Communication Graphics II Special Topics - Research and Development

 

Each student will be responsible for independently researching and developing various topics. The R&D that this project attempts to promote is the primary component of the Comm II class and replaces the Print Display Project from Comm I. You will be expected to be self-motivated and work on the projects we have at hand each day. There is to be NO off task work (outside class work, internet browsing, etc.) as you should always be working on something photography, video, or computer graphic related. In addition to the ST assignment, you will have a variety of Computer Projects in progress as well as other photo assignments and can expect to mount 4-6 pictures per 6 weeks for the fall semester. The ST assignment continues during the 2^nd semester…but may be the only photo assignment due to video production. ONE of the 1st, 2nd or 3rd 6 wks topics MUST be conventional darkroom (film ONLY). The other weeks can be either film or digital...but keep in mind that there will be no darkroom after the 1st semester. With film topics, you may want still want to use a digital camera initially as an aid to your exposure and composition, and to document the process. Computer based topics (i.e. photoshop) should have original photography utilized (taken just for that topic). All presentations will be presented via Power Point, so start now as you develop your research. IOW, start building your PP as soon as you have picked a topic. Plan to incorporate staging/setup pictures into your presentation, especially of the film projects.

 

One new topic is required per 6 weeks. Only one topic per person per six weeks, so choose your topic quickly. Before a student does in-depth research, a minimal amount of research (via the Internet) will need to be conducted to determine practicality. It is important for a student to both be certain that the equipment necessary for the project is available or obtainable and is practical for he/she to complete in a timely fashion. Some materials may need to be purchased by the student. Some topics are easier than others, therefore, complexity will be considered in the final evaluation. Students are expected to choose topics appropriate for their skill level. Those choosing the simpler projects will be expected to complete a higher level of proficiency with more or better examples than a person attempting a more complex topic.

 

For the 2nd 6 weeks, only some topics can be duplicated. Be sure to ask BEFORE investing time and energy in the proposal. For the 3rd 6wk, no duplicate topics, especially if it has been done twice already. 4th and 5th 6 weeks can be duplicate and will not have a write up nor hand out. IOW, for the 4th and 5th 6 weeks, you will shoot, print and present. The presentation need only be enough to show your picture and tells us how you did it, specifically anything special about it. IOW, 1, 2 and 3 are the more formal presentations. 4 & 5 will be more relaxed. There is no 6th ST.

 

A proposal must then be approved by the teacher.  It will contain the following information:

o      name of the project to be studied

o      method used (how are you going to do it)

o      equipment/supplies necessary

o      resources needed (books, etc.)

o      Preliminary sample images, like from the Internet

 

Once the proposal has been approved, students will need to begin work immediately, completing additional research from other sources, such as more in-depth Internet research, our photo library or the school library, and begin completing the work for the examples. Be sure to allow time for repeating any work if results do not initially turn as expected.

 

The culmination of the project is the presentation to the class. A successful presentation will be one that the other students can use as a model for future projects.  The presenter will be responsible for teaching the technique(s) to the other members of the class since he/she should have obtained the necessary expertise and experience through the research and should include a handout. Evaluation (grading) will be based upon the finished project turned in, the presentation to the class, complexity, and completion on time. Examples of your trial and errors is expected to be shown. Notes while your are shooting are expected to be taken

 

For each project the student will be required to provide the following:

o      approved proposal by the 3rd week of each 6 weeks

o      written report covering the research with references to the resources used. Site a minimum of 2 sources on your write up. Power Point Pres

o      hand out for the presentation to the class, preferably in color (printed at home...or use supply coupons for excess prints here) Posting of PowerPoint to Google Docs.

o      examples produced supporting the research (one final example and several others incorporated into the presentation) and a WEB GALLERY (with a minimum of 12 pictures on the topic). Be sure the GALLERY is ONLINE when you present the project to avoid a 15-30 point deduction for entire project)

o   Shooting log/notes - (5 pts) - Take notes while you are shooting. These can be on a formal log sheet or just hand written notes. If shooting film, be sure to record the exposure, if known, or settings used. With digital, you will not need to record the exposure, but you should log the Exposure Index number (IMG_####) so that you can refer to the EXIF on the computer.

o      1 mounted print (8x10 or larger, unless topic deems other specifications) - final image now only has to be in the presentation as the final slide.

