Hi Jerry. For my project this MOD, I would like to try to take candid pictures of people. I haven't decided if I want to do all B&W or if I will do color. I leaning towards B&W. I really want to capture the love, anger, disappointment, sadness in someone. I've uploaded an example of the type of pictures that I want to take. Please give me lots of feedback. Thanks!

I'm not sure if you want us posting on fotothing. If so, here's my link... fotothing.com/gcalloway.

Week 2

Students in Digital II, you need to commit to an in depth project this week.... Run the idea by me by posting your idea to this blog and include an image, either of one of yours or one by someone else that illustrates the concept you will be working on....  Check the syllabus for a long list of ideas but you are not limited to those alone....

Photo I folks... Now begins the work of getting out there to shoot.... This week I am asking you to take a walk in a built environment... you home town or another.... Fill the frame with design and light... avoid including sky unless it is compelling and avoid photographing buildings that are far away.... move in close... look for light, and turn off your flash....  Here is the syllabus entry for this week....

Week 2

Introduction to Composition

We will learn to use line, mass, value (tone), contrast, color, and selection consciously in the creation of your images.

A big part of the photographer's art lies in one's ability to organize the visual chaos of the visible world. You learn to clarify, simplify and present your environment with intention and control. Here, we will learn to go way beyond "taking pictures", accepting whatever "comes out of the camera", and move to "making photographs" through your careful looking at your subject before shooting.

Reflect on the concept of selection and looking at the edge of the frame to consciously decide what to include and not incude in your image. Appreciate light and form and how that is central to your work for this class.

Look at the work of Edward Weston. Consider this image:

Edward Weston used his 8"x10" camera to photograph this small green bell pepper set in a simple wooden bowel by window light. Notice how he moved in, and filled the frame with the form of the pepper. The simple elegance and direct presentation of the pepper has transformed it from a mere description of an ingredient in tonight's dinner to an image that is transcendent.

Read Photography—Not Pictorial, Edward Weston, Camera Craft, Vol. 37, No. 7, pp. 313-20, 1930

Browse through Weston's other natural forms.

Assignment: Downtown

Photograph shapes, reflections, light and pattern in an urban or town environment paying particular attention to the shapes you select in the frame and the quality of light on the subject.

Avoid being far away or showing a whole building. Always shoot with natural light. Never use flash in this class... get in close, fill the frame.

Read about Paul Strand.... His work in New York City in the early 20th Century defined how photographers could use new ideas of modernism championed in painting to great effect.

Read The Art Motive in Photography, Paul Strand, The British Journal of Photography, Vol.70, pp. 612-15, 1923

Browse through my portfolio of images from my "Connecticut Towns" project, particularly Stonington and Noank

You may work in black and white. Picasa3 makes it easy to convert and tone your images. Adjust the tones using Picasa's advanced editing tools.Submit your best two images on the class blog and post 6-10 or more to your fotothing album. (Links in academic expectations below).

Hey Class!
My name is Nicole, and I am a psychology major at Albertus. I love taking pictures of family and friends, so I took this class so I can actually do something with the pictures that I take. I am hoping that I learn a lot about editing pictures in this class. I wish everyone in class luck!

Week 1

Hi Everyone,

My name is Pete Gibbons. I am a junior at Albertus working towards my degree in CIS. I have always been interested in photography but never had the time to devote towards really understanding the art form. When I saw that this course was offered I felt this would be great opportunity to expand my knowledge of photography. I am looking forward to fun and interesting class.

My fotothing screen name is pgibbons68.

Hello!

Hello everyone,
My name is Tracy Petrillo. I took Digital Photography I in Mod 2. I was using a Canon Point & Shoot for that class and found I was often frustrated with the image quality, but it was probably also the way I was photigraphing as well. For Christmas Santa brought a Canon Rebel XSi which is an SLR digital camera. My boyfriend is a really awesome amateur photographer who has an awesome collection of lenses from his days of shooting with his 35 mm and he always wanted an SLR so that he could use the lenses digitally. I am still new at learning all of the things this camera has to offer, but it's been SO fun shooting with it so far.
This picture is of me and my son taken at the park yesterday. I'm not sure why it came out blurry, I had it on auto focus, but it's cute just the same. My fotothing user name is tracy77. I've posted some more shots from yesterday on there. Can't wait to see what everyone has to offer for this class!!

How to post to the Blog

Here's a video I created on how to post to the blog... those of you who have already posted have figured this out already... but if some of you are still confused, hopefully this will help clear things up...

http://jnevins.com/howtopost

Self-Image

Hello, Again. I just want to add another photo of a self-image........

What Do I Have To Do This Week?

Hi Everyone.... all of the instructions below are a bit long winded...so in a nutshell here is what you need to do this week...
-Read the syllabus linked from the list of links here on the blog.
-Post a hello to this blog.... Do add a picture of yourself too...
-Set up your fotothing.com account and place that picture there too... I can't add you as a friend until something is posted there....
-Download and install Picasa.
-Start taking pictures!
...Important!.... Please post your fotothing screen name here as a comment.... I don't want anyone to slip through the cracks.....

