Example of a Photo Essay

Tune-in to your friends!

The Boyer Valley Class of 2008 will be broadcasting live on KDSN fm 107.1 for 'KDSN Class Days' on Thursday, May 8th from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.

Photo Essays

Photo essays
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

A photo essay is a set or series of photographs that are intended to tell a story or evoke a series of emotions in the viewer. Photo essays range from purely photographic works to photographs with captions or small notes to full text essays with a few or many accompanying photographs. Photo essays can be sequential in nature, intended to be viewed in a particular order, or they may consist of non-ordered photographs which may be viewed all at once or in an order chosen by the viewer. All photo essays are collections of photographs, but not all collections of photographs are photo essays. Photo essays often address a certain issue or attempt to capture the character of places and events. People who have undertaken photo essays include Bruce Davidson, W. Eugene Smith and Walker Evans.

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Here are a few other resources to help you understand photo journalism, so that you'll be prepared to get a great photo essay for your portfolio- "Photo Essay- Between three and seven images which convey a story."

http://www.thephotoessay.com

http://www.time.com/time/photoessays

What the World Eats, Part I (Time magazine)
What's on family dinner tables in fifteen different homes around the globe? Photographs by Peter Menzel from the book "Hungry Planet"

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Here's an excellent site for understanding what it means to truly "capture" something of life in your pictures:

Get the Picture; 7 photographers from the permanent collection of the Minnesota Institute of Arts. Learn about what makes a great photograph and these photographers' approach to making them.

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Sim-Cam. It doesn't matter whether you have a digital camera or an old Nikon, the concepts of exposure still apply. Film and digital photography use the same building blocks - lens, shutter, aperture, and film. Sim-Cam is a great way to test, and practice seeing what a picture would look like if you took it with a given shutter speed or aperture setting!

We need Prom pictures!

Hey, join the Yeabook Facebook Group (only at home, Facebook is locked at school) and then send us your pictures. http://hs.facebook.com/group.php?gid=16635659574

Group InfoName:
Upload or tag your pictures for Yearbook!

Type:
Student Groups - General

Description:
Hey Bulldogs! We need YOUR pictures- especially of Prom and After-Prom! Tag Mt. Mallory in them (even though he's not) or upload them directly to THIS group. Then we can use them in the yearbook.

NEXT YEAR Jostens will have an upload site for us that you'll be able to access from home OR from school.

Surrealism Assignment

Create a Surrealist painting due Fri Apr 25. Your choice, watercolor, tempera, or oil pastel.

• Morph from one image into another (like photographers Uselman or Mutter, or like MC Escher)
• Out of scale, or illustrating the theme "the human condition" like Rene Magritte.
• Expressive self-portrait (like Frida Khalo)
• Melting objects or double-images (like Salvador Dali)
  

2008-2009 Yearbook

If you're planning or registered to be in Yearbook again next year, please talk to me about theme ideas and about positions (Managing Editor, Photo Editor, Ad Director, Sports Editor, etc.). If you were on this year and already know you're NOT planning on it or can't fit it into your schedule, let me know that too.

Colleen has a great workshop in Atlantic in June that you might be interested in. I think we're going to try building the yearbook online instead of in Indesign next year. I'd like to try to have us be more efficient next year, but also more fun- yet at the same time a little more challenging. If we know who's on the team, we can start planning and working together.

Shady numbers

Remember these numbers when working in Photoshop AND for the quiz on Friday:

255= Whitest highlight
128= Middle gray
0= Blackest shadow

Photo Ops

Yearbook- We desperately need to make sure that we get pictures of these events.

Digital Photography- Here are some opportunities for you to get some of the pictures you'll need for your portfolio. Portrait, Action, Landscape, Depth of Field, they're all right here-

• Thurs Apr 24- Junior High Track meet 4 pm
• Sun Apr 27- Prom (Grand March is usually around 2 or 3 pm)
  
• Mon Apr 28- Golf meet at Woodbine
• Tues Apr 29- HS co-ed Track meet 4 pm
• Tues May 6- Boy's Track meet 5 pm
• Sun May 18- Graduation 2 pm ( I have to attend my nephew's graduation in Topeka, KS- Sorry Seniors, I still ♥ you though, good luck!)

