Summer 2015
DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY
MW 1 – 2:55 pm
DAL Mac
Instructor: Eric Winter
Office: DAL 818
Phone: 816-501-2445
Email: eric.winter@avila.edu
COURSE DESCRIPTION
The Digital Photography course is designed to develop your skills in the use of the smart phone as a photographic tool. You will learn how versatile your phone’s camera can be, techniques for taking better photos, and how to improve photos through digital tools such as Adobe Photoshop. As an introductory art course, you will be assessed not by tests or writing papers but by your visual work leading to a final portfolio of images. Your ability to grow in the medium, try on new ideas, learn to communicate using the language of photography, and to appreciate visual ideas and trends will all contribute to your final grade.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
- To become proficient at the technical aspect of photographing with a smart phone and working with those images including digital editing, saving, sizing, posting and printing of those images.
- To learn to shoot with smart phone cameras, and learn to maximize the quality of the output from them.
- To appreciate the art of photography through the study of historic trends and compositional techniques.
- To develop the habit of looking closely at the visible world around you in order to represent it in terms of aesthetics and authenticity.
COURSE CONTENT
- Rethinking the selfie
- The ins and outs of smart phone cameras
- Basics of photographic composition
- How to correct photos in Adobe Photoshop
- Learning to see: shadows, light, details, depth of field, etc.
- Composited images, panoramas, HDR
- Photo journalistic techniques for capturing moments
- Creating a photographic portfolio
COURSE BLOG
All course content, project descriptions and student results will be posted online to a collaborative course blog: http://ubdigitalphoto.blogspot.com/. Each student will serve as a blog author and contributor.
GRADING POLICIES/CRITERIA
Students will be evaluated based on course performance, class participation, and successful completion of assignments: quality, creativeness, relevance to the assignment, and ability to communicate an idea or message. A grading rubric will be utilized to determine the letter grade given for each assigned project/exercise.
COURSE PERFORMANCE
Throughout this course students are expected to make strides in the areas of creative problem solving and experimentation, personal photographic aesthetic and technical craftsmanship. Students should have all materials, research and process requirements for each class period. If a student is absent, the assigned work is due the next class meeting. Projects are to be presented on scheduled days and turned in to the instructor for evaluation. Turning projects or part of projects in late will result in a reduction of the project grade. The grade will be lowered one letter for every weekday the project is late, i.e. late two days reduces an ‘A’ project to a ‘C.’
CLASS ENGAGEMENT
Each class meeting is worth a possible 10 engagement points. Students are expected to attend each class prepared and to remain on task during the entire class. It is expected that students complete all in/outside classroom activities required by instructor. In addition to project activities, students are encouraged to offer their opinions and to enter open-mindedly into classroom discussions. Students should be open to critique and suggestions for improvement offered by the instructor and fellow classmates. Failure to perform as a viable and active member of the class will negatively affect the project grade.
CELL PHONES
Your smart phone will be the dominant tool used in this course. That said, you are NOT permitted to use your phone for non-relevant activities (texting, updating status, etc.). Abuse of phone privileges will be reported. You will also not be allowed to use your phone during other classes for the purpose of photographing daily activities. You must check out a digital camera from UB staff before taking photos in other classrooms.
ATTENDANCE
Timely attendance is mandatory. Upward Bound has strict rules regarding your attendance in the course. Daily attendance records will be submitted. An excess of five absences will negatively affect your eligibility to attend all Upward Bound activities. Arriving late to class, leaving before class is dismissed, talking/texting on cell phone, surfing non-relevant websites (i.e. Facebook) = one tardy. Four tardies will equal one absence.
SEMESTER GRADE CALCULATION
Final grades will be calculated based on a project point system.
> Project 1- Rethinking the Selfie 100 pts
> Project 2 - Learning to See 100 pts
> Project 3 - Lights, Camera, Action! 100 pts
> Project 4 - Fake Vacation 100 pts
> Pulitzer Prize Presentation 50 pts
> Final Project - This is Upward Bound 200 pts
> Class Engagement 120 pts
GRADING SCALE
A = EXCELLENT: 90-100%
complete and total execution virtually free of errors; innovative and extremely imaginative solution; distinctive technical and presentation skills
B = ABOVE AVERAGE: 80-89%
solid overall development with minor errors; original thought but lacking in innovation; strong technical and presentation skills
C = AVERAGE: 70-79%
meets the baseline parameters of the problem with few errors; does not exhibit originality; presentation is lacking technically and in execution
D = WEAK: 60-69%
overall poor performance and solution to the problem with various errors; lacking in originality; problems with execution
F = FAILING: 0-59%
failure to carry out project successfully; multiple errors; unacceptable presentation
COURSE CONTENT
> Week 1 6/8, 10 Rethinking the selfie, learning the smart phone camera
> Week 2 6/15, 17 Composition and Photoshop basics
> Week 3 6/22, 24 Learning to see
> Week 4 6/29, 7/1 Basics of photojournalism
> Week 5 7/6, 8 Documenting an event
> Week 6 7/13, 15 Preparing final project
TOOLS/SUPPLIES
All supplies are to be carried to and from class daily unless the instructor specifies otherwise.
> Binder/folder to contain project process materials (research, sketches, printouts, etc.)
> Portable file storage device i.e. flash drive, portable hard drive, etc.
> Ability to download images from phone to computer (cable, email, file transfer, etc.)
Syllabus subject to change depending on the needs of the class.
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