Tomorrow's class will be spent critiquing your series of images that you have been working on all semester. This should consist of at least 10 images (unless you are named Jacob then you can turn in less due to the complexity of your images). I have asked you to put all your work on Flickr to facilitate the critique. Please post them as the largest size image that Flickr will allow. I would also ask you to burn these image to disk. If you have other work you want to turn in, you can burn that to disk as well. For that matter, it would probably be best if you just burned everything to one DVD. I will bring blank DVDs to class for your use.
Here is everything that you should turn in for a grade:
1. 1 HDR image
2. 1 Night Shot
3. 1 Panorama
4. 3 Holga shots
5. 10 shots on the same theme addressing some aspect of the urban landscape. This is what we will be critiquing tomorrow. 6. 1 Impossible Shot - aka the Stack Attack image
7. 1-2 pinhole shots.
8. Three prints of any of the above. (These can be your prints for the exhibits)
Each of these should be really solid images that you feel really good about. They should be edited to the highest standard that you are capable of. Please assess your images critically before asking the class to do so.
In addition, two prints framed and hang ready for the Parkwood show. These images are due tomorrow unless I already spoke to you about this (I know a number of you were waiting on framing, don't sweat it).
If you are working on the FB page, website, or postcard for the show that counts towards extra credit. The Honors show also counts as extra credit. I must have the framed images for the Honors show by the 15th as that is when Diana is going to hand them.
Thanks everyone. I look forward to seeing your work tomorrow.
Here is the proposal I originally submitted. This is what was approved. It has the kernel of an artist statement, but it is not fully realized yet. I will write an artist statement that builds on that and speaks to the actual body of work that we will submit.
Here is the listing of artists and the name of the pieces that I originally submitted with the proposal.
In 1975, the George Eastman House in Rochester, New York held an exhibit titled: New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape. The photographers included in this exhibit were: Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Joe Deal, Frank Gohlke, Nicholas Nixon, John Schott, Stephen Shore, and Henry Wessel Jr. Each photographer had 10 prints in the exhibition. The show was so influential that a reconstituted version of the show is currently traveling around the world.
Wikipedia has a good write up on the exhibition (as with all things on Wikipedia, don't trust everything you read there).
An NPR article about the exhibit which features a sideshow of images from the exhibit. Echoes of the New Topographics is a write up about the lasting impact of the work in the show and influence on contemporary photographers.
ASMP's DPBestflow. American Society of Media Photographers' awesome resource on digital photography best workflows/practices. Be sure to check it out and bookmark it.
This is just a quick reminder that we will be reviewing your new images that you created for your final series of images. If you want to put them on Flickr, that would be wonderful and save use some time. Otherwise, you can copy them to my computer or flash drive at the beginning of class.
We will also create a timeline for the remainder of the course. If you are ready to cut your mat, I will be happy to help you do so.
We will also look at some work by some photographers who participated in an exhibit that was titled New Topographics.
Earlier this semester Diana Attie asked me if I had some student work that I thought highly of that could be put on display in the Honors Complex of the Honors College. I asked her to check out your the work in the Clement Gallery. She expressed interest in it. So, here is the deal: She thinks there is room for 9-10 works. I am going to push that to 12 if I can. She wants the work by early December. Basically, I will select one of each of your pieces and pass it along to her. She will in turn hang it. She or I will then take it down just in time to move it to the Parkwood Gallery. Though I have yet to see the space, Diana says it is actually a nice space with lots of traffic and appropriate track lighting. So, another line on your resume!
f295 - enough said..actually it is a great resource for pinhole photography as well as other alternative/older photography techniques.
George L Smyth has some nice pinhole, zone plate, and infrared images. He used some funky multiple pinhole designs. Check out his Blender Pinhole gallery.
As discussed in class, Tuesday will be a work day to assemble your Stack Attack images. I would like you to have 2 completed by critique on Thursday. So, basically you need to have 2 shot by Tuesday. Please ask yourself, "What is this about, what I am saying?" for each of your composite images. It is not enough to simple implement the technique. The complexity of what I am asking you to do is increasing both in terms of technical mastery as well as conceptual rigor.
