Low Key Photography

Check out this link: The Complete Beginner's Guide to Shooting Low Key

EQ: How do I need to set up my light and subject to shoot a low key photograph?

Camera: Work in Shutter Speed Mode (Tv) to help you adjust your own light for this project

Objectives:

• Shoot varying subjects in low key lighting
• start to understand the shutter speed setting on the DSLR camera

Assignment:

• Shoot at least 30 images and print to a contact sheet
• Show varying subject matter and lighting (at least two)
• Post two images to the blog One portrait, and one still life object (Can edit in both Lightroom and or Photoshop) with reflection. Make sure to tell me which program you used
• Tips: Bring in cool stuff or shoot at home so that you have creative imagery and pay attention to clothing, accessories, etc. 

Peer Feedback

EU: Critical Response, critiquing your own work and the work of your peers is a Massachusetts Visual art standard

EQ: How can I provide constructive criticism to my peers appropriately and how can I then apply that criticism to analyze my own work?

Assignment: Now that you have analyzed and thought about reflections and where you fall on the rubric I want you to take a look at your work in regard to.....

1. composition
2. lighting
3. editing techniques
4. creative thought
5. effort

Steps:

1. Start a blog post entitled "Critique" 
2. Look at your work from term 1 
3. Copy and Paste the questions below to answer in your blog post (remember the reflection work we did yesterday)
4. Lastly, explore all of the work of your peers in the class. Choose at least 3 to critique. Elaborate on your thoughts. Do not write "This is cool, I like it." Write something thoughtful to help them like "This is a great idea, and I love how made the decision to ____________ because it really draws the viewer's eye. I think that if you pushed the subject over to the left a bit more and left more negative space on the right it would make for a stronger composition."

• Are your composition choices strong for most of your projects? Explain.
• Did you use or have good light in most of your projects? Explain. 
• Did you use your software effectively for each project?
• Did you approach most of you projects creatively and use original ideas when shooting subjects and subject matter? 
• Did you leave yourself enough time to accomplish the ideas that you wanted to accomplish? 

If you answered yes to all or most of the questions, now tell me in a short paragraph how you could push yourself to a higher level and let me know what you might like to work on. For example, do you want to explore software more, would you rather focus on the cameras and functions, etc.?

If you answered no to all or most of the questions, now tell me in a short paragraph where your weaknesses are. How can you move forward this term and push yourself to become a stronger photographer? What do you know you need to work on?

Reflection Rubric

EU: "Read, Write, and Communicate effectively and clearly" is one of the 21st century learning expectations at BHS

EQ: How can I make my writing stronger and use it to inform my audience of my intentions and learning in Photography

Reflection Rubric: Below is a rubric that has been designed to help make your reflections stronger. As we move into Term 2, my expectation for all students is that all reflections for posted assignments reach a proficient or advanced level.

Reflection	Advanced	Proficient	Developing	Emerging
Grammar usage Creative approach Software use/editing Successes/Struggles	Student thoroughly explains creative idea and approach to assignment. New technical tools and editing choices are explained. Student discusses struggles and successes. Proper grammar usage.	Student mostly explains creative approach, successes/struggles, and technical software choices and tools uses. Proper grammar is used. Reflection could be elaborated upon.	Student has only reflected upon some areas of the assignment. One piece is missing. Grammar could be improved.	Student has not reflected at all or has reflected inappropriately without touching upon software use and choices, struggles/successes, and creative approach. Proper grammar is not addressed.

Assignment:

1. Read through each example below and decide which stage the reflection is at. Is it developing? Is it Proficient? etc. 
2. Comment on my blog post and decide where each example falls? Number each decision 1-6 and elaborate on why you think it fits that stage?
3. Start a blog post entitled "reflections" on your own page
4. Copy and paste the reflection rubric in to your blog post to refer to
5. Look at all of your reflections for assignments posted in Term 1 and choose which stage you think that you fall into. Did you hit all of the above points in the rubric when writing about your work? Could your reflections successfully explain to someone not taking the course what you did to get your result?
6. Through writing, tell me which stage you decided on, why you think you hit this stage citing the 4 criteria, and if you fall lower than advanced (which is most likely the case) tell me how you can get stronger as we move on. 

