Final Portfolio

Final portfolio will consist of two formats to turn in

Digital

Due: 12/3. This is the last day of class.

16-20 jpegs, 1200 pixels longest side, high quality.

What to include:

1. Images can be pulled from any assignment or project from the course. Images must have been shot for the course. Choose carefully to present your strongest work. Consult with instructor and classmates.
2. All major projects must be represented in the portfolio. This means still life (high and low key), human figure and final project.
3. Images should be the very strongest produced in the course. Revisions to project images are welcome. If so, please indicate that they are revisions in their title. For example: Jordan_proj2_rev.jpg

Naming protocol:

lastname_project_number.jpg

Examples:

jordan_fieldtripone_1.jpg
jordan_fieldtripone_2.jpg
jordan_project2.jpg

Printed

Due: 12/10 (earlier is okay) This is Wednesday of exam week.

Of the above images, create 6 high quality prints. Print quality is important. Please include strongest images from your 16-20 images selected for the digital portfolio.

Prints should be professionally presented, either window matted or sleeved in a portfolio book.

Final Project

Prelim: 11/24
Final: 12/3

Points earned: 300 (versus 200)

As discussed last Monday, the final project should demonstrate strong conceptual and visual ideas with appropriate lighting design. Use this opportunity to accomplish something ambitious, using the very best of your skills and ideas, as covered in the course and beyond. Consider all aspects of your production including subject, background, overall color palette, styling, etc.

The project will be evaluated on:

Concept/theme/idea
Lighting design
Photographic design and aesthetics
Technical skills, exposure, camera, photoshop
Development of project over the course of the assignment (from prelim to final)

© 2012 Heather Orlando

Dates:

Proposal: Wednesday, 10/29
Prelim: Wednesday, 11/5

Final: Wednesday, 11/12

Create a body of work that explores the human form in some way. These can be portraits, abstractions of the body, nudes, theatrical, conceptual, or other. Work toward a cohesive group of images that are aesthetically and conceptually related. Plan to submit between 5-7 final images, in print form as well as digital (jpegs 1200).

Create most appropriate studio lighting design to support your images, high key, low key, or otherwise. 

Proposal should consists of 1 paragraph describing your concept, subject(s) and approach, and 1 paragraph that mentions and describes the lighting approaches of at least two well-established artists who work with the human form in a compelling way...how will they inspire your project?

Work will be evaluated on the following criteria:

• Original, inspiring, and creative idea/concept/approach
• Quality of lighting design
• Quality of photographic design
• Technical (camera, lighting, file management, etc.)
• Deliverables (prints, files, etc.)
• Growth of the project over the course of the assignment

Proposal, prelim and final critiques will be graded.

Further examples of student work:

High Key Portrait

In class shooting assignment, week of 10/27

Portrait, assignment 2

This assignment will explore the use of lighting ratios with a fill light, hair light and kickers. Take your time and fully explore each aspect. Scrutinize and form opinions about how these lighting variables affect the overall results.

Schedule a model. Suggest clothing and styling. Be adventurous. Creativity rewarded!

1. Set up Rembrandt lighting, or close variation
2. Add fill light. Explore a range of ratios of key light to fill light. 1:1, 1:2, 1:4, 1:16, reflector as fill, no fill. 
3. Decide on optimum combination, based on your visual experience and opinions. 
4. Add a background light. Consider gobos/cookies/ or even gels for color
5. To this optimum combination, add a hair light, properly placed and exposed
6. To this, add one or two kickers (left and right) properly placed and exposed

Provide images for each of these. It will be best to keep the camera on a tripod and maintain the same pose, so that only the lighting varies. 

Due: Wed 10/29

Portrait Assignment 1

Due: 10/22

The first portrait project explores how size, quality and placement of the key light can affect the rendering of the face. This is one of the most important concepts of portrait lighting design. Please read pages 193-206 for further discussion and visual examples.

Take your time with it. Correct exposure, appropriate f-stop, focus are all important.

