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.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
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:
#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:
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
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:
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:
Thursday, November 13, 2008
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/
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
HW Due Nov. 18th: Merge to HDR
Read this article by Katrin Eismann (see column 20 on this link or download below), then following her instructions, and take a series of at least 6 images on a tripod.
Use the Merge to HDR function in Photoshop to create a properly exposed image. (File > Automate > Merge to HDR)
Use the Merge to HDR function in Photoshop to create a properly exposed image. (File > Automate > Merge to HDR)
Color Management
Color Profiles in Photoshop:
For PRINT: use ADOBE RGB 1998
For WEB: use sRGB
When you color-manage documents that will be viewed exclusively on the web, Adobe recommends that you use the sRGB color space. sRGB is recommended for web because it defines the color space of the standard monitor used to view images on the web.
To change color profiles in Photoshop, go to EDIT > Assign Profile. Your monitor/workspace in Photoshop should always be set up in ADOBE RGB. To make sure it is, go to EDIT > COLOR SETTINGS. Choose "North American Prepress 2" and under working spaces, the top RGB slot should say Adobe RGB 1998. Leave everything else as is.
Preparing your Files for Web
When working with images that have an embedded color profile other than sRGB, you should convert the image’s colors to sRGB before you save the image for use on the web.
In Photoshop CS3, there is a function that helps you save your images for web properly, so that you don't have to convert all the profiles manually. Go to FILE > SAVE FOR WEB & DEVICES. It automatically saves it as sRGB, and you can resize the file as well. Remember, appropriate web size is usually in the range of 500x500 pixels. Under the Quality tab, choose Bicubic Sharper as it generally produces better results when you are reducing image size.
I saved this same file in Photoshop 2 different ways. Notice that the one I saved as sRGB looks a little better...the colors are more vibrant. The one I saved as Adobe RGB looks a little desaturated, because this is the incorrect color profile. Adobe RGB is for making prints only.
* the difference is subtle, but notice the redness of the raspberry in each.
sRGB
Adobe RGB 1998
In the dialog box at the left inside the "Save for Web" window, there are various boxes you can check. I recommend checking "Progressive" (which automatically optimizes your image) and leaving ICC unchecked. Here's what they all mean:
QUALITY Determines the level of compression. The higher the Quality setting, the more detail the compression algorithm preserves. However, using a high Quality setting results in a larger file size than using a low Quality setting. View the optimized image at several quality settings to determine the best balance of quality and file size.
OPTIMIZED Creates an enhanced JPEG with a slightly smaller file size. The Optimized JPEG format is recommended for maximum file compression; however, some older browsers do not support this feature.
PROGRESSIVE Displays the image progressively in a web browser. The image appears as a series of overlays, enabling viewers to see a low-resolution version of the image before it downloads completely. The Progressive option requires use of the Optimized JPEG format.
ICC PROFILE Preserves the ICC profile of the artwork with the file. Some browsers use ICC profiles for color correction. This option is available only after you saved an image with an ICC profile—it is not available for unsaved images.
For PRINT: use ADOBE RGB 1998
For WEB: use sRGB
When you color-manage documents that will be viewed exclusively on the web, Adobe recommends that you use the sRGB color space. sRGB is recommended for web because it defines the color space of the standard monitor used to view images on the web.
To change color profiles in Photoshop, go to EDIT > Assign Profile. Your monitor/workspace in Photoshop should always be set up in ADOBE RGB. To make sure it is, go to EDIT > COLOR SETTINGS. Choose "North American Prepress 2" and under working spaces, the top RGB slot should say Adobe RGB 1998. Leave everything else as is.
Preparing your Files for Web
When working with images that have an embedded color profile other than sRGB, you should convert the image’s colors to sRGB before you save the image for use on the web.
In Photoshop CS3, there is a function that helps you save your images for web properly, so that you don't have to convert all the profiles manually. Go to FILE > SAVE FOR WEB & DEVICES. It automatically saves it as sRGB, and you can resize the file as well. Remember, appropriate web size is usually in the range of 500x500 pixels. Under the Quality tab, choose Bicubic Sharper as it generally produces better results when you are reducing image size.
I saved this same file in Photoshop 2 different ways. Notice that the one I saved as sRGB looks a little better...the colors are more vibrant. The one I saved as Adobe RGB looks a little desaturated, because this is the incorrect color profile. Adobe RGB is for making prints only.
* the difference is subtle, but notice the redness of the raspberry in each.
sRGB
Adobe RGB 1998
In the dialog box at the left inside the "Save for Web" window, there are various boxes you can check. I recommend checking "Progressive" (which automatically optimizes your image) and leaving ICC unchecked. Here's what they all mean:
QUALITY Determines the level of compression. The higher the Quality setting, the more detail the compression algorithm preserves. However, using a high Quality setting results in a larger file size than using a low Quality setting. View the optimized image at several quality settings to determine the best balance of quality and file size.
OPTIMIZED Creates an enhanced JPEG with a slightly smaller file size. The Optimized JPEG format is recommended for maximum file compression; however, some older browsers do not support this feature.
PROGRESSIVE Displays the image progressively in a web browser. The image appears as a series of overlays, enabling viewers to see a low-resolution version of the image before it downloads completely. The Progressive option requires use of the Optimized JPEG format.
ICC PROFILE Preserves the ICC profile of the artwork with the file. Some browsers use ICC profiles for color correction. This option is available only after you saved an image with an ICC profile—it is not available for unsaved images.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)