Tag Archives: photography projects

Photography, Photoshop

Isolated Color Photography

Giving a nod to Gestalt theory, my beginning photography students manipulated some of their photos to create anomalies of isolated color.

They learned that you can create a focal point (a point of visual interest) by highlighting an area of difference in the image (in Gestalt theory, this is called an anomaly). There are many ways to do this, but in this instance, we highlighted these areas by keeping them in color and desaturating the rest of the photo. It was a simple process, but the resulting photos are fun, and the students learned one more way of making their photos compositionally effective.

*All artwork generated by the following students, grades 10-12 [Katelyn C.] [Maja N.] [Justin R.]

Isolated color photography assignment in high school photography.
This student used a wide aperture to create a bokeh effect in the background, creating added texture in her photo.
Beginning photography assignment, creating a focal point of color.
This photo was taken by a foreign exchange student, hence the London scene.

This is a great mini-lesson for beginning photography students because it got them thinking a bit more about composition, but it is still a simple enough concept to quickly grasp. That said, they do have to put more effort into their photo planning before starting this project. For instance, they not only have to decide what would be the best focal point and overall composition, but they have to envision how the pop of color will impact and possibly change the visual movement in their image. It’s an added element that helps students to realize the importance of planning in the photographic process.

Students tend to have a high success rate with this project because the process in Photoshop is easy to master. It’s also a great way to give new photography students extra practice with the basics of shooting in manual mode and metering, while still producing a new style of photograph.

 You can learn how to make your own isolated color photo in the video tutorial below.

High school photography lesson about composition.
As you can see, this student had a great photography model at home.
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Photo Quilts

Image

Secondary art lesson in photography.
A plant-based photo quilt emphasizing line, pattern, shape, and color.

My class has recently learned how to use DSLR cameras. They are quickly learning how to master the shutter, aperture and ISO settings, but now I am challenging them to think about texture, line, shape and color. I want them to think about compositional elements that can strengthen any shot. Sometimes, that lesson is achieved simply by forcing yourself to closely examine your subjects.

With this photo quilt assignment, I challenged the students to find similar types of patterns, colors, textures or shapes and to shoot them from interesting perspectives. They then had to composite the pictures together in a “quilt”. They created a 9 x 9 inch document and then masked each photo to 3 x 3 inches. They then assembled the photos together in a pleasing composition.

 * All artwork generated by the following students grade 9-12: [See below]
 [Jayda C.] [Ryan D.] [Jordan K.] [Evan M.] [Gabe K.]

Abstract photography assignment using cropping and compositing in Photoshop.
The students were allowed to desaturate their final image to create greater harmony.

High school photography and photoshop project.
I urged students to space out similar colors to encourage the viewer’s eyes to move throughout the entire composition.

High school digital art project using photography.
Though subject matter could be similar, I wanted students to focus more on composition than subject matter.

Abstract photo cropping and compositing in Photoshop.
By choosing similar shapes, textures, and colors students were about to create harmonious final compositions.