Self Portrait

Hello,

My name is Arthur Pelkey, I have been getting more and more interested in digital photography over the past few years. My portrait is taken using a Canon SD800IS camera, with me in front of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. I recently purchased a Canon XSI DSLR; I hope to learn more on how to use it more effectively during this class.

Hello Everyone,

My name is Ryan, I am a Senior at Albertus and this is my last class before graduation. I am so looking forward to this class, but i must say this first image is a challenge! I took my self portrait in the reflection of my laptop while surfing the blog page.

I hope everyone the best and look forward to working with everyone.

Also I used some effects through Picassa. I am just trying to get used to this program as I have never used Picassa before.

Self-Image

Hello, classmates, My name is Michele Clark. Mode 4 is finally here, and for some it's the last mode. For others my have a few to go, however make the best of it.......09

Up for the challenge

Hi class,

It is a pleasure to be a part of this challenge with you all , I say challenge as tonight I attempted to create a reflection self portrait image and I think I still have quite a bit of work to do to perfect it.. lol

Here is a sampling ( I think there are too many other reflections in the miror ?)

Cathy Foster

Welcome to Mod 4 Digital Photography!

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to the Digital Photography online class.  Digital Photography is a natural to offer as an online class because of the ease in creating and posting your work electronically.  I find Campus Cruiser to be cumbersome in general and have decided to publish the course syllabus on my own website, jnevins.com, and run the entire experience using the web, a blog, and a public hosting site.  Campus cruiser currently does not have the capacity to hold the number of images you’ll be posting as part of this class.

Class runs from March 23^rd until May 14th. All work needs to be completed by then.

There are four elements we need to juggle in order for this to be a successful experience for everyone... 

1.  The class syllabus... here are all the assignments and links to readings that you will need to work through the problems for each week of the class. The syllabus is found with this address:  jnevins.com/digitalphotographysyllabusonline.htm or click here.While you are at it, browse around the rest of my site to get to know me better.  I have posted a portfolio of my photography, links for finding galleries and museums online, my teaching philosophy and more.

2.  The Class Blog.  Here. This is where we will build a sense of community.  It is important to post examples of your work each week as well as comments about your images to accompany the images posted as well as comment on the work of others in the class... you can ask questions to me personally anytime via email, but here is a public place to offer suggestions, ask questions and just generally where we can create a class environment.  Blogger is very easy to post to... the best way to post your images and comments is using Picasa2: The URL is   http://mod2digitalphotography1.blogspot.com/

Your grade is based on your posts to the blog and more importantly your portfolio of photographs, illustrating your understanding and completion of the assignment for each week.

 I  have added you to the class blog using your Campus Cruiser account… you need to respond to the the link that Blogger.com sent you in order to become a member of the class blog. Once you are a member, you can post there.  I'd prefer to stay in contact with you via regular email rather than Campus Cruiser email. If you email me using Campus Cruiser (jnevins@cc.albertus.edu) the auto response will reply right away asking you to please email me atjnevins@albertus.edu or  jnevins@jnevins.com. You may call me at home anytime (up until 9 pm) at 203-664-1014 if you would like to talk personally or to help solve a technical issue that would be harder via email. It is very important to get all technical issues solved and out of the way at the outset, in the first week.

3.  Picasa3 software that is free from Google and found here  This is a fairly comprehensive image editing and organizing program.  It makes finding, opening, editing, posting to the blog, printing, emailing, etc.... your photographs extremely easy and there isn't the steep learning curve associated with Adobe Photoshop CS2. Photoshop is expensive , ($280 or so for the student price) and hard to learn at first.  If you have Photoshop and enjoy using it then by all means continue to use it.  You will do just fine staying with Picasa3 though.

4.  Image hosting for your whole portfolio.  My online art classes host their portfolio images at  Fotothing.com from the UK.  It makes posting your assignments a snap and we have the ability to form a group or virtual community as "friends", similar to myspace.  Join up there then send me your screen name so I can add you as a “friend” ... my screen name is jnevins.  Check out the portfolios of previous Mod  students. They are “my friends” to the right of my page. Fotothing.com/jnevins  If you can't figure out how a shot was done, post your question to the blog or email me and I may use it as a post on the blog to the rest of the class.

This first week, we must iron out all of the technical issues to be sure that everyone is up to speed.  I have asked for you to post a self portrait and to tell us something about yourself.  This is an art course and its primary focus will be on your portfolio as the basis for your assessment.  Read through the syllabus to get a sense of what I will be looking for.  Links I have posted to visual images and readings are an important component of the class... I'll be looking at how you are in dialog with the images and ideas linked in the syllabus as a component of your grade.  Also important is that I get a sense of your  spending time at the assignments and are growing in the medium of photography as the course unfolds. Posting your best one or two  images you are creating to the class blog about twice a week is vital to your success in this class.  Use the comment button to respond to your classmates posts.  One of the strong points of using Fotothing is the ability to post comments there as well. The bulk of your work will be posted to fotothing.  I am expecting 7 images per week as the bare minimum… (7 that really fulfill the intent of the assignment and more like 10 would be a better number… this is digital!)

Any comments, suggestions, or observations as to how I can smooth the way for you as we get going will be welcome.  My goal is your success and your feeling that this was well worth your time.

Looking forward to launching this new class!

Best wishes,

Jerry