Create portfolio worthy portraits that explore the following:

• Fairly tight framing that features head and shoulders, without cutting them off.
• Black background. Hint: create adequate distance between subject and background material
• Thoughtful styling...put in some planning with outfits, hair, accessories and go for it. Move beyond silly mug shots. 
• Use of single light source, no fill light. Reflector encouraged.

For each of the following, create both high and low contrast examples, positioning the key light as necessary.

1. Explore 45/45 lighting, sometimes known as Rembrandt, achieving what is referred to in the book as the "key triangle."
2. Short Lighting
3. Broad Lighting
4. Front lighting
5. Side lighting

High Key Still Life

Due Monday 10/20

Create 2-3 portfolio worthy images of a high key still life. Typically, this means a light subject on a light background. You might consider working with reflective metal or glass objects, using the techniques covered recently in class.

The chapters on metal and glass in the book may be helpful, for additional ideas.

In Class Project: Vanitas Still Life

Wednesday, 9/24

Please be ready, with your groups, to create a contemporary vanitas still life in class.

Group duties:

Group A (Mary, Alex Chi) Still Life object & prop resourcing and setup
Group B (Brian, Holly, Amy) Camera work, file processing and printing
Group C (Dana, Shonna, Raven) Lighting design and effects

The still life should be arranged and lit in a traditional vanitas style, but with a contemporary twist. A suggestion: carefully select a blend of traditional and contemporary symbolic objects to build the still life. How can it ring as both "old" and "new" at the same time? Use examples of traditional vanitas to inform design, composition, lighting, camera placement. Further, how can you invoke the idea of a painting with a camera image?

Project 1: Low-Key Still Life

Proposal Due: 9/29, in class. Be prepared to discuss.
Preliminary critique: Monday, October 6th
Final Critique: Monday, October 13th

Write a 1-page proposal for a low key still life project. In a low key still life, the image is generally darker, tonally.  The background is generally on the darker end of the scale and the lighting design supports deeper shadows. The class vanitas still life could be considered low key

For this project, please steer away from overly shiny, metallic or glass subjects, for now. These present particular challenges that might be best to avoid for now.

Design a background that supports the subject.

Your proposal should consist of:

• An overall idea or concept for your image...reflect on some themes or ideas you hope to communicate.
• A description of the subjects that will express these ideas
• A description of the background
• Any particulars regarding the set-up of the still life that you are considering that come to mind (e.g. need to build a stand to prop up objects, or create a GOBO for a certain effect)
• A brief description of at least two still life examples, by well-known, established photographers (choose two different artists) that serve to inspire the set-up and/or lighting design of your project. These examples should be properly referenced. Start with examples from the class blog.
• 1 page

Project:

Plan for several shooting sessions outside of class. Reserve studio time well in advance.

Over the course of the project you will be shooting many variations. Keep all of these, planning to turn them in. The final image (best variation) will be printed full size to at least 16" x 20". Shoot RAW and focus critically to ensure that the image will hold up through enlargement. 

Assignment 5: Still Life Design, Qualities of Light, Strobes, Isolated Background

Shooting:

Due: Wednesday, 9/24

This assignment will explore some of the important qualities of light. Generally, there are four: Color, Angle, Intensity and Character/Contrast. We will be concentrating on Angle and Character/Contrast for now.

Find an interesting subject that can be photographed on a table-top. Should be solid (relatively) non-glossy/shiny object. 

The second part of this assignment will explore how to create an interesting background to compliment your subject. Background design is very important for creating a convincing image that "goes beyond the studio." Bring objects or paper cutouts for use in creating background effects—we will be using them to create GOBOs.

Reserve time in the lighting studio to build and light your shot(s). Shoot with strobes. Plan for at least 2 hours for the assignment. Working with your partner will make things much more productive.