On Thursday, we will have a critique looking at everything that you have done in class thus far. Here is a list of what I expect that you should have ready to show:
1. 1 HDR image
2. 1 Night Shot
3. 1 Panorama
4. 3 Holga shots
5. 5 shots taken outside of the above assignments which are on the same theme addressing some aspect of the urban landscape. 6. 1 Impossible Shot - aka the Stack Attack image-you will need to complete 3 total, but only 1 has to be completed for critique
I don't think is this asking much at all. Of course, each of these should be really solid images that you feel really good about. They should be edited to the highest degree that you are capable of. Please assess your images critically before asking the class to do so. I want you to turn in a CD/DVD with all these images as full resolution, flattened TIFFs.
Feel free to email me with any questions or work in progress for feedback.
Your assignment is to create four strong images that make use of stacked imagery to illustrate a particular view or concept. Noah had the really good idea of shooting a closed Ford dealership in which only foreign cars drive by. I was thinking a shot of a gas station with only gas guzzlers like Suburbans, Hummers, Yukons, etc populate the pumps and parking lot. I also suggested using this technique to illustrate/construct traffic patterns. You could show the number of people who go into the liquor store versus the neighboring Christian bookstore over a 2 hour period. You are to have at least one image shot for this for this evening. You will work on assembling the composite images in class. I am really excited about this project and expect great, thoughtful work.
Technical overview: Shoot everything using a tripod. Use a remote release if possible. All setting on the camera must remain the same between shots which means focus, exposure, ISO, and white balance must remain the same for all the shots. It will be easier to combine the shots by making masks if everything in critically sharp, so I recommend using a larger depth of field. This isn't necessary, but it will facilitate the creation of the composite. If you can get a shot of the scene with no moving subjects, then be sure to get it. If you do so, you won't have try to create an "empty" scene using the various smart stack blending modes. Basically, t will save you a lot of time. You will use layer masks to only include those elements which you wish to include in the final composite. It might be easier to mask the subjects out using the layer mask and then invert it rather as we did in class. This will result in a layer with only the desired subjects visible.
Excellent little article about the capabilities of image stacking. This is the Gizmodo posting that I showed you in class.
PDF write up by Martin Evening (one of the best) on how to use layer stacks to remove unwanted moving subjects from a scene using layer stacks.
Please remember that we are meeting at my place tonight so that we can safely walk around the neighborhood taking photographs at night. I am grilling hamburgers, hot dogs, and meatless burgers. I bought potato salad. I also bought pop. There will be plenty to eat. I will start grilling at 6. See you then. My address is 6646 Kingsbridge Drive, Sylvania, OH, 43560. My phone number is 419-340-4764 in case you get lost. There are two For Sale signs in front of my building. One of them is a Coldwell Banker Reality and the other is For Sale by owner so you know you are at the right place. Please park on the street and then walk to the back of the building where I will be grilling. You can go back and get your cameras from your car after dinner. See you soon. Seder
All cameras are limited in their ability to capture detail across a wide range of brightness values. The range of brightness values that a camera captures detail in is its dynamic range. In general, most digital cameras have about an 8 stop dynamic range. This is debatable though as it is really governed by how much noise you are willing to put up with. The darkest tones in a digital image are always the noisiest. So, your measure of dynamic range depends on whether or not you want to include the noisiest values recorded. Any case, there are innumerable situations in which the camera is not able to capture detail across the entire range of tones that we would like it to. A classic example would be trying to take a photo of your living room in which you retain full detail in the scene through the windows and inside the room. Unless you are shooting on a very overcast day and your house is extremely well lit, the contrast of the scene is simply too great for the camera to capture detail throughout. This leads to compromises. You could expose for the windows and lose detail in the room, expose for the room and lose detail in the windows, or split the difference and lose some detail in both. None will result in the image that you really want. In the past, I would suggest that you take two photos; one exposed for the windows and one exposed for room. You could then mask the two together. Depending on the image, this could take a great deal of time. However, you can get really great results doing this. Another problem with this technique is light spill. I you have some light source creating a gradient of light across the floor or wall, it is very hard to mask that in such a way that it will look natural. Enter HDR. HDR is an acronym for High Dynamic Range. An HDR file is made by combining the detail from multiple exposures into one 32bit image containing far more information than a single shot could. Basically, you take the same photo multiple times while varying the exposure between each shot. This insures that you have data over a larger range than you could capture with a single shot. This expanded range of tones contained in an HDR file is then mapped down to a range that you can work with in your image editor. I would suggest you tone map it down to a 16 bit per channel image.
