Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Shooting Self-Portraits




Self-Portraits are pictures of you, shot by yourself. We are not looking for head shots or pictures that your mother would like. We are looking for interesting character sketches of a person as seen by themselves. There is something about self-reflection in these photos. Something about self-image as well. 
Don’t try to avoid the camera. You do not have to be completely in the frame either, however. Pictures of just your feet or just your hands are not really self-portraits. Look on the Flickr site and see what the average idea of a self-portrait looks like. Then do something completely different. Those are all Photo Clichés.
There are numerous ‘visual tools’ that can be used to make new and different and interesting self-portraits. Use all the strategies already mentioned in other documents from this class. Here are some other considerations:

Control Focus
Touch the screen to set both the focus and exposure. Just be sure not to ‘blow out’ the highlights. If you don’t get detail in the highlights when you shoot, you can never get them back with processing (because the camera doesn’t know what was in the missing spaces).
Touching a dark area lightens the overall exposure, while touching a light spot darkens the exposure. Touching a face forces the camera to focus on it. If you touch and hold you get Auto-Focus/ Exposure Lock. The you can move the camera to a different subject while retaining the original focus and exposure. (This is also useful when shooting close up shots (aka Macro-Photo)).

Use the Self-Facing Camera (not)
Be aware that the camera that faces you, designed for selfies, is lower resolution that the rear-facing camera. It is also very wide angle that tends to distort your face when it is too close. Stick to the rear-facing high-quality camera when you can (not that the highest quality is always the best. Part of the aesthetic of the Smartphone camera (and this class) is low resolution).

Use a Different Grip
Be aware that there are other buttons on the camera that cans be used as a shutter release. On many cameras the Volume Up button can be used. You are still limited by the length of your arms in this case. Try something with more control. 

Use a Tripod
There are 2 basic choices for tripods; there are the conventional rigid-legged types, and the new flexible-leg types, some made especially for Smartphones. A good place to look is Adorama.com, a professional photography shop in NYC that has the best prices, and you will get your stuff 2 days later,. Amazon is also a reasonable place to look for tripods but you pay more shipping and wait longer.
Tripod
There are many small tripods available at B&HPhoto.com, but you will need a Mount to attach a Smartphone to them. (check the last 2 in this list).
Gorilla - Stands and Mounts for iPhone and Android
Joby Gorilla Mobile Mpod Mini Stand  with short bendable legs $14.
Joby GripTight GorillaPod Stand  with bendable legs         $20.
Joby GripTight Smartphone Mount  to mount on regular tripod $14.
Joby GripTight Micro Stand  with small straight tripod legs $20.



Remote Triggering


Now that you have your camera up on a tripod you will need some way to trigger it. There are several ways of doing this:

Remote Control
With Film Cameras there is a device called a Cable Release. This is literally a cable that is screwed onto the top of your camera onto the shutter release. It has a button on the other end. You can buy one 6 feet long or 20 feet long. You set yourself up for the shot and then you press the button. The only downside is that you have to hide the cable where it comes into the camera’s view. But that is not that hard.
With Digital Cameras we gained the electronic shutter and electronic shutter release. This makes it possible to have an electronic remote control to trigger the camera, like with your TV. 
The current Smartphone manufacturers seem to have not included such a device on any platform. There is a device, however, that works like a shutter release cable, but is actually a bluetooth device that hits the Volume Up button, thereby releasing the shutter. It is available from Amazon.com for $40. It works with any camera app that allows using the Volume Button for camera control.
Muku Shuttr (Black or White) - iPhone, iPad, Samsung and Android Bluetooth Remote Control for Camera Shutter
The other way is using the Volume Button on your headphones. The length of your headphone cable is the distance you can get away from your Smartphone. You can also buy an inexpensive headphone extension cable. These come in 6 foot and 20 foot lengths as well. RadioShack is a good place to get one for $3. and $13. respectively.

