Photography A-Level

Bridging the Gap: Part 1 You can complete these tasks in two ways, the choice is yours:

1: Complete a digital portfolio in Microsoft Word. Here you’ll be able to write out any How to written tasks and embed your photos. complete these 2: Complete a scrapbook. You can handwrite in a scrapbook and get creative with your tasks: presentation. Feel free to use a range of materials – paints, textiles, felt pens, pencil, collages, print outs etc etc. It would be useful if you had a printer at home to print photos. If you haven’t keep a digital folder with your saved photos. Parts of a Camera Finding your way around the controls and functions on your DSLR camera is your first step to photography beyond simple point-and-shoot. The quicker you learn to manually shoot photos the faster progress you will make. Breaking down technological barriers will allow you to unlock your creativity and take better photos.

On the next page you’ll find images of a Canon DSLR camera (like the ones we have at school). Research the labelled parts and add their names + definition of what that part does. Try to find as many definitions as possible. Task 1: Parts of a Camera

Your task is to label the different parts of a camera alongside an explanation of what they do. Feel free to copy and paste the images below, or find your own online.

• Front • Rear • Top • Control Screen Task 2: Photography Glossary

Create a ‘Photographic Glossary’. Using photographic language is critically important to this qualification, so let’s start with some of the key terms. For each of the following add a definition and some sort of image that represents the term.

Aperture Aspect Ratio Bokeh Depth of Field Exposure RAW Focal Length Focus ISO Shutter Speed White Balance The History of Photography Task 3: History of Photography Your task is to create a timeline documenting the history of photography. Use the information on the following pages as a starting point and research the points further.

Information should be displayed in your sketchbooks/word document – be creative and make it visual. "Photography" is derived from the Greek words photos ("light") and graphein ("to draw")

The word was first used by the scientist Sir John F.W. Herschel in 1839. It is a method of recording images by the action of light, or related radiation, on a sensitive material. Camera obscura

The camera obscura developed out of the simple, lens-less 'pinhole camera' which was used, perhaps a 1,000 years ago, to project an image of the sun and safely view eclipses. The incorporation of a lens in the seventeenth century (or maybe even earlier) produced a much brighter image and the camera obscura, as we know it today, was born. Photography as a useable process goes back to the 1820s with the development of chemical photography. The first permanent photograph was an image produced in 1826 by the French inventor Nicéphore Niépce. However, the picture took eight hours to expose, so he went about trying to find a new process.

Nicéphore Niépce's earliest surviving photograph, c. 1826. This image required an eight- hour exposure, which resulted in sunlight being visible on both sides of the buildings. Daguerreotypes Working in conjunction with Louis Daguerre, they experimented with silver compounds based on a Johann Heinrich Schultz discovery in 1724 that a silver and chalk mixture darkens when exposed to light.

First daguerreotype Niépce died in 1833, but Daguerre continued the work, eventually culminating with the development of the daguerreotype in 1839, reducing the exposure time down to half an hour. Interest in daguerreotypes dwindled in Europe after 1851, when English photographer Frederick Scott Archer invented the collodion, or wet-plate process. This was a negative-to-positive process, but because the negatives were made of smooth glass rather than paper, the collodion process produced much sharper images. As photography celebrated its 50th anniversary in 1889, the average person was familiar with what photographs looked like and probably kept some at home, but few people took photographs themselves. In addition, most photographs existed as unique originals, because copies were still difficult to make.

All this soon changed as a result of two important introductions: the simple-to-use Kodak camera and the halftone printing process. • As early as 1905, Oscar Barnack had the idea of reducing the format of negatives and then enlarging the photographs after they had been exposed. As development manager at Leica, he was able to put his theory into practice. He took an instrument for taking exposure samples for cinema film and turned 35mm it into the world's first 35 mm camera: the 'Ur-Leica'. As the technology for reproducing photographs improved in the first decade of the 20th century, a new world of images began to make the world seem smaller and its manufactured goods more desirable. Along with motion pictures, which the Lumière brothers of France introduced to the world in 1895, photographs in reproduction led to new concepts of celebrity, culture, advertising, and entertainment, all of which depended on the availability of a mass audience….. Digital Photography

Digital camera technology is directly related to In 1986, Kodak and evolved from the same technology that scientists invented recorded television images. the world's first megapixel sensor, capable of recording 1.4 million pixels that could produce a 5x7-inch digital photo-quality print.

APPLE QUICK TAKE 100 .1994. The first mass-market color digital camera. 640 x 480 pixel CCD. Up to eight 640 x 480 resolution images could be stored in internal memory Today, the technology is massively advanced, with high res cameras even incorporated as commonplace in mobile phones A-Level Photography Composition – how to take a good photo

TIP: Start using Instagram and Pinterest. Follow photographers that you like, analyse what they do. This is critical in your development as a photographer. Nothing is original. Be inspired by others. Composition There are a number of established composition guidelines which can be applied in almost any situation, to enhance the impact of a scene.

These guidelines will help you take more compelling photographs, lending them a natural balance, drawing attention to the important parts of the scene, or leading the viewer's eye through the image. Once you are familiar with these composition tips, you'll be surprised at just how universal most of them are. You'll spot them everywhere, and you'll find it easy to see why some photos "work" while others feel like simple snapshots. Rule of Thirds Imagine that your image is divided into 9 equal segments by 2 vertical and 2 horizontal lines. The rule of thirds says that you should position the most important elements in your scene along these lines, or at the points where they intersect. Doing so will add balance and interest to your photo. Some cameras even offer an option to superimpose a rule of thirds grid over the LCD screen, making it even easier to use. This is the first and most important compositional techniques and should be your starting point when trying to compose a photo.

Notice how the building and horizon are aligned along rule-of-thirds lines. Image by Trey Ratcliff. Symmetry and Patterns

We are surrounded by symmetry and patterns, both natural and man-made. They can make for very eye-catching compositions, particularly in situations where they are not expected. Another great way to use them is to break the symmetry or pattern in some way, introducing tension and a focal point to the scene.

The symmetry of this chapel is broken by the bucket in the bottom right corner. Image by Fabio Montalto. Viewpoint

Before photographing your subject, take time to think about where you will shoot it from. Our viewpoint has a massive impact on the composition of our photo, and as a result it can greatly affect the message that the shot conveys. Rather than just shooting from eye level, consider photographing from high above, down at ground level, from the side, from the back, from a long way away, from very close up, and so on.

The unusual viewpoint from the dogs eye-level creates a much more interesting photo. Framing

The world is full of objects which make perfect natural frames, such as trees, archways and holes. By placing these around the edge of the composition you help to isolate the main subject from the outside world. The result is a more focused image which draws your eye naturally to the main point of interest. This is one of favourite techniques. Negative Space

Negative space is the area which surrounds the main subject in your photo (the main subject is known as the "positive space"). This definition is rather abstract, so take the following examples; the power lines in the image form the positive space while the sky is the negative space. The insect and leaf form the positive space while the green background is negative space. Negative space defines and emphasises the main subject of a photo, drawing your eye to it. It provides "breathing room", giving your eyes somewhere to rest and preventing your image from appearing too cluttered with "stuff". All of this adds up to a more engaging composition. Task 4 – Composition

• Your next task is to experiment with composition

• Take a number of different photos on your phone (or camera if you have one), experimenting with different composition techniques: rule of thirds, symmetry & patterns, viewpoint, frames in frames and negative space.

• Your best photos will go into your sketch book/ word document alongside a discussion about different composition techniques.

• You must show your understanding of what composition is and how it affects photos.

• The best responses will explore, experiment and be creative with their compositions and the write ups will show knowledge of how composition techniques work.