Last day for darkness!

Lets try to make this the last full day of shooting in the dark. I would like to start trying to put these images together to make a collage tomorrow, if possible. Take the first 5 minutes of class to figure out what you HAVE and what you NEED.

You need at least:
-3 random designs (squiggles, stripes, swirls, anything)
-3 silhouette/portrait
-3 writing/drawing

Today we are going to concentrate on getting silhouettes! The person in front stays perfectly still while the person in back colors behind them with a glow stick or light.

Try to make sure you have your
1. Name and designs
2. Group drawings
3. Portraits
4. Silhouettes

Here's one of my favorite silhouettes of the day:

...The more you have, the better! We will be putting our light designs together into a big collage in photoshop, like this one:

Today's glowing challenge...

Check out this awesome light painting video from an old Sprint commercial. Today you will be focusing on drawing light pictures and scenes with a group. They can be super simple like eyes, flowers, a sun, etc. But try to coordinate multiple layers of color and action. You might have to re-do a scene multiple times to get it just right, but communication is the key! Here are a couple from past groups:

Also, make sure you have your name (or all the individual letters of your name) from yesterday!

Painting with light

Today we will be experimenting with "painting with light" in the dark.

A good place to start is to try writing, and get your name. You will have your name in lights! Do each letter and string them together in photoshop, OR, if you can write cursive and have a short name, you can even try it all at once. HINT: For extra credit, do friends or family members names, too!

THS Photo takes over the library

First, a special announcement....

  The photography students have their first "show" of the year at the Turlock library! We have great displays in both entryway cases featuring student work, famous photographers, and our antique camera collection. The displays will be up during the whole month of February.

Remember to check both entrances, because we have 2 displays. Snap a picture of you and friends with our art on your smartphone and submit to the Q3 extra credit folder for some extra POINTS!



For Today: Run your best 4 edited ghost images into a 2x2 contact sheet. Submit this and your BEST ghost photo to the folder. Your contact sheet should look something like this:

Also, we will be starting our painting with light unit tomorrow! Bring anything you have that lights up- toys, keychains, glow sticks, small flashlights, etc. If you finish with ghost images early, you can try out some techniques with the lights on your cell phone today.

It's time to transform your ghost images into something more spooky- Try these steps to making your ghost image creepier:

Crop out any large areas of dead space, or any messy edges on your backdrop.
Image---> Adjustments---> Black and white. Play with the sliders to increase contrast.
Image--> Adjustments--> Hue & Saturation. Click "colorize". Select a nice brown sepia tone, if you want an old western look.
Image-->Adjustments-->Levels to make sure your contrast is on point.

We will create a non-destructive vignette:

Create a new layer.
Get a black paint brush.
Change your paint brush to a large size with 0% hardness and about 10% opacity.
Begin to brush the corners and edges of your photograph on the new layer.
If it is too much or looks strange, you can use the eraser tool to fix the photo.

While it is not a "ghost" image, here is a good before and after shot with spooky editing:

Good Ghosts!

Here are a couple nice ghost images that have popped up over the last two days. Today is the final day to shoot, so make use of your time wisely. Each person should end up with 4 nice, clean ghost images. That does not mean only 4 total- that means 4 that worked perfectly. You might have to take 15 for 4 to come out good. Hold your breath, and concentrate!

Out of ideas? Try some of these:
*2 ghosts hugging each other
*ghost "arms" behind someone
*close up, opening and closing your eyes
*close up with a ghost next to your face
*1 person is perfectly still- 2 people on the side shake your head for 8 sec
*many ghost hands reaching out to someone
*face to face with a ghost, close up
*ghost walking out of someones body (starts standing behind them)

GHOSTS!

Check out some of the good ghost images from last year...

This is accomplished by setting your ISO as low as possible, and setting your shutter speed to the max (8"). Make sure to use a tripod! Your "ghost" will stay in the picture for only part of the time the shutter is open, depending on how translucent you want it.