Self-Timer Apps
There are yet other ways to trigger the camera. A self-timer app is another option. These apps will allow you to set a delay time and the camera will count down and take a shot. Some of these apps also have other features.
does self-timer shots or rapid-fire photo series
creates stop motion videos, time-lapses... 
delays the shutter release, shoots up to 4 photos in sequence
selectable timer delay (5, 10, 15 or 30 seconds), 
3 seconds countdown sound effect
set timer between 0-15 seconds, start with double-tap on screen
Camera Self-Timer;         identity, inc Android
a simple camera with self-timer control
time delay form 1 second to 1 minute. 
take shot by pressing button or with sound trigger
set timer to 1, 5, or 10 seconds 
then the camera uses motion sensor to shoot
takes shot with countdown timer, sound activation 
or by touching the screen anywhere

Sound Trigger Apps
These apps let you trigger the camera by making a sound. A clap is the most common, but...
shoot sequences of photos, use countdown timer, 
schedule timer photo triggering, shoot time-lapse films,
trigger camera with sound, trigger camera with movement.
Vapp O Street iPhone + Android
trigger the camera by making any sound, levels adjustable
Sound Camera         Mark Brinton Android
take shot with sound activation, countdown timer,  
or by touching the screen anywhere

Face-Recognition Apps
Some people would like to be able to know that they are actually in the frame. However, having one’s face cut at some strange angle is half of the beauty of Self-Portraits! But if you want a little bit more control you can use a Face Recognition app that tells you when you are in the frame.
self-portrait app with face detection
self-portrait app with face detection
Remote Trigger Apps
This list of apps starts out with two apps that let one Smartphone trigger another Smartphone. The others use various techniques such as movement, vibration, changes in light or even changing the electromagnetic field to trigger a camera.
allows one iPhone to trigger another
allows one Android Phone to trigger another
shoot sequences of photos, use countdown timer, 
schedule timer photo triggering, shoot time-lapse films,
trigger camera with sound, trigger camera with movement.
set timer to 1, 5, or 10 seconds 
then the camera uses motion sensor to shoot
EMF Trigger - trigger the camera based on Electro-Magnetic Field values 
Vibration Trigger - take pictures when phone senses vibration 
Light Trigger - trigger the camera whenever light values change. 
e.g. a picture can be taken when a light is turned on...

It is possible to focus on something other than yourself to set up a shot and then use any of these Remote Tigers to actually take the shot. You can stand or sit next to a wall and focus on that. Or go into a corner. Or use some other object that can stand in your location on which you can focus. Do whatever you can to set the focus the way you want it. Or use intuition to capture whatever you can and go with it.



Additional Shooting Strategies


Environment
To make interesting self-portraits place yourself in some environment that makes sense. Create a sense of SPACE. Then include the possibility for something to happen or provide evidence that something has already happened in that space. This creates a sense of TIME. Time can extend into the past as memories, or extend into the future as dreams and desires. It can even be a feeling of timelessness, suspended time. 
The next element is great LIGHT. Shoot at times when sunlight is extreme. Or shoot in places where the artificial light is also extreme. One convenient tool for self-portraits is a desk lamp at 3 feet. That can produce a strong side lighting from a 'one point source'.  Find things that either reflect or refract light in unusual ways. The other end of the spectrum is shadow. Look for places where things are hidden or emerging from shadows. 

The final step is to inhabit that spatial and temporal environment with relations of the personal kind, or it can even be about the absence of people. As long as it exudes a PRESENCE. You almost have to set a stage (or find a location that can be a stage) and then you become an actor upon that.

