Tuesday Feb 28th...see you in class

We're in class this week, see you there. You should have the revised estimates and the field trip notes from South Bay Studios.

Great lighting and design

I watched this at my favorite Korean taco joint, I can see a bit of the Blood Simple clip (bullet holes with light) and the scene with geometric black & white shapes is reminiscent of a classic 1920's film called The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. I also want you to notice how the colors are more saturated in the futuristic soft light scenes. In several weeks your critiques on a film scene will be due and, while this video has some very cool lighting tricks, it's not really using light in a "narrative" manner - they're just tricks to catch the eye - as opposed to lighting that is used to add dimension to the storyline in a film.

When we viewed the Blood Simple clip, we looked at how the camera angle (viewpoint), style of lighting and tonality of the scene all worked to create an effect - to move the story forward. That's what I'm looking for in your papers...analysis on your part of why they shot the scene the way they did, which is another reason you want to really look at who the cinematographer is and what they've done before.

Constructed imagery with Erik Johansson

This talk by Erik Johansson gives a nice overview of what you're doing in the surrealism assignment. Here's his website.

Monday, February 6th schedule

Just a reminder:

Photo 34 meets in the studio at noon, where you'll be getting the lecture to your next project.

Photo 33 meets in the studio at 1:30, where you'll also be getting the lecture to your next project as well as additional photoshop instruction.

NEW Shooting Groups - you may have changed.

The schedule in the syllabus remains the same...but there's a good chance you're in a new shooting group. Note your group and then circle your shooting dates on your syllabus.

NEW GROUPS

Group A: Tuba, Michele, Danielle, Dianna N,Shelby, Crebin, Pat, Amanda B, Debora, Ryan D,

Group B: Pierre, Ashley C, David K, Sanjin M, Alan M, Lauren M, Nicholas, Khianna, Michael, Whitney,

Group C: Jeen Na, Lisa, Nate, Roz, Trevor, Christina D, Lucas L, Azalea M, Bret,

Here are the groups. If you are not listed, notify me immediately at amitchell@lbcc.edu

Phot 34: Narrative Photography

This section you'll be working with two very interesting visual genres: Film Noir and Surrealism. Here are links and notes for both, please note that these links are just a start...do more of your own research as well.



Film Noir
1. Subject: crime dramas and betrayal were prime subjects for these films, while Edward Hopper explored loneliness and isolation in his paintings.
2. Lighting: very defined used of light...usually a hard light has been used to create strong shadows which further illustrate the storyline.
3. Shapes or Visual Motifs: tunnels, doorways, windows - often the scene is framed in some kind of shape.
4. Camera angles: strong and dynamic use of diagonals or other unusual angles such as high overhead or from below. Really fill the frame

Mildred Pierce: note the great use of camera angles, shadowing and a fun tacky storyline.

The Third Man: this is one of the great Noir stories, wonderful use of framing.

Double Indemnity: a man narrates his own murder...

Blade Runner: a contemporary version which brought Noir into the future.

Rocky Schenck: a commercial and fine art photographer.

Edward Hopper: a painter who utilized photographic style lighting to portray the isolation of modern (1920's-50's) life.


Surrealism
Exploration of dreamlike themes and the collage of opposites or non-related objects are main features. Magritte used collage to combine elements such as day and night in one image, or a giant apple in a room...things that can't happen in the "real" world, yet they feel very real and photographic.

Notes for Digital Compositing:
1. Previsualization: you've got to plan out BEFORE you start shooting to make sure you understand how you want the pieces to fit together, or how large you need to shoot each item.
2. Camera Angle: each item must be shot with relatively the same angle so they'll feel connected when you're putting them together.
3. Lighting: the lighting needs to be the same for all objects...and I would be careful of strong shadows going over the objects which might make it hard to blend together.
4. Propping: think about the use of color and style.
5. Photoshop: we'll be using Layer Masking and Quick Masks to bring the elements together.

Rene Magritte: a link to images for the surrealist painter

Hugh Kretchmer: a contemporary photographer

Phot 33: Traditional Still Life

In this section we'll be exploring an historic approach to still life, studying the still life paintings of the Dutch Masters. For this shot consider the following elements:
1. Use a straight-on viewpoint/camera angle. You can come up a bit more than we've previously used, but we're not looking down.
2. You'll be controlling the light on 3 areas: the front of the table, the surface of the table and the objects on it and the background.
3. You need to use more than one light.
4. Work with a large depth of field - we want the entire shot to be in focus...only the background can be soft if needed.
5. You're not restricted in your use of colors...but really consider how the props are going to work together.
6. For props: we're looking for balance - hard/soft, curve/linear, short/tall.
7. Composition: lead the eye through the image, break the line of the front surface, begin and end the composition within the frame- only the table surface may be cropped.

Dutch Master: after going to this link, scroll down until you reach the "Still lifes" heading.

Pieter Claesz: chose domestic themes with a beautiful handling of light and texture.

Francisco de Zuberan: Spanish painter with very stylized composition.

Jean Simeon Chardin: small domestic themes.

Laurie Rubin: contemporary editorial and advertising photographer.

Photo 33: Glass Glow - Choose an interesting object

This is a fairly simple looking shot, in that we want to have a translucent object made of glass and we're going to light it primarily from behind. Things to remember are:

• If the object if full, you'll light to show the liquid by having some light from another direction. If it's empty you can just create a silhouette with it's shape by lighting from behind.

• If the object contains another material such as metal, we'll need to light that separately.

• Since the light is coming directly at the lens, we need to watch out for lens flare.

• Don't use the hot lights under the glass surface as it will crack from the heat. Bring a shiny surface so that if the glass is already being used, you'll have something you can shoot on.

• The shot is about the glass object - so choose an interesting one!!

Color Relationships - Photographer Sandy Skoglund

Photo 33 will be introducing the use of Color Relationships into their projects - but using color in a thoughtful manner is an essential tool for strong image-making.

In the following image, the majority of the colors used are red and green...which are across from each other on the color wheel and therefore are complimentary.

Sandy Skoglund (the photographer, continues the complimentary

color relationship with blue/orange.

When using a fairly neutral environment, adding a single bold color

is using "a touch of color" method, which is used very often in

commercial photography.

The use of a single hue (color) is called monochromatic. In this case, you could

also call this a "warm" color environment - all the tones are on the warm

side of the color wheel (yellow, red, orange).

Warm or Cool color relationships do not have to be

monochromatic, as we see in this image.

Monday: 1/23/12 Schedule - Field Trip for Photo 33

Photo 33:

On Monday, January 23rd, Photo 33 will be meeting outside of Bristol Farms at 1:00pm. Bristol Farms is located at 2080 N. Bellflower Blvd.

Remember to bring the print-out of your first assignment. It was to review the photographers and painters listed in the Required Reading paragraph of the syllabus - from this group, select a still life (no people - just stuff) image that interests you, make a print-out of the image and on that sheet write a short paragraph about why you chose it.

Here's a great link to understanding how to write about design: Elements

Bring it to the field trip - I'll be collecting them there.

Photo 34: You're scanning your layouts and should have a full-sized transparent file with just type on it ready to use on Wednesday at your shoot.