Thesis+Based+Research+Assignment

=**Senior Seminar Thesis-based Research ** =

**Rationale for Research / Introduction (5 pts) **
__ Why did you go down this research path? __
 * //I went down this research path because I believe that I will spend a lot of my time doing something I enjoy, as well as enjoying the outdoors. //

__ What driving question guided your research? __
 * //What does the average photographer need to learn in order to become a better photographer? //

__ What more specific questions had to be answered before finally answering this driving question? __
 * //What are some simple but effective techniques that can dramatically improve a photograph? //

** Research (25 pts) ** A. "10 Ingredients For Successful Images." __PC Photo__ Oct. 2008: 38-42. 18 Sept. 2008. [|http://mygazines.com.**] B. Busch, David D. __Quick snap guide to digital photography__. Boston: Thomson Course Technology, 2007. >
 * -Minimum of 8 sources
 * -Minimum of 40 pieces of evidence from these sources
 * -Each source must have at least 3 pieces of factual evidence
 * -Must be in outline format as seen below.
 * 1)  //"Placing the main subject off-center is usually more interesting than dead-center" ( // //"10 Ingredients For Successful Images" 39).  //
 * 2) // "Also, carefully compose your pictures so that the background elements compliment the main subject" ( // "10 Ingredients For Successful Images" // 39). //
 * 3) // "When it comes to a person or an animal, the main focus point usually is the eyes " (  "10 Ingredients For Successful Images" //// 41). //
 * 4) // "When thinking about exposure, we want to expose for the highlights, or the brightest parts of the scene. That's because when highlights of a digital file is washed out and over exposed by more than an f/stop, they're difficult or impossible to recover in a digital darkroom" (  "10 Ingredients For Successful Images" //// 41). //
 * 1)  //"Candid photography requires patience in finding just the right scene and moment, and a little bit of luck" (Busch 165).//
 * 1) // "You'll find candid photography is a great opportunity to catch people in unguarded moments doing interesting things" (Busch 165). //
 * 2) // Sharpness is essential to landscape photography (Busch 174). //
 * 3) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">// "A rock-solid tripod is essential for two reasons. Focus is critical with macro shots, and it's easy to shift your camera slightly and throw your picture completely out of focus if your camera isn't mounted on a tripod" (Busch 178). //
 * 4) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">// "When shooting panoramas, many find it useful to mount the camera on a tripod so the camera can be smoothly panned from one shot to the next overlapping picture" (Busch 184). //
 * 5) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">// "Sometimes you'll want to modify the exposure your camera would choose, either because the automatic exposure is not quite right or because you want to change the exposure for creative effect, say, to produce a silhouette or extra-bright high key look" (Busch 74). //
 * 6) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">// " So, when you want to use selective focus to isolate your subject, a large aperture will help, but when you need to have as much of the image in focus as possible, a smaller f/stop will do the job" (Busch 66). //
 * 7) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">// "Increasing the ISO setting allows the camera to capture a picture using a briefer shutter speed or a smaller aperture " (Busch 68). //
 * 8) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">// "Decreasing the ISO setting lets you sue a longer shutter speed or a larger aperture, which might be the case when the light is very bright or you want or you want to use a longer shutter speed or a larger lens opening for creative reasons. " (Busch 68). //

C. "Digital SLR Skills." __Practical Photography__ July 2008: 83-100. 18 Sept. 2008. [|http://mygazines.com.**] > //  D. Kelby, Scott. __The Digital Photography Book__. Berkeley: Peachpit Press, 2007. > //
 * 1) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">//<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> Multi-Zone, Multi-Segment, and Matrix metering works by dividing the image into several different segments while taking a separate reading from each segment ( "Digital SLR Skills" 85).  //
 * 2) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">//<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> Center-weighted average meter takes a reading from the whole image, but the exposure is based towards the center of the frame. "This helps prevent the exposure from being affected by an dark or light areas in the foreground or background" ( "Digital SLR Skills" 85).  //
 * 3) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">//<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> Spot or partial metering only takes a reading from a small part of the frame, normally the center ( "Digital SLR Skills" 85).  //
 * 4) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">//<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> Spot metering is potentially the most accurate method but requires you to re-frame your shot, but also requires the most practice ( "Digital SLR Skills" 85).  //
 * 5) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">//<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> "There are three main settings that govern exposure- ISO, shutter speed and aperture" ( "Digital SLR Skills" 86).  //
 * 6) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">//<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> The ISO setting governs how sensitive the camera's sensor is to light. If you are using a low setting (such as ISO 100 or 200), the sensor needs more light to make an exposure than if you use a higher one (such as ISO 400 or 800)" ( "Digital SLR Skills" 86).
 * 1) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">//<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> The shutter speed refers to the amount of time that the sensor is exposed to the light"( "Digital SLR Skills" 86).  //
 * 2) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">//<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> The Aperture is the variable opening within the lens that governs how much light passes through it to reach the sensor" ( "Digital SLR Skills" 86).  //
 * 3) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">//<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> "In the same lighting conditions and with the same ISO, you can use settings of 1/250sec at f/16 to generate the same exact exposure as 1/1000sec at f/5.6" ( "Digital SLR Skills" 86).  //
 * 4) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">//<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> "When making an exposure in very bright light conditions you can usually get away with using the lowest ISO setting and smallest aperture, and still get a shutter speed that's fast enough to avoid camera shake" ( "Digital SLR Skills" 87).  //
 * 5) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">//<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> To avoid overexposure, seat a smaller aperture, a faster shutter speed, and a lower ISO setting" ( "Digital SLR Skills" 87).  //
 * 6) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">//<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> "When making an exposure in very dark conditions you may need to increase your ISO setting and/or choose a wider aperture, to obtain a shutter speed that's fast enough to avoid camera shake and avoid underexposure at the same time" ( "Digital SLR Skills" 87).  //
 * 7) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">//<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> To prevent underexposure, seat a wider aperture, a slower shutter speed, and a higher ISO setting" ( "Digital SLR Skills" 87).  //
 * 8) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">//<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> "Exposure compensation is simply a way of overriding the exposure suggested by the camera to give a lighter or darker result" ( "Digital SLR Skills" 92).  //
 * 9) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">//<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> "If your subject is dominated by light tones, your camera is likely to underexpose the image, giving the whole scene a grey, muddy appearance" ( "Digital SLR Skills" 96).  //
 * 10) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">//<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> "When your scene is dominated by dark tones or shadow areas, the camera's metering system will assume you want the dark area to be recorded as a midtone. As a result, you need to underexpose the scene"( "Digital SLR Skills" 96).  //
 * 1) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">// <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">"By shooting at f/11  <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> and focusing on the eyes, this will give you a nice level of sharpness throughout the face (and most importantly, the eyes will be tack sharp, and in portraits that is absolutely critical)" (Kelby 119). //
 * 2) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">//<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">"If you wan to show the hustle and bustle of the city, slow down your shutter speed and let the people and traffic create motion trails within your picture" (Kelby 169). //
 * 3) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">//<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">If you're shooting candid portraits or editorial style shots with the subject's eyes in consideration, position the eyes a third of the way down from the top of the frame (Kelby 119). //
 * 4) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">//<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">"When composing your sports images, give your athlete somewhere to go, don't compose the shot so your athlete is running out of the frame" (Kelby 110). //
 * 5) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">//<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">"If you're shooting wildlife, don't frame it so close that the animal has nowhere to go" (Kelby 119).

