Re: Forum content / Dig Photo crse projects

[ADavidhazy <andpph@ritvax.rit.edu>]

Norman,

> OK so lets give it a try. I am finishing a syllabus on Digital Photography
> (2nd yr Univ level course). Am trying to come up with original, fun and
> challenging projects/assignments.  Its 15 weeks, 3 hrs per, with 5
> assig. and 2 major projects. Focuses on image editing, portfolio development
> and the relationships between conventional and digital imaging. Any ideas out
> there? I would be very grateful for something creative, practical and
> engaging.
 
I don't teach digital photography as a course but am interested in various
applications and of particular interest to me is "scanning" imaging - such as
Bruce Weitzman showed in the gallery this weekend. This is an offshoot of film
based scanning technology which was much more "obscure" than its digital
conterpart.

Anyway, in a digital photography  course I would consider including some
mention of scanning imaging as accomplished with flat bed scanners. Some
applications that include time as a function of the final image. Of course, the
use of the flat bed scanner as an photography or imaging tool is being
exploited by many photo instructors starting as early as elementary school and
we have had several exhibits in the student gallery sponsored by PhotoForum
that demonstrated the creative potential of this "technique".

However, I'd stretch that to situations where the subject is moved on the
glass platen to cause hopefully interesting variations on the normal or
correct reproduction of a variety of subjects - from those that we can easily
recognize such as hands or faces to more ambiguous subjects such as possibly
plants or simply light/dark/color patterns. 

Of course, inclusion of panoramic photography by stitching or panoramic
photography by continuous scanning is another subject worthy of mention - maybe
this could be a course on its own in fact!

Further, there is a lot that could be done in terms of the _time_ aspect of the
scanner. From measuring frequency, vibration, rotation, rate of change, etc.
etc. ... if you have an interest in the technical applications.

Unfortunately I don't have a syllabus already designed - as I said I don't
teach "digital photography" as a separate course but if I did I would certinly
not ignore the possibilities afforded by digital scanning technology!!

regards,

Andrew Davidhazy,  Professor
School of Photographic Arts and Sciences/RIT
andpph@rit.edu    http://www.rit.edu/~andpph