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1. Required Reading: “In Plato’s Cave” chapter 1 from 'On Photography' by Susan
   Sontag, 1977 available as PDF from Blackboard
   
   The opening chapter from Susan Sontag’s On Photography reflects upon the
   power of image taking. Well before the advent of the smart phone, Sontag discusses
   the ubiquity of the camera and image taking. This is the longest reading of the
   semester for this course. The reading is assigned to place image making in a critical
   context. What does it mean to you to capture images and create graphics? Through
   the length of the semester, you will be asked to realize ten projects, each project quite
   different from the other as you are asked to use various tools. Although each project is
   distinct, please consider them as a body of work; consider how one may relate to the
   next and how you as a media maker can build from one to the next. Please write a one
   to three paragraph reflection on how you use photography and image making. How
   could you represent visually through photography or illustration or the combination of
   image and text notions of our world at this moment? Create a new html page for this
   reflection, title it “readings.html” and link to it from your class homepage (index.html).
   Add a link back to index.html on your readings.html page. Update the readings.html
   page with each reflection – project or reading reflection.
    

2. Required Viewing: From LinkedIn Learning Photoshop 2022 Essential Training
   (please try following along with your own images):
   ch 4. Digital Image Essentials sections (all tutorials)
   ch 6. Cropping and Straightening Images (first three tutorials)
   ch 7. Layers (first tutorial)
   ch. 12 Adjustment Layer Essentials (first three tutorials)
    

3. Based on the composition and framing concepts that were covered in the lecture, take at least five photos with lab DSLR cameras.
   
   Choose the two images that you think are compositionally the most compelling and save a copy of both images in their original pixel dimensions (in other words, keep a back-up of the original file).
   
   Crop a copy of one of the images to 1920 px by 1080 px and crop a copy of the other image to 5”x7”.
   
   Now, modify the Tonal Range of the two images using an adjustment layer following the steps in chapters above.
   
   Export these as jpg images and make sure they are under 2 MB in their file size.
    

4. Now, add each photo to two new pages on your website. Place each of the cropped images on a separate page and connect them with links to the home page and to each other. Make sure that all pages can navigate back to the home page. On your image web pages, add a paragraph tag to explain why you chose these two images and what compositional ideas you were using to create visual interest.
    

5. Each homework requires a brief written reflection. A reflection should not be a
   listing of what you did. It should present the ideas and meaning in the work that

6. you create. The rationale behind the written statements are to expand your
   creative language and engage with your work beyond technical skills to being a
   critical and creative maker.