How to shoot a scene to be combined into an HDR image Let me begin by saying that this technique is only applicable to a scene of high contrast such as your living room during the day. Other examples would be a scene with containing deep shadows and open sunlight. HDR imaging also lends itself to the night photography very well as it allows you to retain detail in those areas that are not directly lit. How do you know if the scene is high enough in contrast to warrant HDR techniques? If you have significant data climbing the left side of the histogram when you properly place your highlights as far to the right wall as possible without touching, then you should consider HDR techniques. I you should begin by determining your initial exposure for the highlights that you wish to maintain detail in. Then change your shutter speed to allow in one stop more light. Repeat this until you are certain that you have captured all the detail in the shadows that you wish to maintain. Basically, the last histogram should show a ton of data climbing the right wall and nothing should be on the left wall. In fact, you should have a sizeable gap between the left wall and where the data begins. This will insure that the darkest areas of the image are recorded with ample light and will have little or no noise in the resulting combined image. I would suggest at least 5 shots. I think I have done up to 10. It can't hurt you to take too many. You can always clip some unwanted data when you tone map the HDR image down.
Here is a really great video on exposing for HDR by the makers of HDR Expose.
HDR photography is an advanced technique and accordingly requires good technique. Things to keep in mind when shooting your images:
●You need to use a tripod. I have taken images without a tripod and then tried to combine them into a HDR image using multiple different programs with no success. ●You should set your white balance manually so that it doesn’t change between shots. I suggest you use the daylight setting when shooting at night. This insures that the funky colors of lights are recording as funky colors. ●Focus once and then don’t refocus. If you don’t have the best vision, you can always allow auto focus to determine the focus for the first image and then turn if off. If you are using a compact digital camera that doesn’t allow you to manual focus, then just be sure that it achieves focus at the same distance each time. ●Capture RAW files if your camera supports them. If not, capture using the highest quality JPEG option. ●Use a remote release or self timer to trigger your camera. If you shake your camera when pressing the shutter release button, then you risk blurry images and images that don’t register correctly. ●Use a lenshood to reduce the chance of lens flare ●Turn on your camera long exposure noise reduction feature. You are likely going to end up with some longer exposure times. This feature helps keep your images as noise free as possible ●Use manual exposure mode. You will need to change your shutter speed rather than your aperture for each shot. Manual mode will allow you to do this. If you want to try this with a compact camera that lacks manual exposure capability, then you have to use exposure compensation to vary your exposures. This should still work fine even if it changes the aperture as compact cameras always have great depth of field due to their small sensor and optical system. ●Use your lowest ISO. Since this technique requires that you take multiple exposures, it really lends itself to non-moving subject. Thus, the long shutter speeds necessitated by using a low ISO isn’t an issue. This will keep noise levels down even further.
Creating an HDR image and tone mapping
There are a number of programs available to create an HDR image from your multiple exposures. I suggest you start with Photoshop CS2 or CS3 if you already have it. If you don’t, try one (or all) of the free programs. They do a great job without all the bells and whistles that you may not need or want initially (or ever for that matter). Each program uses its own algorithms for tone mapping. It has been my experience that some types of images work better with some than others. I have categorized them by cost:
Free programs:
●Picturenaut Freeware. This a full featured HDR generator with tone mapping capabilities. Most featured of the free programs. Here is little write up on the application which includes a video tutorial. Here is a comparison between Picturenaut and Photoshop.
●FDR Tools Basic. Freeware. This a free version of the extremely full featured FDR Tools Advanced. As such, it is very basic. Just enough to let you see the possibilities. No options to speak of in terms of tone mapping. Very easy to use though.