All of these should just be hinted at, however. There has to be a sense of MYSTERY. This can be achieved using closeness, angle of view and other visual tools we have already learned about. Please refer to the handout ‘Framing & Composition’ for a full list of visual tools for shooting.
Basically the things to do are:
• get close enough to remove all unwanted background  [proximity]
• shoot from an unusual angle, never from eye-level  [angle of view]
• look for dramatic light/ deep shadows [luminance]
• push things into the corners, or cut them [corner power]
• align things with the edges of the frame [edge power]

If too much is revealed and the photo’s content is too easily readable, your viewers will not stay long. Singular objects in a static space with no 'feel' are not interesting. You have to give your viewers something to ponder, to evaluate. Present a set of clues for them to chew on. If they get something that is even somewhat close to your intention, then there is Communication. Communication indicates that there is a resonance between you and your viewer, an overlapping relationship between both your lives. This sometime taps into the concept of the ‘Collective Unconscious’. [Carl Yung]

Who’s Picture
One question that arises is: Is it still a self-portrait if someone else pushes the button on the camera? The response is that if the photo is composed and framed by you, and you are only using another person as a remote trigger, then it is your photo. If you hand your camera over to someone else and say, “Take a picture of me.”, then it is their photo and no longer a self-portrait. The really important factor is the challenge of making the self-port, more that even the product of the exercise.

Interaction
There are people who take a self-portrait every morning when they wake up and again just before they go to sleep. Sometimes it is about consistency, and sometime about variation. Some people pick a time where they tend to be in different place, or in the same place regularly, and they set a timer in their Smartphone. When the timer goes off, they do a self-portrait. Sometimes it is about the time, sometimes it is about the place. It can be a spatial concern, considering locale. It can be a temporal concern, about regularity or consistency. In all of these cases it is about the interaction between the subject of the Self-Portrait and their environment.

Examples
Please look at these slides from another group of students in their quest to make interesting portraits and self portraits and see how they have used: 
closeness (proximity), 
angle of view (attitude), 
a sense of place (space), 
a potential for activity (time), 
exuding presence (relationships),
in great light (luminance). 

p.s. that last photo is extraordinary... both the text and the photo present complimentary images, neither competing with the other for attention. 







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Friday, January 24, 2014

Topic 1 - B&W + Toning = Mystery




The first Topic of this Smartphone photography class is to shoot in black-and-white, primarily to better learn framing and composition, and then so we can present a subject with a sense of mystery. Mystery is the key to make interesting photographs. If the subject of a photo is easily identifiable then people will not look at it very long. Make propel work at getting the meaning of the photo. 
Then we will add some warm tonality to the photos to impart a sense of passion into the photographs.

Shooting B&W
Both the iPhone and Android phones have a built-in black-and-white option in the standard Camera app. There is little or no room for adjustment with these apps however, so something better should be found. We need apps that will allow us to adjust several aspects of the photograph.

Tonal Range (Exposure) Control
Our first challenge is to find apps that will give us some control over the tonal range of our shots in general. This is sometimes know as ‘adjustments’. The dark end of the photo should be a rich deep black. The white end of the photo should be bright but not ‘blown out’ (completely white). Some people see high-contrast as a matter of style,  but excessively contrasty photos with either no shadow detail or highlight detail are technically not right. 
The other extreme is not good either. If the dark shadows are not really black the photo will look washed out. If the highlights are too grey, the photo will look flat. You have to find the sweet spot of a full-range tonality without going over or under. 

[When I was taught how to make ‘proper negatives’ the mot important quote was ‘If there is no photographic information in either the shadows or highlights then there is no picture, and this is incorrect processing.]


 Today with Smartphones people seem to get away with doing almost anything in the name of style, and I am willing to accept that, up to a point. This new Smartphone medium is really changing the way photographs are seen, and this is really great! So let’s see how far we can go in the name of creativity and still make ‘quality’ photographs.

Toning Control
Our next challenge is to find a good app that will add a subtle sepia tone effect. This a more specific adjustment and is not so readily available by name. It may require using something called ‘aged’ or ‘vintage’ or ‘drama’ but some of these also play with the tonal range as well to make their effect.  So be careful but be adventurous.
The most important advice with this type of adjustment is: Don’t over do it. Just add enough color to warm up the photo. If the effect is too strong and people see the effect before they see the photo it has been overdone. 


