Assignment #2 - Due November 5th, 2011

Environmental Portraits

Take pictures of a friend or family member in an "environmental" setting. Environment doesn't mean "nature" as you might imagine it, but it means taking the portrait within some sort of context - which could be nature as in an outdoor park or so, but also includes buildings, offices or dance studio, the home, school, etc. Obviously you need a subject, and possibly an assistant to hold a reflector if needed (ask me about reflectors).

The "environment" should be meaningful, related to the person's talents, interests, culture, or the like. That means the environment is a crucial part of the image and not to be blurred out with a shallow depth of field, but you also don't want the background to completely overwhelm your subject. This often means creating some kind of distance between subject and background (see above), using tonal contrasts (subject wears white against a darker background, for instance), or using lighting to draw attention to the subject, or some combination of the these techniques. The picture above could have been improved with a little "fill flash" to overcome the shadows under the eyes.

As always, take at least 20 shots, adjust settings and situations - not 20 shots of the same person in the same position with the same lighting and same camera settings - what would be the point in that?  Experiment!

Assignment #1 - For October, 2011

PPAS! A logical starting point for a photography assignment. The subject of this month is our school, specifically 328 W. 48th Street, not your off-site PA building. The focus of the images should be the building itself, but you may include students or teachers as part of the image. This is not about portraits of students, however, which will one day be a separate assignment. You may shoot indoors or outdoors. Think of things that capture the school in your mind - when you think of PPAS as a building, what do you think of? What you shoot may be as big as the facade of the building or as small as a door knob or anything in between. Shoot at least 20 different images and select the best to submit.

UPDATE: You should be taking new pictures - one goal of these exercises is to practice the craft, not just use a good picture you already took. Challenge yourself to find new and interesting ways of photographing the school. "Think outside the box."

This assignment must be posted to Flickr by October 5th, which only gives you 3 weeks for the first assignment. Ask for help if you're stuck!

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PPAS Photography Club

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