universitysettlementphoto: 2011-02-27

The focus of this course will be improving straight images, particularly images you have already taken and have problems with that you would like to resolve.

This is a great course for orienting yourself with Photoshop and also if you want to improve on the skills you already have.

It is highly recommended that you have access to a computer with Photoshop to practice.

There will be weekly lessons posted on the class blog, and I would like everyone to practice the lesson at home and bring in an example of their work each week.

Keyboard shortcuts will also be on the class blog.

Week 1 (March 9)

Introduction/Review:

Workflow – planning and organizing

Photoshop Tools Palette – Crop Tool, Zoom, Hand Tool, Burn, Dodge, Eraser,

Photoshop Essentials- Opening files, Undo (History), History Palette Snapshot, Layers Palette, Brushes, Save, Save As

Week 2 (March 16)

Working with Adjustment Layers: Levels, Curves, Hue/Saturation, Brightness/Contrast, Threshold, Invert

Working with Selections:Marquee Tools, Magic Wand, Lasso, Feather, Adjustments to selections, Copying & Pasting selections

Sponge

Week 3 (March 23)Paint Brush, Paint Bucket, Eye Dropper, Default colors

Move, Blur, Sharpen, Smudge, Merge Down, Merge Visible, Flatten Image, Filters

Week 4 - (March 30)

Retouching: Clone Stamp

Week 5 (April 6)

Masks, Quick Masks, Channels

Week 6 (April 13)

Retouching: Pattern Stamp

Week 7 (April 20)

Retouching: Healing Brush, Patch Tool, Pen Tool

Week 8 (April 27)

Review of all lessons ₊Type Tool

Monday, February 28, 2011

Syllabus: Constructing a Narrative

University Settlement Digital Photography

Instructor: Christina Freeman

christinahfreeman@gmail.com

class blog: www.universitysettlementphoto.blogspot.com

Syllabus: Constructing a Narrative

Learn how to use photography to tell a story- whether it be truth or fiction. Students will explore narrative both through individual images and series. We will discuss narrative both in documentary photography and in staged fine art photography by referring to works that have shaped the medium. Some of the photographers we will discuss include: Sebastiao Salgado, Nikki Lee, Sophie Calle, Cindy Sherman, Alessandra Sanguinetti, Kelli Connell, Graciela Iturbide, Duane Michals, Sally Mann, Nan Goldin, Collier Schorr, Jeff Wall, Phillip Lorca Di Corcia, Dawoud Bey, Lorna Simpson, Hank Willis Thomas.

This workshop will address the following questions:

Is the narrative about a person(s) or culture?

Is the narrative about a place or other inanimate object?

What is the time span of the narrative? (5 years, 30 years, 1 day?)

Is the narrative fiction or non-fiction?

Who or what inspires the narrative?

Will it have a specific order (sequence)? Will it have a non-traditional structure? Will it start in the middle or at the end?

Will it be made of straight photographs or images constructed in Photoshop? Or a combination of both? Will you use found imagery?

What form will it take? One single image or a series? Very small photographs or very large ones?

Why is this narrative important to you?

Subjectivity vs. Objectivity: from whose point of view is the story told?

Course Outline

week 1 (march 9): what is narrative?

outline for the workshop

documentary narrative vs. constructed narrative

slideshow of artists

brainstorm of ideas

week 2 (march 16):

slideshow of artists

students present outline for project

discuss student ideas and look at preliminary images

review technical elements of photography

week 3 (march 23):

slideshow of artists

discuss student ideas

week 4 (march 30):

field trip

week 5 (april 6):

slideshow of artists

group critique

week 6 (april 13):

slideshow of artists

group critique

week 7 (april 20):

slideshow of artists

group critique

week 8 (april 27):

students present final project

Sunday, February 27, 2011

images for march 2

March 2: Filters, Preparing the image for print, Image Size, Border, Canvas

Week 8 (March 2)

Filters

(After right-clicking the image from the blog and saving it to your desktop)

1. Open Photoshop (From your Start Menu> Programs> Adobe CS2)

2. Open your image by going to the File menu and selecting Open.

3. Choose File and click Open

4. Make sure the Layers Palette is visible, if not go to Window> Layers

5. Copy your background using the keyboard shortcut CNTRL + J (Command J)

6. Go to the Filter Menu > Filter Gallery . . .

7. Open the drop down menus by clicking the triangles

8. Choose a filter and adjust the sliders to modify the effect

9. Click OK to commit the changes.

Preparing the image for print, Image Size, Border, Canvas

1. Go to the Image Menu > Image Size

2. Uncheck Resample Image, check Constrain Proportions and set the dimensions, 300 dpi at 6.75 inch height and 9 inch width

3. Click OK

4. Go to the Image Menu > Canvas Size

5. Set the Canvas at 8 inch height and 10 inch width

6. Set the Canvas extension color

7. Click OK