Portraits

Part A

Take notes on the the Portrait links & video pages which is important in order to complete this assignment well. Make sure you draw figures to show how subjects should pose. Take photos of your notes and post to posterous & the link to the spreadsheet.

Part B

Portraits Checkpoint

After you have finished viewing and taking notes from a previous assignment about portraits, you will apply what you have learned and take portrait photos.

You will complete this assignment in class but if you are absent or taking the course during summer online, complete it on your own and get your own subjects. Get into a group of 4-5 and make sure there is at least one girl and one boy. Each member of the group must have a turn to take photos. Be sure the photographer verbally gives instructions on how to pose and they may need to physically show the subject how they want the pose. Take at least a couple photos of each pose in case they close their eyes etc. Take a proof photo (you take the photo with the guy or girl that is your subject behind you). Each member of the group must take the following photos and make sure you apply the concepts learned from portraits and composition.

Various Pose Examples

Photo of a guy
1. One professional pose from their chest or waist up sitting down. Shoot the pose from two different angles.

Photo of a girlOne professional pose of half the body or shoulders up and one of the whole body (try different angles).Use the posing techniques learned (e.g. s-curve). These photos are usually best taken in portrait dimensions instead of landscape.Photo of a boy or girl
1. One close-up creative photo that is framed tight and don't show your full subject, crop part of their head or face like the photo on the right.
2. Photo of a group (at least three people and any genders in the group)
3. Take a creative group pose; you decide how much of their bodies to show.
4. All photos must meet the portraits' principles and will be graded accordingly.

Camera Settings for Portrait important if using a DSLR

Take your photos in Manual or Aperture priority mode

Lowest number aperture (e.g. 2.8 or as low as your lens allows)
Lowest number ISO (e.g. 100 or 200)

Adjust your shutter speed to get the right lighting you need; just make sure you your hand and subject is steady and does not give a blur effect

If you leave the classroom, it is very important that you do not misbehave or be loud because if teachers or administration complain, who may take that privilege of away from our classes in the future. We will take the photos outside but if it is raining, here are the following areas:

First floor near the couches by the HS music room
Green screen in the computer lab
Bright hallway with windows on your way to the lunch room
Outside the gym area by the trophy case
Second floor hallway above the gym
In the stairway near Mr. Swinger's room

When you come back to the computer lab, borrow an SD card reader if needed and transfer the photos you took to your MacBook or iMac. Then give the card reader to the next person in the group and they will take their photos off the camera. If I find you using photos that you didn't take for your assignment, you will receive a zero and it will be treated as cheating, even if it was a "mistake"...so make sure.

Post all of your photos that you took (both good and bad so we can see your progression) to your Picasa in an album named Portrait Draft; do not edit any photos during this checkpoint. Make sure you change the album properties to Unlisted or Public because the default setting is private. You must post the link to this album to the spreadsheet by the end of class to receive credit. If the photos are taking a long time to load, just open a new browser tab and go to My Photos in your Picasa and you will already see the album you made and a few photos that have already been uploaded.

By the end of the day, have one CA student (current or past) make short comments on the three photos that would be best (one boy, girl, and group pose). Then, add a caption to the top photos chosen. Write the following captions for one photo each so I can see which ones you chose (you can choose any shot/angle of the girl, guy, and group poses you took):

Girl Portrait
Guy Portrait
Group Portrait

Then upload these three photos to a new album in your Picasa called Chosen Portraits. In the caption, write the angle of the shot. In the comment, write the camera settings you used for ISO, Aperture, and Shutter Speed. You can find them in Picasa in the top right of your photo. Remember the camera settings you need on your camera for portraits (shown in dark red above).Post to Posterous a screenshot of your photos in the Portrait Draft album and Chosen Portraits album and include the Picasa links in the Posterous article. Post the Picasa links to the spreadsheet.If you were not able to get the photo you wanted, you may retake one or more photos later since you will be graded on their quality for the final project but do not take too much time retaking if needed. Part BB (summer students only)

Portraits Retry

Come to the computer lab during the lab times and ask Mr. Heil for feedback on your previous photos. Then ask a few of your classmates to go outside and retake your photos (follow the directions from Part B above and post again a screenshot of a bunch of your photos including your proof shots in a new album in Picasa and that link to Posterous but show Mr. Heil your photos for approval if you can before posting.

Part C

After you have your three photos chosen, one boy, one girl, and group pose, apply a different effect to each of the photos from the list below. If there is another tutorial effect that you find and want to use, you must first get permission and send me the tutorial link.

When you create the the special effects below, open a new PS document that is 4x6in 150dpi for portrait or 6x4in if it is landscape and insert your portrait into the document. Position the photo so that it has good composition and rule of thirds.

When you are finished, add them to your existing Picasa album, Chosen Portraits. Also, add your three proof shots. These will be graded based on how well you used the posing techniques learned. Copy this album link to the spreadsheet.

Then post your three edited photos to the MF Picasa album. In the captions of your photos in the MF Picasa Album, type your classID, next line is your subject(s), and then the editing effect.

example:

ca1daniel13

Subject: Daniel Ha

Effect: Split Toning