You will complete four (4) Photography Assignments at intervals throughout the semester. Each individual Photography assignment will have a potential scoring value of 100 points, which is approximately 9% of the total semester score. Together, all four Photography assignments represent approximately 36% of the potential 1100-point course score.
Photography assignments in this course are tasks where you communicate ideas to an audience visually through photographs, which you take. Although the assignments are creative activities, they also have definite critical goals, which you must accomplish. Most importantly, your audience must be able to interpret and understand your ideas. This is more difficult than it appears. Although you may know what your intentions are with the photos you take, you must also convey that to the audience in a picture, without additional explanation.
Photographs work on the literal level. That is, we can see what is happening in a photo as we might if we were looking at the scene. However, photographs also work on a symbolic level. Unlike with sight, photographs have unique attributes such as frame boundaries, focus variations, and various visual distortions. You will use these attributes to add symbolic meaning to a photo beyond the content. For example, you can use selective sharp focus to draw attention to an important aspect while the rest of the photo is out of focus.
You are expected to make creative photographs. To best accomplish that you will need to do research to determine what techniques and styles most interest or intrigue you. Google searches for creative photography will yield many helpful results. The Penn State Libraries also have extensive resources, which are available for check out, browsing or interlibrary loan. World Campus students may find similar resources at their local libraries.
Photographic critical seeing and thinking expectations
Photographs used in class projects must communicate to the viewer something meaningful beyond the elementary content of the photo (all the things and people that appear in the photos). Integrating content and form creatively in your photographs will require thought and planning.
Three potential ways to accomplish this are to:
- Emphasize relationships between elements of content using interesting composition,
- Use stylistic techniques such as expressive lighting to give special meaning to the content,
- Find and include dramatically meaningful content to give the photo extraordinary power.
The goal of this approach is to teach you, through experience, to communicate complex ideas visually without the need for additional written or verbal explanation. When evaluating assignments, your instructor will be especially looking at your effort, creativity, execution, understanding of the assignment requirements, personal insight, and ability to discuss ideas about photography in a constructive and informed manner. During the Peer Review process, your classmates will tell you how successful you were at accomplishing this.
Photographic Assignment Requirements
For each assignment you will be required to submit photographs that meet the goals of the assignments. You will also be required to submit six (6) critical evaluations of your classmates’ photos.
Submit different photos
All the photos you submit for the assignment must be completely different from one another. Therefore, do not submit similar variations of the same photo. To ensure this variety, they must either be taken in different locations or have completely different content. Give enough thought to the assignment to develop several unique approaches.
If you submit visually similar photos, submit fewer than the required number of photos, or do not follow the assignment description, the highest score you can expect to receive is 50% of the potential maximum, which corresponds to a maximum grade of “D.”
New work is required for each assignment
The photos for each assignment must be taken after the start date of the assignment listed on the course schedule. This makes the assignment more challenging since you have to develop ideas for new photos more quickly. Old photos may not be used. This is very important. We consider using old photos for the assignment to be a violation of academic integrity; therefore, if you use old photos, you will receive a zero for the entire assignment (photographs and peer reviews) on the first occasion and then fail the course if it happens again. Remember, digital images carry date codes as embedded metadata.
Late or incomplete work
Late work is not accepted unless it meets the University guidelines for submission of late work. If you can not submit your work in time, contact your instructor in advance of the due date and make the appropriate arrangements. Late work will not be able to participate in the Peer Review process, and will receive a score of zero.
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is copying or using someone else’s work. For example, using any photo that you did not take or that you found on the Internet will constitute plagiarism. Do not do this. On the first occasion, you will receive a zero for the entire assignment and if it happens again, you will fail the class. It is just not worth the risk.
Camera
You may use any digital camera to take photos for this class. This includes anything from iPhones/Androids to professional DSLR cameras. If you choose to use a smartphone camera we suggest that you download a RAW camera app (like Adobe Lightroom CC, Darkroom, VSCO or Snapseed) or enable advanced/professional camera app features on your phone. By using these features, you will come close to some features available in DSLR cameras.
The focus of this course is on making creative and meaningful photos. The tutorials will introduce many technical concepts. If you find that you have an interest in acquiring professional techniques, you should consider taking PHOTO 202, The Fundamentals of Professional Photography.
Computer
You will need a reliable computer with updated software capable of running the latest versions of Internet browsers.
Internet
You will need a reliable Internet connection to access the course materials and upload your photos.