Basic Smartphone Photo Apps


Some of the best known apps are listed below, but your challenge is to find something else in addition to these. This is where this class acts as a Research Team. Everyone will post the results of their research in a Recipe at the end of the critique period. If you find something good you should post your Recipe before the critique so your classmates can benefit from your work. Once everyone has successfully joined the Smartphone Photo blog you will be invited to join the Smartphone Recipes blog.   

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  
SnapSeed from Google (iPhone and Android) gives you the ability to alter the photo into B&W with numerous controls. It will not really give you a direct way to add some warm tone called sepia tone but by blending effects such as B&W and Vintage you can get there. It does have a wide range of other effects, all of which are very controllable. The list includes Selective Adjust, Tune Image, Straighten, Crop, Details, Black & White, Vintage, Drama, Grunge, Center Focus, Tilt-Shift, Retroflex and Frames.
See the SnapSeed web page for full details. https://support.google.com/snapseed/ 

VSCO Cam (iPhone and Android) works with presets that are tweakable. Not the greatest range of control. Maybe better with color than B&W photos.

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  
Camera+ (iPhone only) Has 4 banks of ‘Filters’; Color, Retro, Special, Standard,(plus Analog and Hollywood for an additional fee), each with 9 variations, that are all controllable. Plus ‘The Lab’ including Rotate, Straighten, Tint, Duotone, Soft Focus, FIlm Grain, Sharpen, Blur, Saturation, Temperature, Exposure, Brightness & Contrast, Highlights & Shadows, and Vignette. DuoTone allow adding separate tints or tones to the shadows and highlights. 

Photo FX (iPhone only) from Tiffen, the camera filter company, is a very professional app that is very controllable. It has 77 filters organized into eight groups, 934 preset settings and 65 different color or black-and-white film looks.

.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  
Camera ZOOM FX (Android only) More an app for composition and shooting control than creative control, but a good app.

Camera FV-5 (Android only) brings DSLR control to the smartphone.



History & Aesthetics


The first Topic involves shooting in Greyscale. This is important if you want to learn how to compose photographs. Color just seems to get in the way when trying to organize visual space.


[terminology: ‘Grayscale’ refers to a photograph having a full range of monochrome tonality, black to white. ‘Black & White’ technically refers to an image that has only black and white tones, i.e. a very hard contrast image. But since the first film was called Black & White film, the term is now used to refer to Grayscale photos.]


The first question that arises is, why make photographs in black-and-white? If you look at the history of modern photography the first photograph taken with a camera was shot by Daguerre in 1838 with an exposure that was several minutes long. It wasn’t until 1935 that Kodak introduced the first commercial color film called Kodachrome. That gives us a history of almost 100 years of black-and-white photographs. 
The difference is that early photographs were made with light sensitive material that was sensitive to all the light that was hitting the film. The prints worked the same way and rendered images in shades of gray from black, being the most dense, to white, where there was no pigment at all.
The Kodak color process is a three layer film with different layers responding to different portions of the visible spectrum, namely red, green and blue. This same processes used today. To make prints from this film subtractive color theory is used that employs the colors cyan, magenta and yellow. The technology we are using today, consisting of a computer screen and an inkjet printer, uses the same basic theories. The screen is made of very tiny red, green and blue pixels. The ink in our inkjet printers is cyan, magenta and yellow plus black.

Yet even today with all of our technology we find that black-and-white photographs still have an enigmatic quality. They can transform a somewhat normal scene into one with drama. The photographs from the first century of photography had ‘feel’ because the chemistry was not really perfect back then. The early photographs were not really cold dead black. They had a warmer brownish tonality that added another layer of ‘feel’ to the prints. It wasn’t until the 1950s they we really had good neutral tone black-and-white photo paper.

Many photo artists today turn to the black-and-white image to satisfy their desire to make highly emotive photographs. Then they treat their photographic prints with special chemicals that render them warm tone and even more evocative. Some just see it as the pure form of photography and shoot this way out of reverence. 

