Category: Assignments

FINAL

Finish shooting your final. Take as many pictures as necessary to assemble a compelling series. Consider the feedback from your peers, and follow your own sense of what is needed to make a really powerful set of pictures.

When you’ve completed your shooting, follow these 3 steps for sharing your pictures:

(1) Upload an absolute minimum of 50 new images. From those images, share your best 4-5 with our Flickr group. 

(2) After sharing 4-5 new images, review all of the images that you’ve shot for the final. Select your best 6-10. Color correct and crop those images. Re-upload those images to Flickr as a new album entitled “Final Series.”

(3) Share your final color-corrected, cropped selection as a new Post on our Openlab page. The image in this OpenLab Post should match the images in your “Final Series” album. (As always, do not upload images to Openlab. Upload to Flickr then embed the link in OpenLab.)

FINAL – PART 1

The goal for next class is to begin photographing your final series. Consider which shooting assignments have been the most interesting or exciting for you. Use this as an opportunity to further explore a theme or an idea that you were unable to fully examine in a previous week. Think about the stories you might tell or the statements you can make using different photographic techniques. 

Shoot at very least 40-50 images – more is better. Share your best 4-5 with our Flickr Group. (Do not share on OpenLab yet. We’ll do that in class on the 11th.)

Still Life

Our next assignment is a continuation and an expansion of our still life lab. Select objects that might convey a message or create a narrative. Arrange them before the camera in a way that emphasizes their meaning and creates an interesting, dynamic composition.

Note that still life photographs are not documentation of things in the world. Taking pictures of things on shelves around your house is not the same as creating still life images. You must construct a scene for the camera, with careful consideration of the background, shooting surface (if different from the background), objects chosen, and arrangement of those things.

As usual, please shoot and upload 40-50 images then share your best 4-5 with the group.

Studio Portraits

Our goal for next class is to create portraits using artificial light. Use your clamp light (or any other controlled light source) to create variations on the basic lighting arrangements demonstrated in class. Try to create:
– Rembrandt Lighting, with your light source approximately 45 degrees to the right or left of the subject and 45 degrees above their head.
– Butterfly Lighting, with your light directly above the camera and subject
– Split Lighting, with your light hitting one side of the subject face, coming at a 90 degree angle from either side
– Lighting on the Broad Side of the subject, with your light hitting the side of the subject’s face that is turned toward the camera
– Lighting on the Short Side of the subject, with the light hitting the side of the subject’s face that is turned away from the camera

Pay attention to the way that the light falls on your subject and adjust your set-up flatter your subject or emphasize certain features.

Remember to also consider your background. It does not need to be white or black. Use fabric or bed sheets for a single color or simple patterns. A clean wall can also work, just be sure to remove any distractions.

As usual, shoot and upload at least 40-50 images, then share your best 4-5 with the group.

Environmental Portrait

The assignment for next week is to shoot an environmental portrait; meaning a picture of someone in an environment that is representative of who they are.

The subject of your images should be in a space that reflects their personality, their personal biography or their cultural background. Your subject can be a family member, close friend or someone you know from your neighborhood.

Your subject can and should wear a mask for the portrait if they are not in your pod.

Your subject should be engaging with you and aware of your presence as you photograph them. It is critical that they break from what they’re doing to pose for the portrait.

Once again please upload 40-50 images then share your best 4-5 with the group.

Shaped by Light

The goal for this week’s assignment is to create images that show the effect of lighting on a scene. Arrange objects and photograph them using different sorts of artificial light. Once you have created a scene, photograph it repeatedly using different lighting set-ups.

Consider using all white or all grey objects to get a clear view of how shadows change. Try using black items to see how much detail can be lost. Experiment with lighting through transparent objects. Use different lighting devices and modifiers to create different varieties of hard light and soft light.

Shoot 40-50 images, and upload to Flickr. Share your best 4-6 with the group, but share images in sets of 2-3 shots of the same scene with different lighting.

Reflecting on Gordon Parks

Our next assignment is a follow-up to our previous assignment. Your objective is to write 3-4 paragraphs (the equivalent of at least one page) reflecting on the work of Gordon Parks, and your attempt to re-create it.

You should tell us about the works that you chose to re-create and why you chose them. What sort of personal or cultural resonance can be found in these works? How should the public understand the Parks photograph you chose? Why do these particular images matter to the world today? What were the most important elements to preserve in your re-creation? Where did you take liberties or add your own voice? Speculate on the technical aspects of Parks’ images. What do you think his shutter speed and aperture setting might have been? What is the light source, and from what angle is the light hitting the subject? What rules of photographic composition did Park’s employ for the shots you chose?

You do not need to answer every one of these questions in order, but please cover the major conceptual and technical points in your writing.