If you know anybody in Digital Imaging class who'd like to take pictures for us too, please pass this on. Or if you know any Golf parents who've got pictures, that will help too. Of course, we always welcome students to submit Prom & After Prom pictures if you know anyone who gets good ones. Thank you!

DP; Portfolios

Digital Photography students will compile a portfolio of no less than ten and no more than 20 images. This portfolio should include at least one example of each of the following:

1. Abstract- Shapes/patterns of buildings or still life objects that emphasize the elements and principles of design, but do not necessarily reveal objective images.
   
2. Portrait- Head and shoulders or close-up of face, preferably 3/4 view than profile or straight-on, although those will also be accepted. (see pp. 194-196)
   
3. Action/Motion- Successfully freezes action or communicates a sense of time of motion. (see p. 189)
   
4. Landscape or townscape- Should reveal an understanding of foreground, middle-ground, and background, as well as the rule of thirds (see pp 198-201).
   
5. Framed- Use objects in foreground to draw attention to your main subject (see p. 182-183).
   
6. Depth of Field- Objects/areas of either or both the foreground and/or background are out of focus while your main subject matter is in crisp focus (see pp. 186-187).
   
7. Composite- Invent a new image or reinvent another one in Photoshop, be sure to utilize layers, selection tools, and a variety of retouch tools (see pp. 172-173).
   
8. Retouching- Find an older or damaged print and "clean it up" in Photoshop. Please "save as" so that you can keep an original (untouched) version of the picture for comparison (see pp. 170-171).
   
9. Macro- Tightly cropped close-up, could be a flower, some other still life object or a detail of something larger (see pp. 48-49).
   
10. Photo Essay- Between three and seven images which convey a story. See examples here.
    

Portfolio photos should demonstrate good contrast, clear focus and quality composition (students should show that they understand and can apply the rule of thirds). A variety of angles and lighting conditions should be evident. At least three images should be grayscale (black and white).

Students must have a copy of their portfolio saved in their subfolder at "\\Server1\photography" but should also present them in in a three ring notebook. Copies printed from school laser printers will be accepted, but actual prints would be preferable. Laser prints should be 8x10. Store or home photo-quality prints may be either 4x6 or 5x7.

Dig.Photo. students should begin taking these pictures immediately, but the portfolio as a whole must be turned in by no later than Friday May 9. Students are welcome to turn in their notebooks beginning on Monday, May 5.

This portfolio is comparable to a final exam (although there will still be a written post-test) and may constitute up to 10% of your semester grade. So please, take it seriously. If you need explanation or direction, please read the "Project" boxes on the pages suggested for each picture. You're not required to follow these assignments' directions, but you may find them helpful.

Mallory sub lessons- Mon Apr 14

Photography- Need to be doing one of three things 1. working on research paper, 2. work on lighting assignment (see page 132), or 3. read chapter 8 (pp 152 ff)

MS Art- Okay, since I'm gone you can have one last day with clay. Create the animal of your choice. Please remember to put the canvas down on the table (it's in one of the 3 square barrels) and please make sure to clean up before lunch. Bring a book for DEAR time- it is for reading, not clay, not writing notes or visiting and not homework. (May need to get someone to unlock the kiln room, that's where the clay is).

Painting- Everyone (but Kayla) needs to be working on their research papers (even stubborn Mark). Kayla may either work on hers or on her painting. We'll be moving on to something new tomorrow.


