Visual Assignments

Is that a… GHOST?!

Take a photo in which there is a ghost like subject by either using a long exposure or 2 different pictures in a photo editing software. Check out the example here.

A Whole New World

Take a picture of your subject (grandparents, pet, yourself) and put it into a totally different background in which they appear abnormally too small or too large. Think of Honey, we shrunk the kids…

Animated Pet

Take a picture of your pet, and make an animated GIF from the photo.

Caught Mid Action

Take a picture that catches something mid action, and makes it appear different than it normally would.

What’s the Meme?

Take any picture and caption it with a meme, whether common or uncommon. Or come up with a personalized meme.

Ask Your Audience – They’re smarter than you think!

Ask Your Audience, is an assignment that requires you to create a post based on an image (ideally one that you wish to more about and preferably one you took) and then ask an engaging enough question that invites your readers to provide you with an answer and/or additional information on the subject.

Basically:

1.) Post a photo of something that you don’t know much about (your own original photo is preferred, it does not matter when it was taken).
2.) Give some background information about the photo (or other related information to help them out identifying whatever it is you posted).
3.) Ask your viewers in your own way to get more information on the subject matter for you (this will be the hardest part of the whole assignment).

Don’t forget to thank your viewers when you’re done, either!

Good luck and have fun!

Love: In Three Frames

In honor of Valentine’s Day, use three photos to tell the story of a relationship. You can use “real” photos that you’ve taken in a relationship. Or search for Creative Commons images on Flickr and find a story to tell with what you discover. You can find a bunch of examples at Slate today.

Wiggle Stereoscopy

Take two photos of the same subject from slightly different angles. Merge the two photos into a single looped, animated gif to create a wiggle stereoscopic image that simulates 3-D. A very good tutorial explaining the full process can be found on Martin Sutherland’s website.

Dream Visualization

Take a recent dream or nightmare you’ve had and make a visual representation of it for others to see.

Switch up the Mood

Color, lighting, saturation, contrast, and many other factors all play in to taking a decent photo and making it fabulous. This assignment is to change the mood or tone of a photograph by altering the contrast, brightness, hue, saturation, exposure, etc. You do not have to change all of those things about the photo, but you can if you would like to. Experiment. Don’t be afraid to take it to the extremes, and don’t be afraid to be subtle. Familiarize yourself with your editing software, whether it’s Photoshop, GIMP, Picnik, or any number of other editing platforms. Most of all, enjoy what you are doing!