Create a new post containing your text, images of the Gordon Parks photos that you chose, and your best color-corrected image.

Remember that the Gordon Parks recreation and this written response are worth a total of 10 points toward your grade for the semester!

*****Also remember that late assignments will be considered on time, and no points will be deducted, if you submit to the COMD Gordon Parks Exhibition.****

Submissions are being accepted through THIS LINK.

The deadline is Thursday, March 25. Work that is not submitted by then will be considered late, and points will be deducted. Remember that you must still share your work-in-progress on Flickr.

Our next shooting assignment should be an interesting, thought-provoking change of pace. The theme is After Gordon Parks.

Your goal for this assignment is to recreate images by the legendary photographer. Your first concern should be to match the framing and composition of the photographs that you choose. Try to also match the light of Parks’ pictures (in the camera – not in Lightroom or Photoshop!) Also pay close attention to small details that might be distinctive features of the original photographs. Think about the tone and meaning of the pictures you choose. 

Be creative in the ways that you re-make the images. A portrait might be recreated as a still-life tableaux. A street scene might be composed (safely and socially distanced!) by a group of friends. Perhaps small details could be altered so the picture speaks to our world in 2021. 

Select 2-3 photographs by Gordon Parks. You should have no problem shooting 40-50 images to properly re-imagine the selected works. 

You can go directly to the Gordon Parks Foundation Website to view images.

The Foundation has partnered with Google Arts and Culture to create powerful slideshows of his work. 

Or, better yet, go see the current MoMA exhibition centered around Parks’ work.

Remember to have Parks’ images with you as a reference point while you shoot!

This week’s shooting assignment is to create images emphasizing Color.

Use color as a conceptual tool, as a narrative device, or to create a mood. Consider the ways color shapes the composition of your shots. Pay close attention to the importance of lighting and exposure settings when recording the colors you see in the world.

Once again, the goal is to shoot and upload at least 40-50 images then share your best 4-5 to the group.

Time and Movement

Every photograph is a record of time. However short or long, there is a duration of time represented in every exposure. 

The goal for this week’s assignment is to make pictures with an awareness of the passing time. Experiment with very fast shutter speeds to freeze a slice of time. Try long exposures with blurred movement to show time passing.

Shoot 40-50 images, upload them to Flickr, then share your best 4-5 with our group.

New Visions

The goal for this assignment is to compose new and exciting pictures of the world by positioning yourself and your camera in different or interesting places. Use diagonal lines to lead us through your compositions. Work with the edges of the frame to keep our eyes moving. Transform the ordinary into something fascinating.

Once again, shoot and upload 40-50 images, then share your best 4-5 with the group.

The Frame

The emphasis for our next shooting assignment is the Frame.

Use your camera to select and isolate fragments of the world around you. Consider the ways in which the things you keep or discard from the edges of your picture can create abstractions, draw attention to particular objects and shapes, or formulate interesting compositions.

Once again, shoot and upload 40-50 images, then share your best 4-5 with the group.

Light and Shadow

Bring your camera out of your room and into the world. Observe the interplay of light and shadow around you. Focus on capturing natural light. Venture out when the sun is most dramatic; as it rises and sets. Look for interesting reflections and refractions. 

Shoot 40-50 images, upload to Flickr, then share your best 4-5 with our group.

Use the camera to document that which matters most in your life. Contemplate the meaning and significance of the things around you. Select items that are represent particular times or important relationships. Consider ways to document these things so others can fully appreciate their value. Pay attention to the way that light can convey their meaning. Think about the compositions that can be made by creatively positioning the camera.

Shoot at least 30-40 images. Upload them to Flickr, and share your best 3-4 with our Flickr Group.

Our first objective for this course, which is sort of just an extension of the first class session, will be to create a short video introduction.

While we are unable to all come together to meet in a single room, we can try to use the resources we do have to create something of that interpersonal experience. The goals for this exercise will be to tell everyone a little bit about yourself, and to meet everyone else that you’ll be working with through the semester.

Please record a short video providing the following information:
– Your name and preferred name
– Where you are filming the video (Go somewhere interesting but wear a mask if filming in public!)
– How far along you are in school, how long you’ve been attending City Tech, your primary interests in the COMD program
– Your greatest hopes for the start of 2021
– The last picture that you took, or the most recent picture on your phone

Video files tend to be large. You’ll need to upload to Flickr first (or YouTube,Vimeo, etc.) then embed the link into a New Post by clicking the + box, locating Video, then selecting “Link”. (We’ll review Posting instructions in class on Feb. 2)

Finally, the most important part of the assignment: Watch all of your peers’ videos! You may need to check back through the next few days if you upload yours right away.

Here is mine. Hope you enjoy: