Week 3 : REVISED

My friends,

I apologize for my delay in getting this up. I know I said I'd have it up on Friday, and low and behold friday came and went. No excuses.

With that said, I think it's only fitting that I give you a little bit of a reduced assignment for the week. Just as a reminder, you all need to see Kevin to get Pixelmator installed on your computer by the start of class on Wednesday. We are going to be jumping into image retouch, so get excited! In the meantime, here is all I want to see from you for Wed:

Find 10 images you really like/find inspirational online and post them to your blog with a 1-2 sentence caption explaining why. I'm leaving this wide open as I recognize that you will all probably get inspired about different genres of photography, subjects, etc. Any appropriate images you find are fine by me. Landscape, portrait, wildlife, journalistic, abstract, etc. Whatever you like! Be articulate though. Try to really think about what it is you like about the images.

Think about composition, leading lines, color, time of day, focus, balance, and exposure... to name a few.

Check out this link here. I'd like you to try and incorporate some of this terminology in your short responses. Have fun! There is no wrong answer.

As always, if you have any questions please feel to email or call at anytime.

Week 2 Pictures

You guys are becoming quite talented!

Week 3:

Good afternoon!

I hope this last week has treated you well. It was wonderful going through the images you shot in class and continuing to get an idea of how you see things. I'll post some of them here later. Now that we have learned a little bit more about portraiture work, we should probably go into photo retouching. Here's what we will have in store for this week:

1. Download Pixelmator onto your computers if you have not already done so.

2. Watch KelbyTraining Portrait retouching tutorial in class.

3. Utilizing the Portraits you took during week 2, make basic image correction techniques we went over in class.

4. On your blogs, do a one paragraph writeup on what you learned about photo portrait retouching and post before and after images.

Week 2:

Hello wonderful class. I hope the last week has treated you well and you've found plenty of imagery surrounding you to get inspired. Two of you have Assignment 1 completed, thank you! I won't rule out the remaining two of you seeming as though you have until tomorrow afternoon. Please get those in so I, as well as your peers can provide feedback tomorrow during class.

I've been getting super excited about what we have in store for the next several months. Like we talked about I'm going to show you the doorway and encourage you to walk through it, but it's up to you to run, cartwheel, roll, or forage through. My goal, once again is to help you guys get excited about this stuff and discover how amazing everything is around us. Throughout the quarter I will provide structure for our week long goals and would ask that we all interact and communicate with each other to help hold one another accountable.

Things we will be covering this week:

Camera basics (aperture, shutter speed, ISO, auto modes, manual mode, etc.), importance of light (natural vs. artificial), composition (rule of thirds), depth of field, and portraiture.

Wednesday will be a brief overview of these things and we will then continue to discuss and practice these skills for the rest of our time together.

Assignment 2:

1. Write a one page report on a portrait photographer that you find inspiring. *I will provide a list of photographers to choose from (You're welcome to use another professional photographer if you find one).

Here are some questions to get you going:

Who is it? What have they done? What are they most famous for? How did they get started? What are your favorite elements of photography you admire in their work? Do they have a specific style? Do they prefer black and white or color, why? Please also list a link at the conclusion of your paper showcasing some of the photographers works.

2. Take and upload three portrait images. One extreme close up (head or tighter), one medium closeup (we can see subject from about the waist up), and one long shot (entire subject is in frame). They can be candid or posed, whichever you prefer. I'd like to see you incorporate what we talked about in class. Framing/composition, lighting, etc.

Really think about how you're shooting the individual. Are you portraying them their very best? What story are you trying to tell? What do you want us, as viewers to learn about this individual from each photograph. Be specific and intentional. Your camera is a paintbrush and your subject is part of your canvas. Artists are articulate and they explore different ways of showcasing their work. Don't automatically assume that the first time you look through your viewfinder that you will have the "right" shot. Look at different angles and perspectives!

*

Yousuf Karsh

Julia Margaret Cameron

Annie Leibovitz

Joe McNally

William Stillman

Francis Frith

Henri Cartier Bresson

Giovanni Crupi

Richard Avedon

Frederick Day

Jock Sturges

Nicholas Nixon

August Sanders

George Hurrell

Cecil Beaton

Arnie Leibelman

Edward Weston

Imogene Cunningham

Phillippe Halsman

Arnold Newman

Additional resources regarding portraiture photography:

6 tips for Great composition

Great article on portrait photography

Week 1:

Good afternoon!

In case you didn't catch it, my name is Jonny Long and I'll be learning alongside you over the next several months. I'm a photographer/filmmaker/creative enthusiast. As visual artists we have the unique privilege of viewing people, places, objects, shapes, animals, and such in unordinary ways. What others view as mundane, we might find beautiful and inspiring. We find the simplistic with the "complex" and discover the complexity of the "simple." In other words we look at things differently, which is awesome!

While we will have many goals as we tred along, my overall wish is that you will discover the amazingness of your own eye. Every individual is blessed with the ability to view things differently than anyone else can. Every individual see's things from a different perspective. More powerful than the most expensive technology you can buy, whether it's camera's, computers, software, etc., is your own eye.

Your assignment for next wednesday, Jan. 19 is as follows:

1. Make sure you are following the class blog here

2. Create your own blog and go through the design options we go over in class to personalize it as you wish.

3. On your blog, in 2-4 paragraphs, answer the following questions:

How do you view the world around you? What inspires you? Who inspires you? How do you see your personality coming through your photography? What are your hobbies? What genre of photography interests you the most and why (wedding, portraiture, landscape, wildlife, children, sports, etc.)?

4. Lastly, utilizing any type of camera you'd like, whether it's a phone camera, point and shoot, or DSLR, find and take 7 images that you believe will give insight into your personality and post them to your blog.

If you have any questions during the week please don't hesitate to shoot me an email at jonny@verylongmedia.com