Photography for Artists & Designers

Art & Design 265

Here we explore photographic concepts, skills and knowledge used in the fine and applied visual arts, including product shots, portfolios, storytelling, a survey of the history of photography, and digital darkroom techniques.
Photographic problems are designed around technical, creative, aesthetic, and expressive objectives.

Prerequisites: Art 220, 260, or consent of instructor.

Course Home Page | Image Drop Boxes | Semester Schedule | Projects |

Week: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16

Google+ Setup

 

Main Semester Schedule

Go here for class-by-class information, projects, deadlines and resources.

 

Syllabus

See printed handout.

General Course Policies

 

Projects and Graded Work

— Weekly photo projects.  Normally, images will be uploaded to Google+ along with comments and critiques.
— Quizzes over assigned readings, class lecture/discussion and tutorials.
— Critiques and feedback posted on Google+, dealing with your own photos and those of your classmates.
— Two in-class presentations on an historical photographer and a contemporary photographer.
— Participation in two class photo exhibits, at mid-term and at the end of the semester.  Three mounted prints for each exhibit required.
— Field Book of notes on exposures, lighting, problems and tactics when photographing work.
— Final thematic photos series, as laid out and presented in a printed photo book.

 

Weekly Class Deadlines

Most weeks during this semester will follow a similar structure — we'll have deadlines that fall at the same time each week. Here is the general weekly pattern.

Class Structure

Tuesday 8am — upload draft assignment:  

Upload draft version of Tuesday’s assignment to G+ so that your classmates and professors can go online and critique them.   
Your current project should be as finished as you know how to make it — we will give a grade based on completion and quality.
Each assignment will have a title.  Be sure to use that title for the G+ album used to present your work.
If the assignment includes writing a concept statement for your project, be sure it is posted.

Before Class on Tuesday — crit peer assignments:

Between 8am Tuesday, and 4pm Tuesday, go online and comment on each student’s work.  

Some projects will be uploaded earlier than this so you can, of course, review and comment on them earlier.  Your comments should involve meaningful, constructive criticism relative to the goals and priorities of the assignment. You do not have to comment on every image that has been uploaded, but comment on at least one image per person.  
In general, comments need to be in complete sentences and not so brief or vague as to be useless.  For you legalists, consider 25 words a bare minimum.

When critiquing, respond thoughtfully to one or more of these questions:
— In what ways does this image succeed in relation to the assigned priorities?
— In what ways does this image fail to address the assigned issues?
— How specifically might this image be improved?
In addition, you might also comment on the images that simply impress you and grab your attention.  As possible, explain why the image does so.

Tuesday Class:

Lecture/intro new content.
Critique current project works.  
Introduce new projects
Introduce artists/photographers who make use of techniques related to current assignment.

 

Before Class on Thursday — upload assignment final:

Upload your final photos for the current assignment.
Add comments on any changes that you made, and why you made them.  
If the assignment includes writing a concept statement for your project, be sure it is posted.
Discuss how the final image(s) address your concept statement.

 

Thursday Class:

Lecture/intro new content.
Critique current project works.  
Introduce new projects
Introduce artists/photographers who make use of techniques related to current assignment.

By Saturday Evening — crit assignment final:

Go to G+ and critique your classmates’ final submissions of the current project.  
Contribute comments to each student’s work. You don’t have to comment on all of their images, but do comment on at least one of their images or comment on the series of images as a whole.

 

Full Semester Schedule

Semester Assignments

Week	Main Assignments	Comments
1	Complete Google Photo Favs assignment. Begin Shoot from the Hip project	Get set up on Google+, upload some favorites, and comment on them. Then get set for some basic camera use while shooting almost random images, to then be post-processed into a themed image set.
2	Shoot from the Hip project	Finish first shooting project.
3	Straight Photo project	Shoot a set of thematically unified images with only global editing during post-processing and no cropping. Use the theme picked for Shoot from the Hip
4	Field Book intro and Shooting Modes project	A series of assigned exposures in both Aperture Priority mode and in Shutter Speed Priority mode. Follow up with an HDR image using last week's shots.
5	Photobook Themes intro and Unfamiliar Familiar themed project	Explore how many images, personalities and compositions can be derived from the same subject.
6	Photobook Themes and Graphic Emphasis project & Midterm Show prep	Use lighting, arrangement and depth-of-field tactics to establish focal areas of an expressive series of compositions. Discuss initial artist's statements for photobook.
7	Preliminary Photobook Series & Midterm Show prep	Finish prep for exhibit, and shoot preliminary photobook series images.
8	Photobook Series prep & Midterm Show	Review preliminary photobook series images. Pick next theme photo series. Portrait Lighting tactics.
9	Select from Portrait Lighting project  or Natural Light & Space   or Surrealist Composite   or Memento Mori projects.	You'll pick whichever themed photo set appeals to you.
10	Select from Spontaneous Portrait   or Seven Deadly Sins   or Action & Energy   or Narrative Series   projects and Photobook Series Review	You'll pick whichever themed photo set appeals to you. We'll review the works you're developing for your Photobook. 19/20
11	Select from Sympathetic Unsympathic   or Theme & Variation   or Narrative Image projects	Complete/Refine prior assignments and present your current set of images for your photobook. Have final versions of two prior week'sprojects, and photobook preliminary sets posted to G+. Chicago Trip is this week...several of us will be there Wednesday - Sunday. (21)
12	Photobook Review and prep for Final Exhibit	You'll need to send off your finished photobook for printing shortly. Beforehand, we'll review images, theme, commentary and layout. (22/23)
13	Portfolio & Product Shoot project	Shooting artwork for portfolios, as well as product and sample shots. (24/25)
14	Your Choice and Final Exhibit set up.	Select from any of the prior projects that you did not do. (26/27)
15	Reshoot a prior project and Turn in Photobook.	Select any project that you have completed, but not as you wanted. Revisit that with your current skills, and reshoot the final images. Your photobook is to be turned in on the final day of class. (28/29)
	Photobook Review	You'll write a critique of your photobook and several others, and we'll survey each photobook during the Final Exam period.

 

Online Photography Resource Link : Web sitesthat present historical and contemporary photography. HULibrary eBooks

Standards of Successful Photographic Imagery : what technical and aesthetic traits tend to be present in strong images?