Is a picture worth 1000 words? --- Narrative Assignment

This next assignment will require you to do some more thinking before you shoot the photos.

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• You will be telling a story using only 5 or fewer photos.
• Choose any subject, but the entire sequence should visually tell a story.
• A title is the only words that can be used.  Rely on the photographs to bring the story to life
• You MUST include a title. 
• The title can help guide the viewer to better understand your story.
• THINK ABOUT COMPOSITION and LIGHTING ALWAYS!

Guidelines for Telling a Story

Guidelines are not rules, but a formula that can be used to suit your creative imagination. Several avenues exist for story telling, such as journalistic reporting, sequential photos that reveal a moment, photographic poetry, and narrative.

The following guidelines are for narrative.

A good story has characters in action with a beginning, middle, and an ending. Fortunately a lot of information can be given in a single photograph, enhancing the limitations of five photographs for your story. Location, time, and atmosphere aid viewer imagination. Keep individual composition in mind, but pack as many story telling elements in one photograph as possible to develop an action.

Remember:  these are just guidelines.  Creative people may not use these, and be even more successful!

1st photo: establish characters and location.
2nd photo: create a situation with possibilities of what might happen.
3rd photo: involve the characters in the situation.
4th photo: build to probable outcomes
5th photo: have a logical, but surprising, end.

Important Tips

• Also, give your Narrative a title when you post it to your blog.  
• DO NOT USE WORDS on your images!
• Make sure your story makes sense to a 1st time viewer. 
•  (Be warned that any extra information in your photos may cause your viewer to get confused.  Be aware of the background at all times!!)

LINKS for examples

My Mom and I
December 3rd
The Night (anbiguous, but leaves you to make your own assumptions)
Om nom nom  (uses a white background, similar to your egg photos)
Don't Stop me now!
Plugged In  (only uses 4 images, but it is good)
A Ladybug's Trip  (only uses 3 images, but the photography is nice)
Sickness to recovery
Nature Can Be Cruel (only 3 images)
EggO   (cute!)
Scramble the Egg  ( very cute!)
Humpty Dumpty (notice the use of motion blurs!)
Foot to Flight (tells a story, but it is too boring. ::yawn::)
Daily Grind.
Day in the Life of a Coffee Bean


Former Student examples:

Message in a Bottle  (notice the use of the rule of thirds, and the unity in the series due to the sepia tone)
How Crayons are Made  (unity due to the simple background)
story board  (no title)
duck love  (this one really only needed 3 images to tell the story. The rest are just overkill)

Texture Collage

You will first create a TEXTURE COLLECTION.  Find interesting textures and photograph them.  You'll need a collection of at least 30 photos of just textures.

http://www.mayang.com/textures/  This is a site where you can find free textures.
You may also take your own photos or use sxc.hu.  Google is fine as long as images are licensed for reuse with modification.  You may also use www.pixabay.com 


Then, use your textures to create a digital collage that uses texture using Paint.NET.  Below are some examples.  Notice how they have selected a color theme.  This helps to give the collage unity.  

 

Links:

Link to an awesome Artist's blog who uses GREAT texture
Awesome Collage Artist Carly Swenson

Texture Collage SERIES

For your texture collage assignment, you will be creating a SERIES.  Your series may be either 3 or 4 different images, but they must RELATE and look like they belong hanging together.

Please make something that you are proud of!!!  Don't just throw something together because it is easy.


Here is an example of a texture collage Series:  Notice they are all formatted the same (aka the same height and width).  However, I find this example to be slightly boring.  Make something interesting, unique, and different!!!  Perhaps using rectangles and squares isn't the ONLY way to do this!!!!

Links to examples from the Internet:
Texture Collage Artist: Lance Letscher (I think you will like this one!)
Textures in Blocks  (a little boring and predictable with the squares)
OMG....Check out this artist.  I. Love.It.
Guy wearing headphones- again, Not a series
Dreams -mixture of textures with photos (not a series)
Example of a series

Reflections Photos... (DUE MONDAY April 28th)

 Check the following websites for some examples of reflections in digital photography.

