Robin Michals | COMD 1340 Photography 1

Author: rmichals (Page 1 of 8)

Week 14 – Digital Darkroom: Local Corrections

Review Global corrections

Global corrections adjust the entire file. In the Lightroom, it includes the controls under Light, Color and Effects. In Lightroom Classic, this includes everything in the basic panel: White balance, Tone and Presence.

Download and color correct the three files.

Local corrections

After you make global corrections, sometimes you will want to make corrections to part of your image. Generally, the brightest part of the image commands the most attention. Sometimes that is not where you want your viewer to look first so shifting the exposure of parts of your image can create the image you want.

Masking – The Brush

The important thing in this photo by Bryan Rodriguez is the face of the card player. However the cards are brighter and demanded too much attention. Using a mask created with the brush, I darkened the cards. Creating a second mask, I lightened the face of the card player a little more. The goal was to bring more attention to the person’s face and less to the overly bright cards.

Masking – Subject, Sky, Person

Lightroom masking allows you to select part of the scene and correct it. It can select “the subject” or specific people.

This is an image I shot at the Dance Bloc Festival of The Dynamite Experience.

Image one is the file as shot.

Image two uses a subject mask.

Image three uses a second mask created with the brush to reduce the brightness of the crouching figure.

Use masks to make local adjustments on all three files.

Lab exercises

Adjust the 6 photos above.

Working with your partner, you both adjust one of their photos and one of your and compare.

Put your results, a total of 8 photos, in an album on Flickr for today’s lab credit.

Homework

Final Project – 20 pts

Due December 20th:

3 albums each of a minimum of 40 photos

1 album of the 10 best photos adjusted in Lightroom

a 3-5 min presentation of the final project – projected from the album on Flickr.

Presentation Guidelines

  1. Start by introducing yourself and your project. Then outline the big picture with a few sentences sentence such as, ” I photographed variations on the theme of windows. Most of the photos were taken in downtown Brooklyn.”
  2. If you are showing 10 images, you have about 30 seconds to describe each photo. Tell us what your intention was, what interested you about the photo we are looking at, and give us information we may need to know to understand the photo. Tell us what makes it visually interesting ie the use of shallow depth of field or some other feature.
  3. How do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice.
  4. Do not tell us about what you did to the photo in Lightroom.

Late work will be accepted until December 20th at 11:59pm. Coursework will not be accepted after that time.

Lab: Week 13 – Painting with Light

Working with a light or lights, draw an image over time in the frame. Experiment with thin and thick lines, abstraction, words, and images.

Using a speedlite or a mono light, first expose a person in your shot and use the long exposure to draw into the scene. The more the subject and the light painting interact, the more successful your photos will be.

Upload a minimum of 20 images to Flickr. Send your best two to the class group.

Week 13 – Painting with Light

There will be a quiz next week on Dec 6.

Possible topics: outdoor portraits, light direction and quality, contrast, studio basics, portrait lighting styles, main, fill and background lights

Inspiration: Atton Conrad

Sprint Campaign: http://lightpaintingphotography.com/?s=sprint 

Tripod use

  • Spread the legs out and make sure the tripod is stable. Use the height from the legs before using the neck of the tripod. Put one leg forward and the two legs on your side.
  • Put the plate on the camera and make sure that the lens arrow is pointing towards the lens. Insert the plate into the locking mechanism and make sure that the camera is secure.
  • Use the camera timer and DO NOT TOUCH the camera or the tripod during the exposure.

Considerations for painting with light: 

1. Use a tripod 

2. Use Manual as the shooting mode.

3. Set the ISO to 100

4. Set the aperture to f/11 as a starting point to get a wide range of depth of field. 

5. Set the shutter speed to 4″ as a starting point.

6. Use manual focus. Make sure the subject is in focus. To do this shine a light on the subject and use auto focus. Then flip the lens back to MF. Remember that if the distance of the subject to the camera changes, you need to refocus!

Mixing Strobe Lights or Flash with Painting with Light 

The aperture controls the exposure of whatever is lit by the strobe lights. 

The shutter speed controls the illumination of the background. 

Lab

Painting with Light

Homework

Final Project

Final Project

20 pts. The goal of the Final Project is to create a series of 10 related images on a theme. The images should show your range as a photographer. Depending on the project, each image should be visually engaging and contribute to your story in a unique way.

You may choose to do either:

A series of portraits (not 10 pictures of 1 person but 10 pictures of 10 people) OR

A portrait of a neighborhood

OR another theme that you are passionate about: dogs, skateboarders, basketball players, street fashion to name a few possibilities.

Deliverables and dates:

Due Week 11: Nov 8 – a 300 word final project statement posted to Openlab with “a mood board”

No class Nov 22

Due Nov 29: Shoot 1 – minimum of 40 images in an album on Flickr

Due Dec 6: Shoot 2 – minimum of 40 images in an album on Flickr

Reading Day – Dec 13

Due Dec 20: Shoot 3 -minimum of 40 images in an album on Flickr PLUS

  • final 10 images selected, adjusted in Lightroom, and posted to an album on Flickr
  • a presentation to the class of the final images.

Total = 4 albums: 1 for each of three shoots, 1 with the final edited images

All coursework must be submitted by no later than 11:59 pm on Wednesday, December 20, 2023.

Lab: Two and three light portraits

Photograph your classmates in each of the four set ups:

  • Three point lighting
  • Butterfly light
  • Wide angle distortion
  • color

Create a wide range of mood.

Post at least 20 photos to an album on Flickr with at least one of each lighting style. Send your two best to the class group.

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