Taking Better Pictures

***Before you take anymore photos, you’ll need to have completed this assignment from a couple weeks ago.***

Balance

Balance: Placing the main subject off-center and balancing the “weight” with other objects (smaller or lower impact) will be more effective than placing the subject in the center.
Balance can be tricky as you really have to compose your scene in order for this to work well.
There are two types of balance used in photography.

Formal Balance implies that the object or subject is mirrored in the image. An example could be a close up picture of a face as it will be basically the same on both sides.

Informal Balance refers to balance that uses different sizes, shapes or colours to balance out an image.

(formal balance: 1, 2)
(informal balance: 1, 2)

Take some pictures that have balance. Post your top five on your blog.

Composition: Contrast and Simplicity

Simplicity: Try to eliminate unwanted objects or clutter from the photograph. If you are having problems eliminating unwanted objects, try changing the viewpoint of the picture. Use a low-angle shot so the sky is your background. Find natural or manmade solid background (i.e plain walls inside or outside of buildings) This technique can really help your subject pop out of the picture.
(more simplicity 1, 2, 3)

Contrast

Contrast: A light subject will have more impact if placed against a dark background and vice versa. Contrasting colors may be used for emphasis, but can become distracting if not considered carefully.
(more contrast 1, 2, 3, 4)

First rule of photography: Learn the basics.

Photography A-Z

As I have mentioned, we are going to be starting our work in Photography. We are using Digital SLR cameras to complete the assignments in this class. If you have you own camera or you would rather take your pictures at home or outside of class time, that is fine.

We will complete these assignments in pairs or in groups of three – but each person must take their own pictures (the same picture can not be handed in by more than one person)

There are a few rules that need to be followed in using the cameras:

1. Always wear the neck strap! You should be wearing the neck strap and holding on to the camera with at least one hand at all times. Don’t let it swing around and smash in to things.

 2. Don’t disturb other classes in the school. Do not go up to the second floor, or into the business/science hallways. (Don’t go any further than the student square). Most importantly DO NOT TAKE PICTURES OF PEOPLE IN OTHER CLASSROOMS UNLESS YOU HAVE PERMISSION FROM THE TEACHER. When you disrupt classes, I hear about it, and it is annoying. Don’t forget, you will have photographic evidence if you do any of this stuff!

3. Don’t take pictures of things that you shouldn’t be doing at school (violence, drugs, etc, etc – I think you get the picture)

 4. Take lots and lots of pictures! If the assignment asks for ten pics, take a hundred and pick the best 10. The only way to get better is to practice, practice, practice.

For this assignment you will need to take 26 pictures – one for each letter of the alphabet. Look for signs or shapes that represent each letter of the alphabet from A to Z. You could even try to get people to stand in the shapes of the letters (if that’s even possible).

You can take pictures of actual letter from signs, posters, books, etc OR you can go more abstract (as seen here, for example)

The pics must be nice and sharp – no blurriness, and there should be no glare from the flash – in fact, you shouldn’t even have to use the flash. Avoid getting too close to the letter as the camera will not be able to focus – you can crop it out after the fact if you need to. You’ll need to be about 45 cm away from whatever you are photographing in order for the camera to take a picture.

When you have all of these pictures, assemble them into a single page InDesign document to be posted on your blog (JPG format)

It’s not a race – if you take a bunch of pics and realize that they need more work, feel free to go out and get more.
Remember to conduct yourself in an appropriate fashion while out in the school taking pictures. Stay within the allowed areas, take the pictures you need and return to the classroom ASAP. Don’t linger or hang out in the Student Square or the Caf, please.

While you are waiting for you turn to use the cameras, you will be working on the Career Research project (link).

Magazine Cover

If you had your own magazine, what would it be about? What would be on the cover? Using InDesign, design a magazine cover that looks as “real” as possible. You can duplicate an existing magazine or come up with your own original idea. Include the magazine name, a picture or illustration and the usual text describing what’s inside the magazine (as well as a date/volume/issue number etc) What are some things that all magazine covers have in common? Why do certain magazines look the way they do?

This site gives a detailed breakdown of some standard elements of magazine covers.

A google image search for “magazine cover” should provide plenty of inspiration. Make it “Bleed” – the images on most magazine covers will go right over the edge of the page (in the design world this is referred to as a “bleed”). Make sure your images are large enough to roll off the edge of the page so there won’t be a border on your image.

Here is a google results page with a variety of Magazine Cover tutorials - if you’re having a hard time getting started, pick on of those and jump right in!\

If you scroll down you will see the evolution of my magazine cover.  I still need to add a couple of things to make it look more authentic such as a bar code and a date line.

Magazine Cover – my first attempt

This is back when I was still learning the principles of design.  My type-faces do not match and my spacing is bad.

Magazine Cover – Second Attempt

In the first one,the font for my title and additional info didn’t match up.  The title was serif (the little tails around the lettering) and the other type did not have that.  Although the new font is still different from the one I used for the title, I think you’ll agree it matches better.  I also learned a helpful little tool to shrink the width of your font.

This little button will give you  more flexibility with your font selection.  This allowed me to use the font I wanted without having to have ‘Daniel Day-Lewis’ on two lines. 

Other things I did was lower the title down and remove the underline.

Ta-Da!

My Finished Product

The only thing I’m not crazy about is the selling line.  Unfortunately, if I wanted the type-faces to match, the lettering all had to be capitalized.

…

Restaurant and Menu Design

If you had your own restaurant, what would be on the menu? Would it be a fancy fine dining affair or a fun, kid-friendly burger joint? What would your restaurant be called? You can come up with a completely original idea or modify something that already exists. Design a menu for a restaurant that includes at least 10 items with descriptions and prices. Include pictures for some but not necessarily all – that’s your choice. Need some inspiration? Here is a Google image search for restaurant menu. Most of these are pretty plain – I’d like you to spice yours up with appropriate images and graphics. Remember your design principles:

Contrast: How will you make your items stand out? Will the name of the restaurant stand out from the rest of the page?

Repetition: Choose one or two fonts to use throughout the menu. Use bold or italic if you need to make something stand out. Select colours that you can use throughout your design.

Alignment: How will you organize your menu items? Will you place them neatly in columns? Where will the images go?

Proximity: How will you group similar items (desserts, main dishes, etc)? Your font selection is key here. This is the easiest way to give your reader an idea of what sort of experience they will have in your restaurant.

Check out the following graphic for an example of how a font change can completely change the feel of text:

The top text (which is Comic Sans, and should never be used, ever!) is very informal and relaxed. The second is a script type font which is much more refined and formal. The last two are along the lines of the first, but are a little more serious. This is something that you will have to experiment with in order to develop your own style. Always make sure that the fonts you are choosing are readable though!

My Menu and Restaurant

Principles of Design and new assignment

You have started to get used to the technical side of desktop publishing software. I would like you to start thinking of the design side.
There are some basic principals of design that I would like you to consider in creating your posters:
Contrast – Created when elements are different. If two elements are not exactly the same, make them different. Really different.
Repetition – Repeat an aspect of the design throughout the entire piece. Could be a typeface, graphic element or colour.
Alignment – Nothing should be placed on the page arbitrarily. Every item should have a visual connection with something else on the page.
Proximity – Group related items together. Items that are not related should not be in close proximity to each other.
You can read a little bit more about these principles here.
This is a file that outlines these principles with visual examples.

New Task:  Create a poster that raises awareness about a social issue that concerns you (e.g. global warming).  The goal here is to use the principles of design to get your message across with as few words as possible.  Once you have finished your serious poster, you can create a humorous one (e.g. pants for penguins)