Skatepark Shoot

 When taking photos focus on:

• Getting close enough to your subject
• Framing the shot so you have clean backgrounds
• Be aware of the assignment criteria
• Make sure your shots are in focus

NEW Skatepark Shoot

New Photo Assignment: Skate Park shoot  - In this assignment students should focus on taking shots from different angles. The skate park makes an excellent backdrop for photos, so make sure you have a focal point in all of your shots. You could shoot people, skaters/bikers in action, objects or even the skate park itself...just make sure you remember your rules of composition while shooting. Try a variety of different types of shots. Also if you take any objects out to shoot they must get returned. 

( 10 shots = 20 marks)

Criteria: 10 well composed shots focusing on angles. You may need to take up to 30 photos to get 10 really good ones. Please edit your photos!

• top down: looking down at your subject or object
• looking up: up from the bowl at the person's feet hanging down
• at ground level: get on your stomach and shooting  
• dutch angle:please do not do more than one of these. Shooting on a tilt
• horizontal: camera is horizontal
• vertical: camera is in a vertical position

MAKE SURE ALL SHOTS HAVE A FOCAL POINT AND WATCH FOR CLUTTER IN THE BACKGROUND

LINK to Article on Angles: Short Article to Review on Angles

LINK TO SAMPLE: car shoot angles

LINK TO SAMPLE: skatepark angle example

Conflict Writing

 Today's To Do's

• Organize Folders
• See Ms Chase about your grades
• Work on 5 Spring Shots
• Work on Conflict

Let's write about Conflict

So, stories are about adversity. Happiness can be the ending of the story, but it can’t be the story itself. Why not? Because happy characters don’t want to change. Happiness doesn’t force the characters to act and thus reveal themselves and, if the characters are having a good time, the reader is not.

To be forced to change, to act and reveal their innermost selves, characters need to be frustrated, desperate and at the end of their rope. The worse you make it for your characters the better it is for the reader. When the characters give all they’ve got, readers experience it deeply and powerfully.

To create true conflict, two things are needed: a want and an obstacle. Your protagonist must want something, and there must be an obstacle (the antagonist) that’s trying to stop her from getting what she wants (Ahab wants to kill the whale, the whale wants to kill Ahab).

Both the want and the obstacle must be strong and determined. If either is weak, it will be impossible to create a good story. 

Conflict brings stories to life, though it isn’t important for what it is, but for what it does. What does it do? The answer to this question lies at the very heart of storytelling. Conflict forces characters to act in ways that reveal who they are – and nothing tells us more about characters than how they deal with their troubles.

When conflict exposes who a character really is, the reader is drawn in through identification. The more difficult the character’s choice, the more his true nature will be revealed. In great stories – Romeo and Juliet; Hamlet; Scarlett O’Hara; Frodo; Harry Potter – the heroes are forced to go all the way. The more pressure you put on your character, the more you make him reveal his true, inner self and the more powerfully your readers will identify with them.

Criteria: At least a half page in length, have it edited by Ms Chase before handing in final copy.

LINK to how to write conflict: How to write Conflict

Red Dress Instructions

 

Editing the Red Dress: Photo by Alexis Hazard

Go in to Photoshop, open your Red Dress photo into the program.

Go to the 4th tool down on the left and choose the Quick Selection tool ( right click to get it)

Go to the SELECT tool at the top and select INVERSE.

Then go to IMAGE /ADJUSTMENTS/BLACK AND WHITE

Then DESELECT and your dress should be in RED and the background in black and white

Then RESIZE your photo to 8x10  by going into IMAGE/IMAGE SIZE after sizing, go to VIEW fit on screen, then PRINT to LIB COLOUR, pick up your print, put your name on the back and save as copy into your folder on the Mdrive as a jpeg

All assignments for Term 3

 Writing

• Bio
• Bucket List
• Setting
• Dialogue: due Friday at the latest ( hand it in even if you missed the deadline!!!!!
• (total marks 40)

Photo

• Headswap
• Headshots-5 shots
• Scavenger Hunt - 5 shots
• Candy Macros -10 shots
• Other Macros -10 shots
• Macro Slideshow due thisThurs April 18 and Fri April 19 to be shown in class
• (total marks 90)

Total: 130 marks

Macro Slideshow Info

• Program is Photostory for Windows... Under the start menu
• Photos are timed 3.5 seconds
• Audio files are on the Mdrive, under Chase 2024  in a folder called audio files
• Slideshows need to be in a WMV format not WP3
• Make sure they save in their own folder then move to the slideshow folder
• Test the slideshow to make sure it works 

If finished everything... help someone else with their slideshow!!!!

