Photography Vocabulary

Candid Photography
focuses on spontaneity rather than technique, on the immersion of a camera within events rather than focusing on setting up a staged situation or on preparing a lengthy camera setup.

Arthur Fellig, WeeGee

Accident 42nd Street at Third Avenue, 1942

Lovers with 3D glasses at the Palace Theater, 1943

Summer, the Lower East Side, 1943

Photojournalism
journalism that tells a story through pictures, instead of presenting news material through editing and writing . Photojournalists are thought to take pictures that are objective and neutrally charged with no specific underlying opinion.

Dorothea Lange
FSA Photographer

Migrant Mother, 1936

Documentary Photography
refers to a popular form of photography used to chronicle significant and historical events. It is typically covered in professional photojournalism, but it may also be an amateur, artistic, or academic pursuit. The photographer attempts to produce truthful, objective, and usually candid photography of a particular subject, most often pictures of people.

Stephen Shore

U.S. 2, Ironwood, Michigan, July 9, 19731973 - 2002

Ginger Shore, Causeway Inn, Tampa, Florida, Nov. 17, 19771977-2004

Wolf Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 10/28/75

Street Photography
a type of docmentary photography that features subjects in candid situationswithin public places such as streets, parks, beaches, malls, polictical settings and other settings.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/triangle-fire-a-frontier-in-photojournalism/

Here is a short list of documentary photographers that you may research for your report.

Documentary Photographers

FSA (Farm Security Administration) 1930’s

Walker Evans

Dorothea Lange

Russell Lee

John Vachon

Marion Post Wolcott

Robert Frank

Gerry Winogrand

Lee Friedlander

Diane Arbus

Martha Rosler

Manuel Rivera-Ortiz

Joel Meyerowitz

Berenice Abbott

Jim Goldberg

Nan Goldin

Lauren Greenfield

Lewis Hine

Mary Ellen Mark

Steve McCurry

James Nachtwev

Gordon Parks

Eugene Richards

Jim Richardson

W. Eugene Smith

Peter Sekaer

Sally Mann

Daniel Lorenzetti

Hey, Remember These? Interaction of Text & Image

Time for You to Blog!

In an effort to see all the images you create in our digital photography unit, you will create a blog specifically for Graphic Design to show your artwork. A blog is a way for you to share your artwork with friends and other people. It's also a way for you to organize your work, see improvements and build a portfolio. You will keep and update your blog at different points in the semester when assignments are due and this will be the way that you turn in your assignments from now on.

Here are two blog sites I have used:

blogger.com - very basic, need to set up a gmail account to get started

tumblr.com- more design options, easy to use

Your assignment today is to finish editting your 7 images. Utilize Brightness/Contrast, Levels, and Curves to achieve a range of values. You may also experiment to achieve natural-looking colors using Color Balance. When you have made your changes to your images, save them as jpegs.

Then post your pictures on your blog with the title 7 Views of Jones as the title. You may give titles to your individual images if you want.

Photography Research Project

PHOTOGRAPHY RESEARCH PROJECT Graphic Design  

Due

Choose two artists you would like to research and present to the class. The artists may be exclusively photographers or they can be artists who create different types of artwork including photography. At least one of the artists should be living and working now.

Part I Outline: In an outline format, please include the following information:

·         Artist’s name

·         where and when he/she was born and where the/she lives and works now

·         university/art school he/she attended

·         type of photography artist does (documentary, photojournalism, street, portraits, etc)

Part II: Write this information/ answer questions in complete sentences

·         What ideas is the artist interested in? What is the work about?

·         How does the artists’ style and picture-taking process connect to the concepts/ideas of the artwork?

·         Why are you are interested, drawn to, and/or moved by the artist’s images?

Part II: Power Point Presentation- Choose 1 artist

·         Create a simple power point displaying 4 photographs by the artist

·         Images should be large and  high-quality

·         Develop 2 questions for the viewers to answer and/or think about for each artwork

·         Describe the work- including concepts, subject matter, process, etc (basically tell us why these images are cool and what they are about so we can understand them better)  

On-line Resources- galleries, museums and websites with good information & high quality images

You can do searches on these sites or look at artwork to find artists that interest you.

Art 21 (Art in the Twenty-first Century) PBS program & website

Saatchi Gallery (all contemporary artists- good images)

Gagosian Gallery

Museum of Contemporary Photography- Chicago

Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) - L.A.

Museum of Contemporary Art (MCA) - Chicago

New Museum – NY                                                            

PS1- Queens, NY                                                                             

Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) - NY                                                         

Whitney Museum of American Art- NY                                       

                               

Lens Culture: Contemporary Art Magazine- lensculture.com

Photography-now.net

newyorkphotofestival.com

photography.nationalgeographic.com

New York Times- nytimes.com/pages/multimedia/index.html

Art Forum (magazine) - artforum.com

Art in America (magazine) – artinamericamagazine.com

Editing Your 7 Photographs

Take a look at your photographs for aspects that may need to be changed or improved.

Contast- Does the image have a full range of values? This is also called full tonal range - highlights, mid tones, and dark values or shadows. An image is referred to as flat if it is lacking contast and punchy if it has too much contrast.
Brightness/Contrast
Levels- if image needs overall contrast
Curves- if image needs contrast within the midtones

Color- Does the color in the image look natural? Adjust the color using color balance. For example, if the image looks too blue, move the arrow on the scale towards yellow (its compliment) to make it the color more even and natural.
Color Balance

Digital Photography Procedures

Graphic Design I Digital Photography

1. Be professional and respectful when taking pictures. Do not disrupt other classes.

2. Wear a photography ID when taking pictures during class.

3. Do not take pictures inside other classrooms while class is in session. You may take pictures inside other classrooms before or after school with permission of the teacher or staff member.