●EasyHDR Basic. This a free version of the extremely full featured EasyHDR Pro. Offers some tone mapping controls. Only supports JPEGs.
For a fee programs: ●Adobe Photoshop CS2-CS5. I begin with Photoshop as many of you already have it. Navigate to File > Automate > Merge to HDR. Once you generate the HDR image, four different methods of tone mapping become available when you opt to go down to 16 bit or 8 bits per channel. The Local Adaptation options offers the most control. Don’t be put off by the initially terrible preview. Enable the advanced options and you are presented with a curve. Begin by setting your black and white point. It will already look much better. Generally, your image will benefit from bringing down the three quarter tones. Then edit the rest of the curve as desired. There are numerous more options for tone mapping in CS5 than in previous versions.
Here is a nice little write-up on what all the new sliders in CS5 mean and do.
Video on how to use the Merge to HDR Pro feature in Photoshop CS5. Her shooting advice is not so good though; she encourage you to shoot in 2 stop increments and suggests it is okay to hand hold the camera. Don't do either.
●EasyHDR Pro. 25 English Pounds. (around $40 dollars). Full featured program with a nice user interface. Trial version is available.
●FDR Tools Advanced. USD 57.69 Full featured program. It is supposed to support masking which would allow it to be used with scenes with moving subjects. Haven’t had a need for that yet, so I don’t know how well it works.
●PHotomatix. USD $99. Well established and full featured application. Good website. Some good resources. Feature rich. Also features the ability to tone map just two images together. This is the most popular third party HDR application. They offer 75% for students and educators.
●HDR Expose. USD $149. They offer an academic discount, but I don't know what it is. It claims to be designed for realistic looking HDR images. I haven't had a chance to try it yet, but I am going to as I am so impressed by their video tutorials. You can check them out here. ●HDR Efex Pro. Nik Software the maker of many fine plugins such as Nik Sharpener, just released this program. I haven't had a chance to play with it yet.
Software summary: While I have used Photomantix for HDR, I generally use Photoshop CS4 and CS5 as it is the program that my students are most likely to have or have access to. PS is really quite capable of stunning results. It gets a bad rap for its HDR capabilities, but I think that is because you have to be able to edit the tones using a Curve and many people can't pull it off. Photomantix is simpler to use. If you don't have PS or just want to try a free program, I would go with Picturenaut.
In a much earlier blog posting from 2007, I talked about shooting Sunsets. I am currently teaching a Digital Photography course and the next project involved night photography. So, for their benefit and yours, here is some things to keep in mind when shooting at night:
-If you are including the moon, sunset, or sunrise, consider where it will be at the time of your shoot. OF course, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west (changes a little throughout the year, but not much). So, you will get a vastly different photo when shooting sunrises to the east or sunsets to the west.
-It is going to be very dark. Bring a flashlight. This will help you see your camera as well as see where you are going.
-You must use a tripod as exposure times will be long
-Use a remote release to trigger your camera. Or use the self timer if the timing of the shutter release isn't critical. You may want to invest in a cable release which has a timer function. This will allow you to use a shutter speed longer than what the camera otherwise offers. For example, the longest shutter speed my Nikon D300 offers is 30 seconds. If I need a shutter speed longer than that, I have to use the Bulb setting. In that mode, you have to hold the shutter release button down to keep the shutter open. This is not conducive to sharp photos. Higher end cable releases have timer functions built in that will allow you to set longer times and hold them with a single press of the cable release button.
-Use the mirror lock up or anti-shock feature of your camera. This will help insure that the photo won't be soft due to vibrations from the mirror (Only applies to those using DSLRs as compact digital cameras don't make use of a mirror).
-Turn on long exposure noise reduction if your camera has it. Most DSLRs and some compact cameras do. May have dig through the custom menus to activate it. The problem with this is your longer exposures will take a very long time to complete. Let’s say you take a 30 second exposure. First the camera takes the normal shot, and then it takes another 30 second shot in which the shutter doesn’t open. It takes the resulting noise pattern and subtracts it from the original exposure. It is very effective, but it really slows shooting down. Not a big deal when it is 80 degrees out, but it really stinks when it is 25 degrees out.
