1 of 5 9/13/2010 11:23 AM Continuing Education CE*1745C*01 Hinda Schuman, hschuman@uarts.edu Course Description For both beginner and advanced photography students, this course provides the technical background necessary for versatility shooting in low-light environments. The objective is to develop in each student the understanding of how to properly determine exposures and create visually compelling photographs under various degrees of available light. Working in exterior and interior locations with both natural and artificial light sources, participants create a body of nocturnal images. The course consists of roughly 20% lecture and presentations, 60% shooting on location and 20% critique. Students must work in digital format. Course Objective Students will be able to think of low light and night as their friend. Photographers have been taught to look at the light, and now in this class we will look at the dark. By the end of the class students will have an understanding of color theory, off camera flash and alternative light sources as the primary lighting of a photograph. Students will photograph a variety of subjects using long exposures and they will be able to use photoshop to compliment their intent. Course Assessment The final evaluation is based on student participation in class, completion of assignments and the final project. The evaluation takes into account the starting point of a student's creative and technical abilities and based upon my judgment, an evaluation of their work along the way culminating in the final project. Session 1 Date: 09-29-2010 Lesson 1. September 29, 2010 1. In class lecture/discussion: operation of camera and flash on manual modes. 2. Discussion of equipment needed to participate in class. please bring to all classes: your camera, flash, tripod and at least one lens. Also please bring a card reader or usb cord to download images, and disc or flash-drive with your assignment from the previous week. a) tripod b) camera capable of working on manual settings c) ability to use flash off camera d) remote/ or self timer & /or cable release. e)lenses ( a 50m 2.0 is a great lens for night work- and fireworks)
2 of 5 9/13/2010 11:23 AM NOTE: (an external flash is a very good item to own for this class but not absolutely required.) 3. The final project is due the last class and will be a series of images that you think make up a good 6 image portfolio of night or low light images on one theme. ( we will talk about this periodically through out the term) View websites/photos of examples of lowlight and night photography. Assignment due: Oct. 6th- Your street or yard at night. Please photograph your immediate environment after dark/before dawn You may use long exposures or flash- on or off camera. Please bring the entire take, but also have a 5 photo edit prepared. Session 2 Date: 10-06-2010 Lesson 2. October 6, 2010 1. color theory for digital cameras and how low light affects the outcome. 2. digital noise and color noise, your friend and your enemy. 3. ND filters and Polarizing filters- use of these filters under what circumstances 4. go over use of cameras on manual when I say manual, I mean settings- it is fine to use the camera on auto focus- ( and any of the other auto settings). You should however, feel comfortable with the manual modes including the B setting. 5. In class shoot: shooting from windows @ university of the arts- choose to look out from our classroom windows, restroom windows, or any other windows we can gain access to, and shoot up, down and across. Assignment due Oct. 13th- Photograph any subject using alternative sources of light as the primary light source. That is: street lights, car headlamps, flashlight, candles, etc. Please bring in the entire take, but also a 5 photo edit. Session 3 Date: 10-13-2010 Lesson 3. October 13, 2010 Meet near 30th Street Station to photograph the exterior of 30th St. Station and the Amtrak Building - the one with the colored lights that flash- we will spend the first half of the class photographing outside in that area. We will return to Uarts to download and review photographs from the evening. (time permitting & there should be time).