In both exercises, strive to make the most artistically pleasing images as possible. General concerns for both setups:

• Use a low ISO, such as 200
• Shoot RAW, white balance set to strobe
• Shoot manual exposure mode
• Focus critically on the subject using manual focus
• Set shutter speed for 1/60 and forget it...all further exposure adjustments will be made with f-stop
• Design the intensity of the light so that you will be using a moderately wide aperture (say f8.0 or f11). This means the strobes will be turned to the middle range, most likely. Adjust the strobes down (or up) so that your meter delivers your desired f-stop. 
• Especially for #2, position your camera further back from the subject and use a longer lens setting to produce desired framing. This helps reduce distortion of shapes, reduces flare, and helps separate the background. 

I. — Flat still life (singular plane, table as background)

Shoot your subject on a piece of seamless or an interesting flat material on the tabletop. Use paper (distressed, painted on, etc.), wood, sheet metal, or anything that will compliment your subject. Most likely, you will be shooting down on your subject. Use and trust your handheld light meter

Light source: Strobe with reflector, barn doors can be useful.  Create a series of still life images that show a variation of:

1. Angle of Light
2. Style: Active versus Passive approaches. Achieve this variation through use of hard versus soft light, and/or use of barn doors, or GOBOs (blinds effect).
3. With and without reflecting fill card

II. — Still life with distant background (lit separately as isolated, second plane)

Subject with designed low-key background. Place object on tabletop and shoot from the front at a low angle, so that the background becomes important in the image. The background should be at least 3 feet behind your subject—move the table toward the middle of the room. This exercise will use two light sources, one for the subject, one for the background.

Main Light:

As in the first exercise, explore and shoot variations of light direction and intensity

• Varied side or 45º light, shooting variations of angle and height
• Vary active/passive, in other words, alter contrast (direct versus diffuse), shoot variations
• With and without fill, shoot variations
• Use meter to adjust strobes to yield f8
• Similar to last week, direct the main light with barn doors, flags (foam core) or grid so that it doesn't contaminate the background. Background isolation is important for this exercise

Background Light:

• Use barn doors and/or grid spot (10º or 20º) 
• Set the light to be at least two stops underexposed. So, if your main light is firing at f8, lower the intensity of the background light so that it meters at f4 (or so). Important: when metering the background light, turn off the main light so that you get an uncontaminated reading
• Angle the light so that it rakes across the background at a low angle

Background Design:

The background will be a simple chiaroscuro effect that should complement the subject without being too distracting. We will have it be out of focus, due to the wider aperture, longer lens, and greater distance behind the subject. This will make it more impressionistic. 

• Use a piece of seamless, dark cloth, or other kind of dark material against the wall. Attach it so that it doesn't fall down. It will need to be fairly big (like seamless) to function as a backdrop
• Use GOBOs (objects, cutouts, etc.) in front of the light to create interesting shadow play on the background
• Be sure GOBOs themselves do not appear in the shot—we only want to see their shadows on the background
• For sharper shadows, bring object closer to the wall and/or the light further away

Shoot a wide variety of images, exploring the many factors above. Please bring files to next class.

Assignment 4: Active/Passive, Use of Strobes, Light Quality, Fill Light, Gradient Background, Light Control.

Top light, no diffusion, no fill, gradient sweep backdrop

Top light, no diffusion, with fill, gradient sweep backdrop

Top light, with diffusion, no fill, gradient sweep backdrop

Top light, with diffusion, with fill, gradient sweep backdrop

Active side light, background controlled/blocked

In-class group work:

Based on the class demo, using an object of your choice, understand and accomplish the above lighting approaches. Work in your group, assisting each other, and obtaining help from instructors as required. Everyone should shoot their own images. The goal is to fully understand the concept so that you can use these lighting strategies successfully on your own.

Individually:

Choose meaningful and visually appealing objects to photograph. They should be at least 8 inches tall and have some volume. The doll above was used out of convenience for a demo...you can do better, I think. Avoid glass and metal for now. Based on the in-class demo and exercise, create an aesthetically strong set of images that explores all five of the above lighting approaches.

