TASKS FOR DECEMBER
Let's Pour A...
Originally, this assignment was called "Let's Pour A Beer." Seeing how this is a high school class, that task might actually be somewhat difficult. Certainly, the high school administration would frown upon such homework; however, I think we can make a few modifications and achieve the same objectives...
Pour Shots are interesting. Rather than pouring a beer and catch the ‘head’ coming up, how about a Ginger Ale? Sparkling Cider is fine. Seven Up is fine as is Sprite… look, you get it – right?
Keep in mind that in order to see through the liquid, backlight is what we want to use. In almost all cases. Whether you side light the liquid or backlight it, the point is to make sure that the light is reflected from the liquid pouring through the space.
Here are some links to check out on ‘pour shots.'
IMAGE MAKERS:
Some amazing work at Lew Robertson‘s site.
Michael West will get your juices goin’…
The tasty work of TJ Hine.
Steve Adams has some good stuff to look at as well.
Bill Brady has some nice work too.
And here is Brent Ward’s site SplashPour.
It is not important to do it in a ‘studio’ or interior location. Have fun with it. Make it yours… something pouring… Make it really sparkle. Natural light, strobe, splashing into a tall glass or a short glass or some ice or whatever…. dang it. Make a fun pour shots.
DUE DATE: Wed/Thu, December 18-19th; 1 Photo. (Include metadata in picture description and sketch or description of lighting scenario)
Bokeh Christmas Lights
It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas… a technique that is always popular at this time of year – Bokeh Christmas lights shots.
The technique takes a bit of experimenting and practice but is relatively simple to do. You need some Christmas lights and a camera lens with a reasonably ‘fast’ aperture (or a large aperture).
The key is to shoot at the larger end of your available aperture – this throws the background (and foreground) of your shot out of focus and any Christmas lights in the foreground or background will become little balls of light.
As you’ll see in most of the images featured in this series – the technique is particularly good if you also have some element in your shot that is in focus. This ‘subject’ might be a person, a pet, a Christmas decoration or something else.
You can make the little balls of light bigger by increasing the distance between your in focus subject and the out of focus lights in the background.
While most of the images in this series have the Christmas lights in the background of the image (behind the subject) it is also possible to create the little bokeh balls of light by putting the lights in the foreground of your image (in front of your subject). You can see this in the image below. The impact is a little different as the bokeh balls will cover part of your subject.
To get these different little bokeh shapes is pretty simple. You just need to make a little cutout ‘mask’ for your lens. See the link above.
DUE DATE: Wed/Thu, December 18-19th;; 2 Photos. (Include metadata in picture description)
A Simple One Light Portrait For An Arts Magazine
This is a simple one light portrait of an artist. You can of course use someone other than a real artist, but they should “represent” an artist. Background should be plain. Not a location shoot, but of course it can be done anywhere.
Subject should be holding something that represents their art: camera, brush, pottery, manuscript, guitar.
Portrait should not be lower than a half shot.
Technical: One light only please.
Answers to possible questions:
Yes. Fill cards can be used.
Yes. Even shiny ones.
No. Do not show any reality background.
Yes. One light source only.
Yes. Natural light counts.
Yes. Strobe count as well.
No. Adding just one more light for the hair is not allowed. But feel free to add a shiny board for the hair.
The shot should be straight on. It should have good contrast, and a lit/shadow side.Ideas for backgrounds: blank wall, paper, sheet, muslin background, whatever
Add a shot of your setup please.
DUE DATE: Wed/Thu, December 18-19th; 1 Photo. (Include metadata in picture description and sketch or description of lighting scenario.)
CHOOSE ONE OF THE FOLLOWING
Chocolate... Sweets for the Sweet
A local restaurant has decided to run a special on chocolate on their menu for the next month. They need something that says, no – SCREAMS Chocolate!!! People or still life or cute little furry animals or fish… … well… probably not fish… but you get the idea.
Chocolate… and they are featuring chocolate candies, pie, cake, ice cream, and specialties. Chocolate. It’s that simple… and that hard. Oh, and the finished art work is a square… that is predetermined by their menu, so no options there. Final image is to be a SQUARE.
There may be type on it, but that is not an issue now… just make the shot so freekin’ chocolaty that we feel a need to brush after looking at it. If you are a people shooter, shoot people with chocolate. If you are a still life shooter, shoot still life. Kids, or landscape or environmental… whatever YOUR personal interest is, shoot that. This is where you let YOUR style and vision direct the end product.
More thoughts on chocolate:
Chocolate is a fairly delicate subject.
Fingers can destroy the very smooth surface. I will use tongs or small spatulas for moving the items around. Occasionally there will be a mark or scrape on the chocolate. It manifests itself as a bit brighter area to almost white. I use a very soft cloth with a tiny – TINY – amount of vegetable oil to wipe the chocolate down and create a new looking surface.
Heat is not our friend. Even modeling lights can create a disaster with the chocolate, so work with dummy or bad pieces of chocolate to work out the lighting. After it is what you want, change out the ‘stand in’ chocolate for the good stuff and shoot quickly. Remember not to move it from areas that are visible to camera.