The report and hand out PowerPoint should be detailed enough and designed in such a way that a student who did NOT view the presentation could read the report/handout and complete a project of that topic successfully.

Presentation Week: At the end of each 6 weeks, you all will present the topics to the class. You will be assigned a day with volunteers taken at first. You are expected to dress for success for your presentation day...which means dress up. No blue jeans, no shorts, no flip-flops, no t-shirts, etc. In the past, we did refreshments each day...by the group doing their presentations that day. I would like to try to just have one day of refreshments to start the presentations off for the 6 weeks. Everybody will be asked to participate...or team up in pairs to coordinate the refreshments. If anything is left over, it will be carried over to the next day (like drinks or pop tarts, etc.)

 

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Possible Topics - A primary source of topics comes form the Photo Exploration Collection…but not all topics are suitable for an approved STs. Generally...if I think you are doing it because it is an easy topic, you will need to choose another. IOW, your topic should match your skill level and equipment available. And TRY to choose a topic that hasn't been done a) in your first year of study and b) done a dozen times already. If you are doing one that has been done a dozen times, be sure to do a really thorough job.:

o      Animation - Digital project of converting images to animation. This could include how to make an animated Screen Saver out of your photo. This is quite new...with little background info. I want to know more myself...so...let's make this a topic. :)

o      Astro-photography: Wide Field or Telescopic. You pretty much need a telescope (friend/family). You do not necessarily have to HOOK up to the telescope...if you can shoot the viewfinder with your camera. You could also do some wide field astronomy...but you will need a Barn Door Star Tracker. For both types, you will probably need to download special software at home to stack exposures...called "Exposure Stacking". Photoshop will do it...but there is special software that is designed for stacking images of stars on top of each other. Additional Info: Scotch Mount Camera Tracking Platform - for tracking of stars. Thanks to Angelique L and Ricky Jimenez of Comm II 08-09, we have a very nice and operational Star Tracker. You may check it out or you may want to still make your own of which I have the materials if you would like to donate it to the class. http://philharrington.net/scotch.htm (I have a print out of the design plans). You could get shots like this: http://www.pbase.com/todd991/astrophotos Granted, some of those were taken with a pretty fancy star tracker, but the Scotch Mount is a great way to get started with Wide Field Star Photography. And for next to nothing compared to commercial start trackers costing thousands of dollars, you can get some pretty good results.

o      Blurred Action - pretty basic seeing as we did this as a class during 1st year. Plan to be sure to have some really cool examples.

o      Collage/Montage

o      Color Printing** - From a color negative. This would involve using the front darkroom color enlargers. We have RA4 color chemistry and paper that MAY work. YMMV

o      Double exposures - The double exposure will be made on the negative. Be sure your subjects are ideal and not contrived! They should represent real-world examples of use of double exposure photography.

o      Double Printing** - Printing in the darkroom with two negatives. Involves printing either as a negative sandwich (two negs stacked on top of each other) or expose paper to one negative...changing to a different negative for a subsequent exposure. The latter is better...but harder.

o      Etch bleach** - kind of complicated...but somewhat successfully done by Kristen Warner. Would like to see this done again.

o      Filters, Len attachments - Lost of filters to choose from...or do a general topic on all of them. Filters can be very specific or very diverse. Photoshop or Camera based. Some are more specific to film...some more for digital. As far as Lens Attachments, we have in stock: Star Filter, Gradients, Vertical/Multiple Exposure, Spot (outside is soft), Close-Up filters (a set of +1, +2, and +3 magnifying glass), Fluorescent correction, Y2 (contrast for B/W Film), 81a (warming), Polarizer, UV, IR.

o      Filters, Photoshop, Creative

o      Filters, Photoshop, Photo Filters

o      Flash, Slow Curtain or Rear Curtain - Use of flash with shutter speeds of less than 1/60th

o      Focus stacking - very interesting topic involving the shooting of extreme DOF by bracketing the focus to different points. May require special software.

o      Food coloring - never been done successfully, that I know. Probably best to refer to Tinting/Toning below.

