DIGITAL PHOTOGRAPHY AND IMAGING - LECTURE AND TUTORIAL (WEEK 1-6)

Koh Hui Yee (0336198)
Bachelor of Mass Communication
Digital Photography and Imaging
Notes and Exercises

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Week 1 (13/04/20)

For the lecture and tutorial class, Mr. Fauzi encourages us to keep our artwork organised by establishing a constructive workflow, creating folders in Google Drive respectively and updating them on a weekly basis. Some are the tips to create a workflow:

1. Understand the question

2. Construct a strategic plan

3. Fill in the blank

4. Get some ideas and inspiration

5. Set a perimeter

Furthermore, Mr. Fauzi recommends us to create a board on Pinterest in order to gather more inspiration and generate ideas. During the class, I've also been inspired by how the balance of left and right brain can help us unleash our creativity with logical thinking.

Figure 1: My Pinterest Board.

Figure 2: The Balance of Left and Right Brain.

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Week 2 (20/04/20)

Mr. Fauzi introduces us to the concept of Adobe Photoshop. As this software program is mainly used for photo editing, therefore it makes sense to be known as Photoshop. Wow, what a simple yet interesting fact! Photoshop also plays a significant role in creating visuals style, website design, or individual experience function.

These are the importance of Photoshop for the graphic designer:

1. Express our creativity

2. Create graphic design

3. Restoration of old images

4. Integrate graphics with text artistically

5. Make use of brushes

6. Change photo colour

7. Rectify mistakes in photographs 

These are the 10 tips of successful graphic designer:

1. Follow the tutorials

As a beginner,  we are encouraged to learn more Photoshop basic skills and improve them though the tutorial videos that are posted by Mr. Martin and even those on YouTube. Always remember, practice makes perfect. 

2. Experiment

It is important to learn through trial and error without giving up easily, so that our experiments can turn out to be successful! Yet the experiments we took can help us to get comfortable with the software. 

3. Memorise all keyboard shortcuts

We are encouraged to memorise some of the basic keyboard shortcuts such as while using Photoshop. When we have memorised some of them, it will help us better focus on the work instead of wasting time to figure out how to use the software program. 

Here are some of the most crucial shortcuts to know:

• Control + + (Command + + ) = Zoom in
• Control + - (Command + - ) = Zoom out
• Control + a (Command + a ) = Select all objects
• Control + d (Command + d ) = Deselect all objects
• Control + t (Command + t ) = Free transform
• Control + c (Command + c ) = Copy
• Control + v (Command + v ) = Paste
• Control + z (Command + z ) = Undo last pin adjustment 
• [ = Decrease Brush Size  
• ] = Increase Brush Size 

4. Try to replicate others work

We don't need to be perfect to start. In order to gather more inspiration and generate ideas, we can first create a board on Pinterest and try to replicate others work before we can create our own stuff.

5. Do participate in design competitions

We can try to submit our artworks to design competitions if we are given those opportunities. Not only can us connect with the inspired community members, but also we can establish benchmarks for our designs. 

6. Subscribe to online galleries

Speaking of online galleries, Canva is definitely one of the most perfect graphic design platforms. It has already prepared various free templates for designers to customise their design to suit every brand and event.

7. Smart objects for smart designers

If designers don't have good quality images, they can even take a picture, scan any kind of pictures or even download them from Internet. These image sources can be known as smart objects for designers. Most importantly, it is all about how can the designers make good use of those smart objects to come out with some amazing design ideas.

8. Scaling artworks and proportions

We must understand the right proportion when resizing the figures, so that the computer can perform great pixels and at the same time, the images will not be distorted.

9. Use actions to personalise work

Actions are mainly used to do multiple things and duplicate steps. However, we will not often use it in this module.

10. Organize the files properly

It is an essential part for successful graphic designers as the structured files can not only help manage the work but also identify the key issues and highlight the details of all section or group. 

Furthermore, a 5 minutes lecture video is also provided to help us master some basic Photoshop skills more effectively.

During the tutorial class, Mr. Fauzi has assigned us an exercise by cutting out any printed materials to create a collage design on a piece of A4 paper. We are required to create 3 different compositions by using those printed materials. Then, we will submit our compositions on next week.

Figure 3: Composition 1.

Figure 4: Composition 2.

Figure 5: Composition 3.

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Week 3 (27/04/20)

Figure 6: Final Collage.

During the consultation, Mr. Fauzi states that he can see two design concepts which are funny and elegant in my compositions. For the composition 1 and 2, he mentions that it could be far better if I can determine which concept that I want to apply. Yet Mr. Fauzi emphasises the dominant role in my composition, so I have come out with an new idea which is composition 3 that places more emphasis on his point as compared to the previous compositions. Based on his suggestions, I have learnt that a lot of design elements sometimes may take more time to generate a good idea, but meanwhile it also opens my mind to more design possibilities.