Yearbook- Please work on pages. There should be no excuse for not getting the Senior Section completed by this Friday:
028 MS G BB- Eric
029 MS B BB- Christine
030 MS Cheer- Jenn R & Olivia F
031 MS StuCo- Jamie & Cody
003 Elem Div- Bonnie
033 HS Div- Kristen
019 MS Div- Kristen
047 Clubs Div- Miranda
072 Fine Arts Div- Holli F
073 Visual Arts- House
078 Speech- Jones
079 Student Life Div- Kristen & Bonnie
090 Ads Div- Bonnie
016 Elem StuCo- Seth
040 Sr Div- Seniors
041-046 Senior Section- Seniors

(or see ladder)


_________________________________________________________________________________________
Boyer Valley Community Schools
Challenging all students to meet their full potential
http://www.boyer-valley.k12.ia.us

Above is our beloved Yearbook Editor, Bonnie revealing her true nature...

Below the principles of Hansel & Gretel.

Need a cheap off-brand digital?

http://www.overstock.com/electronics/vupoint-3.1mp-blue-digital-camera/2238430/product.html#moreinfo

Yeah, you can CERTAINLY buy a higher QUALITY camera, but I want ANYONE to be able to afford their own digital camera. I just found this one on overstock.com  Check it out

Vupoint 3.1MP Blue Digital Camera

• 3.1-megapixel digital camera resolution
• 1.5-inch LCD screen
• Camera features 8x digital zoom
• 16MB SD RAM memory
• Blue color option
• Supports up to 1GB SD card
• Video capture function
• Web camera function
• Powered by 2 AA batteries
• Includes user's manual, USB cable, Software CD, Camera strap and pouch

PhotoShop color mode choices

I probably won't include these on this Friday's Photography quiz, but they're important to know if you want to have a quality image with good bit-depth;

• RGB- Red, Green, and Blue, 256 shades of the three main colors, most comon for JPEGs
  
• Indexed colors- locked in to a table of web-frioendly colors, best for GIFs
• CYMK- Cyan, Yellow, Magenta, and blacK, traditional printer's colors (often TIFFs)
• Greyscale- Nice, deep 8 bit black and white, producing a good 256 shades, good old "black and white" photography
• 4 Bit black and white- Maybe a couple of shades of gray plus black and white- looks really graphic like a poster or something.
  
• 2 Bit- ONLY black and white with no in between, what we used to call "line art"
  

File types

Here are some terms for the first quiz on Chapter 8 (putting the digital in Digital Photography) which you should expect this Friday, April 11.

• BMP: Bitmap, BitMapPed or "Bump" image. Old, just for Window's, clunky but lossless
• PNG: Portable Network Graphics, lossless, latest generation for phones, MP3, MP4, and PDAs etc. etc.
• GIF: Graphic Image File, lossy, meant primarily for the internet, features indexed color
• JPEG: file type devised by the Joint Photographic Experts Group, a committee formed by the International Standards Organization (ISO). Lossy, most commonly used by newspapers, excellent for emailing and uploading
• PSD: PhotoShop Document
• TIFF: Tagged Image File Format, lossless, ideal for graphic designers, magazines and books
• PICT: a PICTure file that can only be read by Apple programs
• RAW: Raw, unprocessed, straight off your digital camera, lossless, best for high-end professional photography
• Compression- refers to the process of reducing an image's file size so that it doesn't absorb a large amount of computer memory.
• Lossy- An image-compression scheme, such as JPEG, that creates smaller files by discarding image information, which can affect image quality
• Lossless- compression uncompresses an image so its quality matches the original source-nothing is lost.

Photo Opportunities

The Archive Yearbook and the school website could really use your help taking pictures of the following events;

• Mon Apr 7- Girls Track Invitational
• Fri Apr 11, 7 pm - Musical
• Sun Apr 13, 1 pm - Musical
• Wed Apr 16- Golf 4 pm
• Thr Apr 17- JrHi Track 4 pm
• Mon Apr 28 - Golf @ Woodbine
• Tues Apr 29- Track 4 pm
• Tue May 6- Boy's Track 5 pm
• Sun May 18- Graduation (Mr. Mallory has to go to his nephew's graduation in Topeka, sorry)