Grading

As per the syllabus I gave you on the 1st day, here is the Grading Criteria:

Class attendance and participation: 10%
Completion of classroom assignments (homework) (on required deadlines): 30%
Personal Projects 1, 2 & 3: 60%

The personal projects are as follows:
Midterm: Promo Card: 15%
Blog: 15%
Final: 30%

You can email me individually if youa re concerned about your grade. I will be turning them in by Dec. 24.

Adorama Prints

Adorama's prints are inexpensive, but they are Digital C-Prints. They are archival for 60-100 years, and Adorama works with you to get your colors right, which is the most important thing. For exhibitions and portfolios in the future, however, you may want to think about getting Inkjet prints made, as they are the most archival.

With today's inkjet printers the color gamut far exceeds what the traditional film processes could produce. For example at PhotoPlus 2006 Joel Meyerowitz stated that digital printing today has,"Greater capacity to reveal the subtlety of the color image, compared to c-prints... inkjet printing has truly arrived."

Here is another lab to get really well done inkjet prints made, in Brooklyn.

If you are having your prints done at Adorama, click here for how to prep your file:
http://www.adoramapix.com/Support.aspx?SupportID=prepcolor
If you would like to have total control over the color and the density of the final prints, you can do so by telling Adorama not to change anything in your image, so that AdoramaPix technicians do not overwrite the color correction you've applied to the photos in your order. If you decide to choose this option make sure that your monitor is properly color corrected.
Download profiles from the Adorama Site.
Put the profile you download into this folder in Photoshop: /Library/ColorSync/Profiles. For a step-by-step How-to, click here: http://www.drycreekphoto.com/Learn/profiles.htm

In Photoshop, you can soft proof your image in the profile you've downloaded, and then before you save, go to Edit> Convert to profile to save that profile setting to you image. Then make sure to tell adorama (of whatever printer you use) not to color correct. Remember, only do this yourself if the monitor you're working on is calibrated. Otherwise, let the lab do the color correction.

Optimum File Sizes:

8×10 inch 300 dpi 20.6 MB
10×12 inch 300 dpi 30.9 MB
11×17 inch 300 dpi 48.2 MB
12×16 inch 300 dpi 49 MB
13×19 inch 300 dpi 63.6 MB
16×20 inch 300 dpi 82 MB
20×24 inch 300 dpi 123.6 MB
30×40 inch 300 dpi 309 MB
30×40 inch 200 dpi 137.3 MB
40×60 inch 300 dpi 618 MB
40×60 inch 200 dpi 274 MB

Making a PDF Presentation and a Web Photo Gallery in CS3

If you need to send a slick looking slideshow of your work to someone and don't just want to attach jpgs to an email, consider making one of these:

PDF Presentation:

Make a folder of hi-res images that you'd like to be in your slideshow presentation.

Go to FILE>AUTOMATE>PDF Presentation. Browse and add all the photos from the folder you just created. Output Options: Save as presentation. You can include title etc, but you have to have embedded it in the file first by going to File> File Info and typing into the title and author fields. Choose the appropriate font size (10 seems good). Then choose whatever presentation options you prefer at the bottom.


When the "Save Adobe PDF" window comes up, look at the top, and if you want to email this to someone, choose "smallest file size". To print, obviously choose the high quality print option. You can now attach this to an email and show a selection of your work to someone in a clean and finished way.

Web Photo Gallery:

Make a folder of hi-res images that you'd like to be in your photo gallery. Then save them for web. This function under "File">"Save for Web and Devices" automatically saves your images to the right size (about 500x500) and color space (sRGB) to be able to go online.

The images you start with should be anything larger than a JPEG before you save for web, the highest-res version you have of that photo. Go to "File">"Save for Web and Devices" and in the dialogue box choose JPEG, High, Quality 60, Blur 0, and check the Progressive box, but DON'T check the ICC profile.
Then click in Device Central at the bottom of the page. In Scaling just click on "Fit Proportionally"

Then go to File>Automate>Web Photo Gallery. there are several styles to choose from, I like Flash Gallery 1. enter your email address. Choose a source folder (the group of images you've saved for web). Make a new folder for the web gallery to be saved to and make that the "destination". Under Options, choose whatever you like.

When you hit OK, you will have a folder full of dreamweaver/html files that can be zipped and attached to an email. To view in Safari, just double click the "index.htm" file. These files can also essentially be put together in Dreamweaver to create a website.

Final Projects Due December 9th

For the final project, each student is asked to present a portfolio of 10 images that have been retouched. All 10 of these photos should be burned to a DVD and turned in, with the layers. Not Flat.

**NO LATE PROJECTS WILL BE ACCEPTED** Due the last day of class: December 9.

5 images need to be printed:

4 of the photos should be printed 8x10" or larger
1 photo should be printed 20x24" or larger

These 5 printed images should "work" together. They don't need to all be of the same subject necessarily, but they should be a group of images that relate to each other....a cohesive edit showing 10 of your best photos from Fall 2008.

