SYLLABUSUser GuideHomeKenji Tachibana - v01-02-06



DESCRIPTION:

This is the current (v01-02-06) class description and it overrides any previous
descriptions of this class. Please base your class expectations and requirements
on the following descriptions.

Art 114:Digital Photography I

Times:On CampusED-2843BMW6:30-9:30PM

Times:OnlineN/AWF1:00-4:00PM


EQUIPMENT REQUIREMENTS:

1. Four or more megabyte digital camera costing approximately $275 or more with
a minimum of 3 automatic and 1 full manual exposure modes:

• AUTO - excellent mode for building confidence and gaining experience using
your unique digital camera.
• SHUTTER PRIORITY - use this to control the shutter speeds from fast to slow.
• APERTURE PRIORITY - use this to control lens opening from small to large in
order to control depth-of-field and selective focus.
• MANUAL - using this to control both the shutter speed and aperture.

2. Required camera accessories, software, and other related items ($175 to $599).

• Tripod - cost can range from $35 to $135.
• Digital film (256MB or larger capacity) - cost can range from $15 to $49.
• Lens tissue (micro fiber lens cleaning cloth) - cost can range from $5 to $10.
• Photo editing application - cost can range from $35 to $200.
• Word processing application (Word preferred) - cost $50.
• USB Thumb (256 to 512MB) - cost can range from $20 to $40.
• Optional (256 to 512 MB) - extra digital film card costing $25 to $50
• USB digital film (card) reader - cost can range from $10 to $30.
• Photo lights - cost can range from $30 to $45.
• Notebook - to hold class handouts and your own assignment notes.
• Miscellaneous - stuff costing up to $25.

3. Always bring to each class:

• Digital camera - fully functioning.
• Digital camera batter - fully charged.
• Digital film card - 100 MB free space required.
• Camera instruction manual - your classroom text book.
• Lens tissue - micro fiber lens cleaning cloth preferred.
• Tripod - it should reach your eye level with tilt, level, and pan adjustments.
• Notebook - for class handouts, your notes, and your reference materials.
• USB card reader - use this to download your images to your computer.
• Optional - spare digital film card for processed images and other data files.
• Optional - thumb drive to transport processed images and other data files.

4. Adobe Photoshop 7, CS1, or CS2:

• Having your own Photoshop is highly recommended.
• Optional - you can use the NSCC Computer Lab (It has Mac's with Photoshop).
• The Lab also has Microsoft Word for writing assignments and book reports.
• Optional - Photoshop Elements 3 is "not" supported but it can be used.
• Photoshop literacy expected as follows:
- Launch the application
- Open, save, and close files
- Beginner's familiarity with Toolbox, Menus, and Palettes.
• You'll learn how to use the toolbox, menus, and palettes to work on assignments.

5. Knowledge: YOU MUST ALREADY BE COMPUTER LITERATE!

• Have a rudimentary understanding of file management
- Open, Save, Close, Rename, and Move files and folders
• I will do a brief intro on "How to use and adjust the Mac" for on-campus students
• I will do the same with "Using Artshare and Mac Network" for on-campus students

6. Fees:

• Art lab and Computer lab fees required
• This will allow you to use the Computer Lab to access the Mac and Photoshop 7



CLASS GOALS

The main focus of the class is to get each student to become proficient at using their
digital camera on Auto. Hopefully, you will apply yourself and learn to use the more
advanced features such as the aperture priority, shutter priority, and the manual
mode. The more serious students should strive to catch on to the core idea of
"making" photographic statements.


ASSIGNMENT DESIGN

The class and homework assignments are designed and structured to give you the
necessary logic, scientific framework, and experience to building your digital camera
skill base. Once you learn how to control the tool, your personal creative voice can
start to sing. That's where photography can become a source of creative energy.


SCIENCE: Rules, facts, and formulas

You will learn about aperture (f/stops), shutter speed (slow, moderate, fast, and
1/30 sec), focal length (wide, standard, and telephoto), white balance (neutral color),
and chip sensitivity (ISO).

You will also need to learn about the capabilities and limitations of your particular
compact digital camera. Ultimately, your applied skill and scientific knowledge should
end up serving your individual creative spirit. Photography is about balancing
science, technology, and art to achieve your end goal.


SCIENCE OF PHOTOGRAPHY AND APPLIED SKILL DEVELOPMENT

1. Learn to use the Mac and NSCC network - on campus students only.
• Mac interface
- Turn it on properly
- Turn it off properly (Shut down)
- Start necessary applications such as Word and Photoshop
- Accessing (mount) ArtShare (temporary network drive)
- Desktop management (keep it minimal to avoid confusion)
• File management - both on-campus and online students
- Files and file types
- Folders and sub-folders (on campus students only)
- File save, move, and delete (on campus students only)
- File naming and renaming (on campus students only)
- File backup

