Looking at Photo Essays

Photo Essay - Step 1 - Looking at Essays

To help prepare you for a Photo Essay shooting assignment you should review some other photo essays and prepare a report for the class.

Select a photo essay from the Time.com web site.

Select one essay and be prepared to review it for our class. You will show us the essay and speak to these points:

1. Did the photographer use staged photos, candid photos or both?
2. Color or B&W? Did it make a difference? What factors contributed to the selection of one over the other?
3. Find examples of good framing and composition and point them out. How close does the subject feel in the photo?
4. Find examples of good use of color and light. Do you see backlighting? Were the photos taken early or late in the day?
5. How is narration and text used to support the essay?
6. Do the photos in the essay stand alone or do they need to be seen as a part of the whole?
7. Describe your reaction to the essay. Do all photo essays illicit a reaction in the viewer?

Be prepared to present your imagery on Friday February 26th.

Discussion Board Assignment #1

Please evaluate the following imagery in terms of Composition, Value, lighting, and Subject Matter.

Although these two images focus on different subject matter, and are taken at different times of day we are able to see a lot of similarities between the two. What are some of those similarities?

Are either of these images inspirational to you? Have you ever had the chance to photograph an image like either of these? Can you think of a location that would lead to a composition such as these?

AlFred Stieglitz

Icy Night

1893

Minor White

Barn and Clouds

1955

Make sure you include your name and class period within your comment.

Discussion Board Comment Due: Friday October 9th, 2009

This is a photograph shot by Josh Long.

Josh took this image for an Independant project.

Nice work Josh!

Motion Project

This is a great example of motion that has been frozen because of the quick shutter speed used on the camera.

Nice Job Hannah!

Lisa Hawk and Nikki Bobb work together for project

This is Lisa and Nikki's Sandy Skoglund inspired photo project.

They finished construction today and worked on lighting and photographing it

during first period. Nice job girls!

The intense color of Brandi Rollins' eye is even more evident

when she extracted the color from the rest of the image.

Nice Job Brandi! Very Strong Image!

An EXPOsition

The photograph “An EXPOsition” by Ben McKell is an example of an Advanced Photography student who has not forgotten some of the most important compositional rules taught at the Photography I level. Students in Photography I are reminded not to forget the small world around them filled with beauty and intrigue. Quite often some of the simplest objects can provide powerful compositions.
Advanced Photography students are asked to experiment with depth of field within various projects throughout the year. Depth of field is the distance in front of and beyond the subject that appears to be in focus. “EXPOsition” is an example of small depth of field where the area behind of and in front of the focal plane are out of focus.
Ben had an idea that he wanted to photograph an object on one of the tables in the lab because of the table’s reflective quality. Upon looking around the room for an object with color he spotted the red marker and decided he would take some test shots with the marker being the subject matter. Ben moved in close getting level with the subject matter and began shooting. Ben’s most successful shots in the series were the ones where the small depth of field created a muted foreground and background that seemed to blend together almost seamlessly. The marker and its reflection are still prominent; however, when combined with the extreme focus the resulting imagery was brilliant.