Our smartphone cameras have the ability to reduce a full-color world to black-and-white by using special software. We can also easily add a bit of warm tone quality. Shooting in black-and-white also makes it much easier to learn how to frame the subject in the viewfinder (aka screen) and compose the shot in a way that organizes the scene and creates a visual geometry. When you shoot in color all the resulting reality seems to get in the way. People’s attention gets seduced by the color and we forget about the more formal qualities of the photograph.

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Tuesday, January 21, 2014

schedule_Smartphone Photo_S14


A R T   P H O T O G R A P H Y   -   S M A R T P H O N E   P H O T O    
S E M E S T E R   S C H E D U L E   –   S P R I N G   2 0 1 4 

Tyler School of Art/ Department of Graphic Arts & Design/ ARTU 2831
Tyler Photography Area / On-Line Class
All students must participate in all critiques!


S14


ART/ SMARTPHONE PHOTO

week 1
T
01/21
 intro/ blog setup




 Topic 1 -  B&W Photo / Mystery

week 2

01/27
 shoot, process, post…

week 3
M
02/03
 CRIT 1 Final Photos due (10 + 2 sp)
 5PM

T
02/04
 CRIT 1 Commentary due
 5PM

W
02/05
CRIT 1 Self-Evaluations due
5PM

R
02/06
 CRIT 1 Web Pix due
 5PM

F
02/07
 CRIT 1 Recipes due
 5PM

F
02/07
 TOPIC 2 - Color Photo/ Passion

week 4

02/10
shoot, process, post…

week 5

02/17
 shoot, process, post…

week 6
M
02/24
 CRIT 2 Final Photos due (12 + 2 sp)
 5PM

T
02/25
 CRIT 2 Commentary due
 5PM

W
02/26
 CRIT 2 Self-Evaluations due 
 5PM

R
02/27
 CRIT 2 Web Pix due
 5PM

F
02/28
 CRIT 2 Recipes due
 5PM

F
02/28
 TOPIC 3 - Alt Shooting/ Extended Vision


03/03
– – – S p r i n g   B r e a k – – –

week 7

03/10
 shoot, process, post…

week 8

03/17
 shoot, process, post…

week 9
M
03/24
 CRIT 3 Final Photos due (15 + 2 sp)
 5PM

T
03/25
CRIT 3 Commentary due
5PM

W
03/26
 CRIT 3 Self-Evaluations due 
 5PM

R
03/27
CRIT 3 Web Pix due
5PM

F
03/28
 CRIT 3 Recipes due
 5PM

F
03/28
 TOPIC 4 - Post-Processing/ Memory

week 10

03/31
 shoot, process, post…

week 11

04/07
shoot, process, post…

week 12
M
04/14
 CRIT 4 Final Photos due (18 + 2 sp)
 5 PM

T
04/15
CRIT 4 Commentary due
5PM

W
04/16
CRIT 4 Self-Evaluations due 
5PM

R
04/17
CRIT 4 Web Pix due
5PM

F
04/18
CRIT 4 Recipes due
5PM
F
04/18
TOPIC 5 - Final Portfolio/ Meaning

week 13

04/21
documentation

week 14

04/28
documentation

week 15
M
05/05
FINAL PORTFOLIO due
5 PM

*Each Critique requires 2 Self-Portraits.
Check your temple.edu e-mail for the inevitable changes to this schedule.

CONTACTS
Department of Graphic Arts & Design/ Tyler Building, Room 210U 777-9145
Tyler Photo Cage 777-9225
Steven Berkowitz/ Associate Professor          berk@temple.edu www.berk–edu.com
Office Hours (by appointment) Wednesday 3:00 – 4:00 PM



A R T   P H O T O G R A P H Y   -   S M A R T P H O N E   P H O T O    
W E E K L Y   R O U T I N E   –   S P R I N G   2 0 1 4


Below is the typical routine for the Critique cycles: 