5 SPRING SHOTS: You are looking to create photos that represent the idea of new life, spring weather, people happy, sunshine or things blooming.

Criteria: In focus, clear focal point, try using the digital SLR cameras

RED DRESS SHOTS: (Partners or Groups of 3) Take out a red dress on a hanger and place it somewhere interesting and take a few interesting photos of it...try different angles. Upload to photoshop and keep the dress red while turning the background black and white.

Tues/Wed April 2 and 3

 

You should all be working on the following:

• Macro slideshow; taking and editing photos 
• NOTE: all photos need to be in JPEG format!!!
• You need 10 candy macros and 10 other macros
• Making sure all old assignment files are organized and up to date for marking.
• NEW  writing assignment : DIALOGUE

Dialogue Assignment #4

 Dialogue: I already introduced this assignment in class, here is the info you need to do the assignment properly. Dialogue is a conversation between two people. In writing a story or novel, good dialogue will do one of two things; move plot or develop character. Your task is to create a dialogue between two characters that does one or the other or both. It might help to create a conflict between the two characters.

The minimum lines of dialogue are 8 lines per character. 16 lines total  Marks:10 

Work Due Before March Break

Writing:

• bio paragraph
• bucket list
• setting of favourite place

Photo:

• 5 headshots
• scavenger hunt
• 10 candy macros
• headswap in photoshop

Working on 10 additional macros,

slideshow of 20 macros due after the break

Week of March 3

Candy Macros : 10 photos edited 20 marks

10 general macros or up close objects 20 marks

Slideshow 10 mark s= Total 50 marks

NEW  Writing ASSIGNMENT: You are going to write about a favourite place using the 5 senses. As you describe the place, I want to you to use words that create visuals, sounds, tastes, and a sense of touch. The idea here is to write to create an atmosphere or feeling. 

• You may need to build a fictional story around this place or simply begin describing it. In this assignment students are to focus on the elements of setting ( time, place, description)  using the senses and the concept of show not tell.  (10)

LINK to further reading: Setting article: more info

Link:get some help here

Example:

from "The Old House at Home" (1940)

by Joseph Mitchell (1908-1996)

McSorley's bar is short, accommodating approximately ten elbows, and is shored up with iron pipes. It is to the right as you enter. To the left is a row of armchairs with their stiff backs against the wainscoting. The chairs are rickety; when a fat man is sitting in one, it squeaks like new shoes every time he takes a breath. The customers believe in sitting down; if there are vacant chairs, no one ever stands at the bar. Down the middle of the room is a row of battered tables. Their tops are always sticky with spilled ale. In the centre of the room stands the belly stove, which has an isinglass door and is exactly like the stoves in Elevated stations.

When describing a place in fiction, think about the sounds, smells and other sense details that distinguish it from others. Here is Dickens describing the industrial city of Coketown, for example, in Hard Times (1854):

It was a town of red brick, or of brick that would have been red if the smoke and ashes had allowed it; but as matters stood, it was a town of unnatural red and black … It had a black canal in it, and a river that ran purple with ill-smelling dye, and vast piles of buildings full of windows where there was a rattling and a trembling all day long, and where the piston of the steam-engine worked monotonously up and down, like the head of an elephant in a state of melancholy madness.

From Harry Potter:The first several chapters of the book take place at the Dursleys' prim house on Privet Drive. The Dursleys' home may look polite and regular, with its "tidy front garden" (2.1) and its inhabitants' emphasis on behaving just like everyone else, but that doesn't make it a nice or welcoming place to live. In a way, it has just as much darkness and unhappiness as you might expect from a magical landscape. Nephew Harry is forced to live in a "cupboard under the stairs" (2.13) while the son of the house, Dudley, enjoys two bedrooms to himself. The Dursleys' house might look cheerful from the outside, but inside Harry sees only bleakness. Let's not forget that Whinging, in British English, means whining. Even the town they live in is annoying.

