SYLLABUS: FIT 274-102 PS 2

Below are some excerpts from the course syllabus.  

Images of the full syllabus can be clicked on and viewed below.

Course Description: 

2 credits; 1 Lecture and 2 Computer lab hours per week

            Within this course, students learn intermediate and advanced Adobe Photoshop software skills and techniques. Students develop an advanced knowledge of layers, channels, curves, image merging, and color correction. Topics covered will include the extensive use of Adobe Bridge, camera raw processing, file formats, resolution and compression, enhanced retouching skills and tools, creating PDF presentations, and how to automate a simple web photo gallery.     

Learning Objectives: 

Upon successful completion of this course students will be able to:

• Demonstrate proficiency of the Adobe Photoshop program software
• Create a thoughtful connection between the ethics of image design and image manipulation
• Develop and use a proper color managed digital workflow
• Enhance photographs using more sophisticated tools such as curves, high-pass sharpening, layer modes, and paths for advanced selection techniques 
• Prepare images for output and produce quality digital inkjet and digital-C prints

Evaluation Criteria: 

            10%            Class Attendance and Participation

            20%            Quizzes and Final Exam

            20%            Homework assignments / Class Projects

            50%            Completed Personal Assignments

Week #1: 9/1/11 Welcome!

Welcome to Fall Semester 2011 Photoshop 2!

I'm very much looking forward to sharing my knowledge of Photoshop with you, and I can only hope you are just as excited to utilize and explore PS as a creative tool in the world of photography!

Before getting started, I wanted to point out that I like to begin each class with a quote that relates to that week's discussion material.  I think it's a fun way to introduce the lecture and I hope you enjoy them.  Below is our first quote, surprisingly enough not from a photographer but from Vincent Versace.  I think it sums up my philosophy about Photoshop, and shares with you how I'll approach teaching the course! 

 

"Photoshop is not a verb. It is a noun. It is the means to an end, not the end itself." - Vincent Versace

To have an understanding of Photoshop, you must first learn how the program "sees" your image.  The most basic picture element of a digital photograph is a "pixel" and an image is made up of a lot of these.  Photoshop simply manipulates the color, tone, and position of these pixels in order to achieve the photographer's desired results.  But before you start retouching, I want you to understand how the colors and tones of each pixel are interpreted by Photoshop, and ultimately by you as a Photoshop user!

As in photography, it all starts with light and specifically the mixing of 3 primary colors together to achieve all the other colors we can possibly see. 

The Additive Process involves mixing Red, Green, and Blue light together in varying proportions to produce any color.  The RGB color method is used in today's digital camera sensors, television sets, and computer monitors, and was was used in early color film photography.  Adding red, green, and blue light together in equal amounts will produce white light.  Mixing just 2 of the additive primaries together will produce one of the subtractive primaries (see below).

 

RGB = Additive Primaries (CMY = Subtractive Primaries used in printing along with black or K)

Equal amounts of RGB light mixed together = White light