Reflection Examples:

1.

For this photo I adjusted my levels to get a more vibrant color. I love how the green slowly exits the photo and fades into the pink. The macro ability makes it unable to know what the photo is of. The detailed pedal also adds to the photo.

2.

for this picture i put it in black and white

3.

Glorified

For the aesthetics project, I just only used "levels" in order to edit my photos. This was a very simple and fun project besides trying to find the right photo to use for the original.

4.

this is my explosion book the first thing i had to do was to take the pictures, edit them then make the book , after that i taped the pictures down  and folded it up  and then make book covers for the book .

5.

I struggled in my creativity on this project but eventually after playing around with a few things, I came up with an idea. I first took pictures of newspaper then crumpled the newspaper up as a dancer's tutu. The next idea was crayons and then I melted the crayons to make the colorful streaks of wax that turns the paper into art. After I pushed through my creative block, the project was fun to do.

6.

this is my self portrait and i adjusted the levels 

Animals

EU: Lightroom is the new software that is one of the industry standards for professional photographers

EQ: How can I import, develop, and export my edited photo using Lightroom?

Assignment: Use Lightroom to edit 2/3 images of an animal

* I am looking for you to practice Lightroom more for editing. Get outside for better lighting! Don't forget about your backgrounds and composition. Animals move so practice the setting with the "running man" on the camera if necessary! I am also looking for different points of view. Beware of the dog or cat laying on the couch in the house at night (not creative and bad lighting!!!)

Lightroom Development

EU: Lightroom is the new software that is one of the industry standards for professional photographers

EQ: How can I import, develop, and export my edited photo using Lightroom?

MA: Arts
MA: Grades 9 - 12
Visual Arts
PreK–12 STANDARD 1: Methods, Materials, and Techniques Show details
	1.9 Demonstrate the ability to create 2D and 3D works that show knowledge of unique characteristics of particular media, materials, and tools
	1.10 Use electronic technology for reference and for creating original work

Assignment: Photo editing in Lightroom

Objective:

• Learn to import and export photos in Lightroom
• Learn basic development techniques

Steps:

1. Shoot at least 30 images of a subject/s of your choice (they must be new!!!) to edit, import and develop in Lightroom using the DSLR cameras
2. Import and edit strongest images
3. Post top 2 to blog showing both a before and after version
4. Add Reflection

Toy Photography

EU: Toy photography has become more popular and a trend within photography and has become a genre

EQ: How can you show action or an idea using still figures?

Click here for tips on Toy Photography

Click here for Fun Photography Ideas

Assignment: Take at least 30 images of various toys and figurines while trying to make them come to life. Post 2 edited images to the blog

Tips:

• Make sure they look like they are doing something or about to do something

• Use Lighting to your advantage and add in extra layers to push the action such as smoke, blur, etc. 

Levitation Photography

EU: Photoshop can be used to create images that play tricks on the eye or alter reality. 

EQ: How does a photographer combine images to alter reality and show someone or something floating or levitating

Assignment: Take at least 30 images of both a subject (person) and backdrops to combine in Photoshop using layer masks and various tools to show levitation. 

Tips:

• The more creative you are the stronger the final image will be
• Use added images like textures or other photographs to add interest and develop a mood whether it is haunting in the spirit of Halloween and October or light and airy. 

Advanced Students: All Photography students from intro to year 3 are completing this assignment. As an advanced student I expect the final results to be at an advanced level! Think outside of the box.....try more than one if necessary! Lets push your Photoshop skills. 

Click here for a tutorial on levitation although there are many on youtube to watch!!!