Photography

Reimagining the Master Works of Art

Each student found a work of art from any time period, by any artist, and in any medium that they found interesting. Once they selected a work of art, they learned that they would have to recreate it in a photo. This is always a bit shocking and students try to change their image to something else they feel is "easier". They are disappointed instantly to hear that they cannot change the image but they become excited when they begin to plan how they can recreate the image.

The process of the project pushes students to think creatively and work together to problem solve. Often they take a photo and then compare it to the original work of art and see what they need to do to impove. The final results are always rewarding.

Students also complete a research presentation on their artist and artwork. Sharing what they learned with their classmates and showing off their creative interpretations of the original image.

Portraits

The class looked at several different photographers throughout history that took portrait photos such as Cindy Sherman, Richard Avedon, Tanja Alexia Hollander,and Man Ray. Each artist has a different style and philosophy of capturing a portrait. The class discussed the differences and similarities of each as well as photo techniques that can be used to create a diverse looking image. Students then needed to create or capture ten portraits from the folowing options: Texture, Overexposure, Underexposure, Back-light, Posing, Reflections, Shadows, Self Portraits, Specific Setting, Get Close, Capture the Moment, Color, Get Serious, Props and Self Portrait. Can you match the images below with the categories students worked from?

Muti Layer Photo

Photo by Courtney Baeckmann

Once students started to get the hang of the camera settings, how to make an interesting compostion and the basics of photoshop, they were ready to get creative. With the multi-layer project, students needed to create three different images. Each image needed to be made up of three different photos. Using photoshop, students needed to select portions of each photo to layer together and create unique images. Take a close look and see if you can see each of the different photos the students have selected.

Depth of Field

Depth of field is the distance between the nearest and farthest objects in a photo that appear sharp in an image. Students experimented with different f-stops to capture photos with everything in focus and photos with only one important part of the image in focus.

Shutter Speed and Capturing Motion

To better understand how to use all the functions of a camera, the photography class was challenged to capture motion. To do this, they needed to adjust the shutter speed and understand that the longer the shutter is open, the more movement (blur) the camera would capture. The shorter the shutter speed, the more crisp the photos would be.
Students then tried to create interesting images using shutter speed, their knowledge of the elements of art, and compositional techniques.

Elements of Art

The class reviewed the elements of art for their first photo project. They were challenged to find examples of line, shape. space, texture and value. We also discussed photo techniques such as rule of thirds, angle of view and framing. Students then explored the world they live in through the camera lens looking for interesting examples of the elements of art.

2015-2016 School Year...

Reimagining the Master Works of Art

Students each found a work of art from any time period, by any artist and in any medium that they found interesting. Once they selected a work of art, they learned that they would have to recreate it in a photo. This is always a bit shocking and students try to change their image to something else they feel is "easier". They are disappointed instantly to hear that they cannot change the image but they become excited when they begin to plan how they can recreate the image.

The process of the project pushes students to think creatively and work together to problem solve. Often they take a photo and then compare it to the original work of art and see what they need to do to impove. The final results are always rewarding.

Students also complete a research presentation on their artist and artwork. Sharing what they learned with their classmates and showing off their creative interpretations of the original image.

Photograph by Grace Statham

Portraits

Muti Layer Photo

Once students started to get the hang of the camera settings, how to make an interesting compostion and basic photoshop they are ready to get creative. With the muti layer project, students needed to create three different images, each image needs to be made up of three different photos. Using photoshop students need to select portions of each photo to layer together and create unqiue images. Take a close look and see if you can see each of the different photos the student have selected.

Depth of Field

Shutter Speed and Capturing Motion

Line, Shadow and Texture

2014-2015 School Year...

Multi Layer Photo

Depth of Field

Motion

Texture

Line and Shadow

2014-2015 School Year...

Portraits

Students are challenged with capturing a wide range of portraits. Each student needed to photograph a candid, movement, serious, reflection, back lit, close-up, awkward, environmental portrait. Each student had their own take on the category and all especially liked taking candid portraits. Here is a selection from their work. Students also have a great joy in photographing their teachers. A special thank you to all the teachers who allowed them to take multiple portraits!

Light Painting

Students learn how to control the shutter speed and aperture of their cameras to capture images of light and light in the darkness.

Capturing Motion

Students used settings on the camera to capture motion. Students could capture freeze frames of movement or could set cameras to capture motion with a longer exposure and reveal the blur of objects moving.

Storm King Sculpture Park

The photo class took a field trip to Storm King Sculpture Park, allowing them to experience the Modern and Contemporary sculpture in the natural world. They documented the trip with their photos.

Depth of Field

Adjusting the aperture allows a photographer to focus on a specific area in a photo, or keep everything in focus. Students practiced working with aperture creating photos with deep depth of field (everything in focus) or shallow depth of field (only one section in focus).
Selective coloring was introduced using layers in Photoshop, allowing students to highlight parts of their photos.