Assignment: Optical Art

Op Art is short for Optical Art. Following the Pop Art movement of the 1960's, Op Art came on the scene. Initially many referred to it as kinetic art because the art moved or appeared to move because of an illusion. Visual effects that cause illusions include vibrating colors, pulsating patterns, and concentric colors. The patterns disturb the eye and cause it so see movement. Many viewers of Op Art are compelled to turn away because of the effect.

The fathers of the Op Art movement are Josef Albers and Victor Vasarely. Albers experimented with color and discovered that combinations of certain colors did something the colors didn't do by themselves. Vasarely also explored colors and illusions. By combining geometric elements with colors and values, he created retinal vibrations. Another well known Op Art illusionist is Bridget Riley. She worked primarily in black and white with linear waves, billows, and vibrations.

The Op Art period was short and sweet. Although short, Op Art had a strong influence on textile and product design, music, advertising, and interior design.

Objective:

You will identify the elements of design used in the art and movement. You will be creating a 3D cube using geometric shapes and designs. Elements used should include line, space, and shape. A successful design will create an illusion of movement and will fool and disturb the eye. Your finished art should demonstrate your time and effort as well as use of tools and craftsmanship.

Project

Materials :

Youtube, Photoshop

Instructions:

a.       Follow the tutorial below exactly and create your own op art piece.

http://youtu.be/yPz2w4o9xtc

THIS WILL BE GRADED AS A QUIZ GRADE

POST TO YOUR OWN BLOG BEFORE END OF CLASS

Assignment: Object Series

One of the mistakes that I find many new photographers making is that they find they need to put every possible element of a story or scene into each photograph that they take. This leads to photos that can be quite cluttered, that have too many focal points and that confuse the viewer of them.

Your assignment this week, is to bring in objects and photograph a series of nine of the same (you may also photograph at home). This can be ANY type of series. For example, maybe you’ll shoot 9 pairs of shoes, maybe 9 piles of dirt, 9 cups of coffee…etc.etc.etc. Remember as always, creativity is key. Try and shoot all of them during the same time period so that your photos are closely related. Make sure nothing is in frame that could be distracting, have a solid background and good lighting. Below is an example of how to achieve the look of professional lighting at home.

IMAGES DUE FRIDAY 10/24, FINAL COMPOSITION SAVED AND POSTED TUESDAY 10/28
LAST_FIRST_OBJSeries in MAJOR FOLDER

You may also shoot this assignment at home, if you do not wish to bring your objects into class. If you are bringing in objects, however, do so ASAP since you'll have to take turns photographing.

And for those of you with an SLR, some F-stop tips:

An example of my work, shot with a flash, using black construction paper behind and underneath object. Obviously, I shot more then nine, so I could pick and choose which ones I liked best. I also thought 20 made the image more interesting.

© R. Friedman Photography

What is a series in photography?

Cristina Otero’s Tutti Frutti Photography Series



A photography series is a group of photographs sharing a subject or a theme. The photographs should look unified as a group; they should (usually) all be either color or black and white, printed at the same size and format, shot with the same or similar cameras and mounted and framed the same way. Following these guidelines, there are many ways to create a photography series.

One Process
One way to make a photography series look unified is to use the same process to print all of the photos. There are limitless ways to print photographs from digital and film cameras besides the well-known inkjet and Fuji Crystal Archive prints done at home and in labs. A film camera gives you more options; use your negatives to make wet darkroom prints on different kinds of papers and tone them differently. Use 19th century photographic processes such as cyanotype or platinum/palladium. Digital files can also be used to create digital negatives for contact printing, if you use one of the older processes. These prints will look unified as a series even if the subject matter varies.

One Genre

make your images go together by sticking to one of the classic genres of photography: portraits, still-life, nudes, landscapes, street photography or architectural photography. Look through photographic monographs at a library to view other possibilities. Ansel Adams was known for his landscape series about Yosemite. Walker Evans did a series of unforgettable portraits of sharecroppers in Alabama in the 1930s. Alfred Stieglitz photographed his wife, Georgia O'Keefe, repeatedly over the years. It doesn't take years to create a photographic series; memorable series have been created in a few minutes, such as Robert Capa's series about the landing on Normandy Beach in World War II.