These can all be printed by you or a lab. They can be Inkjet or Digital C-Print. NO LASER PRINTS (i.e. from Kinkos or CVS) will be accepted.

Printing Location Options: MAKE SURE YOU CALL and ask what profile they use so you can make sure your file matches it (EDIT> Assign Profile)!!

*FIT lab (make your own inkjet)

*SVA Digital Output Center (inkjet only)
http://mfaphoto.schoolofvisualarts.edu/?page_id=46
214 East 21 Street ground floor
212-592-2369
-$8 per 8.5×11″ sheet paper
-Large Format Printing: $26 per linear foot (single weight paper), 43" wide max.

*Print Space:
For Digital C-Prints: http://www.printspacenyc.com/
20x24" Digital C-Prints are $30
151 W 19th St, New York, NY/ 7th Floor
(212) 255-1919

As another option, you can also make Giclee prints at Duggal: http://www.duggal.com/
Don't know what a giclee print is? Click here.

Adorama: adoramapix.com


Preparing your images for Print
Refer to Martin Evening Text: Chap.14, pgs. 398 – 431

Before Printing Checklist:
1. Make sure your monitor is calibrated
2. If you are making the prints yourself, make sure you are using the correct profile for your paper and the printer. You can download profiles at Epson.com
3. Make sure your file is in Adobe RGB color space
4. File must be flattened and 8bit
5. Do any last minute sharpening you see fit.

Promoting Your Work/ Helpful Tips

Below are some suggestions that I think you might find helpful when starting out in the field of photography:

#1 *** You must have a website. If you can't afford one, make a blog or an online, free portfolio on carbonmade.com. A website template service that has great flash websites for about $25/month that you can make yourself is PhotoBiz. You need a link to be able to send people.

Make postcards and business cards with a picture on them at vistaprint.com.

Sending emails with your website is usually more effective than postcards.

Post ads on craigslist weekly.

Drop off your book constantly to magazines. Always have it out. Get the names/locations of magazines and their editors on Mastheads.com. Make more than one if you can. Get your portfolio made at House of Portfolios in Chelsea. 8.5x11 or 11x14 are good sizes.
Buy a professional looking bag to put it in.

Mastheads.org: an amazing resource for contact info for magazine people. It’s about $25 for the year, and worth it. Will give you photo editors’ phone # and email info. Email or call all the magazines you want to shoot for and ask what their portfolio drop-off day is. Calling is sometimes the most effective as letters get lost or don’t get FWed to the right person.

Send gifts/press kits to photo editors every holiday you can think of (drop off at messenger center). I picked about 5 and keep sending them things, so they get to know my name.

Conde Nast: 4 Times Square (messenger center entrance is in the back of the building on 43rd)

New York Times: 620 8th Avenue, messenger center is on 40th Street between 7th and 8th, just east of the building entrance. Ask in lobby if you can’t find it.

Teaching can be a good balance to freelancing. If you want to teach photography, send out teaching packets (letter, resume, your postcard) twice a year to schools. Send follow up emails 1 month before Fall and Spring semester starts (a lot of the last minute hiring happens then). Think about teaching private photography lessons as well.

Join ASMP or APA while you’re still a student, right before you graduate. You’ll have the membership for the whole year at the student rate. They’ll give you access to the emails of tons of photographers in the city. Great way to get assisting jobs.

TA at a school’s photo dept to keep access to equipment once you graduate.

If you don't kow how much to charge for something, or for selling your images, Getty is a great resource. Go to their website and see how much they charge for their stock images. As a backup, think about how much your time is worth and charge an hourly fee. It's standard to charge an hourly retouching fee as well.

Stock photos- put your stuff on iStock or a similar site.

Check Mary Virginia Swanson’s blog often for ‘calls for entry’. Try to apply for 1 thing a month. www.marketingphotos.wordpress.com. Also look at www.spenational.org/opportunities and www.artdeadlineslist.com for calls for entry.

Sell your work on etsy.com

If you want to do event photography, call up law firms, schools, non profits etc and ask for the name and # of their PR person/ Event planner. Several Law firms also have “art buying committees” which choose art to hang in their offices. Banks can also be good clients for selling fine art prints to, or even leasing them.

Click on the image below for an example of what a standard photography invoice to bill a client might look like:

Portrait Retouching Part 2

In class this week, we went over more portrait retouching techniques and retouched portraits of ourselves that were taken in class.

For HW, each student is asked to retouch a photo (of themselves or someone else who is relatively young) and make them look older. Read this article by Katrin Eismann first:



Reading for next week (due 11.25): Chapter 7 in Martin Evening text

Also, for reference, refer to the article below for more ideas in portrait retouching:

PDN Photo Annual 2009

You should all apply! This is a really good one, and there's a student section.
DEADLINE DEC. 19

http://www.pdnphotoannual.com/