• Choose an inspiring table-top subject.  (Your decision about what to shoot should inspire you. Do go beyond convenience). For now, avoid overly shiny or glass objects, as these present special lighting concerns we will cover later
• Shoot RAW, low ISO (200-400), with a tripod. When using a tripod, be sure the lens stabilization is off.
• Use a gradient sweep backdrop (for images with top-light)
• Use a middle range f-stop (f5.6, f8, etc.)
• Focus critically on the subject. Manual focus may help. Check focus for each image
• Use hand-held incident light meter reading, set to the "strobe" setting. Set camera to manual mode so that f-stop and shutter speed can be manually set. Use 1/60th second for the shutter speed and use the f-stop indicated by the hand-held light meter.
• Use the following lighting designs to create an aesthetically pleasing image. While some factors, like lighting design, are pre-determined for this study, other considerations like camera angle, composition, zoom/in-camera crop, proper exposure, are all in play for you to optimize

Lighting designs:

1. Top light, no diffusion, no fill, gradient sweep backdrop
2. Top light, no diffusion, with fill (using reflector), gradient sweep backdrop
3. Top light, with diffusion, no fill, gradient sweep backdrop
4. Top light, with diffusion, with fill (using reflector), gradient sweep backdrop
5. Active side light, background controlled/blocked

Assignment 3: Active/Passive, Part 3, Natural Light

Read: Chapters 1, 2 and 5 (only pages 85-104 (thru "stopping flare"). Be ready to discuss main points.

Shooting: Create a still life arrangement on your own, using natural sun light. Shoot active light and passive light variations. This can be done on a porch, balcony, or windowsill....choose a place that receives active and passive light, based on the time of day. Remember, active light should generally have distinctive shadow play, calling attention to the light itself. Even with natural light, shadows can be added and the light controlled. Passive light tends to be soft and diffuse with no distinctive shadows.

Are these examples active or passive? Why?

Printing Papers

We will be printing many of your pictures in this class. Here are recommended papers. Please stick with Epson to ensure compatibility with our printers. The standard, required, size is letter, but if you prefer larger paper, the printers will accommodate up to 13" x 19"

Choose matte or glossy. You only need one kind, your choice. But having both can be nice, if you want.

Ultra Premium Presentation Matte:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/203721-REG/Epson_S041341_Ultra_Premium_Presentation_Paper.html

Ultra Premium Glossy Photo:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/543611-REG/Epson_S042175_Ultra_Premium_Glossy_Photo.html

hot shoe sync/pc connection

If your camera does not have a PC outlet, you will need to buy one to operate the strobe lights in the studio. Please order it now.

A PC sync outlet looks like this:



This is the kind that will generally work with our strobes. For Canon, Nikon, Pentax

http://www.paulcbuff.com/hsa.php

For Sony/Minolta:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/765451-REG/Vello_HSA_CSC_Hot_Shoe_Adapter_to.html

Active/Passive, Part 1

Which of the images above displays active light? Passive? Why?

Due Wednesday, 8/27, end of class.

Choose a single subject. It should be easily portable and of solid, non-reflective material. Avoid glass bottles and similar shiny objects for now, as these can be more difficult to work with.

Using a single hot-light, create pictures of your object on an appealing background that features the two distinct qualities of light, active versus passive. Shoot enough variations so that you arrive at some images that can stand on their own as strong photos.

Like the examples above, for a given composition, have both active and passive versions. The only difference between the two should be the quality of light. So for each composition you will have a pair of images, one active, one passive.

Be sure to use a light meter to ensure correct exposure.

• Active Lighting—where the light itself becomes a "lead character" in the drama. Think: "light event." Use hard, direct lighting and shadow play. 
• Passive Lighting—where the light simply reveals the subject and doesn't draw much attention to itself. Here the light is more of a "supportive character," rather than the "lead". Use soft diffuse lighting. Remember, hard, direct light can be softened with things like tracing paper. 

Welcome

What is the "Meaning of Light?"

The course will present foundational skills in photographic studio lighting. Both natural and artificial light sources will be explored for producing aesthetically and conceptually engaging artworks. A wide range of applications will be explored including still life, portraiture, classic lighting problems, and open creative projects. Experimentation and improvisation are highly encouraged. Topics will reference both historical precedents and contemporary practices. The course will culminate with a portfolio of work.

Examples of student work from recent years: