Week 1|Make a LOGO for your BRAND
Create 6 different logos for your photography brand
Design your logo with Adobe Spark https://spark.adobe.com/sp/
Log in with your creative cloud account.
Go to the “Branded” Tab and create the logo to represent your brand.
Your logo is a representation of you and your brand. The brand you would be selling is YOU. What you do best. Visually represent your brand.
Post your logos
Week 2| Time-Lapse
Objectives: Understand how to use the time-lapse in your camera and smartphone.
Time lapse photography records an event that happens over a long period of time from an hour or longer and shows it quickly in a few seconds. If done correctly and creatively, the results are often dramatic and visually attractive. The technique of shooting time lapses has been used since the early twentieth century. However, the use of time lapses as a cinematic tool has grown tremendously over the last few years. One reason, of course, is the arrival of digital SLR cameras with in-built time lapse features. Earlier cameras could record images at regular, pre-set intervals and later they could be merged using a video editing software to create a time lapse video. The interval timer is available in most Nikon DSLRs. The process was lengthy and required knowledge of video editing software. However, time lapse photography became very easy with the arrival of an in-camera time lapse feature in Nikon DSLRs. In-camera Time Lapse also shoots images at regular intervals, but the camera compiles the images into a time lapse movie and shows you the result almost instantly. With the whole process of making the video taken over by the camera, making time lapses has become incredibly easy
The set up. First ensure your DSLR supports this feature. Go to the Shooting Menu and if ‘Time-Lapse Photography shows up, then your camera supports it. Select this menu item. Choose an interval by using the multi-selector
(up, down , right left buttons). If you select 10 second, every 10 seconds, one image will be shot.
Choose a shooting time. This tells the camera for how long it will continue shooting. Let’s understand the mathematics of shooting time lapses. If we take one image every 10 seconds, then in a minute, we get 6 images. In an hour, we get 6 X 60 = 360 images. With these 360 images, if a video is created at
30 frames / second, we get a (360/ 30 =) 12 seconds long video. This 12 second video will show us the events of an hour. If you shoot for longer, you get a longer time lapse video. Length of a time lapse will increase if you reduce the frame rate. This has to be done from the movie settings.
Video Assignment: Your assignment is to create 4 time lapse videos with your camera or a smartphone.Think about what you want your time-lapse looks like and find the appropriate location for achieving that goal.
- Setup the tripod on a stable platform.
- Turn the mode (of your camera) to M (manual).
- Turn the focus mode switch on your lens to MF (manual focusing).
- Set appropriate aperture opening, shot speed, white balance and ISO setting. Once set, those values should not be changed throughout the shooting process
- To test you have the appropriate settings, take a few photos while the camera is still in your hand and confirm the result is desirable.
- To test you have the appropriate settings, take a few photos while the camera is still in your hand and confirm the result is desirable.
Week 3| Floating Food
Objectives: Understand how to create floating food pictures
Ever wonder how some photos were taken? For this assignment we are going to explore the idea of floating food. This can be done with a whole meal or something simple, but there needs to be a lot of planning and some setup. You can do this with a single item, but using something that has several layers (sandwich, or hamburger, or a stack of pancakes) adds to the interest of the final image. How about holding your hand below to levitate the food. Or what about throwing something at the camera (please fake throw) to make it fun?
Watch: YouTube Video: How To Shoot Floating Product Photography!
Read: How to make floating food photos
For your first assignment start small. Follow the directions below.
Find a subject that is of age to hold a knife.- Cut an onion, orange, apple ect. in half.
- Fork the end of the cut subject. (see below)
- Place the knife in the middle of the shot, then add in your cut onion, orange, apple ect. on each side.
- Set your aperture to 2.8 for great DOF.
- Take 12-24 images.
- Photoshop the forks out!
- Post your final work.
Photo Assignment: Your assignment is to create 3 floating food images. Remember, items with more physical layers are more interesting, but having those layers be easily attached helps to make them interesting (i.e. it is very hard to float a layered trifle or an ice cream cone). You will need to take several images of each food to give yourself options, but the setup is most important. Think about a clean background to make it easier to use the content-aware fill option, also think about your lighting.
Week 4| The Flat Lay Photo
Objectives: Understand Flat lay photography and tell stories through the arrangement of objects on a flat surface.
Flat Lay Photography is a photograph taken from directly above looking down on usually products or food. It gives a bird’s eye view of what it is you’re photographing and is an extremely popular genre of photography on social media. It’s a great way to show off products from a small business, plates of food from restaurants or just to have a bit of fun at home. 