2. Learn about the parts and capabilities of your digital camera.
• Camera body
• Lens
• Computer interface and firmware
- Default setup
- Custom setup options
• LCD monitor image, information, and hidden image
- Picture view
- Picture menu view
- Playback view
- Playback menu view
- Hidden image (you don't always see all of the image)
• EXIF (digital image facts) information
• Histogram
- Normal - simple
- Normal - real world
- Normal - special conditions
• Exposure
- Normal
- Over
- Under
- Exposure compensation
- Exposure related to lighting
• White balance
- Daylight - 5500
- Skylight - 6500
- Cloudy - 6000
- Incandescent (Tungsten) - 2800
- Speed light (flash) - 6300
- Fluorescent - 4500 (very troublesome light source)
• Flash
- Full power
- Flash exposure compensation
- Fill flash
- Fill flash with exposure compensation

3. Learn to use Photoshop for image management and manipulation.
• Interface
- Launch and close application
- Standard menu and optional tools menu
- Palettes
a. Navigation
b. Information
c. History
d. Layers and layer masks br>
e. Channels (mask)
f.Text
• Special utility
- Browser (superb image management tool)
- Browser - 4 power sub-windows
a. Directory (folder) browser and locator
b. Enlargement window
c. EXIF - metadata (image-data) information
d. Light table - image file viewer, sorter, and organizer
• Introduction to Image manipulation tools
- Toolbox and tools used for basic photography
- Selection tool from the simple rectangle, magic wand, to the magnetic
- Foreground, background, and default colors
- Adjust levels, brightness/Contrast, and color (white balance)
- Non-destructive adjustment layer
- Image and canvas size in pixels and inches
- Image resolution
a. 72 dpi monitor resolution
b. 200 dpi print output resolution
- Cropping, resizing, and proportions
- Screen mode - presentation Black
- Text tool
a. Font selection - Times, Arial, and others
a. Font size - point

4. Learn to light
• Front, side, edge, and top lighting
• Lighting for space (foreground, middle-ground, and background)
• Lighting for form (subject)
• Lighting for mood (subject and scene)
• Lighting to flatter the subject
• Diffuser, fill card, and scrim (light block)
• Fill (balanced) flash if time permits

5. Learn about exposure bracketing.
• Achieving normal exposure is a combination of science and art
• Normal exposure looks "not too dark and not too light"
• Under exposure looks dark and over exposure looks light
• Intentionally shoot dark and light images (bracket) to experience over, normal,
and under exposure
• Learn about applying the bracketing idea to other aspects of photography
- Composition (dynamic, static, leading, classic, documentary, to natural)
- Camera position (up, down, side, farther, or closer to the subject)
- Lighting (front, side, top, back, multiple sources, and flash)
- Background (1 dimensional, 3 dimensional, natural, designed, and other)
- Prop (holding a flower sends a different message than holding a gun)
- Staging (this can involve something small as a prop or it can encompass the
whole environment
- Color
- Focal Length (wide angle, standard, telephoto, and super telephoto)
- Shutter speed (use fast, medium, and slow shutter speeds on running water)
- Choosing to shoot at a particular time of the day can have great impact on
the lighting.

6. Learn about photographic composition and design.
• Rule of thirds (a rough guide)
• Optical center and other aspects of optical illusion
• Leading, directional and diagonal lines
• Negative and positive space
• Seeing things as it really is using the squint-observation technique
• Framing and cropping
- Cropping for size control
- cropping for design
• Proportion, maintaining proportion, and proportionality
• Scaling and the importance of image size and resolution



ASSIGNMENTS

Class and homework assignments are the foundation to your digital photography
education. Do them with tenacious care and joyful pride. It will pay off!

Each assignment will have the goal of helping to develop the skill sets described in
the previous section. Each assignment is a building block. Missing an assignment will
have serious consequences. When necessary, use your team/network resources to
stay on target and to turn in your assignments.

Your Responsibility: Don't ever do a class assignment or leave the class without
knowing the goal and the requirements of the assignment. Learning is about paying
attention to get all the details right.

The remainder is hard work focused on delivering on the assignment requirements.
For each hour of class time, I expect you to spend the same amount of time outside
the class "living with" digital photography issues and assignment process.

Assignment process: Photography class and homework assignments are not like
adding 2 things together to get the sum. Photography assignment is multi-faceted.
It will require:
• Project management which may involve making arrangement with others. It can
also mean scheduling the shoot so that there is enough time for a re-shoot if
necessary.
• Time management for shooting, computing, image editing, and file management
which can take a long time and probably done in different blocks of times.
• Awareness of the environment and weather especially if your assignment is
dependant on location work.
• Delivery on contract. My obligation to you is to deliver the goods set forth in this
syllabus. Your obligation is to deliver on class attendance, class participation,
doing class work, and homework assignments. And to do so consistently and on
time.
I will give group feedback (crit) to help you improve your understanding and
performance on doing the assignment at a higher level of competence. I will
sometimes choose to give class feedback using one or two students as examples.

Expectation: I expect you to do additional research outside the class using resources
such as:
• dpreview.com - great unbiased source for facts (reviews and glossary) and
connections (discussion and chat rooms).
• NSCC or the Seattle Public Library - I will give you a book list as a starting point.
• Bookstores and magazine stands - Use the same book list as above and feel free
add to it and share that new resource with team mates and the class.