One Place

One of the surest ways to make a series of photographs work as a group is to photograph one place as exhaustively as you can. A  "place" can be as small or expansive as you wish. It could be your childhood home, a neighbor's farm or one room in a house. Some of the best series of photos about a place include the people living there. The photos show the relationship between the place and the people, as in Shelby Lee Adams' series about Appalachia and its people.

One Theme

A more difficult assignment for a photographic series is to take a group of photos revolving around a theme. The theme could be purely visual, such as "light" or "shadows," narrative such as "dreams" or a concept as nebulous as "freedom." The group will go together better if you use one camera, format, printing process and if you frame the photos the same way.

YOUR TASK: Research some of the photography series and photographers mentioned above. Find a favorite series ON YOUR OWN. In your research, be thinking about what you might consider doing for a photography series (say, about 9 images- hint!

Shagun Ray, Vintage Camera Series

Edison high Career Fair

Career fairs are a free resource for you to discover which employers are hiring and interested in your skill set in a cost effective, efficient manner. Free resources are hard to come by in this day and age, and some recruiting companies have even reverted back to charging job seekers a fee to find them a job instead of charging an employer.  Free events, especially those that provide learning opportunities such as a career fair, should be attended as frequently as possible until you land the right job.

Assignment: Famous Painting Parody

Since you've spent the last two days researching modern and contemporary artists. It's time to have some fun. Your challenge, is to PUT YOURSELF in a famous painting. 

Adaptation of Edvard Munch's, The Scream

Adaptation of Edvard Munch's, The Scream

You may replace something that was already there, or add to it, if you think the painting is just missing something. Example of both of these can be seen above, in re-creations of Edvard Munch's "The Scream", whose original I've included for your reference. 

Edvard Munch, The Scream (Original)

You may also find, you'd like to match the painting techniques these ,masters of their craft tried so hard to exemplify, see anything odd about Mona here???

Adaptation of Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa

Leonardo da Vinci's original can be seen below.....

Leonardo da Vinci, Mona Lisa

Artist Inspirations

Today, you are going to do some research concerning art history. It is important to familiarize yourself with current and modern artists so that you can build a portfolio of your own. On your blog, I would like you to post images of artists that inspire you. Label the post Artistic Inspirations. Find AT LEAST 5 artists that inspire you through technique, subject matter, concept and or materials. If you would like to use more then 5, please do. You do not have to use photographers, you may be inspired by ANY VISUAL artist. You will need to post an image of each artist and write 1 sentence underneath about why you choose them in your blog. Please list the titles of the work along with the artist that you are posting USING A CAPTION. This Blog Post will  be Due Tuesday at the end of class- remember, there is no reason you cannot post from home. See some of my many, many inspirations below.

 

SEE MY EXAMPLE BELOW: (I have TWO, but YOU must have at least FIVE)

PUDDLE, M.C. Escher

Many of you know M.C. Escher only for his mathematical prints, but in fact he made much more wonderful art during his lifetime. How could you not love his incredible work?



from Twilight © Gregory Crewdson

NY based Gregory Crewdson is one of the most well-known and influential photographers working in the US today. His dramatic and moody imagery recalls surrealistic scene of Americana. love his work!

 

Project Graduation T-Shirt Design

T-Shirt Design Contest!

 

 

 

What: T-Shirt Design for YOUR graduating class to rock at project graduation this June!

 

Who: You! The senior class members

 

How: There are a few ways you may do this. You could use one of those lame design websites that offer random clip art and don't give you a lot of control OR you can use Photoshop to create a supercalifragilisticexpialidocious design that gets everyone's attention! *I put t-shirt outline images in your sample images folder for your convienence.

 

When: Due By OCTOBER 17  Save As last_first_ProjGrad in Minor Assignments folder. Make sure it's at least 300 resolution so printer can enlarge the design without a problem.

 

Entries will be submitted to Mr. Cilento and he and your class officers will decide on a winning design. That design will then get sent to the printer and on June 18th, your classmates could be sporting your fabulous tee!

 

The Fine Print: T-shirt designs must be in school colors (green, white, black & gray) and the base tee-shirt must be white (it is too expensive to print on blck tee's). The design must include "project graduation" and "2013" in some respect. Other then that you have a lot of freedom so get to designing!!! A t-shirt template can be found in your Assignments folder.

PLEASE POST YOUR DESIGN TO YOUR BLOG AS WELL SO WE CAN SEE ONE ANOTHER'S DESIGNS

 

Some tee's from the past....

