This assignment has two parts. You will visit and photograph a place of your choice on two separate occasions.
Photo session 1.
Pick a location (a street or a street corner, a park, etc.) and spend some time there to observe the place. It has to be an outdoor location. The selected location cannot be on campus.
Be mindful about the location you choose–look for interesting textures, lines, angles, forms, colors, light, action, movement, people, and cool vibes.
Important limitation: During this first photo session, you have to stand in one spot. You cannot move your feet while photographing. You can twist your upper body, get low or high, you can also extend your arm as you make pictures. You can change the focal length by zooming in and out. You may use a tripod, but you cannot move the legs of your tripod, only its head. Find compelling, unique compositions.
Photo session 2.
Revisit the same location. Pick a different time of day. You will be working with different ambient light conditions. Make images again.
However, this time you should not stand in the same place. In this second photo session, you need to move around and “work the shot.” You may use a tripod, but you have to move it around this time. Stay within about 20 steps from your original spot. Again, find compelling, unique compositions.
What makes a composition powerful, eye-catching, dynamic, unique? This is an exercise in composition.
Do not be frugal—take hundreds of images and delete the ones you do not need later.
After your two photo sessions, review and edit your images, and select the strongest 3 images from each of the two sessions.
Upload your final 6 images (the top 3 images selected from each session) to Canvas. Use the following captions: 1_1, 1_2, 1_3 for images from the first session, 2_1, 2_2, 2_3 for images from the second session.
Each one of your final 6 images should be technically and conceptually sound and well thought out. They must be completely different, unique compositions; they cannot be variations of the same photo. Each one of them should have a different subject, a distinctive focal point/point of interest.
Include a statement (min. 200 words, a pdf file) that explains your creative process and the photographic choices you made. Include technical details (aperture, shutter speed, ISO or any other technical details your peers might find helpful). No need to describe what the photos depict, especially if that is obvious. You may write about the challenges you faced and questions you pondered while working on the assignment.
Make sure that you are safe and that you do not interrupt traffic. You might choose to do one of your photo sessions at night. However, since low light photography takes a bit more technical know-how, I suggest that you research it ahead of time. Consider using a tripod if you take photos in low light. If you have never taken photos at night, I suggest that you photograph at two different times during the day (for example, one session in the morning, one late in the afternoon).
Follow the compositional techniques addressed in the assignment tutorial. Today’s cameras have such amazing technology that they can do everything but make a great photograph for you. That “but” refers to composition. Composition is the aspect of the medium that is dependent on your efforts as the photographer.
Photographic composition is the art of composing an image through framing. Other visual arts start with a blank “canvas”. In photography, the canvas is pre-existing; it is our job to frame the scene and eliminate distracting elements. In photography, the only time you start with a blank canvas is in the studio, where you can control what is in the frame, the lighting, and the subject matter itself. Otherwise, outside the studio, the canvas has already been created. It is what is in front of you.
You may wish to use a large RAW format file for your personal needs but use jpegs (large) for the online upload. When it comes to editing your photos, limit your edits to what is needed. Do not use presets or filters. Use the aspect ratio (the ratio between the width and height of an image) of 3:2 or 4:3 on your camera/phone. (Other common aspect ratios include 1:1, 16:9, 16:10 and 5:9–do not use those). Of course, feel free to use both the landscape (horizontal layout) and portrait (vertical) orientation.
Learning outcome descriptions
Creative thinking
Acquiring photographic skills
Use the camera exposure controls (aperture, shutter speed, ISO as explained in the “Photography 101” tutorial earlier) to ensure adequate image brightness.
Pick a lens focal length or zoom length that will be most effective for the photo. Your choices can be wide-angle, “normal”, or long (zoomed in) focal lengths.
Pay attention to your focus. When using auto mode, your camera can sometimes focus on the wrong part of the subject. Switch to manual focus if the camera will not cooperate with you.
Depth of field indicates how much of the image is sharp. Do you want all of your image to be in focus? You can bring more attention to your subject by reducing the depth of field in a scene.
