Final book project ideas

 1. CD cover book

My idea for this book is to incorporate a basic plastic CD case to hold the collection of photos, and use the inside pamphlet/cover as the book itself. The paper area that is usually used for album credits/lyrics/photos of the band/etc will be replaced with my photos! I am still deciding on if I want to create my own pamphlet portion, and then manually attach my prints to the paper (glue/staple them) or if I want to use one from a CD that goes with the essence of my collection of photos. If I included photos that were music related, which is where I feel my project is headed towards, I think the CD idea would be a really cool idea. I have even thought about putting the collection of photos on a disk, and using that as the CD inside the case. Below are examples of some of the photos I might use and an example of where they would go in the CD casing.

Photo 1) Template for the book
Photo 2) Example of a template with enough pages for the book
Photo 3) Example of photo I will use

2. Zine

My idea for this is to create a zine, and I want to bind/thread it myself. I feel that this makes it more personal and more genuine, and can look great if executed correctly. For the photos, I want to incorporate ones I have taken that best represent a feeling or emotion. On the left side of the page, I would put a photo, and on the right page adjacent to it, I would put a song lyric that best represents the feeling or emotion that goes with that photo, and so on for each page that you flip. I was thinking of writing out the lyrics or having them spelled out some way, and then photographing the lyrics, which would then be inserted into the right side of each page. I also have thought about just writing them myself into the book, which is what I'm leaning towards. In short, every left page has a photo, and every right page next to it has a corresponding song lyric. I have included photos that I might use and photos that (hopefully) explain this idea better!

Photo 1) Style of homemade zine
Photo 2) Handwritten lyrics onto the page
Photo 3) Photos included - photos that evoke or show a certain emotion

** The two photos above are not my work or my photos

Portrait, Two Ways

For this assignment, I chose to capture my roommate Derek and a personality trait of his. Derek is a musician, and after knowing him for so long, it's not hard to tell that he is most comfortable with himself and his surroundings when he is playing music. In these two photos, I wanted to capture Derek in a normal surrounding for him (his room) and show how music changes his mood and comfort levels, specifically with lighting.

In the photo above, I decided to use completely natural lighting, which was the window to the left in the photo. I liked this specifically because it only lit half of his face, which incorporated darkness into the photo. Not only did it incorporate a darker aspect, but the portion of his face that is lighter showcases a sort of solemness that he was feeling. I chose to use a shutter speed of 1/50 and an ISO of 1600. The ISO I started with originally had been 3200 to accurately expose all aspects of the photo, but I decided bumping it down a notch gave me more contrast and depth to work with. I had Derek sit against his black wall under his "Rock & Roll is Dead" decoration, and asked for him to just relax and sit how he normally would. Incorporating this decoration on the black wall, the meaning behind it, the strategic lighting, and his solemn facial expression helped me capture who Derek is when music is not in his life.

In the second photo shown above, I brought Derek his guitar. Immediately, without me giving any direction, he sat up, and looked directly into the sunlight. His energy changed, and I wanted to capture that in the photo. I moved my ISO to 3200, a jump up from 1600 which was used on the first photo. Lightening up the photo when Derek grabbed his guitar also lightened up the mood, which was something I wanted to showcase about him and how his own mood changed as well. The light quality here is more direct, and captures more of the subject I am shooting. The first photo's lighting was from the left side, which created a more dramatic and moody environment. Yes, Derek does not look ecstatic in this photo either, but in truth, this is who he is. I didn't want to ask him to force a smile or fake a laugh to show the contrast in emotion when he was playing music. Instead, I used more direct, brighter lighting, and captured his change of posture and body language in one photo. 

Lighting Assignment

Part 1: Quality of light

Hard/direct light: ISO 800, 1/60 Shutter, 3.5 f/stop

Soft/diffused light (yellow sheet of paper): ISO 3200, 1/50 Shutter, 3.5 f/stop

Part 2: Direction of light

Front: ISO 800, 1/80 Shutter, 3.5 f/stop

Side: ISO 800, 1/80 shutter, 3.5 f/stop














Above: ISO 800, 1/125 Shutter, 3.5 f/stop

Below: ISO 400, 1/50 Shutter, 3.5 f/stop

















Behind: ISO 800, 1/250 Shutter, 3.5 f/stop