ART/JRNL2153 Introduction to Photography requires you to compile a final portfolio for evaluation.  Evaluation is based on your creative approach, demonstration of skill, and the depth of critical thinking used to complete the various assignments. The advantage of a portfolio is that you are able to select your best work over a period of time. It also provides and opportunity for you to re-shoot assignments (if necessary) and experiment without being penalized with a grade.

Instructions

All photographs should be submitted in ‘jpeg’ format.
All photographs must be from the Fall 2009 semester.
Each photograph should be in its own folder and labeled exactly as follows:

• Bad Photograph (15 points)
• Rule of Thirds (15 points)
• Frames and Framing (15 points)
• Portrait (15 points)
• Texture (15 points)
• Pattern (15 points)
• Light, Shadow, Mood(15 points)
• Weather Photo (15 points)
• Window View (15 points)
• Landscape (15 points)
• Nature (15 points)
• Still Life (15 points)
• Unique Perspective (15 points)
• Line and Perspective (15 points)
• Spot News Photo (15 points)
• Triangular Composition (15 points)
• Photo Art 1 (15 points)
• Photo Art 2 (15 points)
• Photo Art 3 (15 points)
• Photo Art 4 (15 points)

Failure to follow the above instructions will result in a loss of points for the assignment.

Assignment Submission

The portfolio will be submitted on a compact disc with the following considerations:

1. The CD should be clearly labeled with the photographer’s name, course number (2153), and semester (Spring 2009);
2. The CD must be tested on at least two computers in the Slider 201 Computer Lab to ensure it loads and all photographs display properly; and,
3. A CD that does not load and display properly for the professor will result in an automatic failure of the portfolio assignment and course.
4. All photographs should be submitted in ‘jpeg’ format.
5. All photographs must be from the Fall 2009 semester.
6. 5.    A document should accompany each photograph and list the photographer’s name, compositional category, location, and date;
7. Each photograph should be in its own folder and labeled exactly as follows:

• Bad Photograph
• Rule of Thirds
• Frames and Framing
• Portrait
• Texture
• Pattern
• Light, Shadow, Mood
• Weather Photo
• Window View
• Landscape
• Nature
• Still Life
• Unique Perspective
• Line and Perspective
• Spot News Photo
• Triangular Composition
• Photo Art 1
• Photo Art 2
• Photo Art 3
• Photo Art 4

Failure to follow the above instructions will result in a loss of points for the assignment.

Assignment Evaluation

TBA

For this assignment, you will select a campus organization and use one or more of your photographs to create a print advertisement.  Your ad will be submitted to the campus newspaper and online news journal RaiderView for publication consideration.

Readings and Resources

• Addy Advertising Awards, by American Advertising Federation
• Best Ads, by adforum.com
• Cresta International Advertising Awards, by Cresta
• Advertisement Copywriting, articles by about.com
• Advertisement Graphic Design, articles by about.com
• Clio Advertising Awards, by Clio Awards
• Fifteen Photoshop Tutorials for Creating Product Advertisements, Web and Graphic Design Blog from Vandelay Design

Instructions

To successfully complete the assignment, follow all instructions and guidelines below.

• This is a collaborative project. You will work in groups of 3-4 to complete the assignment, but each member of the group must create and produce an advertisement for submission. You are encouraged to support each other and provide critical feedback when needed.
• You must select, as a group, one of the following service organizations as a subject for your advertisement:
  • Academic Success Center
  • Bonner Leader Program
  • Blue Raider Shuttle Service
  • Blue Raider Wellness Center
  • Campus Chaplain’s Office
  • Campus Ministries
  • Career Services
  • Student Counseling Center
  • Catherine Wilson Women’s Center
  • International Student Adviser
  • Writing Center
  • LWC Student Services
  • Mathematics Center
  • Public Safety
  • Residence Life
  • Student Government Association
  • LWC  Public Relations
• You must discuss the advertisement and clear its contents with the organization you have selected.
• It is recommended that you research successful advertisements to
• The advertisement must be composed in Adobe Photoshop and not be a part of the PRI designed template.
• The advertisement size must be 4 x 5 inches in size (24 x 30 picas).
• Each advertisement must somehow incorporate an original photograph (black and white).
• When taking your photographs, be sure to use compositional techniques discussed in class.
• Make sure the photograph is properly focused has good contrast, and is not to light or dark.
• The advertisement must be visually appealing.
• Text used in the advertisement must have an appropriate in pact, size, and integrate seamlessly with the photograph. All text should also follow proper conventions of grammar and spelling.
• The advertisement should be saved in both Adobe Photoshop format and as a JPEG file. The assignment will ultimately be submitted in JPEG format.