o      Glass (photography of)

o      Hand Coloring - Starting with a B&W image...remember to shoot FOR this topic to get a good sample to hand color

o      High contrast - can be either darkroom based or photoshop. Using high contrast film, photograph a scene that has a lot of contrast and strong lines; print normally. You must use Kodalith film and Kodalith developer for this process. It has a film speed of 6. On a bright, sunny day, you should bracket your exposures at 1/60 of a second at f/4, f/5.6, and f/8. Choose subjects that lend themselves to high-contrast presentation.

o      High Dynamic Range* (HDR) - http://www.naturescapes.net/072006/rh0706_1.htm

o      High speed flash - water drops frozen in mid air, etc.

o      Holga Camera** - Find out jsut what is so exciting about this special camera...and what has lead to Holga Mania. http://microsites.lomography.com/holga/about We now have one of these cameras in stock.

o      Infrared* - can be film or digital...but digital will be a lot easier to monitor your highly experimental results. Best if done in Summer or Spring. Pictures needs lots of greenery.

o      Insects

o      Juxtaposition - although this is more a composition than a topic, it is one that I don't talk about, and would to have some samples and a worthy presentation. This would be good for PPoint.

o      Kaleidoscope

o      Lens Baby - http://lensbabies.com/ - we now have one Pentax mount Lens Baby 2.0 and one Nikon Lens Baby 2.0   Check out the galleries at: http://lensbaby.com/gallery-photo.php

o      Light Table - recently done at the Beaumont Camera Club

o      Line drawings

o      Macro - Equipment

o      Micro - we have a microscope adapter...but it has been difficult to get good results

o      Mylar - EASY topic...but fun...plan to produce something really interesting with this

o      Negative Print - This is produced by making a contact of another print. All the values will be reversed; dark areas will be light, and light areas dark. Some subjects lend themselves better than others; usually more contrast is appropriate. Choose a scene with a relatively low difference in contrast. Start with a normal negative; make a 8x10 enlargement, cropped and dodged as you want the final print to be. Make a paper negative by contact printing the enlargement onto another sheet of paper, print sides together. Exposure times will be increased compared to making normal contact sheets considering you are exposing through paper instead of film. Develop normally. Mount the positive and negative prints on different boards. They will be "reverses" of each others, both in dark/light and in direction; this will maximize the detail available in the negative print.

o      Panorama - requires special large printing...either Sams or mail-order to get at least an 11x14 or larger print. - Several photographs are made by rotating the camera on a tripod to produce a 180 degree view. The prints are trimmed to make a panoramic view when mounted together. Choose a scene which would not normally be viewed in a single exposure. Use the 35mm camera to take a series of slightly overlapping frames. You must use a tripod with a rotating head; make sure that the camera is perfectly level. Check to see that you can "pan" through the entire scene before beginning. Do not move your tripod position as you photograph. Make the first exposure of the far right area of your scene. As you progress, swivel the camera from right to left, so the next view slightly overlaps the first. If the camera is not level, the prints will be much harder to align. Print the prints, taking care to match exposures from frame to frame. The prints are trimmed and joined to form one long panoramic view of your scene.

o      Pinhole camera - basic but the beginning of everything...and a worthy topic. - Since this was done as a first year student, to add something exciting to the project, you will need to construct a pinhole camera to expose photographic enlargement paper; the print size will be determined by the size of your camera; it can be smaller than 8x10. Consider what type of unique camera you could make. Pinholes can be made from refrigerators to walnuts. One thing to consider is to have more than one camera so that you can take several out shooting. Also, of high importance is WHAT you shoot.

o      Panning - generally TOO easy to be worthy of a ST for a 2nd year photo student. - Use shutter speed controls & panning techniques to freeze moving object against the background still in motion. The object of this assignment is to stop the motion of a object while allowing the background to stay in motion. You are probably familiar with photographs using this technique in many advertisements. You will utilize shutter speed controls in combination with your panning to accomplish this.

o     Paste-up - Two or more photographs are printed and physically combined using glue to create the illusion of a single image. A copy negative is made and a final print produced. Paste-ups are created when two or more photographs are printed and physically combined using glue to achieve an effect that would not be possible in real life. Be sure that the edges of the small photo(s) that are pasted on have been cut carefully with an exacto knife. If they are being placed onto a dark area of the larger print, you might want to used a marker to color the edges to hide the blending of the images. A copy negative will be made and an 8x10 print will be produced and mounted.

