PHOTO 180

Digital
DARKROOM

  

office hours

7-8 am

tuesday
wednesday
thursday
in
oe-184a

online chat 6-7pm wednesday (online students only)
 

 

welcome



Linda Lowell


Chair,
Photography

School of Media Arts
 

LA_Skys, lowell©2003

tips:

check this class site frequently:

• the navigation bar - at the left side of most WebCT pages directs you to all materials (if you don't see the Navigation strip, click on "SHOW NAVIGATION" at the top left of the browser window).

• check email daily - email me thru our WebCT email for fastest responses (not Pipeline's email). I will check email daily M-F (you're on your own on weekends).

• check the calendar frequently - all deadlines for readings, assignments, tutorials etc. will be posted here.  Emails will be sent whenever changes occur to the schedule.

• read all course content - contains all the learnning modules and primary documents for this course.

• online students - logging on serves as attendance and participation in this class (time and sites visited are tracked within WebCT).  Students must login every week and meet all deadlines for quizzes, assignments, etc. or risk being dropped. 

• complete all assignments on time - textbook readings, tutorials, focus reports, portfolio.  Meet all assignment deadlines.  Missing a deadline will result in a zero; any makeup will receive no higher than a 60%.  Assignments completed on time may be turned in for a possible higher grade.  Tutorials have three grade possibilities:  100% on all tutorials submitted on time; 60% on any late tutorials; 0% on nonsubmissions.  DEADLINES FOR ALL REDOS IS WEEK 13.

• check your progress - check your grades frequently (under ‘My Grades’ in the Course Menu) to track your progress in this class and to identify any errors if they exist.

• communicate - ultimately, success is always associated with good communication. Take liberal advantage of my office hours for one-on-one support.  Keep me in the loop with how you are doing; I can’t help if I don’t know there is a problem.    [back to top]          

additional recommendations :


1. Check your computer's Date and Time for accuracy.  All features in this course are timed stamped.

2. Test your Browser.  Try this link for testing your Browser and download any appropriate plug-ins if the Browser Test indicates them.  They will allow you to access everything that will be available to you through this course site more successfully.  Internet Explorer (4.5 or higher) is the preferred browser for WebCT, which can be downloaded for free, but I work with both Netscape and Explorer successfully.

2. A fast computer is a plus especially if it is equipped with a high speed bandwidth connections (DSL or Cox Cable).  A 56K dial-up Modem will be acceptable but will mean you will have to spend a lot more time online – an average 3-4 mB file can take 20-50 minutes to upload or download whereas that same file with a DSL Modem will take about 50 seconds and Cox Cable downloads that same file in 5 seconds.
         Or, plan to upload assignments from one of the computer labs here at city college.  Our Digital Art Center (the DAC) has newly been equipped with 120 new G4's and 20 new Dells, printers and scanners.  

DAC Open Lab Hours:  M-Th 8am-10pm; Fri. 8am-5pm; Sat. Closed

3. Process to Photo CD's.  Best prices local processor for photo CD's still is CostCo (membership costs $45).  Approximately $9.00/35mm 24 exposure roll (DO NOT ask for prints); one hour turnaround.  This link  connects you to Kodak's Picture Center.  Also Fromex in downtown Santa Barbara (1017 State; a little more expensive but they provide a larger file size than CostCo and they will give a 10% discount to SBCC students), Long's Drug (reports of inconsistent delivery dates however) and Color Services (expensive but they include high resolution files for very large print making), and Armstrong's Lab next to Samy's.

4. A CD-ROM drive for burning CD's or other portable media storage devices (Zip Disks, Compact Flash cards, digital wallets, etc.) will be beneficial for transporting files.  The Read/Write card holder called Zio! (available at Samy's) will hold compact flash cards with up to a Gig of memory.  The reader is only about $28 in USB format (or $50 in Firewire).

5. Cameras.  Any format camera can be used for any assignment.  Should you choose to work with a digital camera keep the following points in mind.  For good print reproduction, try to work with a digital camera with at least a 3-4 megapixel capture system probably costing between $300-$800.  A 5-stop manual override for shutter speeds, apertures and ISO range is also very beneficial.  Samy's Camera and/or Calumet Photographic are good local places to begin researching different models as well as Russ's Camera.

6. Adobe Photoshop (ideally version 6.0 or higher) or equivalent image editing software (this program is the industry standard).  Less expensive options:  Adobe Photo Elements and for PCs Ulead PhotoImpact 7 (both are approximately $90).
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requirements:

1. 10-Print Portfolio demonstrating high quality image and editing skills is due by the end of this class.  It can be comprised of a broad range of media solutions; most frequently these solutions are photographic but I encourage you to consider graphic art, text/typography, collage, 2D/3D/4D collage and assemblage, as long as it can be converted to digital for printing in our digital darkroom and for uploading in our WebCT assignment tool.

2. Uploading file sizes:  images must be jpeg (be sure to include the extension .jpg on your file name), 72 dpi and a 600 pixel height for vertical images OR 800 pixel width for horizontal images. 

3. Tutorials are required weekly.  You receive a 100% for submitting ontime, 60% for late submissions and 0% for nonsubmissions. Check the CALENDAR for deadlines.  They can be accessed through the Assignments link on the NAVIGATION menu.

4. Conceptual Photo Assignments are rquired every 2-3 weeks.  They will receive 65-100% for on time submissions, 60% for late submissions and 0% for nonsubmissions.  DEADLINES FOR ALL REDOS IS WEEK 13.

5. Attendance is mandatory and is recorded at the beginning of class.  After 10 minutes, any student arriving will be marked as absent.  More than 3 unexcused absences can result in a drop.  More than 5 late arrivals will result in either one full grade reduction or a drop.

6. Grades: Posted online (see "My Grades").   Final grades are based on the following components.

35%      Photo Assignments

25%      Final Portfolio

15%      Tutorials

15%      Quizzes/Exams

10%      Attendance and Participation; or for online students, Bulletin Board Postings

a few more suggestions for online students:

• Online photo classes are definitely more challenging than their on-campus equivalents!    In addition to the photographic information, there are computer, browser, slow dial-up connections, uploading assignments, network issues and other technical challenges that have to be understood and resolved in short order to prevent falling behind in the workload.  Your success is dependent upon overcoming all these challenges in short order.

• You are invited to attend as many on-campus lectures and demos that your schedule will allow: this semester the face-to-face class meets Tuesday's, 8:00am - 1:05pm.  In order to take advantage of this opportunity, you must arrive before 8:00 am and check in with me before class begins ... no online student entry after 8:00am.  Lectures and critiques take place during the first half of the class.

I'm looking forward to a very exciting semester. 

Sincerely, Linda   

 

Questions about me? Here is my website which should supply all the answers -or- more than you ever wanted to know about me: http://www.lindalowell.com/

                              [back to top]                                         LOWELL © 2003