camera and try some slow shutter speed experiments.

1. Painting with light toward the camera
2. Painting with light toward the subject
3. Painting with light with a flash
4. Multiple exposures
5. Slow blur with stoppage time
6. Long exposure with low light- night or early morning.

Take at least 4 exposures per experiment. Print a contact sheet of 30-35 images of different shutter exposures, with your experiments labelled. Save your contact sheet to the share folder.

Put your best image in your journal and save to the share folder

Here are some videos and websites to inspire some ideas:
Willowz Jubilee
Painting with Light
Cool Light
Stupid Gratuitous Violence, but Cool
Airstream Trailer
Greg Schurman @ Blootung Studios
LumoArt
Jan Leonardo
Pixel Stick

12 Principle of Design- Contrast

Contrast in Design: Is the arrangement of opposite elements (light vs. dark colors, rough vs. smooth textures, large vs. small shapes, etc.) in a piece so as to create visual interest, excitement and drama.

Emphasis is a principle of art which occurs any time an element of a piece is given dominance by the artist. In other words, the photographer/artist makes part of the work stand out, in order to draw the viewer's eye there first.
Frequently, emphasis is achieved by means of contrast. Obvious contrasting elements create focal points, meaning: places to which one's attention cannot help but be drawn.
All worthy works of art employ emphasis for, lacking this principle, a piece seems monotonous and boring to the eye.

Assignment- Take a roll (30-40 digital) concentrating completely on "Contrast" in your frame. Topic is up to you. Make a contact sheet, save to the share folder and paste your best in your journal/blog.
 

12 Term 1 Assignment List

Summer **
Selfie **
Element Contact Sheet
6 Elements **
Excess Contact Sheet

Balance Contact Sheet
1 Balance **
Movement Contact Sheet
1 Movement Compensation  **
Repetition Contact Sheet
1 Repetition Photo **
Rhythm and Pattern Contact Sheet
1 Rhythm and  1Pattern Photo **

** Images saved to blog
Contact sheets saved to share folder (and/or blog)

11 Term 1 Assignment List

Summer **
Selfie **
Element Contact Sheet
6 Elements **
Apple/Emphasis Contact Sheet
5 Apple Images labelled with emphasis technique **
White Balance Contact Sheet
8 White Balance **
Exposure Compensation Contact Sheet
5 Exposure Compensation  **
Short Depth of Field Contact Sheet
3 Short Depth of Field Photos **

** Images saved to blog
Contact sheets saved to share folder (and/or blog)