Assignment Submission

• To submit the assignment, log into the Angel Course Management System and select the proper course site.
• On the Angel course home page, select the “Lessons” tab.
• Inside of the “lessons” tab, choose the “Photo Advertisement Exercise” Drop Box
• Follow the instructions to use the assignment drop box.
• Be sure to allow plenty of time to submit your photograph and solve any problems that may arise. Waiting until the last minute may result in the assignment being late.

Assignment Evaluation

Overall Quality

Design and Typography

Technical Evaluation (Photograph)

Since the beginning of photography, images have been combined with words to form meaning in various contexts. For this exercise, you will combine two forms of expression–writing and photography–to provide a meaningful document  suitable for publishing.

Instructions

For this assignment, you will combine a photograph to create an actual greeting card.

• The greeting card image must in some way involve Lindsey Wilson College.
• The theme of the greeting card must be one of the following:
  • Congratulations
  • Friendship
  • Get Well
  • Graduation
  • Happy birthday
  • Holiday greetings
  • Inspirational
  • Love and Romance
  • Religious
  • Thank you
  • Thinking of you
• You are required to provide the words for the card. The words can be your own or a famous quote or saying. Do not use any words that are protected by copyright.
• The size of the card will be  6.5 x 4.75 inches.
• The orientation of the card can be either vertical or horizontal, depending on your image or preference.
• The greeting card must be composed and assembled in Adobe PhotoShop.

A spot news event is not planned in advance. It happens without warning, and a photographer/photojournalist must determine quickly what is happening and act accordingly. This assignment will expose you to the world of photojournalism.

Readings and Resources

TBA

Instructions

To complete this assignment, consider the following guidelines:

• Become accustomed to carrying a camera at all times;
• Identify a spot news event on campus or in the immediate vicinity;
• Focus on all relevant action and activities surrounding the event;
• Shoot as many photographs of the event as needed to provide a comprehensive view of the subject matter;
• Select one photograph to submit to the campus newspaper for publication consideration (within established deadlines);
• Get all information related to the event to write a caption;
• Select three to five photographs of the event for workshop critique; and
• While pursuing this assignment, follow all ethical and legal considerations prescribed for media professionals.

Assignment Submission

TBA

Assignment Evaluation

TBA

The ability to repair or restore a photograph is a necessary skill all photographers should possess. In this exercise, we will use Adobe Photoshop to repair a badly damaged picture.

Readings and Resources

• Repairing Image Flaws, By George Penston, Pearson Education, Peachpit Press
• Repairing and Retouching Photographs, By Adobe Systems, Inc.
• Repairing Digital Photographs, By Russell Brown, Adobe Senior Creative Director, Adobe Systems, Inc.
• Remove Dust and Specks from a Scanned Image, By Sue Chastain, About.com
• Removing Ink Stains from a Photo, By Sue Chastain, About.com
• Twenty-Five Photoshop Tutorials For Repairing Your Old And Damaged Photos, Photoshopwebsite.com

Instruction

For this assignment, you will become familiar with the user interface and basic features of Adobe Photoshop to repair and restore a badly damaged photograph. To complete the exercise, follow the guidelines and procedures below:

• From the Start menu on your computer, open Adobe Photoshop.
• Download onto your computer the photographs attached to this assignment.
• Open each photograph within Adobe Photoshop.
• Follow the professor’s detailed in-class tutorial on how to repair and restore a photograph.

Evaluation

This project will not be formally evaluated. However, you should put forth maximum effort to complete the exercise.

The ability to tell a story in photographs is a valuable skill for both casual amateurs and professional photojournalists alike.  For this project, you will work in a group to produce an actual photographic story. The story will be submitted to the campus newspaper, RaiderView, for publication consideration.

Readings and Resources

• Jonathan’s Battle, by Michael Schwartz

Instructions

For this assignment, you will work in groups of three to produce a photographic story. The following guidelines and procedures apply:

