Digital Photography at the Delaware Art Museum, Fall 2011
 Link to parking map.
Our first five classes deal primarily with camera mechanics, the second five on aesthetics. That is, we learn how to use the camera, then learn to make better images. Our emphasis will be on capturing images, not post-processing them on a computer.
Students will learn some simple rules to making good photos. Because good photos often bend the rules, even break them, we will learn to rely less on rules and more on our eyes. Again and again we will look at student work and, when we find one photo that's better than others, we will try to analyze why. Sometimes we'll find answers!
If this class is successful, students be better able to use the camera as an extension of their eyes, so what they see can be preserved and shared as photographs.
Class #1:
Tuesday, September 13
Camera Basics
Review of upcoming classes and assignments. Introduction to automatic exposure, to manual shooting and the light meter; to the underlying structure of the Red-Green-Blue (RGB) images that digital cameras produce; to histograms and the concept of proper exposure. Histograms are a great way of analyzing your exposures. Here's a link to a discussion of histograms.
ASSIGNMENT - by Tuesday, September 20:
Try experimenting with your camera settings: automatic, shutter-priority, aperture-priority, and manual modes. Get familiar with your user manual. If you don't have one, look on-line. Also, small books are available for most cameras and are much better instruction than user manuals, which can be unreadable.
Class #2, Tuesday, September 20
Manual Settings
Introduction to shooting with manual camera settings. Continued introduction to the concepts of shutter speed, aperture, and ISO (camera sensitivity). How to steady your camera for long exposures. How and why to shoot manually using the camera's built-in light meter. Various ways cameras meter light: average, center-weighted, spot, and evaluative "smart" metering. Various formats cameras use to save images: RAW, TIFF, JPEG. As I said in class, if you make changes to a JPEG image on your computer, don't save it as a JPEG image after making your adjustments: you'll lose more data when the image is compressed a second time.
Short article on manual shooting, ISO, shutter speed, aperture, light meters, and histograms.
A good article on file formats: RAW, TIFF, and JPEG.
An article on how cameras meter light: Spot, Center-Weighted, Average.
ASSIGNMENT - by Tuesday, September 27:
Continue experimenting with your manual camera settings, taking photos by adjusting your shutter speed and aperture and, if necessary, your ISO. Try to use the light meter you see when you look through the camera, if that's an option. After shooting, look at what you've shot, especially the histogram. Look at your user manual. If you don't have one, look on-line.
Class #3, Tuesday, September 27
Manual Shooting
Further introduction to manual shooting, how to get good exposures by varying shutter speed, aperture, and ISO (sensor sensitivity), and why.
ASSIGNMENT - by Tuesday, October 4:
Take three photographs in manual mode.
- No data lost. Both ends of the histogram near zero.
- Some data has been lost, has gone white. The right side of the histogram is high.
- Some data has been lost, has gone black. The left side of the histogram high.
Some subjects look better if areas of the image go white or black. That is, what is of interest in the photo is properly exposed, while what is not of interest goes white or black, light or dark. Cameras cannot tell what is of interest; they aren't that smart. This is one reason to shoot with manual settings. Click here to see three examples used in a previous class.
Class #4, October 4, 2011
Honing Our Skills
Review homework assignment. Continued review of using manual settings. How changing shutter speed, aperture, and ISO (camera sensitivity) changes the images your camera captures. In-class experimentation.
ASSIGNMENT - by Tuesday, October 11:
Explore the limits of your camera. If you can, get good exposures! Make photos with:
- The fastest shutter speed.
- The slowest shutter speed.
- The biggest aperture (lowest f-number)
- The smallest aperture (highest f-number)
- The highest ISO (camera sensitivity).
- The lowest ISO (camera sensitivity).
Class #5, October 11, 2011
Final Class on Camera Mechanics
Review homework assignment and answer questions. If time allows, in-class practice.
ASSIGNMENT - by Tuesday, October 18:
Experiment with your flash, not only as primary illumination, but also as a fill-flash. That is, use your flash in sunlit situations to illuminate shadow areas. Also, you can try using your flash indoors or in other low-light situations where there's almost enough light to get by without a flash but the flash adds just a bit more light to the scene, giving you a good exposure. You might also want to experiment with other artificial light sources such as lamps, overhead lights, headlights of cars, outdoor lights at night, etc. For example, ice cubes on a dark background take on a whole new look when illuminated from the side with artificial light. For example, grass and other vegetation take on a more dramatic look when lit with grazing light such as from a automobile's headlights. (Pull your car up on your lawn at your own risk.)
Class #6, October 18, 2011
Why Are Some Images Better Than Others? Subject and Background.
Review homework assignment and discuss fill-flash and other artificial illumination. But our emphasis in this and final classes will be to answer one question: Why are some images better than others? Rules of composition work in some situations, but not all. One rule is to separate the subject from the background. If time allows, we will practice separating subject from the background.
ASSIGNMENT - by Tuesday, October 25:
Experiment with separating the subject from the background. There are many ways to separate subject from foreground:
Class #7, October 25, 2011
Designing Photographs
After reviewing the homework assignment, we will look at how photographs can be designed. We will look at how the frame affects the image, at diagonals, triangles, form and line. In-class experimentation with folded paper.
ASSIGNMENT - by Tuesday, November 1:
Create a simple paper sculpture and photograph it. Your assignment is to take one or more pieces of paper and fold them or roll them or cut them into an simple sculpture and then photograph it, perhaps adjusting the lighting for best effect. Don't worry about the sculpture so much. Keep it simple. Put your efforts into the design of your photo.
The inspiration for this assignment are the photos of Ion Zupcu, a photographer represented by Gallery 339 in Philadelphia. Click here to see the artist's work, most of which has very little depth of field.
Click here to see some photos the instructor shot in class in early 2011. (Some students in class did better!) We spent less than 60 seconds creating each sculpture.
Class #8, November 1, 2011
Portraits
Review of homework assignment. Further discussion of how to get better images with an emphasis on portraits. In class experimentation with portraits. Learn about white balance and various ways to use your light meter.
ASSIGNMENT - by Tuesday, November 8:
Make a series of ten portraits of the same person. These can be taken anywhere, under any lighting conditions, natural and artificial. Extra credit for trying to duplicate a famous portrait.
- Richard Avedon
- Julia Margaret Cameron, 1864
- Harry Callahan, 1949
- Manuel Alvarez Bravo, 1930s of his wife, Frida Kahlo
- Edward Steichen, 1928, of Greta Garbo
- Yousuf Karsh, 1941, of Winston Churchill
- Gordon Parks, 1941, of Langston Hughes
- Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography at MOMA
There are five photos available. Click the number icons below photo.
- Annie Leibovitz, contemporary portrait photographer
- Emma's assignment
Class #9, November 8, 2011
Simplicity and Complexity
Review of homework assignment. Further discussion of composition, especially the issues of simplicity and complexity. In class experimentation with light painting.
ASSIGNMENT - by Tuesday, November 15:
Make a series of ten photos, but only of one subject. The subject can be people, places, animals, landscapes, close-ups, or action and sports. The ten images can tell a story.
Class #10, November 15, 2011
Learning to See Photographically
Review of homework assignment. Discussion of learning to see photographically, and simply learning to see. Final questions. Final review.
Further Free Activities
Meet-Up Photo Groups in Elkton, MD, and Delaware County, PA.
Delaware Photographic Society meets Monday evenings.
Copyright© 2007- 2011 Danny N. Schweers.
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