Assignment for Monday, Oct. 3

The next assignment is to create a picture that will have four (or more) images of yourself in one single environment. Put another way, it'll be a picture of some space -- a room, landscape, whatever -- in which there are at least five images of you, realistically inhabiting the space. There should also be some overlapping among at least two of the "yous."

Part of this assignment is technical - thinking of how you are going to best execute your idea, making sure the lighting works in the way you want it to, making sure you've staged the scene in a way that works, utilizing a tripod perhaps in stabilizng your multiple shots. The other part of the assignment is creative -- thinking through what the realtionship between your four (or more) selves might be, and what their relationship to the environment might be. It will be relatively easy to just position yourself in a room in four different poses, and just piece the four photos together. But there should be some sort of drama that is expressed in the picture.

You can dress in different costume for your four or more selves, so that the multiple yous are multiple characters. Or you could take the multiple yous as different expressions of the same central personality. Is one version of you the ego, and the other the id? Is one a voice undermining you, and is another a contrary voice of optimism and hope? What are the different faces of your personality, and what sorts of relationships or conflicts do they have with one another? How could those relationships/conflicts be expressed through action, through expression, through gesture?

This doesn't have to be heavy at all -- you can have a comical take on the problem -- but the bottom line is that there should be some psychological relationship betwen the multiple "characters." It doesn't have to be obvious or over-the-top -- in fact, part of what made Mickey's image interesting was that there was a degree of ambiguity to the relationships, which invited the viewers to try and figure out what was going on. So it doesn't have to be "spelled out" -- but it does have to be there, somewhere.

You'll need to have your photos taken before next class -- which wil be a work period for combining the photos. I'll pair you up in groups of two during class today; it'll be a good way of covering people who don't have access to a digital camera, and it will be far easier to compose and shoot yourself properly with someone other than you taking the pictures. We will eventually be making prints of these images, so make sure you take the photos at print resolution.

Assignment for Wednesday (9/28)

On Wednesday, two things are due:

1. Your finished, and flattened, "fake news" image.

2. You should be prepared to give the class a photoshop tutorial, on any topic or effect you'd like to research. Google something you'd like to learn, or click around in the links on the "my blog list" column on the righthand side of this page (there are lots of good tutorials on those blogs). Remember, step yourself through it BEFORE you come to class, to make sure you understand all the steps, and have all the materials you need. You should be able to make your demonstration in about ten minutes.

Post a link or a one-sentence description of the tutorial you'd like to do in the "comments" to this blog post, including an indication of whether you're in the morning or afternoon section, checking to make sure no one else in your section has picked the same tutorial before you.

Assignment for Monday, Sept. 26

The current assignment is to fake a news story. This should involve at least three images you'e composited, and some supporting text -- the text could be as simple as a caption or headline, or you could write a mini news article to accompany the image, if appropriate. The "fake news" could be either something plausible, or something completely absurd. Either way, strive to make the image itself as convincing as possible, and try to create the accompanying caption or story in a way that it sounds like a real news story. Monday will be an in-class work day for this project, and it will be due at the begining of class the following Wednesday.

Come to class Monday with your raw materials for the project selected (or shot, if you're using any photos you plan to shoot yourself), and a basic sketch of your idea for the project.

Compositing Assignment: Making a small object large, or a large object small.

In this assignment, I want you to insert a small image into a large landscape, or a large image into a small space: think of putting a giant banana in the middle of Times Square, or putting the eiffel tower into an aquarium. This is a basic compositing exercise -- I want you to make it as convincing as possible. Six things to look for when compositing, to make consistent across your composited images:

1. Color Balance
2. Brightness and Contrast
3. Key Light Direction (and Shadows)
4. Perspective
5. Blur
6. Grain

Here's a good tutorial on changing the lighting source for an image by creating two layers for a single image, adjusting them to highlight and shadow values, and then blending the two layers:

Lighting a Giant Elephant By bpkelsey
http://www.worth1000.com/tutorial.asp?sid=161386&page=1

Due Wednesday: Your visual response to a collage artist

At the beginning of class Wednesday, have your completed and flattened visual response to your collage artist ready.

And FYI, the lab is open at the following times:

MWTR

8am-10am
7pm- 10pm

Fri

1pm-8pm

Sat

10am-8pm