Thursday, January 7, 2016
9:15 - 10:00; 45 min.
Photography:
Photo restoration -
Will was given a old photo which was taken at an angle, and scanned at an even worse angle. He straightened the photo using the move tool. He was then shown how to repair the faded images using the exposure, and gamma correction tools. Finally Will was given a very old photo, and he was tasked with removing scratches and fixing the exposure and color. He did a good job.

Tuesday, January 5, 2016
1:45 - 2:45; 60 min.-
Photography:
Shutter speed -
Will and I reviewed the process of stopping action or creating images that show motion. This involves changing the shutter speed. Will could not remember how to do this on his Nikon, so we reviewed the video for the correct procedure. Will took photos of a swinging set of keys, to see how the shutter speed affects the photo. After seeing the different images, I asked him to think of scenarios where it would be fun to play with the shutter speed. He decided photographing cars would be an acceptable place to use different shutter speed. We discussed how much fun it would be to photograph a Nascar event using a short and a long shutter release period.

Tuesday, December 15, 2015
1:45 - 2:45; 60 min.-
Photography:
Photoshop: exposure control -
Will and I watched a short demonstration from Nikon, showing how to use Will’s camera to take photos of moving objects. Will then examined the exposure control, making himself familiar with the mechanism related to capturing movement on film. We then used several objects we found around the school, that move. Will took photos of the menorah with the flashing electric lights, to capture the light in-between flashes, and with both flashes together. We also took photos of a bouncing ball, trying to capture the ball in mid air, and also with signs of movement. Homework: take photos of a moving object using both the high and low exposure settings.

Friday, December 18, 2015
1:30-2:30; 60 min.
Photography:
None -
Will was unavailable for class
Homework: bring your ten best photos from Holiday break

Thursday, December 17, 2015
9:15 - 10:00; 45 min.
Photography:
Exposure -
Will was quizzed on how to use the use the exposure settings when taking photos. I asked him to give me examples of when someone would want to use a higher exposure setting and when a lower setting would be desirable. Afterwards we had a nice discussion about how different professions use photography. I showed Will some images I use, to determine the social structure and biology of wild dolphins, and pointed out how I use a very high exposure setting to get clear images of each dorsal fin. We also spoke about how photography is used by medical professionals, architects, lawyers, teachers, and businessmen and women. Will then opened his Christmas present from Miss Judie.

Monday, December 14, 2015
1:30-2:30; 60 min
Photography:
Photoshop: Light Saber project -
Will took photos of Jackson Holliday giving his Christmas in the Netherlands presentation. He downloaded the photos and we examined them together while he edited the collection. I re-iterated that all photographers edit their collections after a photo shoot. After that Will turned his attention to the light saber project. I showed him how to use the filters to add noise and give his face the correct lighting effect, equal to the lighting of the other characters in the image. Will merged the layers and saved his final version as a jpeg.

Thursday, December 10, 2015
9:15 - 10:00; 45 min.
Photography:
Hanukah event photos -
Will downloaded his photographs from the Hanukah celebrations from Wednesday. We examined the collection, and he edited out the images that were out of focus or lacked real subject. We discussed the use of the fast (short) exposure setting and how that helped him take images without using the flash. We also discussed how using a slower speed would change the way the dreidel would appear on film.

Friday, December 11, 2015
1:30-2:30; 60 min.
Photography:
Event photography -
Will and I examined the work he had done as school photographer, during the school-wide activity earlier today. The entire school participated in an event titled: ‘Winter celebrations around the world’. Students traveled to each student’s room, where the resident student presented information about a country they had researched. Will took excellent photographs to capture each student making their presentation. Will downloaded his photographs and we edited them, to remove any that were unfocused. Will and I had a discussion about how ALL photographers, even the very best, must edit their work, to remove the photos that were un-acceptable. All photographers get some that are out of focus, or where the subject has moved, blinked, or some other influence makes the image unusable. We also used some of this class time to review short videos that explain how to use different settings on the camera to capture moving objects. This is a subject we will be focusing on in future classes.

Tuesday, December 8, 2015
1:45 - 2:45; 60 min.-
Photography:
Photoshop: Light Saber project -
Will worked on isolating his image in preparation for including it with the light saber image. We explored filters for the first time. After explaining what visual noise is, we worked on reducing the ‘noise’ on the image with the visible do matrix, and began to explore how to add noise to the image of Will that was not printed in the magazine with a dot matrix printer prior to our project. This was a concept and a process that captured Will’s interest and so we explored the limits of this filter in Photoshop.

Monday, December 7, 2015
1:30-2:30; 60 min
Photography:
Photoshop: Light Saber project -
We continued with the light saber project, making the light saber straight, and hiding any suggestion of his work. Will used the marquee tool to copy a portion of the original light saber, to use to cover an area that he perceived to be uneven. When he was satisfied with his work, I reminded him we wanted to place him in the image. We examined several photos of Will, before he selected one from last Halloween. He used the magic wand tool to isolate his image and then copied and pasted it into the light saber image. He ran out of time before he was finished re-sizing his image to match he original.