1. http://www.digital-photography-school.com/20-effective-reflection-photos
2. http://pixelcurse.com/photography/50-excellent-uses-of-reflections-in-digital-photography
3. http://www.idigitalphoto.com/reflections-in-photography/

Your assignment is to take at least 30 photographs that incorporate a reflection of some sort.  Be inspired from the previous links.  Remember to think about the elements and principles of art.  Also, remember to think about composition! You are expected to have a concise series of 3-10 images for this assignment.  Refer to the last post titled "What is a Series?"  You do NOT want just random photos of reflective items.  




Examples:

This photo has a reflection, however the tree is very centered and symmetrical.  The composition could be much improved.   Keep the rules of composition in mind as you are taking photos.


This photo has a reflection, too, but the artist has thought a little more about composition.  The walkway isn't centered and it creates a leading line that guides the viewer's eye through the photo.  The shadow creates interest. However, the horizon line is still centered in the photo, so the composition could still be improved.


Remember FRAMING makes for a really interesting composition.


This photo also has a reflection.  Be creative when it comes to your reflection ideas.  It doesn't HAVE to be a body of water.  It doesn't HAVE to be water at all.



Mirror's make reflections....but there are a lot of shiny surfaces in our daily lives that create reflections, too.  BE CREATIVE.



 Try to avoid getting the camera in the reflection, unless you are doing so in a creative way.

  You will most likely need to turn off the flash.  Flash is ugly, especially in reflections.




Former Student Example
Carly's Reflections (include the camera)  This one is a good example of a SERIES!
Eeeek! Super-boring example
Brooke's Reflections
Another boring example

What is a Series?

In Fine Art, most photographers work in a "series."  A series is a group of images that "go-together."  They have a strong visual connection.  They express unity and harmony.  There are a variety of ways to accomplish this.

Most of the time they are formatted in the same way and they are the same size.


Examples:

List of Past Assignments

As a reminder, here is a list of your past assignments.  Make sure you have any old work completed and posted to blog.


List of Past Assignments:

• Egg Whites Photos  (original & the histogram edited photos)
• White Paper Sculpture Photos (contact sheet & 3-5 Best on Blog)
• 5 Minute Walk-Composition Photos & Collage 
• Identity Photo Collage (self-portrait with layers)
• Aperture-Macro Photos (contact sheet & 3-5 Best on Blog)
• Shutter Speed-Blur Photos (contact sheet & 3-5 Best on Blog)
• Composite-Choose 3-Editing Assignment (3 images!)
• Environmental Portraits  (contact sheet & 3-5 Best on Blog)
• Out of Bounds Editing Assignment (3 images!)
• Silhouette Photos (contact sheet & 3-5 Best on Blog)
• Mini City Editing Assignment
• Scary Signs Editing Assignment
• Spaced Out -Landscape photo collage 

Editing Spaced Out

Editing of Spaced Out:

Review the work of David Hockney. Click here to view some examples
You can be really creative with this assignment!! As long as you are making a collage of many photos into one canvas, you can do ANYTHING!!

To begin construction of your photo design, create a new blank page in Paint.NET.  You may select the size, but I suggest going large and then you can crop it later.  You might want to try 24" wide by 18" tall at 150 dpi resolution. You can be really creative in your format (long skinny, panoramic, tall, square, rectangle, portrait, landscape, etc.) but you will want to start with a large background.  Later you can crop it down to the size that you want.

Then, you will paste your image pieces onto this blank canvas to construct your image. Be warned! You will have to reduce the size of each individual photo -- they will be too large to fit all of them onto the blank page. So, before you paste it into your background, you will want to do this...Go to Image Menu.  Click on Resize.  Then select "By Percentage" and change the percentage down to 10 or 15%.  You can then copy and paste your smaller image into your 24" by 18" canvas.  Be sure to paste each photo into a new layer.  You will want some freedom to move the image around.  When you get 4 or 5 images onto the canvas, I suggest that you make sure you are happy with the arrangement.  SAVE THE FILE AS A .PDN and then merge the layers down.   Keep a solid white Background layer separate.  You may want to add a background later.