As shown in composition 3 (final collage), people will start focusing on the pillar of my design which is the facial expression formed by many circles and a zipper mouth. The human eye instinctively follows lines, however a circle is a line that never ends, so it represents both movement and completeness. Indeed, the circles in different sizes and borders can make people lively feel that the eyes are moving and thus bringing that “aliveness” to my composition. The mouth which is created by a zipper implies that the power of our mind is simply limitless. Anything I can imagine can be attained, and that's how an open zipper can turn to be a mouth. In view of these, the facial expression has a direct connection with the text "welcome to a world of ideas".

All in all, my final collage tends to be playful and puts viewers at ease. Circles never stop, and so neither does the eye when viewing them, giving the audience a childlike whimsy. Yet the pink colour has a playful nature, so it can match both the theme and the text perfectly. 

After the consultation, Mr. Fauzi introduces us to the double exposure and image blending mode. 

The 8 ways to create double exposure effect:

1. Using the Tilt-Shift Effect (Filter > Blur Gallery > Tilt-Shift)

2. Create fake reflection
3. Experiment with simple portraits and details textured
4. Convert your results to Black & White
5. Work with silhouette
6. Pick two random photo
7. Make simple objects look fascinating
8. Use shadow

Blend Modes in Photoshop:

• Blend mode groups: Normal, Darken, Lighten, Contrast, Inversion, Cancelation and Component
• 4 Commonly used blend mode: Multiply (Darken), Screen (Lightening), Overlay and Soft Light (Contrast)

For the tutorial class, we are assigned to download all of the design elements from a link and use blending modes (double exposure effects) to create 3 compositions. 

Figure 7: Composition 1.

I create this composition with 4 layouts, half comic and half reality. In the comic category, the small silhouette which seems like an airplane represents freedom. The blue tree can also be viewed as the magical power of imagination as the tree is generally not blue in real world. While in the reality, the cat with a piece of newspaper blending in it shows that the stress at the workplace. The little white space at the right column below also offers details of a labor system of monotonous enormity.

Figure 8: Composition 2.

This composition indicates that a big cat is sailing on a boat. Yet there are some colourful confetti that seems like other small fish and a big fish surround the boat. You might ask why only the boat and fish look vibrant in the entire image? Obviously, it is because the cat feels hopeless about the world around it so the sailing boat and swimming fish are indeed a real dose of hope in this case. Many people like the cat may be experiencing the feeling of hopeless. They are all struggle with finding hope in a hopeless world while imagining to have a boat that can sail away their stress and worries. 

Figure 9: Composition 3.

This is definitely my most favourite composition. The small silhouette in the centre is falling back to his dream that can spend more time with his family. In fact, he is a busy CEO who has lost the work-life balance, however he suddenly realises it and decides to make some changes. Therefore, the shiny building is turned upside down when the silhouette has made his decision. The orange part of circle represents his successful role at work while the relatively dim part shows the overlooked role in his family. Yet the two fish with dim colour also imply that the silhouette is unhappy as he only works hard but spend little to no time with his family. In other words, the two fish are actually a reflection of his feelings, the happier the man, the more colourful the fish will be. 

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Week 4 (04/05/20)

During the lecture, Mr. Fauzi introduces us to the use of match lighting, adjustment layers and filters in Photoshop. After that, we can even apply blend modes and opacity to the adjustment layers. We are also encouraged to watch some lecture videos regarding match colour and adjustment layers in order to enhance our work. 

While during the tutorial, Mr. Fauzi has a consultation with us. He compliments on my creativity by making the silhouette smaller instead of enlarging it in composition 1. It matches well with my theme and allows more space in the design. For the composition 2, Mr. Fauzi states that blending the cat to be black and white is really a good idea. However, he suggests me to remove a small silhouette on top of the building to create more visual harmony in design. Besides, Mr. Fauzi gives me great praise when it comes to composition 3. To make this design look even better, he suggests me to slightly move the silhouette to the centre so that it could blend well with other compositions. After making those changes, all of my compositions have been greatly improved. From this exercise, I have learnt that the great blending modes can truly give our design a harmonious look. We should balance functionality and aesthetics in our design. Most importantly, keep our work organised by choosing the right aspect ratio before creating our design.

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Week 5 (16/05/20)

Due to public holiday, we are having a class replacement for this week. Mr. Fauzi introduces us to the settings of exposure, aperture, shutter speed and ISO that are known as the basics of photography. 

Figure 10: Exposure.

Exposure is the act of exposing the image sensor to light. By adjusting the amount of light, you can make a photograph of a bright sunlit scene look dark, or a shot of a dark interior look bright.

