For this assignment we are going to explore digital photography using whatever digital camera you have available. Hopefully, you at least have a smart phone equipped with a camera which will do just fine, but if you have something nicer you may also use that. I want you to do some reading and reflection on digital photography.
- Experiment with this online DSLR simulator to see what the controls are like on a digital SLR camera.
- Recommended Reading Assignments:
- Check out some of National Geographic’s tips on iPhone photography.
- Also, take a look at Scott Kelby’s book on “iPhone Photography” available for free to K-State students online.
- Look at some great photographs in the Masters of Photography website to see all of the great masters:
- Make some photographs using some of the photography tips you have been reading about. After spending time reading about photography and experimenting with some of the techniques you have learned about. Write a reflection essay about the experience. Include your photographs you are discussing. Which photographic techniques did you try? Be specific. Mention the reference articles or chapters that you read about and tried. Include the photographs in the essay. Did it work well for you or not? Why or why not? (Submit on Canvas as a MS Word .docx file).
- Familiarize yourself with photo editing software such as Photoshop, Pixlr or Gimp.
- You might have to watch some online videos or read some articles that are beginner tutorials for digital photo editing software. Scott Kelby has some fun tutorials on Photoshop you can watch. If you don’t have access to Photoshop, you will need another digital photo editor. Two popular ones that are free are Gimp and Pixlr. Gimp is widely used but it has a steep learning curve. Pixlr is like a no-frills Photoshop, but it is free and works in most web browsers so you don’t even have to download anything to use it. You should be able to do the same basic photo edits in any of the editing programs.
- Adobe and others have some great mobile apps you can try. Some Photoshop-like editing is becoming trivial on some mobile apps. You are welcome to try these as well.
- There is no requirement to use any particular type of camera or software, only that you experiment with manipulating digital images outside of the camera.
- Create a composite (more than one source photo in the same picture) image. (Upload it to Canvas as a .jpg file).