**REMEMBER--AS YOU WORK, SAVE YOUR IMAGE AS A .PDN OFTEN.  When you have many photos and many layers, Paint.NET will sometimes freeze up and crash.  You've been warned!  YOU WILL WANT TO KEEP YOUR PDN in case you need to change something later***

WHEN FINISHED:  Crop your work down to a size that you like.  Add a background photo, texture, gradient or color.  Save your work as a .jpg at the full size (ex: Space.jpg.).  Post it to your blog.

If you are having trouble getting this to load on your blog, you may have to shrink the file down to 50% to 25% of the original size and save again, but make sure you change the title (ex: SpaceSMALL.jpg).  Then you can try to post the smaller version to your blog.  Keep the fullsized image saved though!

Scary Signs

Using your own photos, pixabay, public domain images, and/or www.sxc.hu, make a "scary sign."  This is a sign that you do NOT want to see!


Scary Signs Examples

SPACED OUT (landscape) assignment

S... P.. A.. .  C....   E..  D      O..  U.... T

Its time to "Space Out"... and by that I mean TAKE LOTS OF PHOTOS OF A LANDSCAPE!

Space, sometimes crowded, sometimes open, is all around you. It may be full of trees or buildings, clouds, or clean air. It can be contained by walls or open to the horizons. We run, walk, and drive in space. When you walked to the computer to read this page, you were walking in space. The words forward, back, around, under, behind, over, into, and out from all indicate action taken in space. (Taken from Exploring Visual Design, Second Edition, Gatto, Porter and Selleck).

Your assignment is to create a photo collage construction, in the style of artist David Hockney, that emphasizes space.

Click here to view examples of David Hockney's artwork
1~2~3~4~5~6~7 

Polaroid Square Grid-Style
1~2

Links to a similar artist Harold Olejarz
1~2~3

Click here to view student project examples
Really Cool Circle One
Barn

From WHS:
Softball
The Commons (not a landscape)


Photo-taking:
1. Choose a landscape that can be photographed "in pieces"  Look for interesting locations! Be creative in your camera angles and composition.  Always remember the past lessons we have done!!

2. Take A LOT of photos of the space you choose, but stand in the same place.  You may want to try at least 2 different places so you can choose your favorite. You may also want to try photographing a space while moving (i.e. walking) which could be really interesting.

3. You will want to incorporate at the very minimum 30 images into your final photo collage construction. You may manipulate your images to best reflect the concepts described in this assignment. TAKE A LOT OF PHOTOS!  I recommend that you take at least 50 photos.  I recommend that you take photos at 2 different locations.  In that case, you would have at least 100 photos! (((shew!, that's a lot of photos!)))

former student examples:

Mini City

"Mini City" Editing Assignment

Imagine if life was REALLY, REALLY small.

****Click the link below, read the "rules", and view "entries" from others to get ideas.  (We won't be submitting these to the Worth1000, unless you just want to create a log-in and do it on your own)


You may only use your own images, public domain images, images that are labeled for reuse with modification and images from www.sxc.hu only.


Miniature City


You really need to do a good job editing these.  Make it look realistic.  Edges should not look "cut out."  When cutting out objects zoom way in and take your time with the lasso tool. Work from large photos and then make them smaller after you cut them out.  This will help disguise the cut edges.

Student examples:

Silhouette Photography

1. Review Silhouette Photography
2. Think about places you could create back-lighting (large windows, at sunrise/sunset, with a lamp etc)
3. Take silhouette images and post the 10 best to your blog. You may make minor adjustments on paint.net, but you may not use the "burn" tool to create a fake silhouette or use "shadow" tools to darken your subject.

View the entire article on Silhouette Photography at:

http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/silhouette-photography-tips-and-tutorial/

Normally every time you take a photo, you want the subject to be as crisp and clear as possible. However, today, we will talk about a technique that hides almost everything from the viewer, leaving it all to the imagination and delivers a stunning effect at the same time.

Silhouettes are used by artists and professionals to convey drama, emotion in a simple yet striking manner and we are going to give you a quick run down on how you can create magical silhouettes with your camera.

1) Look At Your Sources of Light

Typically, when you take a photo, there are two sources of light, the natural ambient light and the light of your flash.

The first thing you need to do to get a silhouette is force the flash of your camera off. That way, you will heighten the contrast of the subject and ensure that the subject comes out as dark as possible.

