Lightroom at Utah Valley University

[Michael Slade]

Ok, so let's lay out some ground-rules here.

1. The class blog is for my students...this thread is for you guys. If you have questions or feedback, please leave it here. Please do not comment on my posts on the blog and/or any of my students blogs as well. I want your participation to be unseen from their end. I may or may not tell them that they have international observers (thank-you Australia!). If you choose to 'follow' the blog, please do so invisibly.

2. If you want to play along and post your own photos from each of the assignments, this is the appropriate place to do so. I would also say that this is a perfect place for others to offer comments, suggestions, etc...

3. My instruction is NOT infallible. I can't be that presumptuous. What I teach is based on what has worked for me...and yes, I am able to change my mind. Usually I will present my information as just one way of doing things. A good teacher will try to teach two or three different methods and let the students decide which way works best for them. Trust me, you will NOT hurt my feelings if you disagree with a particular point, method or philosophy of working. I may have strong reasons why I teach things the way I do, usually they are based on my diploma from the School of Hard Knocks.

4. I may not be able to comment here as much as I'd like...so don't take it personally.

5. This is being done for your enjoyment and enlightenment. I am not collecting tuition, fees or get a cut from any materials sold through my suggestions on this blog. If you feel the need for a letter grade go somewhere else.

Here's the link to the class blog for Summer Semester 2011.

 

[Lost Canadian]

"Turd polishing is NOT allowed."

I was all in as soon as I read that. I'm very much looking forward to what you have to say Michael.

 

[ckkone]

Subscribed!

 

[photoman]

Camera Simulator= pretty cool except where is the tripod to shoot with? I have a steadier hand than that simulator. :sombrero:

 

[Michael Slade]

The other thing that's interesting about it is that I KNOW that exposures in the sun are different than what the camera simulator is giving me. Use the 'sunny-16' rule and you will have an under-exposed image.

I thought the concept was pretty sick though. Depth-of-field and everything. We will play with this in class today.

 

[Pathfinder]

I thought that was what was interesting ( and sneaky ) about the simulator - the central part of the child's face is in the shade, not sunlit, so needs at least 2 stops more than sunny 16.

 

[Lost Canadian]

In your sliders workflow Michael you mentioned your quote, "Every image deserves two things...a little bit of white and a little bit of black." I know this is a somewhat common principal of black and white photography, but I was wondering if perhaps you could go a little deeper into this for us here. Also, do you feel it also applies to colour photography, and do you believe there are exceptions? Say in the case of high-key images. Much appreciated.

I really like your C.L.U.E.S. acronym as well by the way, I may have to borrow that sometime,...with full credit attributed to you of course.

 

[Michael Slade]

You are THAT student aren't you? Hehe. I have one in every class.

Yes indeed the 'every' statement obviously translates to 'most', but when dealing with a group of absolute beginners I don't start off by teaching them the exceptions. Generally speaking though most beginning photographers tend to make their images dark and flat. Pushing them to give the image a little bit of white, even if it's as subtle as a specular highlight will train them to look and understand what the camera and software can do. It also brightens up exposures that would otherwise be too dark. It also adds contrast to exposures that would otherwise be too flat.

How does it translate to color photography? In the sequence of classes that I teach I start with black and white, so you have a lot of time to understand what a good exposure and a good print look like. It is also a fundamental to be able to judge and manipulate contrast. Once a student can understand exposure and contrast then those same ways of 'seeing' and 'judging' will carry over into most, if not all color work.

The problem is that many photographers today never bother to learn what a full tonal scale truly is. Most never learn to understand what good contrast control can bring to an image. It is very true that when you learn the fundamentals and start off with a good foundational understanding of exposure and contrast, those lessons project forward into every other aspect of image making.

The assignment #3 is designed to teach bracketing and exposure technique. It is also designed to teach and reinforce the camera controls. Even with a high-key/low-key assignment there is still the goal of kicking in just a little bit of white on a low-key image, and a little bit of rich black to a high-key image.

Assignment #3 is also supposed to be shot in color, but when the camera controls are mastered and appropriate subject matter is chosen, they will look like black and white images.

My philosophy of photography is not to teach numbers and formulas, but rather to teach critical-thinking, problem solving and getting people to let go of listening to their analytical brain and listening to their heart. I am very much a student of Minor White in that regard. When judging a photograph and deciding where to go and more importantly, when to stop, is a very Zen-like thing. Trusting your gut is something I am very adamant about and with some students I have to really hold them back until they learn that lesson.

I also know that teaching photography in a very carefully planned and methodical system is much different than learning photography from bits and spurts of shooting intertwined with the occasional read of an internet blog or forum. Taking a student through a sequence of assignments and lectures giving them feedback and guidance is very rewarding. I can see their growth and the confidence that builds in them when I look in their eyes.

Take a few minutes to go through the student blogs of the 'Shutter-bugz' class. Their critique yesterday was very satisfying to me.

 

[Lost Canadian]

Thanks for taking the time to craft the thoughtful responce Michael. It really helped give me some insight and understanding with respects to your teaching methodology, in addition to the comments themselves,...I like it! ...and yeah, I was/am THAT student. LOL

 

[Michael Slade]

The critique for Assignment #2 is up. Each class had a 2 1/2 hour critique where we went over each student's images. Talked about how they worked, how they DIDN'T work and what to look for when making images. I didn't write down many notes (if any...) for each student, but each got at least 10 minutes of my time on this assignment during the critique.

I made a post with the highlights from the assignment. I hope you enjoy looking at them.

Assignment #2 - Numbers

 

[taco2go]

Another vote of thanks for sharing this resource with us.

I definitely guilty of the

learning photography from bits and spurts of shooting intertwined with the occasional read of an internet blog or forum

syndrome.

On the other hand, this forum and the 'hobby' are probably the two most non academic pursuits I'm currently enjoying, compared to my regular career. So I sometimes prefer to keep the picture taking aspect heavily biased towards the right brain , and absolutely agree with you on "listening to the heart".

 

[Michael Slade]

There was a question asked tonight in class that I wasn't sure of the answer. I sent an e-mail to my friend Julianne who is an 'Adobe Evangelist'. She wrote back tonight and gave a sneak preview to some stuff that will be posted on her blog this Thursday.

Lightroom Tips from J.K.

 

[Mlachica]

Great idea Michael, thanks for starting this!

 

[Michael Slade]

Some of the better work from the High Key/Low Key assignment...

High Key/Low Key Blog post.

 

[Michael Slade]

Here is some of the better work from the Color Theory assignment...

Color Theory Blog Post.