This assignment is all about taking photos and pushing yourself to pause for just the right moment or alignment. There is no way to get too much practice taking photos, so push yourself based on your prior experience — confront what intimidates you. (But also be safe — follow best practices for social distancing and other coronavirus precautions.)
All photos you submit must be original for this assignment, not photos you’ve taken previously.
Resources:
- Image Composition chapter
- Week 2 and Week 3 readings
If you are using a smartphone camera, don’t consider this a limitation! Many professionals have used smartphones for photo essays because of the accessibility (and inconspicuousness). For example, National Geographic photographer David Guttenfelder took these photos as part of a series about returning home to America in 2016, and smartphone capabilities have improved a lot since then:
Part 1: Composition Techniques with a Small Subject
1. Find a small figurine to use as the subject in these photos. The figure should be 1-3 inches tall and able to stand on its own, such as a Lego person, piece from a board game or other small toy. (If you don’t have anything, you can make something, like an origami gnome.)
Take a photograph that makes use of…
- Rule of Thirds
- Leading Lines
- Framing
- Perspective and/or Elevation
- Symmetry or Reflection
2. Save a copy of each photo with file names that include the category number from the list above (such as 1-ruleofthirds.jpg, 1-leadinglines.jpg, 1-framing.jpg, etc.)
It’s recommended that you resize all your images in Photoshop to 1200px on the longest edge so the files are not such large attachments in Canvas.
Here are some examples, but there are many different ways to use composition technique:
Part 2: Composition Techniques on Campus
This is similar to Part 1, but now with real-world subjects and settings. (Do not use the toy/figurine for this part.) This portion of the assignment should be completed in compliance with professional photojournalism ethics — in particular, photos should not be staged for the sake of the photograph, and the meaning should not be manipulated.
1. Choose a specific public location on campus, such as the Holland-Terrell Library, Goertzen Hall, the CUB, the mall, etc. In that setting, take photos that make use of composition techniques similar to Part 1, but now in a public environment with subjects you find in the world around you.
You will ultimately submit your 5 best photos, but you will need to take more photos so you can choose your best. A rule of thumb is taking 10x more photos than you need, so in this case taking 50 to get enough material to choose from.
Take a photograph that makes use of…
- Rule of Thirds
- Leading Lines
- Framing
- Perspective and/or Elevation
- Symmetry, Reflection or another composition technique of your choice
Challenge yourself to…
- Capture action and movement
- Look for light and creative compositions
- Include people in as many of the photos as possible
- Get closer! (safely)
2. Choose your best photos for submission, then save copies of each photo with file names that include the category number from the list above (such as 2-ruleofthirds.jpg, 2-leadinglines.jpg, 1-symmetry.jpg, etc.)
3. Resize all your images in Photoshop to 1200px on the longest edge so the files are not such large attachments in Canvas. (You may also want to crop photos to improve the compositions.)
4. In a Word document, write a 1-sentence caption or description for each photo. Include the file name so there’s no chance of confusion about which photo is which. For example: “1. A student looks at their phone while waiting for their food order at the CUB on Tuesday (2-ruleofthirds.jpg).”
Submitting Your Work
Submit the following to Canvas by going to “Assignments” and uploading the files with your submission:
- Ten .jpg photos (5 from Part 1 and 5 from Part 2)
- Text document from Part 2 with descriptions of each photo
Always upload images separately as photo files rather than embedded into your text document. You can put them into a zip folder if you prefer, or you can upload them individually. Uploading 10 images to Canvas will not be instantaneous, but if it is taking too long or failing to upload, you should check the image sizes (Step 3 above) to make sure they are not enormous files.
Demonstrated Skills:
- Proper photo exposure and awareness of lighting conditions
- Proper use of focus in photography
- Recognize common photo composition terms and apply them in multiple settings
- Write photo captions that enhance understanding of the images