4. Bring a flashdrive to class everyday.

5. If you do not have your own camera in class on a day when you are assigned to take pictures, you must use the camers in class. Just sitting around at your computer is NOT an option.

6. If you choose to use your own camera, you must have it in class (for in-class assignments).

Procedures for Using Cameras

In-Class

1. Get a camera from Ms. Boban and check for missing parts or damages. Immediately report anything to Ms. Boban

Each box contains: camera, USB cord, battery & av cable

3. Watch Ms. Boban write your name (and partner’s name) on blue tape and put it on camera box.

3. Make sure the number on camera matches the number on box.

4. Upload images onto your computer using USB cord.

4. When done using camera, return to Ms. Boban with all parts. Ms. Boban will remove your name if you are done using that camera for that particular project.

Outside of Class

1. See Ms. Boban in room 218 immediately after school to check out a camera overnight. Immediately report anything to Ms. Boban

Each box contains: camera, USB cord, battery & av cable

2. Fill out the equipment list with your name and date camera will be returned

3. The camera must be returned before school or at the beginning of class on the day it is due (this date will be determined by the specific assignment).

15 Views of Jones

Many artists take make work about what they know. Take 15 pictures of Jones while utilizing the guidelines for taking better pictures. You will identify which guideline was used for each picture so really look at your view finder/LCD screen when taking pictures.

Below is a list of prompts that you can use for ideas or you can come up with your own.  The purpose of this project is to look at a familiar environment in new or different ways and to make purposeful decisions when taking pictures and creating compositions.

Find shapes in the bathroom      Cropping objects in a locker                             

Framing in the bathroom            Reflections in bathroom mirrors or windows

Patterns in courtyard                 Portrait of a friend-step back & use rule of thirds

Visual cropping in classroom     Pattern in the hallway

Friends talking or hanging out

Socializing at lunch

Pictures of hands and food at lunch

Feet in the hallway

Close up of trash or discarded materials

Portrait of someone without seeing his/her face

Draw viewer’s eye/movement in the link

Lay down on floor- view looking up

Personal items (backpacks, books etc)

Extreme close up in the court yard

Interaction of two or three people

Stand on a chair- take picture looking down on subject

Stairwells- different angles or perspective

Unexpected patterns & shapes on shelves

Picture outside looking in

Inside (from link or front doorway) looking out

Go to an area unfamiliar to you and take the picture from an odd angle

Take picture from the ground or lower than subject

Beginning Photography

Taking better pictures: composition

Published: June 20, 2005

By Kleber Stephenson

Good composition is essential in photography. It allows you to convey messages and emotions through the images that you shoot. Fortunately, good photo composition is easy to achieve by following a few simple guidelines.

Rule of thirds

First, learn the "rule of thirds." As you look through your camera's viewfinder, imagine there are lines dividing the image into thirds, both horizontally and vertically, essentially dividing your image into nine equal-shaped blocks. Frame your subject at one of the intersection points instead of in the center of the viewfinder, as shown in the following illustration.



Now, with this said, many photographers make a very good living breaking this rule, but your photography will become much more interesting and visually stimulating if you use the rule of thirds when framing your subjects.

Framing

Careful framing of your subject can make a dramatic difference in your photos. Remember—every photo has a foreground and background, so use them together to add an interesting element to the shot.
Use foreground elements to frame your photo's subject. Architectural elements work well (windows, doorways, arches, and so on), but you can find any number of interesting elements to use for framing your photos. The important point here is the subject. It doesn't do much good to frame your subject with interesting elements if they overshadow the subject, making it difficult to determine what the subject is supposed to be.

Visual cropping

Crop your photos visually before you take them. Look into the corners of the viewfinder. Do you see things that shouldn't be there? You can remove, or crop, these elements from your photos simply by moving closer to your subject, zooming in on your subject, or moving your subject within the viewfinder. Try different angles. Look for anything that will diminish the impact of unwanted objects in your photos.

Angle of the view

Believe it or not, the best angle for a photo is not always upright and directly in front of the subject. Some of the most interesting photographs are those taken from a unique vantage point. Get down to the level of the flowers before taking the picture. Climb a tree to take a picture of a meadow. Always ask yourself if the photo would look better taken as a landscape or portrait shot. Experiment and try different perspectives. Look for angles that are interesting and demonstrate the mood and inspiration you're trying to capture.

Balance

Achieving good balance in your photographs requires the correct combination of colors, shapes, and areas of light and dark that complement one another. Achieving the right balance in your photos is easier than it appears. Think about your subject and capture it from an angle, viewpoint, or even time of day that focuses attention on the subject.

Perspective

To capture the essence of what you experience when viewing a scene, it helps to add an element to your photo to convey this perspective. In the following picture, the bow of the boat helps to add an interesting perspective to the vastness of the scene. .

Without the bow of the boat in the picture, the scene would be far less interesting and void of any drama.

Draw the viewer's eyes through the photo

A path, a row of telephone poles, or even a line of chairs at the beach can serve as elements in a good photo.



These simple guidelines should help you find your "camera's eye." The key is to experiment and have fun, and the resulting photos will wow anyone who sees them.