Welcome to the September 2018 edition of Introduction to Photography. Each week class notes and miscellaneous links will be posted here for your personal use. Click on each week's title and you will be directed to my dropbox where you can view or download that week's class notes as PDFs. If you have any questions or problems please contact me at john@johncrouchphotography.com right away. Have fun!
Assignments are due by noon Tuesday each week. Please send full resolution JPG images to kia.photo.assignment@gmail.com .
Week 1 - Aperture & Fill the Frame
Bonus links: Depth of Field - a closer look from B&H
Depth of Field Practice
Week 2 - Shutter Speeds & The Rule of Thirds
Week 3 - ISO and the Rule of Thirds
Bonus: Bit Depth - How much do you need?
That article is great but gets a little technical so here’s the summary:
Camera settings:
A 14+ bit RAW file is a good choice if you want the best possible quality
A 12-bit RAW file is excellent under most conditions and should be used if you want to save file space
Never shoot JPG if you can avoid it. If you shoot live events, you might be the exception to the rule (to quickly upload and send images). Even still, you might consider using a JPG+RAW setting if you need a higher quality file too.
Lightroom and Photoshop (working files):
Always save your working (layered) files in 16-bits. Only use 8-bits for your final output to JPG for sharing smaller files on the web (and printing if that’s what your vendor requires/prefers). It is ok to use 8-bits for final output, but it should be avoided at all costs prior to final output.
Be careful when using HSL in Lightroom and Adobe Camera RAW, as this tool is prone to color banding. This has very little to do with bit-depth but is a source of banding.
If your source file is only available in 8-bits (such as a stock JPG), you should immediately convert the layered working document to 16-bits.
Exporting to the web:
JPG with 8/bits and sRGB color space is ideal/standard. While some monitors are capable of displaying greater bit depth, the increased file size is probably not worth it.
Printing:
8-bits is fine for the final output, but go for 16 if your vendor supports it.
Week 4 - Exposure Compensation and the Elements of Art
Week 5 - Elements of Art - See Week 4 for notes
Week 6 - Principles of Design; Color
Week 7 - No Notes
Week 8 - Editing
Week 9 - Color; Landscapes
Week 10 - Misc Settings; Portraits
Week 11 - Lighting
Week 12 - Advanced Composition & Lenses
