Principles of Design in Photography

Examples of Design Principles in Photography

Take the following pictures using the Principles of Design:

Texture - Take a Close-up pic to capture rough, smooth, cracked, bumpy, etc

Variety - Take a picture with an interesting/different mix of objects

Unity/Harmony - Take a picture with a group of similar objects or values 

Repetition - Rythm

Proportion - Scale - Use differences in size to create a composition

Emphasis - Focal point - Use Shallow depth of Field

Movement - Use Freeze Action or Motion Blur

Balance - Symmetrical and Asymmetrical

Composing a Photo using different Perspectives

Today we will talk about Perspective. 

When taking pictures, don't just shoot at Eye level. Take a look at the examples at the site below.

http://digital-photography-school.com/perspective-photography-dont-just-stand-move-feet/

Capture 2 Images of each of the following perspectives and post them to your blog:

Birds eye Perspective

Bugs eye

Eye Level

Horizontal Leading Lines

Vertical Leading Lines

Diagonal Leading Lines
Curves

Combination of 2 of the various perspectives.

Make sure to label each picture.

Here is a good example from a previous class. 

Photographer Research

Photographer Research

Choose 3 photographers from the list below and gather the following information. 
Create a google doc titled "yourname-photographer research"  to gather your notes and write a rough draft. 
Share the google doc with me.

Next class you will create a blog post in paragraph format based on the information.

Annie Liebovitz

Sebastio Salgado

Gertrude Kasebier

Edward Weston

Richard Avedon

Ansel Adams

Minor White
George Brassai

Alfred Stieglitz
Jay Maisel
Yousuf Karsh
Robert Capa

Diane Arbus
Phillipe Halsman

Dorothea Lange

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Kevin Carter
Jerry Uelsman
Louis Daguerre
Carol Guzy

Include:

Full name of the photographer
3 examples of thier work

Date and place of birth & indicate years of life (and if still living)

How they were influenced-by others in field of photography

How they were influenced-by circumstances in life

Awards, fellowships, grants, etc. (explain nature of award)

Typical subject matter of photographs made by this artist

What this artist is trying/ tried to communicate

Typical style of work

Geographic places this photographer shot

Significant contribution(s) to photography (or the art world)

What they themselves said/say about their work (quotes OK)

What others have said about the work

Rule of Thirds Excercise

Here is a good example of what your post should look like. Repeat this for 5 photos, plus one that BREAKS the Rule of Thirds.

Here is a great example of student work

Composing Your Photograph Using the Rule of Thirds

Today you will take pictures using the Rule of Thirds. You will need to post 3-5 examples of the Rule of Thirds to your blog. For each example write an explanation of how the rule of thirds was used in each picture.

The rule of thirds is probably the most often referenced photography rule of composition.  It is all about subject placement within the frame.

Imagine that your picture space is divided into thirds both horizontally and vertically, like a tic tac toe grid.

The photography rule of thirds tells us to align our subject with one of the points where those lines cross. That means our subject is one third of the way “into” the picture space – from either the top or bottom, and from either the left or right. And that means it’s not in the middle.



Here is an example of the rule of thirds for a landscape photo. The focus is on the land area rather than the sky so the bottom two-thirds of the photograph are filled with land and the top third is sky.

Here are additional links explaining and demonstrating the Rule of thirds.
http://digital-photography-school.com/rule-of-thirds
http://learnprophotography.com/rule-of-thirds
http://www.ultimate-photo-tips.com/photography-rule-of-thirds.html

http://www.photographymad.com/pages/view/rule-of-thirds

Aperture - Depth of Field Excercise

Today you will experiment with capturing both shallow and deep Depth of Field.

Post your examples to your blog demonstrating both shallow and extended Depth of Field.

You should have 2 examples of both deep and shallow depth of Field.

 follow the format below for each picture:

This pic was shot at ISO 400, Shutter Speed 1/125, aperture f5.6. 
The DoF is very shallow:

This pic was shot at ISO 1600, Shutter Speed 1/60, Aperture f32. 
it has an extended Depth of Field.

Tuesday, Feb 7 Assignment - AP Images Critique

Today you will choose a photo from AP Images to critique.

Here is a good example of the finished assignment

1.Click on http://www.apimages.com/

2.Click on AP Topic: Today's Best Images

3. Copy the Image (or use the Snipping tool) to upload the photo to your blog.

4. Add the link from the AP site to your blog.

6. Paste the description of the photo from the AP site to your blog.
Description: Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men pray ahead of the Jewish New Year at the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray in Jerusalem's old city, Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2013. Israelis happily welcomed the Jewish New Year late Wednesday despite uncertainty and turmoil brewing on both its northern and southern borders. (AP Photo/Sebastian Scheiner)

6. Answer the following:

• Who was the photographer?
• What country and city was the photo taken in?
• What event was photographed?
• Describe the event that was photographed.
• Why is the event newsworthy? Why is it important to us?

7. Write a Critique. Use the Critique Guide in the link above. Only answer Sections 1 and 3.

Aperture - The Amount of light let into the camera

Aperture is the opening in the lens that controls the AMOUNT of light that you allow to enter the camera. 

It is measured in a thing we call the F number.



As you decrease the size of the Aperture you increase the amount of the picture that is in focus. This is called Depth of field.

Watch the following video for a good explanation of how Aperture works. We'll began using different F Stops and doing Depth of Field exercises later in class.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUbjkMm_v-A


Depth of Field is the amount of the image that is in sharp focus

Here is the a link that describes how and when to use Aperture Priority

Here's link that descibes how to take better pictures using Aperture Priority.

Use the Nikons to experiment with Depth of Field around the building. Take pictures with both Shallow and Deep Depth of Field. We'll post them next class.