• Each member of the group should contribute at least  10-20 photographs to the story. Of course, you can take as many pictures as you’d like and choose what you feel are your best shots. In fact, it’s recommended that you take a wide variety of shots.
• Keep in mind that only 5-10 photographs from the group will be selected for publication if the newspaper decides to publish your group’s photo story.
• Each photograph should be accompanied by a caption. At the end of each caption, a byline should identify the photographer.  EXAMPLE: Photograph by John Smith.
• You must use the LIFE Magazine formula for a photo story:
  • Introductory shot
  • Medium shot
  • Close-up
  • Portrait
  • Interaction shot
  • Signature shot
  • Clincher
• You do not have to represent all of the photo types outlined in the LIFE Magazine formula, but you should use enough to effectively tell the story.
• Each photograph should be above-average to excellent photographic quality.
• Your group should upload the photos with captions into the Photographic Story Project Drop Box in the Angel Course Management System .
• The photos should be inserted in proper narrative sequence into a Microsoft Movie Maker presentation.
  • The title slide should be clear, easy to read and include the title of the photo story and the names of each person in your group.
• Be creative. Your ultimate goal is to tell an engaging visual story.
• To submit the photo story, follow instructions listed in the Assignment Submission category below.

Assignment Submission

• To submit the assignment, log into the Angel Course Management System and select the proper course site.
• On the Angel course home page, select the “Lessons” tab.
• Inside of the “lessons” tab, choose the “Photographic Story Project” Drop Box
• Follow the instructions to use the assignment drop box.
• Be sure to allow plenty of time to submit your photograph and solve any problems that may arise. Waiting until the last minute may result in the assignment being late.

Groups and Topics

• Adair County Animal Shelter: Korianne, Chelsea, Kelly
• Cranmer Dining Center Behind the Scenes: Andrews, Minako, Kyoko
• BMX Bicycle Racing: Cristen, Donnie, Ronald
• Fish Hatchery: Billie, Barry
• Columbia State Police Post: Haley, Cory, Kiersten
• LWC Athletic Training: Eriko, Max, Ashley
• Tennessee Walking Horse Farm: Lindsey, Nikki, Ivan
• LWC Cycling Team: Emily, Alyca, Dustin
• LWC Band and Band Director: Nequila, Terrell
• Buffalo Ranch: Madison, Nicholas, Ben

Assignment Evaluation

Overall Quality

Shot Selection and Composition

Technical Evaluation

In the days when film dominated photography, artists and photojournalists relied heavily on using the darkroom to prepare their pictures for display or media publication. Now, in the Digital Age, photographers rely on the digital darkroom to prepare and manipulate their images.

This exercise introduces the digital darkroom and the hardware and software used to manipulate and repair photographs.  On the software side, we will become familiar with Adobe PhotoShop. This software is an important tool for photographers in the digital darkroom. Most professional photographers and graphic designers rely heavily on Photoshop to work with their pictures.

To properly learn the capabilities of any type of software, it is important that you spend a lot of time with hands-on training. As you continue to practice, your skills and photographs will  get better.

Readings and Resources

• Adobe Photoshop Tutorial, By Photoshopsupport.com
• Adobe Photoshop Tutorials, By Entheos, entheosweb.com
• Photoshop Tutorials and Resources, By PhotoshopCafe
• Adobe Photoshop Tutorials, By Lenox Web Design and Development

Instructions

For this assignment, you will become familiar with the user interface and basic features of Adobe Photoshop. To complete the exercise, follow the guidelines and procedures below:

• From the Start menu on your computer, open Adobe Photoshop.
• Take a brief tour of the software menus and features.
• Download the above photograph (Figure 1) onto your computer. We will use this photograph to experiment with the software.
• Open the photograph within Adobe Photoshop.
• Follow the professor’s detailed in-class tutorial to familiarize yourself with the software and its capabilities.

Evaluation

This project will not be formally evaluated. However, you should put forth maximum effort to complete the exercise.

The ability to tell a story in photographs is a valuable skill for both casual amateurs and professional photojournalists alike. While staged and contrived photo stories of real-life subject matter are generally discouraged, you will create a fictional story that must stand on its own merits as a story. This exercise is designed to get you thinking about the elements of a photo narrative.

Readings and Resources

• Jonathan’s Battle, by Michael Schwartz

Instructions

For this assignment, you will work together in groups of four to produce a photographic story. The following guidelines and procedures apply:

• You must use exactly eight photographs to tell your story–no more, no less. Of course, you can take as many pictures as you’d like and choose what you feel are your best shots. In fact, it’s recommended that you take a wide variety of shots.
• Each person in the group should contribute at least one photograph to the story.
• You must use the LIFE Magazine formula for a photo story:
  • Introductory shot
  • Medium shot
  • Close-up
  • Portrait
  • Interaction shot
  • Signature shot
  • Clincher
• You do not have to represent all of the photo types outlined in the LIFE Magazine formula, but you should use enough to effectively tell the story.
• The story should have a beginning, middle, and end. It should portray a rise to a climax and resolution based on our discussion of Freytag’s Pyramid and the Fitchean Curve concepts used in written narratives.
• Each photograph should be above-average to excellent photographic quality.
• Your group should upload the photos in proper sequence into the Photo Story Practice Exercise Drop Box in the Week 02 folder without captions.
• The photos should be inserted in proper narrative sequence into a Microsoft Movie Maker presentation.
  • The title slide should be clear, easy to read and include the title of the photo story and the names of each person in your group.
• Be creative. Your ultimate goal is to tell an engaging visual story.
• To submit the photo story, follow instructions listed in the Assignment Submission category below.