The second thing to do is to identify the sources of ambient light. Silhouettes come out best when there is only one source of light ( eg: sunlight ) against which you can place your subject. If there are multiple sources of lights, try to shut down some of them or choose the brightest one for maximum effect.

2) Compose Your Image

Create a mental picture of what you want to shoot. The magic of silhouettes is all in the shapes you create, so think about whether you want to capture dancers, a sports scene captured mid-action, or something else. This of course depends to some extent on your subject too.

Once you have a mental picture, place your subject in front of the light source and get the shape you want. If you are unsure of what you want, just try out some forms and see what you like. If you are taking the silhouette of a person, try to experiment with the positioning of their hands or features of the face – remember, its a silhouette so you’ve got to express it with the boundary of the object.

3) Fool Your Camera

Now this is the tricky part. Most cameras today are extremely intelligent, in fact so intelligent that as photographers we need to fool them sometimes to get what we need. To understand this bit, we need to get into metering of the photo.

Metering is the way in which a camera determines how to expose the photo. Remember, a camera can’t see colors, it can only sense the intensity of light – so when you point it to a scene, it sees shades of gray, finds the middle shade in the scene and sets the exposure accordingly.

More Example Photos:

Photos are taken from the following websites:

http://www.picturecorrect.com/tips/silhouette-photography-tips-and-tutorial/
http://oddfuttos.blogspot.com/2011/01/captivating-examples-of-silhouette.html

Silhouettes in Action

How to Photograph Silhouettes in 8 Step

Click the link above and READ it all.

How to take silhouette photos YouTube video

Click the above link to watch the YouTube video that we watched in class.


Then, click this link to view examples of beautiful silhouette photos to get some inspiration.



For your assignment, you must take at least 50 images (many of these will be trial and error) of silhouettes. Choose interesting subjects (with recognizable shapes!) and remember that COMPOSITION always matters.  Remember Rule of Thirds, diagonals, leading lines, framing, fill the frame, etc.)

Make sure you are achieving a black subject with no details, not a gray one with details.  If you do not achieve a black silhouette then you will have to retake the photos.

Also, if your subject is in motion, you need to use a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the motion.  No blurry silhouettes.  That's not attractive :)

Chapter 5 Overview

During this chapter you will complete the following:

1. Chapter 5 WS packet.  Please turn it in to the "turn-it-in tray" in class.
2. Retouching Acne using Paint.NET (Turn it in to the Weebly site when done)
3. Take 30-50 Environmental Portraits.  Make sure your model signs a "Model Release Form"
4. Post a contact sheet for Environmental Portraits to your blog.  
5. Edit and then post your 3-5 best photos from the Environmental Portraits.
6. Out of Bounds Editing Assignment.  You will create at least 3 of these.  One must be made up of only your own photos.  Post them to your blog.
7. You will also complete a Midterm Study Guide and take a Midterm Test.  There will not be a test on Chapter 5, but some vocabulary from Chapter 5 will show up on your Midterm Test.

Out of Bounds

For this assignment, you will create 3 different Out of Bounds images.  For at least one image, you MUST use your own photo.   For the other 2, you may use your own photos and/or photos obtained from www.sxc.hu

You will create at least 3 Out of Bounds images....if you create more than 3, I will might give you extra credit!

Here are some examples:

 


Now, click this link to view some really awesome examples


To find out how to create these images, you need to look at one or more of the following tutorials:

Tutorial 1 (using Paint.NET) (be sure to click the tabs at the top that say Gradient and Mask, and Shadow to complete all 3 pages of steps!)
Tutorial 2 (train using GIMP) (plane using GIMP)
Tutorial 3 (car using PhotoShop)

Bonus Points: Make one of your OOBs use Selective Color

Be creative, don't copy!

Environmental Portraits

You will take 30-50 ENVIRONMENTAL PORTRAIT images of a person. (They must sign a model release form. If they are under 18, their parents must sign)

Check out this YouTube video of environmental portraits.

Photos are due Monday.  You will need to post a contact sheet to your blog that contains 30-50 images on Monday.