Week of Feb 25

 Re-introduction of Final Slideshows... show sample slideshow... create slideshow folder

Introduction of NEW Assignment: Candy Macros : 10 photos edited 20 marks

10 general macros 20 marks

Slideshow 10 marks=Total 50 marks

Criteria:

• make sure your object is the focal point and in focus
• keep your backgrounds clean or blurred
• shoot a variety of shots and use a variety of different objects
• use your light effectively
• make your shots interesting ( frame them differently, have them tell a story)
• draw me into your photo
• make the ordinary look extraordinary

 

Week of Feb 20 : Intro to Photoshop

  Editing Assignment NEW

HEADSWAP IN PHOTOSHOP INSTRUCTIONS  (10 marks)

1. Find/or take photo of a person.When using google to find the image, get the largest size photo possible. ( ie superman, famous model or celebrity) no animals or cartoons.

2. Bring in both photos to Photoshop. Go to IMAGE, ADJUSTMENTS, IMAGE SIZE and change the photos to both be close to the same size. If one is way bigger than the other it will be difficult to do the assignment. While under ADJUSTMENTS, you can also change both photos to BLACK and WHITE.
3. Next go to the SELECTION TOOL,( right click) and using the tool, move the tool around the head of one of your photos, then click on EDIT CUT and go to your next photo.

Note: It is probably more interesting to put the student head on the celebrity body, but it does not matter which head goes where. Also if you do not have a head shot that works for the swap, simply go out and take a shot of someone in a similar pose and distance away from the camera.

4.When on the next photo, click on EDIT, PASTE. This will put the head on the page. Then to resize the head, click EDIT, TRANSFORM, SCALE. This will put a box around the photo and allow you to change the size of the head, you can also slightly rotate the head if you go to ROTATE under TRANSFORM tool.
5. Then you want to tweak the image by moving into place with the pick/move tool, or use the eraser tool to clean up the edges.

Note: SAVING the file: If you need to continue working on the head swap, save as a Photoshop file so you can come back and work on the image. It is always a good idea, to save your edited photos as Photoshop files as a backup in case you need to go back and make changes. However, if you think you are done you can save as a JPEG ( which is save as copy) put into your M drive folder and then print out the assignment, put your name on it and hand it in.

Criteria for this assignment: Looking for a clean transition, not warped but looking accurate, limited blurring to make the face/hair work. If I cannot tell it has been photoshopped it is a 10/10. Good Luck.

Wed/Thurs Feb 14/15

How to Use a digital SLR camera 

 

Assignment today...not for marks but for learning:

• Sign out a  camera with Ms Chase. Go out with a partner and try out the Digital SLR on automatic mode.Each person should take a few photos.
• Come back in and get a card reader and upload photos to your M drive folder. Allow your partner to access the M Drive so they can copy the photos to their M Drive
• Shut off camera, return card, put camera back

Mon/Tues Feb 12/13

buck·et list

noun

INFORMAL

1. a number of experiences or achievements that a person hopes to have or accomplish during their lifetime.

   "making this trip is the first thing on my bucket list"
2. 
   

Your next assignment for writing is to create a bucket list of the top 20 things you would like to do before you turn 25. Please do not create repetitive lists.

Friday Feb 9

  1. Great Wildlife Photos

Work Block on: 

• 5 Headshots
• 6 Scavenger Hunt shots
• Bio Paragraph
• Practice Editing in Photoshop

Wed./Thurs Feb7/8

Where do Ideas Come from?

Where do the best ideas for stories and characters and images come from? Where will you find the most fertile resource for imagination and truth? 

Your mind, of course. And in your everyday life.

Writing is very much about elements such as plot, characterization, description, dialogue, and voice, but often the most important work does not happen at the keyboard. It comes from somewhere deeper, from bringing the riches of your mind to the surface. It’s a process that happens when you are away from the words and outlines—often sleeping or dreaming or going about your everyday tasks.

Allow your mind to wander....be bored or still some of the time so you can live in your imagination. This is the place where the greatest riches are found.

What do you have to say to the world?

What stories are your dreams revealing to you?

Have you observed someone interesting lately?

What are you frustrated about?

Unleash your fantasy world.

Remember, great writers write everyday, not because they have to, but because they need to, and  because they have something to say to the world.