Assignment Submission

• To submit the assignment, log into the Angel Course Management System and select the proper course site.
• On the Angel course home page, select the “Lessons” tab.
• Inside of the “lessons” tab, choose the folder entitled “Assignment: Photo Story Exercise.”
• Follow the instructions to use the assignment drop box.
• Be sure to allow plenty of time to submit your photograph and solve any problems that may arise. Waiting until the last minute may result in the assignment being late.

Evaluation

TBA

You are working as a public relations manager for a small local corporation. For the last eight years, you have been using a film SLR camera to take photos at company parties, employee award ceremonies, and general events. The photos were used for the employee newsletter, e-mail messages, bulletin board displays, and historic company archives. The camera you’ve been using is now inoperable and not worth repairing. It’s time to purchase a new camera and enter the world of digital photography. You have a tight budget and can only spend between $100 and $200. After researching the different cameras on the market, you narrow down your search to the following brands and models:

• Canon PowerShot SD1200-IS 10MP Digital Camera
• Kodak EasyShare M1063 10 MP Digital Camera
• Nikon CoolPix S230 Plum 10MP Digital Camera
• Canon PowerShot 12.1MP Digital ELPH Camera
• Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W220 12MP Digital Camera
• Kodak EasyShare Z1485 14MP Digital Camera
• Casio Exilim EX-S10 10.1 MP Digital Camera
• Sanyo Xacti VPC-E760 7.1 MP Digital Camera
• Olympus Stylus Tough 6000 10 MP Digital Camera
• Panasonic Lumix DMC-FS4 8.1MP Digital Camera

Readings and Resources

• Digital Photography Review
• “Digital Cameras,” By PC World

Instructions

• Research each camera and decide which one is the best for your needs.
• To make your selection, consider the following criteria:
  • Appearance
  • Name-brand recognition
  • Durability
  • Megapixels and resolution
  • Shooting modes and capabilities
  • Data storage
  • Lens and zoom capabilities
  • LCD viewing screen size and resolution
  • Flash features
• Write a comprehensive paragraph to explain why this is the best camera for the money. Use the criteria listed above.
• To complete the assignment, meet with your group and discuss your choice. As a group, decide which camera is best.  Use the criteria listed above.

Evaluation

TBA

Knowing the capabilities of your digital camera can enhance the quality and value of your photographs. Many models of digital cameras are loaded with features that make it easier to achieve professional results. Unfortunately, some camera owners fail to read and study the manual that came with their cameras.

Readings and Resources

• “Curtin’s Guide to Digital Cameras,” By Dennis P. Curtin, shortcourses.com
  
• “How Digital Cameras Work,” By Karim Nice, Tracy V. Wilson, and Gerald Gurevich, howthingswork.com
• “Cameras and Digital Cameras,” By Chris Woodford, explainthatstuff.com
• “How Digital Cameras Work,” By Ethan Gallagher, ehow.com

Instructions

For this assignment, you will explore the features of your digital camera and experiment with its capabilities. To complete this assignment, the following guidelines and procedures apply:

• To complete the assignment, you will need the manual that came with your digital camera as a reference. If you do not have a manual or cannot find it, go to the internet and conduct a search using your camera brand name, model, and the term “manual.” Download or print the manual for your reference.
• Using your camera and manual, answer the following questions:
  • What is the resolution of your camera?
  • What type of zoom lens does your camera have, and what is its range?
  • What type of flash does your camera have? Are there different flash modes? If so, what are they and what do they do?
  • What is the size and resolution of the LCD camera screen?
  • What shooting modes does your camera have? Provide a brief description of each.
  • What are other features does your camera have?
• Once you are familiar with the capabilities of your digital camera, shoot at least one photograph to correspond with each shooting mode of your camera. For example, if you have a “landscape” shooting mode, shoot a landscape. If you have a “sunset” mode, photograph a sunset. Some modes may be impossible to shoot, such as “fireworks” or “beach” modes. In these cases, you do not have to provide an example, but you should be aware that your camera has that capability.

Evaluation

TBA