Figure 11: Shutter Speed and Aperture.

Figure 12: Shutter Speed. 

Aperture (expressed as an f-number) controls the brightness of the image that passes through the lens and falls on the image sensor.

The higher the f-number, the darker the image projected on the image sensor, and the darker the resulting photograph.

On the other hand, the lower the f-number, the brighter the image projected on the image sensor, and the brighter the resulting photograph.

Shutter speed is the time the shutter is open. The faster the speed, the shorter the time the shutter is open, and the shorter the time the image sensor is exposed to light.

The shorter the time the image sensor is exposed to light, the darker the resulting photograph. On the other hand, the slower the shutter speed, the longer the time the image sensor is exposed to light, and the brighter the resulting photograph.

Figure 13: Fast Shutter Speed.

Figure 14: Slow Shutter Speed.

Shutter speed is a measurement of the time the shutter is open, shown in seconds or fractions of a second: 1 s, 1/2 s, 1/4 s ... 1/250 s, 1/ 500 s, etc. The faster the shutter speed, the shorter the time the image sensor is exposed to light; the slower the shutter speed, the longer the time the image sensor is exposed to light.

If you are photographing a subject that is in motion, you will get different effects at different shutter speeds. Fast shutter speeds will “freeze” motion, while slow shutter speeds introduce blur from two sources: camera movement (camera shake) and subject movement.

Figure 15: Aperture.

Figure 16: Depth of Field (Long).

Figure 17: Depth of Field (Short).

Aperture controls the brightness of the image that passes through the lens and falls on the image sensor. It is expressed as an f-number (written as “f/” followed by a number), such as f/1.4, f/2, f/2.8, /f4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22, or f/32.


Changing the f-number changes the size of the aperture, changing the amount of light that passes through the lens. The higher the f-number, the smaller the aperture and the less light that passes through the lens; the lower the f-number, the larger the aperture and the more light that passes through the lens. For example, changing the aperture from f/4 to f/5.6 halves the amount of light passing through the lens and halves the brightness of the image that falls on the image sensor.

Figure 18: ISO.

ISO is a camera setting that increases or lowers the amount of light in a photograph. It’s always best to take advantage of all the natural light you can get your lens on, but sometimes darker conditions call for a higher ISO.

In ideal conditions, set your base ISO (either 100 or 200), this will result in higher detail and quality. In the dark however, it’ll be necessary to use a higher ISO, with the highest typically being 6400 – be warned, this will increase the amount of grain, or noise, in the photograph.

For the tutorial class, we are assigned to download all of the design elements from a link and use blending modes (double exposure effects) as well as incorporate our own photos to create 3 compositions. 

Figure 19: Composition 1.

Figure 20: Composition 2.

Figure 21: Composition 3.

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Week 6 (18/05/20)

Today lecture class is about a simplified zone system. 

Simplified Zone System Summary:

• Know your camera's metering pattern.
• Select a portion of the scene to meter. Shadow areas are generally preferred for negatives and middle to highlight areas for slides and digital, but the most important part of the scene is often the best choice. You'll learn from experience.
• Decide the zone in the final image to place this portion of the scene. (For example, you may want to place dark foliage at zone 4 or snowy mountains at zone 7.)
• Meter the selected portion.
• Determine the exposure. Adjust the meter's exposure by the difference between your chosen placement and zone 5. For example, to place a region on zone 7, increase the exposure by 2 f-stops over the meter reading. For slides or digital cameras, highlight areas where detail is to be maintained should be placed no higher than zone 7.
• Practice. Examine the exposure of your slides or negatives (but not the prints). Learn to interpret the histogram on your digital camera. Keep refining your technique and calibrating your equipment.
• TIP: You can expand the effective dynamic range of film for photographs of stationary objects taken with a tripod. Make two exposures: one for the shadows, one for the highlights. 

We are provided with a link http://www.normankoren.com/zonesystem.html for more information regarding a simplified zone system.






Overview
https://stellahuiyee.blogspot.com/2020/07/blog-post_12.html 

Project 1 (Week 1-5)
https://stellahuiyee.blogspot.com/2020/04/digital-photography-and-imaging.html

Lecture and Tutorial (Week 1-6)
https://stellahuiyee.blogspot.com/2020/04/digital-photography-and-imaging-lecture_28.html 

Project 2 (Part A: Week 6-8 / Part B: Week 6-10)
https://stellahuiyee.blogspot.com/2020/05/digital-photography-and-imaging-2-koh.html

Project 4 (Week 9-14)
https://stellahuiyee.blogspot.com/2020/06/project-4-as-you-can-see-claw-is.html

Practical (Week 11-14)
https://stellahuiyee.blogspot.com/2020/06/blog-post.html