Chocolate runs from the very dark to lighter milk chocolate. The very dark chocolate has almost a black color, with a very efficient (shiny) surface. Use specular highlight and reflections of white cards to create the shape and texture of the very dark chocolate. Milk Chocolate has a higher true value color, so there is a little more latitude for creating lighting that shows the color without the absolute necessity for specular or reflective light.
The higher the quality of the chocolate the easier it is to work with. Look for hard shell or more “boutique’ types of chocolate items to shoot. You may have more luck with the chocolate not getting marks or skids on it.
Be very picky when you are shopping for the chocolate. Do not let the clerks bag them together if they are loose items. Take your own baggies and tray… buy the chocolate and then carefully insert it into the baggie and set it on the tray. Sound like a lot of effort? It is… that is why we get the big bucks to do this stuff.
Some items like fudge, or chocolate brownies, will have a natural texture to the cut side. Cuts will slowly (quickly on shoot days) turn dry and unattractive. Use a VERY sharp knife to cut them on the edge (1/8 inch) to reveal the new, rich looking chocolate. And wiping them with a very slight amount of cooking oil may also bring a little freshness back to them.
Lighting should run from natural and diffused natural (window, north light window or non-direct sun) to softboxes and scrims for strobes. Remember that your light source may actually be SEEN in the chocolate if it is a shiny surface, so creating a look of smooth light and soft specular is very important.
DUE DATE: Wed/Thu, December 18-19th; 1 Photo. (Include metadata in picture description and sketch or description of lighting scenario
Recipe and Ingredients For A Regional Magazine
Shoot the ingredients for a salad (your recipe) on a white background. Keep the shot very tightly framed. We need a little white space at the foreground for some type.
Regional magazine wants a one page article shot for their upcoming issue.
Specifics:
magazine is 8×10.5″ tall
full bleed image, with recipe text over image
prefer to put text on the bottom area of the image, but NOT a deal killer
they want the shot on white (a stylistic format they use)
prefer something simple like a salad or desert
whimsical or fun is fine
this is an ingredients shot, not a prepared food shot
Keep in mind that this is a rather great shot to make your style stand out. It is your art direction and styling, so do it with all the tricks and stuff that you feel appropriate.
If you need a recipe to shoot:
Recipe.com
All Recipes
Food Network (Salads)
You do NOT have to put the type on the image, just make sure there is room for it. If you wish to do the recipe on the image, that is also fine, but again, it is not a requirement.
White surfaces:
Foam Core (I have some), Butcher Paper, Poster board, White laminate, White furniture top, White Plex, Masonite painted white… and I am sure there are countless other white surfaces.
Surface of the image is to remain white. That tells us that the light must be somewhat overhead or to the side of the image and there should be no (or nearly no) fall off on the front of the image.
Many times that is achieved by using a scrim over the top of the set to provide even, smooth light, and adding stylistic lights from the side or behind.
Natural light shooters can accomplish this by shooting in open shade, or very close to a window with lots of white cards to go around the set – keeping the light within the set and on the subject.
Here are a few sites with some ideas:
Shooting on a white surface with natural window light.
A few ideas to also think about:
Daylight balanced Fluorescent bulbs (curly ones) at 100 watts. In close behind a scrim they can add some nice fill or highlights. A bare one in a clip on Home Depot shop light reflector could be flagged or cooked to produce interesting highlights. A flag is something that blocks part of the light, and a cookie is a shape cut out of a flag to allow some light to pass.
Consider a piece of black poster board with a window frame (four panes) cut out of it in the middle. This could be used very close to the set to add some interesting highlight/shadow with the curly bulb behind it. Softer edges are from bulb in close – sharper edges from bulb moving away from the cookie.
Simple salads to simple desserts… this is NOT prepared food, but ingredients. What is going to go into the prepared dish.
DUE DATE: Wed/Thu, December 18-19th;1 Photo. (Include metadata in picture description and sketch or description of lighting scenario)
Christmas Lights Portrait...
Let's have some fun and create something intriguing... by combining lights and people. You can do this outside, at your house, in the studio (with continuous lighting), or whatever makes you happy.
DUE DATE: Wed/Thu, December 18-19th; 2 Photos.
AP - 10x1
Shoot 10 unique photos of one subject. Exactly how you go about this will depend on whether your subject is capable of moving on its own, but regardless you’ll need to do some creative composing and framing.
Due: Monday, December 16th, 10 Photos
AP - Juxtaposition and Contrast
Create three images that contrasts subjects, textures, or colors. Place contrasting elements side-by-side (e.g. Old vs New, Nature vs Urban). Use color theory (e.g. complementary or contrasting colors). Include opposing themes (e.g. chaos vs order or growth vs decay).
The goal is to convery tension or balance through thoughful composition. Sometimes this is known as a diptych photo. You can use Photoshop to bring images together.
Due: Monday, January 6th, 3 Images