Software
No special software is necessary on your computer. Your camera, smartphone, tablet or other imaging device will have proprietary software that you might find helpful for resizing, rotating, cropping, color & value correction, or image manipulation. Penn State provides access to Adobe Creative Cloud (CC) at no additional cost to all Penn State students.
Our Photography Assignments have two parts that you will participate in over three weeks.
Part 1. Photography (1st and 2nd week) –
Watch the tutorials associated with the assignment. Make photographs that meet the assignment criteria. Upload the photographs (.jpeg files) to Canvas and include a statement/narrative (.pdf) that explains your work, which your classmates will read when reviewing your images. Make sure you upload your images in the orientation you want them to be viewed at. When you review your images on your computer or phone, you may see the images sideways. Rotate the images using your photo viewing or editing software if necessary before uploading them onto Canvas.
Part 2. Peer Review – (3rd week) –
IMPORTANT: All Peer Reviews are due one week from the due date of the photography assignment.
At noon on the day after each assignment is due, Canvas will automatically assign to you six classmates’ work, which you will review. You will have seven days to complete the Peer Reviews. Consult the Modules section of Canvas to see the due dates for each Peer Review. Based on the assignment criteria, assignment learning objectives, and information you learned from the tutorials, write peer evaluations that explain how well you think your classmates accomplished the assignment. Include suggestions for improving the photography.
Participating fully in the Peer Review is a requirement for the assignment. If you do not participate, review fewer than six classmates’ work, or write less than the minimum requirement of 200 words for each review, the maximum score you can expect for the assignment is 64%, which is the equivalent of a “D”.
Look carefully at each submitted photograph and address both the technical and the artistic aspects of the photographs. Technical aspects include focus, exposure (aperture, shutter speed), depth of field, ISO/noise, lighting, contrast, color temperature, white balance, post-processing. Artistic aspects include composition, camera angle, color, mood, creativity, originality, etc.
Peer Review Requirements
Canvas will automatically assign to you peer evaluations to perform. Peer Reviews are critical reactions that you write regarding your classmates’ photographic assignments. You are required to comment on six (6) of your classmates’ photographs for each photography assignment.
Peer Reviews require a minimum of 200 words to be accepted as complete. Peer Review Comments that have fewer than 200 words are incomplete. The purpose of the minimum word count is to ensure thoroughness. You most likely will have to write more than 200 words to provide a detailed analysis.
Critiquing means looking at the work for the purpose of finding its strengths and weaknesses. It should be an analysis of what works and what doesn’t, and whether or not the photographs meet the creative and technical goals of the assignment. Make an effort to explain how the photos can be improved.
Most photographers appreciate receiving constructive and specific comments on the technical and aesthetic quality of their photographs. Be honest and make your comments with good intentions.
Every peer review posting you make must be thorough, thoughtful, unique, and clearly address specific qualities of the photograph which you are judging. They should clearly explain your reasons for your evaluation.
Scoring the Assignments
The scores you receive for your photography assignments are subjective and frank evaluations made by an experienced instructor based on the criteria in the assignment descriptions.
If you do not agree with your instructor’s evaluation of a photography assignment, you can ask for specific feedback, then based on that information and the peer critiques rephotograph the assignment to create photos that are more effective, and then request a reevaluation. Alternatively, you can write to your instructor and clearly explain how you accomplished each of the above criteria to a level beyond the instructor’s evaluation. It will be your responsibility to support the effort and execution of your photography. Be aware, the instructor may or may not agree with your reasoning.
By taking an arts course like this, you agree to receive an experienced instructor’s subjective evaluation of your creative work. Merely doing the assignment will not qualify you for an “A”. To accomplish that evaluative level, you must unmistakably demonstrate exceptional effort and execution.
We expect students’ emphasis to focus on how they can improve their work. Angry or argumentative messages regarding assignment scores do not reflect scholarly behavior and do not follow Penn State’s academic integrity policy of maintaining a respectful and dignified learning environment.
Important Canvas tips
Please note that Canvas will require you to fill out the attached rubric for the peer review to be considered finished and complete. Click on Show Rubric, score each criterion, then hit Save Comment in the bottom.
Your instructor will not take consider the scores students give one another. However, your instructor will carefully read each 200-word peer review.
Please work on your 200-word peer reviews in a separate document, then copy and paste them into the Add a comment field rather than attaching a separate file. Then hit Save.
How do I know if I have a peer review assignment to complete?
How do I view rubric results for my assignment?
Where can I find my peers’ feedback for peer reviewed assignments?