FMA 158
Introduction to Film and Media Arts: Digital Photography
(TBD credits)
Class Size: TBD
Faculty: Doug DuBois, Associate Professor, Syracuse University
Susannah Sayler, Associate Professor, Syracuse University
Administrative Contact: Melanie Nappa-Carroll, Associate Director, Project Advance
Course Catalog Description
The main goal of this course is to get familiar with the basic foundation of digital photography. In this class, students will build upon essential photographic tools such as exposure camera controls (aperture, shutter speed, ISO). They will have lessons about lighting, color correction, Photoshop, editing, and printing to master the production of a photographic project.
Through lectures, presentations, technical classes, tutorials, and class critiques, students in this class will analyze contemporary photography and the photographs of their peers to strengthen their criticality in the medium of photography while applying these principles to the production of their own visually compelling images.
Pre- /Co-requisites
N/A
Course Objectives
In this course, students will work on assignments designed to give them technical and conceptual skills to address a successful Final Photographic Project, a portfolio of 12 to 20 images. The topic of this project will be free. To help students build this project, we will be working on acquiring five skills (shooting, lighting, editing, narrative, and printing) to help them naturally develop a creative methodology and find their visual style.
Laboratory
N/A
Required Materials
COMPUTER with Adobe Cloud. (Photoshop CC, Lightroom, and Adobe Bridge)
Digital Single Reflex Camera (DSLR) or comparable mirrorless camera. It does not matter which kind, though full manual exposure controls are necessary. Having RAW capability is essential.
- Non-Full-Frame; Good Beginner Cameras: Canon 7D or Nikon D7200
- Full-Frame Professional Camera Bodies: Canon 5D Mark I, II, III, IV or Nikon D800
- Zoom Lens vs. Prime Lens: 35mm- wide angle, 50mm- versatile and basic, 80mm- suitable for portraits
A tripod, there are many options. Suggestions:
- Manfrotto Travel Tripod- 65” Compact Travel Tripod
- Manfrotto 190XProb
Storage media (recommended)
- External Hardrive
- Camera Memory Card- 64GB and up
- Memory card readers
Speedlight (recommended)
- Canon Speedlite 470EX-AI or 600 EX II-RT ( Professional )
- Nikon SB- 700 AF or SB 500 AF
- Godox TT685C Thinklite TTL Flash For Canon and Nikon Cameras ( Affordable )