 

 

How do I give a good crit??

We don’t like being told that we are wrong. We also don’t like it when people say negative things to us. We generally like to ignore the critique that others say about us or our work, in order to preserve our own self-image of ourselves.

However, it is important to get honest and constructive critique to improve our photography. If we never get any guidance and feedback, how can we strive to improve and upon what ruler can we measure our progress?

© Fred Herzog

I don’t feel that it is possible to give constructive criticism on the internet that is less than 4 sentences. Comments and feedback such as “nice shot”, “nice light”, and “beautiful” help boost our ego and are generous, but are equally as useless in terms of improving ourselves as photographers such as “you suck” or “you are a horrible photographer”.

Let us break down two points:

1. Critique is generally used to find faults in certain arguments. According to the definition, it is not required that you include the positive aspects when you critique, but in order to give a constructive critique I believe it is important as well.
2. A critique should be based on an informed opinion, and never upon a personal opinion. In the end any critique you give will always be your opinion, but it should be based on your past experience, your techinical knowledge, or training you have received in the past.

©R. Friedman

Whenever my good friends or street photographers are close to me ask for feedback on their images, this is generally the flow of what goes on in my mind, and the questions I like to ask myself:

1. Remove all distractions

When giving a constructive critique to somebody else, turn off all distractions. If you are giving it via the internet, close any other applications or tabs you have open to give the critique your full attention.

2. Judge the composition

I first start off by looking around the frame, for every small detail in terms of the composition. I try to do this for about a minute (at least). This is what goes on in my head (questions I ask myself):
a) Is there a random hand in the background that distracts or adds interest?
b) Are there cars in the background which are distracting? (there usually is).
c) What is the main subject, who should I be looking at?
d) Is the composition good?
e) Do I see nice leading lines in the image that lead to the subject, or does it lead away from the subject?
d) Is the light good or flat?
e) Are there any triangles I see that achieves balance and harmony in the frame?
f) Is the perspective good? Should the photographer have crouched down lower for this shot when taking a photo of a kid, or shot more eye-to-eye with his subject?

3. Judge the content

I then start judging the content. When I refer to “content” I mean try to figure out what is going on in the frame. What is the story? Is the photograph an interesting photograph or not?
I generally judge content based on certain things:
a) Does the photograph immediately pique my interest?
b) Is there something unusual or wacky happening in the scene?
c) Have I seen a similar photograph taken before by someone else?
d) Does the photograph make me feel anything? Does it make me smile, laugh, cry, frown, feel depressed?
e) Does the image make sense in a series or a photo essay? Is it a stand-alone image or a part of something bigger?
f) Is this image memorable? Will I remember the image a month, or even a year from now?



©R. Friedman

Giving the critique

Once I have fully absorbed what I have looked at, I then ask the photographer, “Do you want me to give you an honest critique?” This helps the photographer getting the feedback and opportunity to mentally prepare for what he/she is going to hear. If they say “yes”- they will expect some of the negative feedback you will give them (instead of it coming out of nowhere).

1. Tell the photographer your initial impressions

Start off by telling the photographer what went in on your mind when you first looked at the image. Verbalize what your mind was thinking when looking at the frame. For example you can say something like,
“When I first looked at the photograph, my eye immediately looked at the brightest part of the frame, which was the top right corner. I then had to search around the frame a bit to look for what was going on, and then found an interesting background, and found the subject.”
Tell them what initially drew your eye to the frame, and how your eyes personally looked around the frame.

2. The top bun (positive feedback)

Every image has some sort of merit or intent. Try to think about why the photographer who is asking for feedback took the image. After all, he/she probably took the photograph because he/she found something interesting going on enough to click the shutter.
Tell the photographer what you liked about the frame, whether it was the gesture of the subject in the photograph, an interesting background, dynamic colors that juxtaposed well, or if the subject him/herself was interesting.

