DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY
6 WEEK COURSE
Meeting Times: Wednesday Nights, 7:00 – 9:00pm
Location: UC Berkeley
Instructor: Ace Lehner
ace@acelehner.com
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COURSE SYLLABUS
Photography has a complex relationship to the world around us, and to how we look at people places and things. Some would say because it is in some sense mechanically made that a photograph documents or objectively records the world. Digital photography particularly challenges the idea that photographs are truthful and objective recreations of the world around us. This is precisely why they are so powerful. As artists we have the ability to manipulate these images that are so close to life in ways that can challenge and change how people look and think about the world around us. In this seminar you will learn technical skills needed to make stunning digital images while nurturing the ability to look, think and make both critically and generously.
Through discussions, critiques and hands on photographing this class will explore practices specific to digital image making and discourses surrounding photography. The seminar will introduce you to digital photography through hands on demonstrations, lectures and mentored exploration. This class will provide you with the necessary tools to make powerful pictures and to begin to create your own personalized style. By the end of the seminar students will have both a working knowledge of digital photographic image production and a deepened understanding of how photographic images relate to how we think about and make pictures of the world around us.
Welcome to Digital Photography, I look forward to working with all of you.
Sincerely, Ace Lehner
COURSE OBJECTIVES:
By the end of this class students will feel confident operating their Digital SLR cameras and basics of digital image post-production. Students will also have a cultivated understanding of how photographic images are used and interpreted in artistic and cultural contexts.
LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Students who complete this course successfully will be proficient in the fundamentals of digital photography and will feel confident with successful exposure, composition and conceptual image production with digital cameras. Students will be adequately prepared to enroll in upper level digital photography classes. This course will also prepare students to able to describe, interpret, analyze, and think critically about photographic images in terms of communication and in relation to broader cultural and historical contexts. Students who complete this course will design, articulate and produce entire photographic projects from start to finish.
PHOTO SUPPLIES (LOCAL):
Looking Glass Photo & Camera
2848 Telegraph Ave, Berkeley
(510) 548-6888
Hours: M-F 9am-8pm, Sat 10am-6pm, Sun 11am-5pm
Calumet Photographic
2001 Bryant St. (@18th St. San Francisco
(415) 643-9275
Adolph Gasser, Inc.
181 Second St., San Francisco
(415) 495-3853
Pro Camera
1405 Minnesota St. (@ 25th St.
San Francisco
(415) 282-7368
International Camera
1444 Franklin St. Oakland CA (this is the old address, they’ve moved a few stores down)
(510) 763-422
Action Camera
1605 Taraval Street
San Francisco
(415) 564-0699
Camera Heaven
746 Larkin Street
San Francisco
(415) 346-5169
PHOTO SUPPLIES MAIL / ONLINE ORDERING:
B&H Photo-Video, New York, NY
(800) 606-6969
www.bhphotovideo.com
Calumet
(800) 225-8638
www.calumetphoto.com
Freestyle, Los Angeles, CA
(800) 292-6137
www.freestylephoto.biz
Adorama
(800) 223-2500
WEEKLY SCHEDULE__________________________________________________
Class 1:
Introduce myself and the class outcomes and expectations
Student introductions
Hand out syllabus
Intro to photography and digital photography
Understanding your camera: Diagram your camera/Camera scavenger hunt
Understanding White Balance
For next class:
Bring manuals and back up battery to class
Bring a small journal for taking notes
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Class 2:
Lecture on Camera basics: F-Stop, shutter speed light meter.
Including stopping motion and blurring motion and depth of field.
Go over class blog for assignments and uploads. We will be using this for in class discussions.
Introduce Scavenger hunt assignment
Shoot at least 36 images before next class, practice using manual controls and light meter for bracketing images, scavenger hunt. (12 images 3x each).
For next class:
Upload 3 images from scavenger hunt that have correct exposure, and the accompanying images that are underexposed and overexposed.
We will talk about technical challenges next class.
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Class 3:
In Class discussion of scavenger hunt
Check in about how bracketing went.
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Lecture on Composition
Introduce Shooting Assignment (Finding the Alphabet in nature)
For Next Class:
Shooting exercise: Photograph each letter of the alphabet consider composition.
Upload each letter of your first name to class blog.
If you have time and commitment go beyond and free shoot keeping the things you’ve learned about composition in mind
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Class 4:
In Class Critique of composition assignment
Consider top ten of composition when looking at works.
Lecture on Light
Shooting Assignment for Light
For Next Class:
For next class shoot a minimum of ten images that address each of the five points. Upload 3-5 best images.
•Direction of light
•Quality of light / intensity of light
•Distribution (diffused, focused, obscured, shadows)
•Color intensity (color vibration)
•Focus (is the light source in or out of focus) are there lens flare? Are their harsh shapes?
If you have time and commitment go beyond and free shoot keeping the things you’ve learned about light in mind. Experiment with light in mind.
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Class 5:
In Class Critique light assignment
Final Project Lecture
Hand out Final assignment
For Next Class:
Complete final project
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Class 6: Final class
In Class Critique of Final Projects.
And recap lecture
EXPOSURE CALCULATION CHART
Shutter Aperture ISO
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ASSIGNMENT 1
Assignment #1: Bracketing Assignment/Scavenger Hunt
You will find each of 12 things on the list provided to you. Photograph each thing 3 times, bracketing each photograph. Take the first as a normal exposure, and the second and third frame as one stop over and one stop under exposed respectively.
Bracketing using shutter speed
Example: Light meter reads f/11 @ 1/125
underexpose one stop (f/11 @ 1/250)
overexpose one stop (f/11 @ 1/60)
Bracketing using the lens aperture
Example: Light meter reads f/11 @ 1/125
underexpose one stop (f/16 @ 1/125)
overexpose one stop (f/8 @ 1/125)
List of items:
1. Something forgotten
2. An indicator of the weather
3. Something that can only be found here
4. Something that can be found anywhere
5. Something beautiful
6. Something ugly
7. A metaphor for something else
8. A portrait of someone you’ve never met
9. A piece of history
10. A piece of the future
11. Your room
12. A sound
***Bring a notebook with you and keep track of what your correct exposure was and how you changed either your f-stop or shutter for each particular under and over exposure.
***Upload three best (this means 9 pictures to the class blog).