Solving image making problems
You will be thinking about many different problems at the same time. If may feel overwhelming at first. Yet, with practice, it will be easier to pay attention to all of this at the same time.
The image quality in your digital photos is dependent on a variety of factors (such as available lighting or weather conditions). The quality of your digital camera plays a role too.
Two simple tips:
Make use of a high resolution. Shoot at a high resolution whenever possible. By using more resolution in your photos, you should see improved image quality. Using a high resolution doesn’t guarantee high image quality, as many other factors contribute to the quality of a photo, such as external lighting and avoiding camera shake. But a high resolution can help improve the quality of some photos.
Hold the camera as steady as possible when shooting in low light. The camera must use a longer shutter speed in low light, which can lead to blurry photos from camera shake (where the photographer slightly moves involuntarily while the shutter is open). Keep your elbows tucked in tight to your body to help you hold the camera steady. If the camera you are using has a viewfinder, you can hold the camera steadier if you look through the viewfinder while holding the camera pressed against your face.
Taking creative risks
All of us have the potential to be creative but for many, creativity can be hampered by the fear of disapproval or the fear of failure. Creativity can only flourish in an atmosphere of experimentation, risk taking, playfulness, curiosity, and a sense of adventure.
Make the photograph you are inspired to make. Don’t let the fear of feeling foolish stop you from exploring a creative idea. Feel free to lie down on a sidewalk in order to get an unusual angle for photographing your subject. You might get looks from passersby, but you also might end up with a fabulous image with a different, creative point of view.
Photograph things that are not considered traditionally photogenic. Find interesting ways to photograph the common, mundane things that most people never notice.
Innovative thinking
Find a good scene, background, or area, and wait for your subjects to come to you. Notice that if you stay put in one area, you will get to know the area better. You will observe the flow of subjects, and get a feel of a place better. Overtime, you will be “invisible” in the scene—people will ignore you.
How can one take many different images while not moving at all? How do you change what is already in front of you? In general, you may adjust your composition through framing or by moving yourself (though this option is only available to you during the second photo session). If you have a zoom lens, you can zoom in to isolate a portion of a scene, or zoom out to add to the scene.
Ideas: Photograph from unconventional perspectives. Feel free to take photos without even looking through the viewfinder, leaving it to chance. Experiment with blurry forms to convey motion. Include people and/or animals in your frames.
Visual Communications
Compositional organization
Pay attention to the compositional concepts discussed in the tutorial: a clearly defined subject and background, a sense of balance, a point of view, and a degree of simplicity. Composition should help identify, emphasize, complement, isolate, or highlight the subject.
Composition is arranging, creating, seeing, framing, and cropping. Elements of composition are patterns, texture, symmetry/asymmetry, depth of field, lines, curves, frames, contrast, color, viewpoint, depth, negative space/filled space, foreground/ background, visual tension, shapes. Use one or more of these elements to create a composition that works for your image. Of course, not all will be available at all times, but study them, recognize them, and employ them to help enrich your images.
Finally, know that, when it comes to composition, there is no right or wrong. There are no hard-and-fast rules. For every rule, there are countless images that break the rule.
Image content choices
What do you include? What do you leave out? How do you orchestrate content within the photographic frame?
Good composition is the process of arranging forms in a way that is pleasing and that guides the viewer’s eye to bring attention to the subject. In a good composition your eye will not search and wonder. You will immediately know what the subject of the image is.
Use of visual photographic conventions
Where you choose to position yourself has a huge impact on your photography. There is a standard way of taking photographs, standing in front of your subject and pushing the button. Look at your subject from different angles, from above or below. It is always worth exploring your options to see if you have the best shot. (The different camera angles to be familiar with: bird’s eye angle, high angle, eye-level angle, and low angle/worm’s eye angle.)
Related materials:
20 Composition Techniques That Will Improve Your Photos
Jamie Windsor: 8 IMPORTANT Composition Tips for Better Photos
9 Priceless Composition Tips For Amazing Photographs