3. The meat (negative feedback)

This is where the critique gets tricky. Giving negative feedback is tough to give, and tough to hear. After all, you don’t want to hurt their feelings. But as mentioned earlier, they agreed to you giving them an “honest critique” so it doesn’t make sense if they get upset for your honesty. After all, it is very rare nowadays to get honest feedback (anything in life).
Talk about what in the frame you don’t like or you find distracting. Tell them what you find is weak in the image. Some feedback I generally give people:
a) The background is distracting (too many random heads, people, or cars)
b) The subject is boring (the subject is standing too static, not moving their hands or making gestures, wearing ordinary clothes, or a blank facial gesture)
c) The subject is too centered. Typically I prefer subjects in photographs a little more on the left side of the frame or the right side of the frame (think of the rule of thirds).
d) The lighting is bad. The frame itself may be good, but the lighting may be too harsh and there are blown highlights (generally happens when people shoot mid-day or afternoon).
e) The image is too busy. There may be too much happening in the frame, and it can be overwhelming to look at.
f) The photo doesn’t fit in a series. If someone is asking me to critique an image in a series, I sometimes find images which are good as single images, but don’t work in a series based on a concept.
g) There is too much post-processing. I see many images that are too “over-processed” by having too much highlight recovery (HDR-looking), by having too heavy a vignette, or the colors are oversaturated.
h) The colors are distracting. If the shot is in color, sometimes colors can be a distraction, especially if there are bright colors such as red or yellow in the corners of the frame (and the subject is more near the center of the frame).

4. The bottom bun (positive feedback)

I then conclude the critique by leaving on a positive note. Remind them again what you like about the image, and what you think that they can improve on. Tell them if you think the photo is either a “keeper” or something that they should not show publically or remove al-together.

Photowalk II

For today's photo walk, you are to focus on DEPTH OF FIELD. Please review what depth of field is from your very first assignment PowerPoint, and see the images below. You'll most likely want to use your macro setting and get in close, but it is certainly not the only way. Spend today's walk looking around, see the world a little differently! You will POST your images when we return to class (can also be done from home this evening).

 

 

Assignment: David Hockney Inspired Collage

You will begin today by reading Project #2:  David Hockney Collage 
Between today and tomorrow, your assignment is to 

Objective: Create a TWO photos in the style of artist David Hockney (It is important to read the document above for the instructions) If you are not in school today, email me and I will attempt to explain in as much detail as possible.

You will need to bring in your photographs for this assignment Wednesday October 8th 2014

Hockney, Photo Montage

 

Here’s what you need to do…. 1. Watch the presentation on artist David Hockney, go on the Internet and find his work. Really get to know his work. How does he do it? What stories does he tell? What angles/perspectives does he use in his work? 

2. Decide what the subject matter of your collage will be. You will have to shoot 1 portrait (of anyone) and 1 your choice: Landscape, a certain room??? TOTAL: TWO PHOTOGRAPHS

3. Start shooting. Take LOTS of pictures! - these are digital photos so you've got nothing to lose, the more the better. Stand in the same place, get up close, back up, think about your angles, your perspectives. What story will you tell? 


4. The more images you have to work with for this collage the better off you will be. You will layer the images to create your collage.  

5. Create your collage in Photoshop following the tutorial given in class. Create a large background canvas to work on. (directions to follow) 

6. Save your final collage with your name as the title in the folder labeled  MAJOR Assignments in our student assignment submit folder. Ex: Smith_Joe_HOCKNEY1

7. Don't forget to SAVE A SMALLER VERSION & POST your assignment onto your blog as well titled "David Hockney Inspired Collage". You need to also add an artist statement. *Step by step by step directions and assignment Rubric can be found in your ASSIGNMENTS folder

Cassandra Siena, 2011

Grading Criteria

_____ 10 Points Ready for Project on Monday 3.18.13: gathered images and uploaded to class computer.

_____ 10 Points Drawing in journal with labeled ideas
_____ 50 Points 1-13x19”, 300 Res ready print on due date
_____ 20 Points Aesthetic considerations
_____ 10 Points POST Project to Blog            

    Total: 100 Points

Summerlyn Astrom, 2011

Photo Post Challenge: ReCreate Childhood Photos

 

Similar to our challenge in which you had to post a photo of someone reflected in another surface, you are to re-create a childhood photo. Take some time to look through old photos, and choose one you'd like to re-create. Try and use the same people, wear similar clothing, same style hair, revisit the same place, etc.  the more similar the better. If you do not have any old photos, you may use someone else's, but the more personal the photo is the more successful your final product will be. 

Some great examples in previous years include, Nicki Ng, Rachel, and  Paula, but you can find lots of these on the internet and they can be serious, but are often very amusing!

POST both the old and new photo by end of class Tuesday 10.7.14