3 of 5 9/13/2010 11:23 AM Assignment for Oct. 20th- dusk or dawn landscape/cityscape. There should be some light in the sky and you should capture that light- and either the land or buildings might have some light on them or be silhouetted- so there is foreground and background in the images. Bring the entire take, and a 5 photo edit to class. Session 4 Date: 10-20-2010 Lesson 4. October 20th 2010 Motion in low light photography. Sometimes you just get fuzz. Sometimes you just get blurr, and sometimes you get mood, and movement and shadow and light. We will attempt to go for the latter. We will look at how to capture movement and how to light it effectively. We will look at websites and the work of lowlight motion images in sports and otherwise. We will go out on Broad Street and photograph the mood and the motion of the night. Emphasis on getting cars moving to produce a trail of white or red lights. Assignment due October 27th 2010- photograph a moving subject(s) at dusk/night. Cars on major thoroughfares are the first possibility. But there are many others. Consider Friday Night Football at a local high school. They have impossibly bad lighting and plenty of movement. Session 5 Date: 10-27-2010 Lesson 5. October 27th. 2010 Portraits in Low Light. We will discuss using a flash to create mood. We will look at off camera flash, and bounce flash as a way of lighting the subject s face but still leaving the mood lighting around the situation. We will look at portraits made in low light to create mood and emphasize different concepts. CD (album covers come to mind) but there are theater portraits and other low light situations to consider. We will go out on the street and photograph either each other or strangers in low light situations. Think: alleyways, unlit streets, a doorway, or other combination. Assignment due: Nov. 3rd 2010. Low light/night portrait. Do a portrait of an individual, and a group portrait (more than one person). Bring the entire take, and a 5 photo edit to class. Please use at least two different lighting situations. (at least one for the individual and one for the group) More is better. BRING A FLASHLIGHT TO CLASS ON NOV. 3 Session 6
4 of 5 9/13/2010 11:23 AM Date: 11-03-2010 Lesson 6. November 3, 2010 Light Painting with a flashlight. We will use a dark room, or hallway in school, or if not too cold go outside to a dark spot, and photograph each other using a flash light. You will need a tripod. ( and a flashlight). We will look at other light-painting results ours and those available on websites. Assignment for Nov. 10th 2010 Light painting assignment. Paint people or places using only a flashlight for light. Make sure your backgrounds are as dark as possible. Please bring in several examples, That is: outside, inside, people, and objects. Please bring the entire take, and a 5 photo edit to class. Session 7 Date: 11-10-2010 Lesson 7. November 10, 2010. Neon and the moon. We will discuss how to photograph neon light/signs and secondly how to photograph by moonlight. We will look at examples online and maybe! There will be a bright moon tonight. Otherwise, we locate some neon on South Street or Broad Street. Assignment for Nov. 17th 2010. Night photography. This is not about low light. Rather it is about night shooting. When the world is dark. Hopefully there will be some rain or fog this week to add into the mix. You are to photograph landscape/city streets at night. When all traces of sun are gone. This is also the week for you to photograph with very long exposures. (30 seconds or greater). This would be a good week for the moon to be barely visible as well. Please try and shoot some images that you think will convert nicely to black and white. Bring the entire take and a 10 image edit. ( 5 regular & 5 for black and white conversion.) Session 8 Date: 11-17-2010 Lesson 8. December 1, 2010 Processing low-light and night images and converting to black and white. We will look at noise reduction options, and input sharpening in lightroom/photoshop. We will also look at LR conversions to black and white. We will discuss and look at images that might benefit from increased digital noise as well as noise reduction. Discussion of final project. The final project is due the last class and will be a series of images that you think make up a good 6 image portfolio.
5 of 5 9/13/2010 11:23 AM Assignment for Dec. 8th 2010 Work on final project. Session 9 Date: 12-01-2010 Lesson 9. December 8, 2010 Astrophotography- how to, and some thoughts on the future of your night-time photography. We will look at options for shoot at night in various locations from Potter County to Las Vegas. ( and points in between ). We will head to Penn s Landing and photograph the sky and water. Session 10 Date: 12-08-2010 Lesson 10. December 15th. Presentation of final project. Critique and overview. Please bring a selection of your work from the term on a flash drive or cd so that I might take copies of your work for submission to the department. Your final project is included in this please have copies of that as well for me. Student Materials Total Material Cost: $0 (Total Required: $0) All students are expected to attend classes regularly and promptly, and for the duration of the scheduled instructional time. Individual instructors will decide the optimum time for taking attendance and may penalize for habitual lateness of absence. Repeated absences may result in a grade of "F" for the course. Students who withdraw from a course must do so in writing. Nonattendance does not constitute an official withdrawal. To have ACT 48 Activity Hours for this course reported to the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) you must complete and return the CE Request for Activity Hours Submission Form to the UArts Continuing Studies Office and meet all requirements outlined by the PDE. The University of the Arts reserves the right to cancel classes due to low enrollment, reschedule any course or to change the instructor. If a cancellation should occur, students will be notified prior to the start of classes and will have the option of taking another course or receiving a full refund. The University is not responsible for supplies that may be purchased in advance.