-Bring your camera’s instruction manual. You should always carry it with you anyways. If you are using a seldom used feature like long exposure noise reduction, then it is likely that you will have to look up how to activate it.
-Use your cameras lowest ISO. This assumes that you can use a very slow shutter speed as needed. For most of you this will require that you use the bulb mode in which the shutter will remain open as long as you keep the shutter release button pressed. Many of the remote releases have a provision to lock the button down until you release it. If your camera doesn’t have a slow enough shutter speed, then you may have to increase the ISO in order to obtain a correct exposure even when the aperture is lens all the way open.
-You may have to manually focus. All autofocus cameras require a certain light level to autofocus. If you are setting up in the dark, you will have precious little (if any light) so you may have to manually focus. If you have a DSLR, you can set the lens on infinity. You should note that the lens will likely allow you to focus past infinity. Past infinity?!? This is to take into account the expansion of the lens due to different weather, humidity, and pressure. So, you make have to take a few photos to insure that it is really set at infinity. Almost all compact digital cameras have a manual focus provision that entails selecting a distance from a distance scale. I simply set mine for infinity when using a compact camera. I was happy with the results. Another neat trick is to utilize an external flash. They often have a much more powerful autofocus assist light built in that will allow your camera to focus in pitch black night. So, you would use it focus, then turn the flash off.
-Consider all the ambient light sources unless. Even a very weak light adds up during a long exposure.
-Set your white balance to daylight. This will preserve the unique colors at that time of day. There is no point at getting up at 2am if you just want to take a photo that looks like it was taken at noon.
-Start taking photos before you even see the sun. There is usually a lot of color in the sky that you don't even notice until you take a long exposure photo and see it. Try it.
-Remember to expose for the highlights. Ensure that you are taking in enough light so that the histogram is very close to the right most wall without touching it. On a recent outing I noticed that some of my students were not doing that because it looked better on the LCD when it was underexposed. That is true. However, it will not look nearly as good as the image that was properly exposed once you begin editing on it the computer.
-Shoot RAW file format (assuming your camera supports it). If it is worth shooting, then it is worth shooting as a RAW file.
-Consider creating a HDR image from multiple, varying exposure (I will soon post more on HDR).
-Look for reflections in water (assuming there is water) that will give you twice the color. Shooting just after it has rained is nice as there are more reflections from everything wet. It is also night to shoot when it is kind of foggy/misty out as light will create some areas of glow.
-Bring a cell phone or a buddy; preferably both. If you are trouncing around in the dark it is a good idea to have a way of getting some help should you run into any trouble. Please take this seriously.
Two images downsampled such that the longest dimension is 2000 pixels. Highest quality JPEG. Please email it to sedernb@hotmail.com. Please indicate which of the two you definitely want submitted. I may use the second one as an additional supporting image. Your artist resume that is to be no longer than one page. It should have your address and phone number of it. You can check out Cher's artist resume if you are not familiar with the concept. www.cherilynpaige.com.
Yesterday, I went to the University of Michigan Museum of Art. They have an exhibit by an artist named Jakob Kolding. I am not in love with the aesthetics of his work, but I love the ideas in the work. Here is quote from the curator of the show: "Jakob Kolding’s work revolves around the experience of life in the contemporary built environment, particularly the relationships and contradictions that emerge between how architectural spaces are planned and how they are actively used. His collages, drawings, posters, and mixed-media sculptures incorporate a wide range of source material, sampling and mixing the visual idiom of modernist art and architecture, the language of sociological inquiry, and such popular cultural forms as hip-hop and electronic music, skateboarding, and soccer" I find this to be especially relevant to the course. Along these same lines, I was in Adrian over the weekend attending the opening for Barb Miner's exhibit when I drove by a former Hollywood Video store which is now being used as one of those temporary Halloween stores. I think a series on the re-use of the Hollywood Video buildings would be great. Not only does it speak to the re-use of buildings, but to how digital technology is literally changing the physical landscape. It might also be interesting to just focus on all the temporary Halloween stores that pop up in vacant buildings. The former Circuit City on Monroe Street is a good example of that. Food for thought.