Check out some writing topic ideas

NEW  Writing Assignment #1: Students are to write a bio telling about themselves including: interests, hobbies, likes/dislikes, favourite foods, fav. books, foods etc. This assignment should be written in third person. Ex. Jane is a shy girl who lives in Comox with her two cats named Goofy and Mittens. Jane enjoys knitting in her free time ……Length 1 paragraph

Criteria: 

• detailed, specific writing 
• 1 paragraph in length
• proper spelling and grammar
• typed 

When finished, you are to find a partner in the class to read your paragraph to and get them to help you improve  the piece by offering suggestions. Make sure the assignment is typed and has your name on it.

Examples:https://insights.bookbub.com/great-author-bio-examples/

As a child, King apparently witnessed one of his friends being struck and killed by a train, though he has no memory of the event. His family told him that after leaving home to play with the boy, King returned speechless and seemingly in shock. Only later did the family learn of the friend's death.^[

When King was two, his father left the family. His mother raised him and his older brother David by herself, sometimes under great financial strain. When King was 11, his family moved to Durham, Maine, where his mother cared for her parents until their deaths. 

In conversation with Terry Gross, King says: "My childhood was pretty ordinary, except from a very early age, I wanted to be scared. I just did."

Mon and Tues Feb5/6

 Review of Composition

• Rule of thirds
• Focal Point
• Fill the Frame
• Rule of odds
• Leading lines

NEW Assignment: Scavenger Hunt on your phone

• something red
• fill the frame
• the isfeld logo or something with the word isfeld in it
• something round
• a school supply
• BONUS: close up of an eye

 From last class:

• create a folder under Chase 2024 on the MDrive
• create a wriing folder on the ONEDRIVE

Open Adobe Photoshop and Photo Story and drag them to the desktop of your computer

To set your Apple devices to take photos in JPEG/JPG instead of HEIC and to have the resolution be high:

1. Go to Settings
2. Tap Camera
3. Tap Formats
4. Tap Most Compatible

2. Rule of Thirds

What is the rule of thirds? The rule of thirds is a composition guideline that places your subject in the left or right third of an image, leaving the other two thirds more open. While there are other forms of composition, the rule of thirds generally leads to compelling and well-composed shots. But, once you know this rule and practice it a bit, you can break the rule.

2. Questions to ask yourself before taking a photo: 10 QUESTIONS

3. Composition : the way in which something is put together or arranged : the combination of parts or elements that make up something.

Watch beginning

2.NEW First Assignment on your phone: Headshots 5 photos of 5 different people. Also include a headshot of yourself in this album.

3. 20 minutes to go out and shoot headshots  DO NOT DISRUPT OTHER CLASSES. 

Headshot Criteria

• background clean
• good eye contact with camera
• edited head and shoulders
• pleasing to the eye
• in focus
• speaks to subject's personality

Welcome to Photo/Writing 9

 Overview Photo/Writing 9: 

In this class you will learn much about how to see the world from a different perspective, how to use the digital SLR cameras, upload and organize photos and how to edit in Photoshop. This class will allow a fair bit of freedom, but with this freedom comes responsibility. Along with Photography you will be learning how to improve your creative writing skills by way of various exercises and assignments.

( Class Guidelines: to be discussed)

We need good photography for the yearbook. Students are encouraged to use their phones for taking photos as much as possible. School cameras will be available for student use in class and may be able to be signed out to take home with teacher permission. Techniques on how to use your phones/digital slr cameras will be taught in class. Students should carry their phone charge cords with them for uploading photos. 

Requirements for success in this course:

• a positive attitude and a willingness to learn and push beyond the level you are at
• your own cell phone and charger cables 
• using class time effectively and a respect the freedom you have in this class
• realizing the benefits of  taking photos outside of class occasionally
• be a good model for your peer/help out others when you can
• Keeping up with writing assignments and getting your work peer, parent or teacher edited

• : ALL COMPUTER KEYBOARDS AND MICE ARE TO BE WIPED AT THE BEGINNING OF CLASS
• TRY TO REMAIN DISTANCED APART FROM OTHERS WHEN PHOTOGRAPHING
• SHOOT OUTSIDE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE

Core Competencies

• Critical and Creative thinking
• Self and Social Responsibility
• Visual and written communication skills

Assessment: 

Students are at the beginning stages of learning a skill so taking lots of photos will be important for skill development. Assignments in Photo will focus on developing an eye for composition and learning how to take photos from different angles. Students will have various assignments focusing on specific skills and will be assess by a portfolio of their work. In writing the same format will be in place. Writing is broken down into understanding character, setting, poetry and creative short assignments. I am a firm believer in process based teaching and assessments for the arts.