Theme and Feeling
The first thing you need is a theme or feeling you want to achieve. Try not to go in blind, what mode would suit the things you want to photograph? Is it a dark moody scene of mechanical products or a bright fresh theme for coffee and cake?
Flat lay Backgrounds
Your flat lay background is going to be an important part of your shot and you need it to match the mood you’re going for. You can use anything for a background, piece of wood, table, piece of vinyl or even tiles.
Flat Lay Lighting The rule here is the lighter the better and generally, it’s a soft light that works best for this type of photography. Use a big window for your main light source and if there is harsh light coming through the window you can simply put net curtains or chiffon fabric onto the window which will diffuse the light, making it soft. OR a soft box. You can use hard light as well. Try both and see which one you prefer.
Balance
The next thing is to set out your products in order so they will look good. In photography, this is called composition and it’s a really important part of any photograph. For more in-depth knowledge on composition. In flat flay photos, the main thing to get right is the balance of the shot. Think of it like a set of scales, what you have on one side of the shot, try to have the same or similar on the other side. This is not an exact science and it’s good to experiment but just don’t have a big object on one side of the shot and nothing on the opposite side.
Watch:FLAT LAY PHOTOGRAPHY
Photo Assignment: Take 2 different Flat Lay images with 12-24 images demonstrating Flat Lay Photography.
Week 5|Conceptual Photography
Conceptual photography means the photographer is trying to write a story in your head with a single image. A lot of the time the message is conveyed in a very abstract way using random objects and props. Although the image may be shot to tell one story, it can very easily be interpreted many different ways by each person who sees it.
- Research surreal art, artists and photography for inspiration.
- Brainstorm a few ideas and create a full page pencil sketch of your idea. Try to think of all the visual elements you would like to incorporate… consider setting, backgrounds, models, objects or props, costume, stylistic effects.
- Plan every detail of your shoot for best results. I expect QUALITY work.
- Begin shooting your photo(s) and use photo manipulation to achieve your desired look with Photoshop
- All processes are available to you, cropping, fine edge selection, airbrushing, colorization, layering, enhancement effects etc… try to achieve a worked over and artistic look to your image
-Post your image to your blog when complete
Conceptual Photography part 2. You’re assignment is to watch all 3 videos and try 1:
Watch:“Sprout” 🌱 Conceptual Photography–https://www.youtube.com/watch?
Watch:“Recharge” 🔋 Conceptual Photography-https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VziBlRh-a98
Watch:“Rose”🌹https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYR6N_KvRuA
Week 6|On Location Portraits
- Research “On Location Portraits”
- On location Portraits involves going outside, and utilizing the beauty (or the ugliness) of your surroundings You probably already know some local beauty spots, and can think of some good places to take portraits right away. But once you start observing your local area with the aim of making portraits in mind, you will begin to see the potential, even in mundane locations. But how do you find great backgrounds for outdoor portraits?
- Plan every step of the photograph including subject, location, lighting, props and clothing. (see examples above)
- Location – Find an area to set up your photograph. Look for good lighting and an appropriate background. How will you control the background (in focus or out of focus, lighter or darker than your subject)
- Choose the correct lens to achieve the look you want for your photograph.
- Use a hand held light meter to find the correct exposure.
- Choose a subject of subjects, an appropriate pose and any props needed.
- Who would buy this photograph?
4. Post at least 2 of each lighting (+ a contact sheet) of your best photos for a grade.
5. Edit your photos in Photoshop and do any cosmetic retouching thats needed. Post one of each lighting with a contact sheet on your blog. Think about COMPOSITION and POSING when doing your photo shoot.
Week 7|Me & Myself
Read this link about the photographer that includes herself in childhood photos. https://www.demilked.com/double-self-portraits-chino-otsuka/ Bring in some photos from home and scan them into digital media or photograph them with a cell or DSLR camera. Then include yourself into the image with Photoshop. If possible, Make a series of images for this assignment.
Week 8|Future Reflection
Take a photograph of yourself looking in the mirror. Using Photoshop, put an image in the mirror how you see yourself in the future. Samples from photographer Tom Hussey below. His subject’s were looking back on their youth. For your image, look ahead to the future you!
Week 9|Whats in your head
Take a self-portrait or a portrait of a friend and digitally open up their head to reveal what they are thinking about.