B/W and Sepia Portrait Photography

Per our discussion in class regarding B/W and sepia portrait photography. You might also want to do a key word search on the subject. Remember your setting on the camera and take notes on what work and what didn't. The images below will serve as examples. All images below are teacher examples and borrowed from the www. 

Think: rules of thirds, composition, background, setting, lighting, contrast, 

High School Photography Unit part 1

If you're an old man like me you might remember having a photography lab in high school full of wonderful chemicals that made your hands all stinky. The days of over exposed paper and making out with your boy/girlfriend in the darkroom is long gone. Love it or hate it, digital photography has made the process easier to teach, or has it...

The downside to digital photography as my wife states has created lazy photographers. There isn't that set limit of 12, 24, or 36 shots on a roll, therefore you don't really have to think about composition. In my experience, I found this to be true. Many people think that just because they have a nice camera qualifies them as photographer.

For this assignment I asked students to turn-in 2 compositions of each theme: Close-Up Portrait, Portrait, Stop Action, Light, and a Freeze Scene (drama class inspired). Prior to releasing the kids on their own we spent a couple of days covering all the jargon and rule of thirds...did the concepts sink in, a little.  

Example: Close-up Portrait

Example: Portrait

Example: Light

Example: Stop Action

Example: Freeze Scene

Below is Student work

Photography Field Trip

Each year I take my high school art classes on a field trip to a part of the city where there is a lot going on and I suppose you can say that for most of Egypt. This time we went to "mansheya" and hit the food souq, the corniche, and walked about 2-3 km to Ramil station. I gave them a list of potential subject matter such as candids, close ups, shadows, buildings, etc. Each student had to take a minimum of 80 shots and maybe next year I will change that so that the focus will be more on composition; quality not quantity. One of the sad realities of digital photography is that most people don't think and frame their shots and as a result there is surplus of bad pictures. Each student had to turn in their 10 best shots and for most that was a struggle even after talking about the "rules of thirds" to death.