RMIT Classification: Trusted

VART 3626
Photography 101

Lecture 1 - Introduction
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• Introduction Teacher
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“A photograph is neither taken nor seized by force. It offers itself up. It is the photo that takes you.
One must not take photos.”
Henri Cartier-Bresson

Henri Cartier-Bresson (France)

Hyères
1932.
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Class overview
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Course Learning Objectives

On completing this course, you should be able to: 

• Relate photography to a historical and a cultural perspective

• Identify the mechanisms of a camera and its accessories
• Understand and use the concepts of light
• Demonstrate basic photographic skills
• Show an understanding of the communicative and artistic potential of the medium
• Discuss the relationship between content and form in photographs, as well as the
relationship between one photograph and others
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Course tools

• Canvas: Access from your student accounts

• Google Drive: accessible via shared link on canvas

• Bring your camera to every Lab

• Show up in class. Every week.

• Work hard, be curious and step out of your comfort zone.

• Don’t be afraid to make mistakes. Just learn from them.

• Enjoy progressing individually and as a group.

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Consultations

• [email protected]

• By appointment only. Please email me for appointments. – you will always have a
chance to ask me for feedback on your project during the tutorials!
• Bring files organized to be shown on computer (shared Google Drive folder, USB
key, SD card)
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Semester blueprint

Lecture Lab Lab

Work Work Work

Work Work Work

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• Over the next 12 weeks this course can be broken down into 3 parts
• Week 1 -3 technical – how to use your camera? How to create great
images?
• Week 4 – 10 – different genres of photography
• Week 11 - how to edit and basic layout a portfolio or a photo essay
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Every week has a Lecture and Tutorials. You are expected to visit both.
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Assessmets

• Assignment 1 – Technical Exercise – 10%

• Assignment 2 – Photo Journal – 40%
• Assignment 3 – Photo Essay – 50 %
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Assessments Rules

Rules for late submission:

• Late submission RMIT rules apply (see canvas)
• No last hour “special reason”

No plagiarism:
• No use of other’s images,
• Reference properly
• All your photos must be taken during the semester
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Assessments Formats

PDF
– you need to keep your original JPEG files + RAW files and submit if asked

Follow all submission requirements shown in the assessments.

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Work habits

• Do some shooting every day

• You will receive feedback on your images every week – if you show them to me
• Feel free to ask for consultation if you want it – ideally in the Tutorial time
• If you need consultation outside of tutorial time please make sure to book well in
advance
• Make sure you present your images in a professional and useful way:
⁃ either on print or
⁃ on a computer screen

• Do not submit or show images on the back of your camera to discuss the work
(except when shooting)
• Best practices
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Short Overview of the history and

roles of Photography
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Early Days

Example Presentation 6/3/2116

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Portrait pictures as status symbols

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Documenting historical events

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Landscape and travel

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Photography becomes a medium

for the masses

Example Presentation 6/3/2120

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Kodak Nr 1
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Color photography
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Art, documentary and other styles

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Stiglitz, Steichen and Photo Secession

24
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Photography and Empire

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How the other half lives (1890)

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Man Ray - Surrealism

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Magnum
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Robert Frank
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Diane Arbus
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Photographer as author (Bernd and Hilla

Becher)
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Andreas Gursky
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Bruce Gilden
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Nan Goldin
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Helmut Newton
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“I always thought of photography as a naughty thing to do—that was one of my

favorite things about it,” Diane Arbus wrote, “and when I first did it I felt very
perverse.”

Example Presentation 6/3/2136

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Basics of Photography
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What is Photography?

• The word is generally thought

to comes from Greek language
roots meaning

“Drawing with light”

Gjon Mili (Albanian-American)

Picasso draws with light
1949
Image source: http://time.com/3746330/behind-the-picture-picasso-draws-with-light/
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What Camera do you need?

• Digital camera (DSLR) / Micro 4/3rd

• Camera must have manual control over:

➞ Aperture
➞ Exposure
➞ ISO
➞ White balance

• Preferred: RAW files

Image source: https://www.pocket-lint.com/cameras/buyers-guides/122777-best-dslr-cameras-2018-the-best-interchangeable-lens-cameras-available-to-buy-today

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Lens length: Controlling Lens depth perspectives

• Wide angle

Image source: https://www.tamron-usa.com/lenses/learning_center/tools/focal-length-comparison.php

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Relationship of objects in foreground and background

Wide angle Middle angle Tele or “long” lens

Image source: https://www.tamron-usa.com/lenses/learning_center/tools/focal-length-comparison.php

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Camera Control Basics – “The Photographic Triangle”

Images sources for adaptation : https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Exposure_triangle_-_aperture%2C_shutter_speed_and_ISO.svg

https://actioncamera.blog/2017/02/22/the-exposure-triangle/
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Aperture: depth of field

Image source: https://photographyhero.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/apeture-size-and-f-number-REAL2.png

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Aperture 3: depth of field

Image source: https://photographyhero.com/beginners-guide-understanding-aperture/

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Shutter Speed: long exposure

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Shutter Speed: long exposure

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Shutter Speed: short exposure

Jeffrey Vanhoutte (BE)

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Shutter Speed: short exposure

Martin Klimas (GER)

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Shutter Speed: short exposure

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Shutter Speed: short exposure

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ISO: the “speed” of film

• Low ISO = less light / less noise

• High ISO = more light / more noise
• Higher ISO = shorter exposure

Image source: https://petapixel.com/2009/12/22/why-higher-iso-leads-to-larger-file-sizes/

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Camera Control Basics – “The Photographic Triangle”

“A correct exposure is a simple combination of three important factors: aperture,

shutter speed, and ISO.

Since the beginning of photography, these same three factors have always been at
the heart of every exposure, whether that exposure was correct or not, and they still
are today—even if you’re using a digital camera. I refer to them as the photographic
triangle.”

Brian F. Peterson
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• Shooting modes:

• Automatic (just don‘t!)

• Apperture Priority (if the depth-of-field is most important)
• Shutter Priority (if the exposure time is most important)
• Manual (for full creativity)
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• White Balance
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Lab Part – lets get out and shoot!

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• Let’s discuss your favorite photo

Christian Berg(Germany)
Brandenburg Gate Berlin,
Germany
2018