Fridays are the introduction days of new topics including aesthetics, techniques, ways of shooting, ways of processing (apps), etc. (except for the first week of the semester). You should study and absorb this information quickly and, in a day or two, start shooting, processing and posting your photos to the class blog. You should shoot and post every day. That is part of the routine of this class.  
You can only really learn this by thinking, shooting, posting on an ongoing manner [think, make, share]. This is an Art Studio course and it utilizes ‘experiential learning’ that is quite different from ‘book learning’ as in most academic classes. Because of this, it is not possible to cram for a studio class. You cannot wait unit the day before the Critique is due to shoot everything. If you try this you will never learn how to shoot properly let alone how to think about what you are shooting. Do not cheat yourself out of the education you are paying for. 
The general rhythm of this class is as follows:
  • learn the new topics, incorporate them into your way of seeing, shooting, processing... 
  • look at other people’s work of a similar ilk (research)
  • shoot, process & post photographs every day, at least 4 per day to start, then increase
You should post at least 2 shots per day at the beginning of the semester
8 active days of shooting and posting = 16 photos for Crit 1
10 active days of shooting and posting = 20 photos for Crit 2
This should increase to 3 shots per day by the 3rd crit
10 active days of shooting and posting = 30 photos for Crit 3 and Crit 4
You have at least two full weeks to shoot, process and post photos. The weekends are optional.

Mondays of the third following week are the due date for your Critique photos. 
Before this date you should go through everything that has been posted on-line (there should be more that the minimum number of prints already on-line) and edit down to the actual number of prints due (or a little bit over if desired). 
  • the full number of prints required for the critique should now be uploaded
  • add numbers above each of your prints so people can easily vote for their favorite

Tuesdays are the day to look at and comment on the photos of your classmates.  
  • look at other people’s photos and comment on them
    • base the commentary on 3 criteria: conception, construction, communication 
      • tell any story that the photos remind you of: 
(sharing personal experience: resonance)
  • cast a vote for each person in the class indicating which shot you think is their best
  • refer to the handout on Commentary and related activity


Wednesdays are the days that your Self-Evaluations are due
  • review all the comments you have received
  • write a synopsis of that commentary, again based on 3 criteria: 
conception, construction, communication 
• there is a handout explaining how to write a self-evaluation 

            > Self-Evaluations
  • determine which of your prints is the best (according to peer voting)
• This photo is designated your POW (Picture of the Week)
  • include the POW in the Self-Evaluation document
• e-mail the finished Self-Evaluation to the professor in MS Word format

Thursdays are the days that the Web Versions of your best ‘photo of the week’ are due. 
The votes cast by your classmates in their comments on the class blog will help you determine which photo is the ‘best of the week’ aka POW. These photos will be presented both on a separate web site that features the best photos of all students in all of my classes, and as prints in the gallery in the Tyler Photo Area. 
• prepare that print for the web (thumbnail and web picture to spec) 
  • there is a handout for this task that details all the specs of the files

• this is something you will have to do on a computer using any software that can resize a picture, from Photoshop, through Lightroom down to iPhoto or even Preview. If you do not have access to these applications this work can be done in the Tech Center. There is a Graphics Lab that has computers that are specifically configured for visual artwork, however, any computer in the Tech Canter can perform simple resizing of photos. 

Fridays are the days that you will post a ‘Recipe’ for your most interesting photograph. This may not be the same as your ‘Picture of the Week’ photo. 
• there is a handout that explains the fine points of what a Recipe should include

Fridays are also the days when the next Topic will be posted and the cycle starts over again...

note: An overview of the Topics is in the Schedule Calendar on page 1 of this document. These topics will most likely change based on the interests of the group as evidenced by the photographs that are posted. 
B&W + Toned Photos/ Mystery
Color Photography/ Passion
Alternative Shooting (Panorama, Slow Shutter Speed...)
Vintage Apps/ Memory
Portfolio/ Meaning

note: All students must participate and complete all phases of each Critique cycle. Failure to complete any segment results in failure of the entire critique. 
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