Course Syllabus
Exposing Digital Photography
DGMD E-10
Fall 2016
Tuesday 5:30pm – 7:30pm at Harvard Hall room 104
Instructor: Greg Marinovich
Office Hours: TBD
Teaching Fellows: Each student will be assigned a teaching fellow once enrollment has closed.
Section Meetings: Multiple section meetings will be led by the course teaching fellows will be scheduled in Cambridge, MA, as well as using Web conferencing. These will begin in week 2 of the course.
Who should take this course:
This course attracts students with a wide range of experience and expertise in photography. No matter your experience, there will be other students at the same comfort level. This course is suitable for beginners as well as intermediate photographers. It is also great for those who want to really nail the technical basics of digital photography and workflow, or improve their knowledge of photography generally and fill in some gaps or clear up some misconceptions. In either case, we quickly move more about the soul of photography & how to shoot powerful images, portraits & short-form photo stories. If you want to learn how to fully control your equipment and also shoot with mindfulness, this is the class for you.
Instructional Staff
Nafis Azad, Jordan Hayashi, Shelley Westover
Course description
This course explores the artistic aspects, basic scientific foundations, and techniques of digital photography with the goals of enabling students to expand their knowledge of photography as an art form, to develop a deeper and broader understanding of the photographic technique, and to effectively use photographic software tools, develop a reliable workflow and to manage their archives. Topics include exposure control, depth of field, using motion & shutter speed, aesthetics, composition, perspective, the use of color, exposure, metering, optics, file formats & understanding digital images, and software tools and techniques for modification and enhancement. Through lectures, hands-on assignments, and critiques, students expand their understanding of digital photography while exploring their creativity to broaden the possibilities and improve the quality of their photographs.
With this lecturer’s background in conflict and documentary photography, this course will also explore that world a little, with more emphasis on narrative photography than previous courses. We will dive into portraiture outside of the studio, shooting short stories involving people and discuss how to get the picture when everyone does not want you to.
Students should have access to a camera with a manual mode and an option for capturing RAW images for the duration of the course, though this will not be needed for the first three lectures, when even a mobile phone camera may be used to complete the first project. Rather wait before purchasing if you are unsure of what to buy. Perhaps borrow a camera that can shoot RAW files and use manual mode until you are sure of what you need. Broadly speaking, DLSR or mirror-less digital cameras with interchangeable lenses are both suitable for this class. Whatever your choice, don’t go for a ‘point & shoot’ as you will need complete manual control, from focus to exposure, ISO, shutter and aperture.
You are, however, expected to know how to use whichever camera you choose, as we cannot spend time assisting individuals work out their camera menus and controls in class time. Please make use of the camera manual and online guides.
Additionally, you will need a memory card – either CF or SD, depending on your camera. If you already have a camera, you probably have such a card.
You will also need an external hard drive (We suggest a minimum of 1 terabyte from a reputable manufacturer) to store your work on; it is preferable not to store your images on your computer’s internal hard drive. If you are acquiring a new hard drive, please ensure it has been formatted for your computer.
Course Aims and Objectives
Upon successful completion of the course, students can expect to take photographs with an intuition of the camera's behavior, and its limitations, and an ability to think critically about light, graphics, shapes and the psychology of color to create images that translate their own interpretation of what they see and imagine. They will also be able to think about the ‘readability’ of an image, or how others will understand their work.
Students will be able to organize and archive their work in a way that will be accessible decades in the future, and also understand how best to safeguard their work, both physically and from unlawful usage.
They will have an understanding of how to use the most appropriate software to catalog, edit, tone and distribute their photographs.
Students will also develop an understanding of how to approach people in real life situations and walk away with images & essays that are valuable documents of life & society.
Course Policies and Expectations
You are expected to attend or watch the 12 formal lectures online and to complete the four projects as well as the final project in addition to the 5 problem sets timeously. The lectures will be recorded and uploaded for distance learners as well as for in class students to revise points they might have missed. In class, notes may be made on paper or on computer, but not on mobile phones, and please do not indulge yourself of social media during lectures. Please arrive on time for class as not to disrupt your classmates and ensure any failure to make class is explained in an email to your Teaching Assistant.
Please do not submit your assignments or projects late; there is a 20% penalty for late submissions.
Tentative Lectures and Due Dates - As this is a new course expect changes to occur.