o      Perspective Control - controlling the perspective of a scene using different lenses.

o      Picture Puzzle - not a lot of guidelines on this. I have seen some really creative work over the years...although not really from any WB students. And I have no samples to show. This is a really a basic topic, although it is interesting, especially the idea that you can send any picture off and have it made into a puzzle. If you are going to to do this, be sure to do do something interesting. The biggest error for this is people make the pieces too small and/or too many curves, which makes it nearly impossible to trim up with either a exacto knife or a pair of scissors. Commercial puzzle makers use a die cutter and laser cut outs for smoother curves, etc. Keep the In the last couple of years, the digital picture puzzle has emerged with two pictures of the same thing with lots of changes.

o      Polarization - Probably too easy of a topic...and should probably fall under the category of "Filters" in general...that is...covering this and other filters to use.

o      Posterization - Process of limiting the levels of tones to a minimum. You see this all the time in videos. Used to be pretty hard in the darkroom...but is pretty easy in Photoshop.

o      Reticulation** - this is a film developing process. It can pretty cool if done correctly. This used to happen by accident...but is rather hard to force to happen now.

o      Sabatier Effect - Pretty tough topic, but cool effect. I have seen samples, but I don't know much about this process...and haven't personally done this, nor seen it done.

o      Selective Focus - Pretty easy topic...so...you better have some really good pictures.

o      Solarization - pretty neat topic...and fairly easy. Plan to have a good subject that will lend well to the process. This can be done easily in the darkroom. - A solarized print is produced by exposing a piece of photographic paper with a negative in the normal manner. The print is put into the developer; at some point during the development (start at about 1/3 into development), put the print face up into an empty tray (do not use an easel for this re-exposure) and expose it to the light of an enlarger (no negative). Be careful not to drip development anywhere. There are three variables that will affect the amount of reversal in a solarized print: the amount of re-exposure, the extent of development after re-exposure, and the time during development when the re-exposure takes place. If the reversal is too strong, reduce the re-exposure or develop longer before re-exposure. To increase reversal, increase the amount or re-exposure or make the re-exposure earlier in the development process. There are several books in the department library covering details of this process.

o      Sound Trigger - Loud sounds triggering a flash...like a hammer crashing into a light bulb. We have the equipment to do this. It has been done successfully, although this is a little more difficult. Plan on some time to get the equipment and experiment. Please exercise EXTRA caution...and have parental guidance around.

o      Tabletop - TT has a wide degree of interpretation...as such...I did NOT write the following description (former teacher did). You will use miniature models to replicate a real-life scene. Reality is achieved with attention to detail. Build a scene using models. Attention to detail will promote a successful project. The look of reality is your goal. Think through this assignment carefully before you start. Careful lighting will help to contribute to the reality.

o      Texture screens - screens added at the time of printing in the darkroom. Probably more easily done in photoshop...but...this is a good topic that can be easily done in the darkroom. Be sure to shoot something that will look good with a texture screen applied at the printing level.

o      Time Lapse* - requires special effort to assemble the project. Difficult...but probably one of the cooler topics...at least to me. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intervalometer http://www.snapfiles.com/get/jpgvideo.html (software for home...I can also install it here at school for you). Be sure to print up a sample of a selection of your images.

o      Tinting/Toning - so much easier to do via Photoshop. Toning is done via different chemicals, like Selenium (blue) or Sepia (brown).

o      Twin Lens Camera** - shoot with 120mm film...and print from super sized negatives. http://www.butkus.org/chinon/yashica/yashica_mat124g/yashica_mat_124g.htm We have one fully operational 124, sans meter (use a digital camera to meter a scene)

o      Ultraviolet/Blacklight - can be cool if you illuminate the right stuff. So, this involves getting the right lighting...and the right stuff to shoot.

o      View Camera - We have one...the camera, film, film backs, etc. The camera comes in a large suitcase. Check it out...and get a REAL Ansel Adams experience. Use your digital camera as a guide to get the right exposure, etc. This has never been done...at least not while I have been here...but would make for a great experience.

o      Miscellaneous (search through Popular Photography for ideas) - There are other advanced process techniques available which are more or less complex. You must discuss with the teacher the nature of your special request and get prior approval before you begin this project.

 

* Digital Only (or digital preferred)     ** Darkroom/1st Semester Only