Natural Learning Opportunities: When you really get into it, you'll become aware of
and run into digital camera or photographic issues. Always follow up on those magic
discoveries with inspiration research, thinking, and hands-on experimentation. Your
creative muse is talking to you, listen up and do it right now.

Bonus points: You can even cash in on your inspiration by writing a report and giving
a special class presentation which can use the standard writing assignment format.
This kind of special report will require a photographic illustration to "makes the point"
of your report.

Warning: I will not be answering definition or "what is this?" type of questions about
your unique camera. Those type of questions must be researched using your camera
manual, the camera store, or "www.dpreview.com". You need to develop the good
habit and the ability to "help yourself".

On The Other Hand: The first half of the class will be primarily devoted to figuring
out your camera. We will not move on to image, lighting, composition, Photoshop
and the other visual and design issues until the digital camera basics have been
thoroughly covered and understood by you.



SECRET INGREDIENT

1. You bring a unique point-of-view to the class and to harness the creative potential
of the digital camera. The tools and software are powerful but, you are the most
important ingredient in the picture “making” process. By your active participation,
you will also influence the direction and growth of our class. I look forward to that.

2. Strength and weakness, we all have them. You'll see mine and I'll see yours. It's very
important to know your own strength and weaknesses. Tip-toe on your strength to
reach your full potential. And avoid the self-made pot-holes on your road to creativity
by being fully aware of your weaknesses.

3. Don't under estimate the creative potential of accidents and mistakes. Learn to
recognize “grand gifts”. The accidental discoveries that we make have the potential
of taking us beyond our narrow framework. Creativity is about letting ourselves go
beyond our natural borders.

4. The idea of play is a necessary partner to creativity. Once you're introduced to a
new tool, technique, or an idea, jump on it like a playful kitten. Bat it around, roll
with it, see what it does, see happens, and have fun with it. I will teach you digital
photography and computer techniques to help you play safely.

5. Digital photography is a great leap forward and a tiny step backward. The digital
advantage is the immediacy, interactivity, and intuitive process. Polaroid was anin-between medium but the image quality was too poor and the process was not
very flexible. Digital photography has the immediacy of the Polaroid with the added
flexibility of 21st century computer technology and software engineering design.



ATTENDANCE

Each class session builds on the knowledge, skill, experience, and practice gained from
the previous class. This makes attendance extremely important. To get the most out of
this class, do the following:

1. Attend every class - extremely vital for maximizing learning and minimizing confusion.

2. Always be on time - very important to make the most of our time together.

3. Actively participate from the beginning to the end of each class.

4. For each classroom hour, spend an equal or more amount of time doing homework
or focused on digital photography issues. Talk about taking pictures without the
camera.



GRADES

Grades are earned by you through consistent application of the following:

1. Timely classroom attendance combined with active participation.

2. Attention to detail combined with on-time assignment and project delivery.

3. Grades are also based on class and homework presentation. I expect you to
improve your skills in this area throughout the quarter.

4. I expect to see your personal "take" on each assignment. This will require you to
fully understand each assignment - take ownership of each assignment.

5. Allow each assignment to become an opportunity to express your core self.

6. Grade points are earned gradually throughout the quarter. It's not possible to
save a poor grade after the mid-term through heroic efforts.

7. A few extra credit assignments will be offered during the quarter.

8. Office Hours 5 to 6PM TUE and THU: If you are having difficulty, please make an
appointment to speak to me. Please don't have private conversations with me
before the class, during breaks, or after the class!

9. Counterpoint - Being too grade centric can interfere with real learning. If your
work shows care and hard work, you will get a reasonable grade. Although an "A”
grade is reserved for “Excellence” and not easily earned.


NO SECRET:

If you are working for an "A" grade, expect to spend at least 6 hours per week on homework assignments. Also don't put it off until the last minute. Some of the
assignments are daylight dependant. So you will have to shoot when daylight is
available.

It also helps to do or shoot bonus options. Besides earning a better grade, you'll
get much more out of the class. One more thing, after the third class, always read
ahead to the next assignment.


REVIEW: How to earn a high grade.

1. Attend every class and come to class on-time.

2. Do all the class and homework assignments.

3. Do the assignment skillfully with attention to assignment requirements.

4. Turn in all the assignments on-time.

5. Pay attention in class and don't leave the class until you understand the assignment
expectations. But don't wait until the end or after the class to ask your question.

6. Ask questions - there are probably others with the same question and everyone will
benefit from hearing the answer.

7. If you finish your task early, help other students. Your assistance can help to keep
the class stay on-track or move ahead to more advanced lessons.


LECTURES, PRESENTATIONS, AND DEMONSTRATIONS

1. I expect the class to be quiet, attentive, and focused on learning the material.

2. No side conversations should occur at these times. Individual classroom grades will
reflect inattentive activities by any student.

3. Student questions are encouraged. Usually, when one student has a question, other
students have the same or similar questions. When a student asked a question, all
the students are encourage to listen to my response. I expect each student to ask
at least one to two questions per class.

NEXT: INTRODUCTION