Homework #1 - Due before 11:59pm on Monday, September 26th.

To submit this project you'll type your answers up in a word processor, print it to a PDF file, compress it into a zip file, and then upload that file to the submission server.
If you have questions about any parts of this assignment, please come to see me in office hours.

Question #1:
We have discussed image editing in concept, seen some examples of how images can be altered, and briefly discussed some of the legal and ethical issues surrounding these topics. Find an article about someone who was fired for taking a picture or altering a picture, provide me the URL of the article, and present a written opinion on the event.


Question #2:
How do you find the message hidden in the red rectangle in the picture POSTED HERE?
The answer is within photo manipulation.

  • First, right-click that link to save the image to your computer.
  • Next, please download GIMP (probably Windows or Mac OS X) if you don't have an image manipulation program already.
  • Now, you'll want to open the image in the image program and change the levels. Changing levels can accomplish things such as correcting for color casts or altering contrasts. Here we are really just going to use it to make things a lot brighter.
  • After opening the image, bring up the levels dialog box (in GIMP you can do this by going to the Tools menubar item and then going down to the Color Tools option and from the sub-menu selecting Levels. You will now have a dialog box on-screen similar to this one.
  • There are two ways we can start to explore changing levels. One way is to click on the eye-dropper that has an all-white tube (rather than partially black or gray) and then click on something that you think should be white (in this case, you could click the center of the area in the red rectangle). You can also move the white triangle to the right of large rectangle labelled as "Input Levels" - the further to the left you move it, the brighter things will get.

    Paste the altered photo into your answers document.


    Question #3: How does your camera allow you to alter things like ISO, shutter speed, and aperture?
    You will explore this by taking photographs of the same scene but using different settings. For this, you'll need a medium sized object and an area with decent but not bright lighting where the object is placed, but a darker area in the background. For example, perhaps a dimly lit room with a tennis ball on a desk with a medium-powered desk lamp illuminating the ball.
    You'll photograph the object in this area with your camera set to a few different settings, and then look at the Exif data in each file to see what you can discover about the ISO, shutter speed, and aperture used.
    There are many ways to view Exif data. On Windows, I use free tools like Exifer and IrfanView or just right-click on the file and bring up its properties. On Mac OS X, you can also bring up the file's info or search for free tools that allow you to view the data. You will be taking several pictures and making a table containing the information obtained from the Exif data. Each row of the table will report the values from a single photo. The columns will be:

    Settings Scenario, ISO, Shutter Speed, Aperture, Flash, Appearance

    where the next to last column is whether or not the flash fired and the final column is for your own opinion on how the picture looks.

    There are two options for this question; if your camera has settings like AE, TV, and P versus settings like Sports, Landscape, and Night. If you have both, you can choose the option that matches which of the two types of settings you typically use.

  • Option 1
    If your camera has settings like AE/TV/P (some Canon models for example) or A/S/P (some Nikon models for example) you will follow the directions in this option. For each photo that you take, make sure the flash is turned off.

    Set your ISO to be the lowest number your camera allows (probably something like 100 or 200). Next, you will take pictures with the following settings scenarios:
       AE and an aperture of f/5.6
   AE and an aperture of f/8
   TV and a shutter speed of 1/25
   TV and a shutter speed depending on whether the previous picture 
             is too light or too dark - if it is light or fine, set
             the shutter speed to 1/100 for this one - otherwise you
             should set the speed to 1/10th
   P (you don't set aperture or shutter for this one)
    Now, copy the images to your computer, check the Exif data, and make your chart.

  • Option 2
    If your camera has modes like Sports, Landscape, Night, etc. then you will follow the directions in this option instead. For each photo that you take, make sure the flash is turned off (if that is allowed).

    If your camera allows it, set your ISO to be the lowest number your camera allows (probably something like 100 or 200). Next, each of the modes will be one of your settings scenarios. For each of these, take a picture of your object.

    If you notice any differences in how your camera seems to be working, try to make a note of it.

    Now, copy the images to your computer, check the Exif data, and make your chart.

    Use GIMP or some other photo application to scale the images down, and then paste them into your answers document.




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