Retouching Photo Practice

Links to the YouTube Videos: I Like This One!
Others: Remove Acne using Paint.NET   Acne Tutorial  Remove Acne Using GIMP

Click on this image, copy it and paste it into Paint.NET (or GIMP, if your little heart desires)
Follow the tutorial and edit out the blemishes.  Save it as YourLastNameACNE.jpg and go to www.crouchphotoart.weebly.com to TURN IT IN.  The assignment name is RETOUCH.

Feel free to post before and after photos on your blog, if you want. I won't be grading them from there.

Here's my "after" photo:

Composite (choose 3) Assignment Instructions

Composite Assignment:  Choose 3 out of 9

Part 1: You will select 3 of the following list of 9 assignments to complete and post to your blog.  (Make sure you label it with the title when you post it to your blog)  NO GOOGLE IMAGES!  You may use your own photos along with www.pixabay.com,  www.sxc.hu,  and/or www.loc.gov

The final images should look realistic and be well thought out.  You cannot throw them together and think you are going to get a good grade!  If the edges aren't cut out well and/or your photos look very unrealistic, your grade will suffer.  Take your time.  Use large images.  Zoom in when cutting things out, etc.  Craftsmanship counts!


1. Where am I? - Take a picture of a friend or have someone take a photo of you (Or use one of your selfies!). Then, take another picture of a place that you would not expect to see that person/youself.  Put yourself or your friend in that surprising place.

2. Untruthful Tabloid-type Photograph - Take a picture and add something to the picture that wasn't there. (Think about stuff found in tabloids i.e. Batboy or UFOs) It must be realistic looking....in a very unbelievable way!

3. Repetition - Take something from a picture and repeat it to create a new picture.

4. Many Me - Take many images of yourself or a friend doing different things in the same room. Create a composite photos that combines at least 3 "many me's" into one room/image/location.

5. Surrealism - An art movement started in Paris around 1924 based onideas of expressing the unconscious. An aspect of this movement wasto combine objects that had nothing to do with one another into onei mage. Create an image which combines two things that would not ordinarily go together.

6. Who's in school? - Take a picture of a school corridor or classroom and put someone or something unexpected in the school. Be sure to download a very large size image.

7. Digital Darwin - Create a new animal by combining at least 2 animals into one new creature. Be sure you select a very large image (from http://www.sxc.hu/ ) for your animals, or take your own photos. Be sure to place your new creature in a habitat where it would live. Here is a link to one that I made.  Remember that furry objects are hard to cut out.  Look for simple backgrounds if you plan on cutting out the animal.

8. A Monument in the Landscape - Enlarge a normally tiny object in a picture so that it is now huge. Use high quality photos..  (Ex: a push pin becomes as large as a building, etc.)

9. Yeah, that's me! - Put your head on another persons body in a funny and creative way. Be sure photos that you use are high quality, large photos. NO GOOGLE IMAGES.

"Choose 3" Examples

1. Where am I? -   Zebra Lunch

2. Tabloid Photograph - Bullrider  Erin Mantis Love

3. Repetition - 

4. Many Me -  Many Me 1

5. Who's in school? -  Example 1 Example 2

6. Digital Darwin - Giraferon  Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Example 4 Example 5

7. A Monument in the Landscape - Example 1

Motion Blur Photos (due Monday!)

First, check out these links to see some images http://www.digital-photography-school.com/blur-movement

1. http://www.digitalpicturezone.com/digital-pictures/25-awesome-and-creative-motion-blur-pictures/
2. http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2008/08/24/45-beautiful-motion-blur-photos/
   
   
   





For this type of image, you'll need to steady your camera on something and release the shutter by setting your timer.  Be creative but to create an image like the one above, you want your subject (here, the man leaning on the pole) to be very still, and something behind them will be moving fast.  Again, use a slow shutter speed (1/8, 1/4, or 1/2) Point and Shoot camera users can use night portrait, night, firewords, landscape, or maybe sunset.

Click this link AND READ IT!!!!!! (really, I mean it will only take you 5 minutes.)  So, puh-leeese, just READ IT

4. http://www.digital-photo-secrets.com/tip/146/how-to-take-photos-with-motion-blur-to-give-the-illusion-of-movement/

5. Almost done! Click the link for an interactive explanation of how blur works with shutter speed.
http://www.photocourse.com/1text/shutterspeed/

6. Finally, http://www.kamerasimulator.se/eng/?page_id=2