All assignments (except the final project) are due at 11:59 PM on the listed due date.
|
Date |
Lecture |
Assignment due |
|
|
August
September |
30 |
Welcome & introduction to digital cameras. What is photography? |
|
|
6 |
Software Tools & principles of Light |
||
|
13 |
Exposure: understanding the elements that contribute to correct exposure |
Problem Set 1 |
|
|
20 |
Exposure & Flash: so much more to play with |
Project 1 |
|
|
October |
27 |
Optics: what lenses do & why |
Problem Set 2 |
|
4 |
Histogram: exposures ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ |
Project 2 |
|
|
11 |
Software Tools (continued) |
Problem Set 3 |
|
|
18 |
A little more on digital cameras & an introduction to portraiture in the wild |
Project 3 |
|
|
25 |
Photojournalism, Documentary Photography & Art Photography |
Problem Set 4 |
|
|
November |
1 |
Some deep-end Tech stuff, both Optical-mechanical & Digital, with light relief (you get to watch a movie at home) |
Project 4 |
|
8 |
The story of Kevin Carter & the Vulture, and a bit of exploration into journalism |
||
|
15 |
Expanding Your Photography, The Art of It |
Problem Set 5 |
|
|
22 |
Long form: Ideas that you can stay with - a strategy |
Final project proposal |
|
|
December |
29 |
Movie Night |
|
|
6 |
No lecture (final project work) |
||
|
13 |
Final Project Exhibition |
Final project (due at 12:00 PM, noon) |
|
Note: all listed dates subject to change, and the lectures may be updated.
Assignment and Grading Criteria (with approximate weightings)
Here is the percentage break-down of what will be covered in this course. More details will be posted as the class gets underway. As always, we may make adjustments to this scale if necessary.
|
Problem Sets |
20% (five assignments at 4% each) |
|
Projects |
40% (four projects at 10% each) |
|
Final Project |
40% |
| Total | 100% |
Academic Integrity
You are responsible for understanding Harvard Extension School policies on academic integrity and how to use sources responsibly. Not knowing the rules, misunderstanding the rules, running out of time, submitting "the wrong draft", or being overwhelmed with multiple demands are not acceptable excuses. There are no excuses for failure to uphold academic integrity. To support your learning about academic citation rules, please visit the Harvard Extension School Tips to Avoid Plagiarism, where you'll find links to the Harvard Guide to Using Sources and two, free, online 15-minute tutorials to test your knowledge of academic citation policy. The tutorials are anonymous open-learning tools.
Accommodations for students with disabilities
Students needing academic adjustments or accommodations because of a documented disability must present their Faculty Letter from the Accessible Education Office (AEO) and speak with the professor by the end of the second week of the term, September 13. Failure to do so may result in the Course Head's inability to respond in a timely manner. All discussions will remain confidential, although Faculty are invited to contact AEO to discuss appropriate implementation.
Sections:
We offer both in-person sections for local students and online sections for those at a distance. These times will be announced.
Time commitment:
Photography takes time. Good photography takes more time. Generally expect to spend two to three times the time in class on your actual photography. The more time you spend shooting and editing, the more proficient you will become.
Materials and Access – Recommended, not required.
These are books that will be helpful to you, and while the Ansel Adams books refer to film photography, they provide a wonderful grounding and a sense of the rigor you need to produce flawless images every time.
The Camera (Ansel Adams Photography, Book 1)
Ansel Adams and Robert Baker
Bulfinch Press (1995)
ISBN: 0821221841
The Negative (Ansel Adams Photography, Book 2)
Ansel Adams and Robert Baker
Bulfinch Press (1995)
ISBN: 0821221868
Exposure & Lighting For Digital Photographers Only
Michael Meadhra and Charlotte K. Lowrie
Wiley Press (2006)
ISBN-13: 9780470038697
And for those who want to understand what happens under the hood:
Science for the Curious Photographer
Charles S. Johnson Jr.
A K Peters/CRC Press (2010)
ISBN: 1568815816
Sleeping by the Mississippi
Alec Soth
Steidl (2004)
ISBN
Songbook
Alec Soth
Steidl; (2015)
ISBN I978-1910164020.
For those with a curiosity about conflict photography, and who want gain full advantage of the course lecturer can read:
The Bang Bang Club, Snapshots of a Hidden War
Greg Marinovich & Joao Silva
Basic Books (2000)
I also recommend
Dispatches
Michael Herr
Knopf (1977)
ISBN: 0679735359
This great book was made into the movie Apocalypse Now
On Photography
Susan Sontag
Farrer, Straus & Giroux (1977)
ISBN 0374226261
&
Regarding the Pain of Others
Susan Sontag
Farrer, Straus & Giroux (2002)
ISBN 0374248583
For a guide on photojournalistic and documentary mores, look at these sources. Understand that these will adapt as technoilogy chnages.
https://nppa.org/code_of_ethics
http://handbook.reuters.com/?title=A_Brief_Guide_to_Standards,_Photoshop_and_Captions
http://web.mit.edu/drb/Public/PhotoThesis/
http://www.americanphotomag.com/processing-news-retouching-photojournalism
http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/17/ http://www.ap.org/company/News-Values
Course Summary:
| Date | Details | Due |
|---|---|---|