Raster Project

UNIT1: RASTER PROJECT. TOTAL POINTS: 150
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TIME AND SPACE. DIGITAL PHOTOMONTAGE.
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Due: September 14th at 1:40 PM, the beginning of class.

OBJECTIVES
Technical: To gain a basic understanding of raster based digital imaging software and the technology, terminology, and techniques associated with it.
Conceptual: To explore the concept of time and space using photomontage as a method of compressing time into one seemingly single moment.
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Overview: How many ways can you visually represent the same thing? How can using multiple photographs represent something better than only one? How does the passage of time change a scene? How much time must pass before you can measure change? Seconds? Minutes? Hours? Days?

For this project your challenge will be to use digital photomontage to create a portrait of a scene over a period of time and space. The subject and the span of time are up to you, it could be ten hours or two days. Think about ways using multiple photographs can better represent something. Try different angles, from the ground, from above, get close, get far away, be creative!
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Materials: digital camera with necessary cables. Computer with Adobe Photoshop. A tripod and cable release for your camera may be helpful.
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Process:
1. Choose a subject that will change greatly over time (Day, Night, Weekend). Pick one that is interesting or important for you. Create 5 proposals of subjects and be prepared to share them.

2. Go to your location, spend some time exploring it. Make some decisions about how you want your final piece to look.Is it best photographed from one single point of view or from many? Do you want your final piece clear and seamless or jagged and distorted? Do you need a tripod? If you are working with found images, try to find the exact spot from where the original photo was taken.

3. Shot shot shot, take lots of pictures. It’s always better to have to many images than not enough. Shoot from a single location or from many locations. All the while keeping in mind how your “pieces” will fit together. Bring a notebook and make a sketch of your scene as you photograph.

4. Let some time pass, hours, days, return to your subject and shoot some more. When you return to your location, what has changed? Has the way the location is used changed with time? Has the color and the direction of light changed? Seek out and emphasize the changes you find.

5. Transfer your images to your external hard drive at home, or bring your camera, memory card, and transfer cables to class with you. If you have a memory card reader for your camera bring it too.

6. Working in Adobe Photoshop, create a blank document that is approximately 11x14 inches (vertical or horizontal) at 300 dpi. Use the RGB color mode and a bit depth of 8. FILE >>SAVE your new document to your external media storage device. You must work off of your own storage media (not the desktop of the lab computers).SAVE your work often!

7. Using layers, adjustment layers, and layer masks, combine your parts into one final piece. Depending on how well you photographed your scene, you may need to rotate or distort your individual photo to make things “fit”. In some cases things may never correctly “fit”. Remember you are not really constructing reality, but your interpretation of that reality.

8. When complete, drop your full resolution layered PSD file into the class folder, and keep it for your records in your own external storage. Name it like this: lastname_rasterproj.psd (the psd extension will be automatically added when you save the file in that particular format, you don’t have to type it).

9. Then size your image down to 800 pixels (in the widest direction) at 72 dpi (IMAGE>>IMAGE SIZE>> or use the crop tool). Use FILE>>SAVE FOR WEB AND DEVICES to save a copy of your image as jpeg. Name your exported file as: lastname_rasterexer.jpg.

10. Upload your resized file (jpeg) to the class blog. Write a paragraph explaining your piece.