Course Syllabus

JOHN CABOT UNIVERSITY

COURSE CODE: "AS 349"
COURSE NAME: "Advanced Photography"
SEMESTER & YEAR: Spring 2016

SYLLABUS

INSTRUCTOR: Paolo Soriani
EMAIL: [email protected]
HOURS: T9:00 AM 11:45 AM
TOTAL NO. OF CONTACT HOURS: 45
CREDITS: 3
PREREQUISITES: Prerequisite:one previous course in Photography
OFFICE HOURS:

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
The aim of this course is to provide the theoretical knowledge and practical skills necessary to conceive, plan, and produce a creative photographic project. Each student will work on a photography research project in a genre such as nature photography, architecture, portraiture, fashion and beauty, photojournalism, landscape, etc. Students should already have basic competence in black and white photography, including developing and printing techniques, and will learn advanced creative darkroom techniques. Further instruction will involve the use of Photoshop software for the digital manipulation of images. Assignments will help students begin to acquire the specific skills and knowledge that are sought in the professional workplace.

SUMMARY OF COURSE CONTENT:
This is a course in Advanced digital photography, composed of 14 sessions (each being 2:45 hours long) divided in two parts:

The first two classes being theoretical, including sessions showing and discussing Masters' artwork, professional techniques, elements of composition, interaction between colours, visions of architectures and interiors.
Adobe Lightroom CC, Photoshop CC and other software elements will be part of the course.

Classes 3 to 9 being practical including fieldworks where you will be applying what you've learned in the previous lessons to create a meaningful and artistic reportage.
The final part of the course including professional aspects of creating and presenting a photographic Portfolio and creating a book and a multimedia.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:
The main objective of the course is to allow student to realize pictures creating his own style using professional techniques with digital equipments. Shooting techniques will be interlaced to new perspectives in photography given by usage of specific SOFTWARE. Every week student will practice about techniques with specific assignments given time by time.

TEXTBOOK:

NONE

REQUIRED RESERVED READING:

NONE

RECOMMENDED RESERVED READING:

NONE

GRADING POLICY
-ASSESSMENT METHODS:

Assignment	Guidelines	Weight
photography portfolio		10
Attendance		30
mid-term test		30
final		30

-ASSESSMENT CRITERIA:
AWork of this quality shows excellent mastery of the course content along with exceptional levels of technical skill, artistic awareness, originality, resourcefulness, commitment, quantity of work and improvement. There has been excellent collaboration and leadership in group projects, and there have been no attendance problems. Student demonstrates passion and willing to extend knowledge and realized an excellent final project
BThis is highly competent level of performance and directly addresses the question or problem raised.There is a demonstration of some ability to critically evaluatetheory and concepts and relate them to practice. Discussions reflect the student’s own arguments and are not simply a repetition of standard lecture andreference material. The work does not suffer from any major errors or omissions and provides evidence of reading beyond the required assignments.A highly competent level of performance with work that directly addresses the content of the course, with a good quantity of work produced. Student had some lack of interest and the final project was good but not so rich of contents and artistic qualities
CAn acceptable level of performance: the work shows awareness of the course content, but is very limited in quantity, quality, commitment and skill. The Final project is correct but poor in terms of creativity and technique . Student didn't attend more than Four classes.
DThe student lacks a coherent grasp of the course material and has failed to produce much work. Student didn't attend more than Five classes.
FNegligent in attendance, academic honesty, engagement with the course content, or production of work. Too many missing classes.

-ATTENDANCE REQUIREMENTS:
PARTICIPATION AND ATTENDANCE POLICY Students are supposed to come prepared to class and participate in all activities. Active participation is crucial, since the learning process requires considerable practice. Regular attendance is an essential component of class participation. Students are allowed three (3) absences. Additional absences will lower the participation portion of the grade considerably. Make sure your travel plans do not interfere with the class schedule. MAKE-UPS Individual arrangements for make-ups will be done only for students with medical emergencies or any other valid reasons. The Midterm and Final Exam can only be made up with approval from the Dean of Academic Affairs (Please see the John Cabot University Catalogue and Student Handbook). Please refer to the university catalog for the attendance and absence policy.

ACADEMIC HONESTY
As stated in the university catalog, any student who commits an act of academic dishonesty will receive a failing grade on the work in which the dishonesty occurred. In addition, acts of academic dishonesty, irrespective of the weight of the assignment, may result in the student receiving a failing grade in the course. Instances of academic dishonesty will be reported to the Dean of Academic Affairs. A student who is reported twice for academic dishonesty is subject to summary dismissal from the University. In such a case, the Academic Council will then make a recommendation to the President, who will make the final decision.

STUDENTS WITH LEARNING OR OTHER DISABILITIES
John Cabot University does not discriminate on the basis of disability or handicap. Students with approved accommodations must inform their professors at the beginning of the term. Please see the website for the complete policy.

SCHEDULE

Session1	Screening of students' portfolios to check attitude, knowledge and technical preparation to follow the course - Description of the course content and purposes. The professional photographer's workflow.
Session2	The style, the techniques, the images of the masters of Reportage Photography -Techniques of Architecture Photography - The equipment, the lenses, the balance of the image, the perspective control, the depth of field, the best natural light, the choice of subjects and angles, how to avoid the obvious
Session3	Fieldwork - The Campuses, indor and outdoor spaces, courtyards and common spaces
Session4	Fieldwork - Life in classroom, students and teachers
Session5	Fieldwork- Life around the campuses
Session6	Analysis and screening of students’ photos
Session7	Fieldwork - Travel photography: An interaction between Architecture photography and Reportage.
Session8	Fieldwork - Freetime and activities after schooltime
Session9	Fieldwork - 2 days trip to be organized
Session10	Visit to Photo Exhibits To be defined	Assignment: prepare a selection of 10/15 pictures on CD-Rom for final examination to print on photographic 8”x10” size paper.
Session11	Photoshop Lightroom elements: advanced techniques to enhance the quality of pictures. Advanced corrections - How to use software to make professional prints. The topics, the formats, the quality saving, the size, the storage, the share and the presentation.
Session12	The slide show: how to realize a multimedia presentation for final exhibition
Session13	How to create a book
Session14	Discuss your chosen theme and the images realized Presentation of your photos selected, which will be critiqued and analyzed by the instructors of the course, ISU jury, your fellow classmates according the established criteria. Realization of the Portfolio and General review of the arguments presented.	Assignment: You will be required to realize a CD to document all of your work completed throughout this course. The CD will be left to the University Archive.