E. Busch, David D. __Mastering Digital SLR Photography__. Boston: Course PTR, 2005. __NetLibrary__. OCLC. 14 Oct. 2008. http://www.netlibrary.com/
 * 1) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">//"Spot metering gathers exposure information only from a central portion of the frame" (Busch 58).//
 * 2) <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">//"Multipoint exposure information is collected from many different positions in the frame, and then used to calculate the settings then using one of several calculation routines" (Busch 58).//

F. King, Julie Adair. __Shoot Like a Pro! : Digital Photography Techniques__. Emeryville: McGraw-Hill Professional, 2003. __NetLibrary__. OCLC. 14 Oct. 2008 http://www.netlibrary.com/
 * 1) //<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">"The term ISO is a carryover from film photography. It’s an international standard (from the International Standards Organization, of course) that describes a film’s light sensitivity, often called film speed. The higher the film speed, the less light is required to record an image" (King 38). //
 * 2) //<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">A large aperture produces shorter depth of field; a small aperture brings a greater area into sharp focus" (King 36). //
 * 3) //<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">"Switching to slow-sync flash has two effects on your photograph: First, a background that would otherwise appear dark becomes visible. Second, you can get a good exposure with less flash power, which usually translates to softer, less contrasty foreground lighting" (King 115). //
 * 4) //<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">"With a higher ISO film you can get a good exposure with less light. In bright light, the increased light sensitivity enables you to work with a smaller aperture (higher f-stop number) or faster shutter speed than when using a lower ISO film" (King 107). //

<span style="color: rgb(115, 43, 43)"> <span style="color: rgb(115, 43, 43)">**// Thesis (15 pts) //**


 * __ Based on this research what is your specific stance on this topic? __ **
 * //<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">My specific stance on my topic is that learning the functions and modes of the camera will allow you to take higher quality pictures, and therefore need to be further understood . //


 * __ What is your initial thesis? __ **
 * //<span style="font-size: 120%; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">In digital photography, effective manipulation of focus, exposure, and Metering will dramatically improve the quality of an amateur's pictures. //

<span style="color: rgb(115, 43, 43)"> 1. Metering is the exposure reading from the image. ** > ** > ** > ** > ** > ** > ** > ** > **
 * <span style="color: rgb(115, 43, 43)"> // Findings (15 pts) & Support for Findings (25 pts) //**
 * ** Support: C1, C2, C3, C4 **
 * ** Support: **** E1, E2
 * 2. ISO is the sensitivity of the "film." **
 * **S upport:B8, B9
 * ** Support: **** C5, C6, C7, C8, C9, C10, C11, C12, C13 **
 * ** Support: **** F1, F4
 * 3. Exposure is the balance of light in the photograph. **
 * ** Support: A4, **
 * ** Support: **** B6, **** B8, B9 **
 * ** Support: **** C10, C11, C12, C13, C14, C15, C16
 * 4. Focus is crucial in producing not only sharp photographs, but focus also allows a lot of room for creative control. **
 * ** Support: A1, A2, A3
 * ** Support: **** B3, B4, B7
 * ** Support: **** D1, D3
 * 5. Creativity is very important to digital photography and making someone see something in an unorthodox way keeps images interesting. **
 * **S upport: **** B1, B2, **** B5, **
 * ** Support: D2, D4, D5 **
 * ** Support: **** F2, F3

<span style="color: rgb(115, 43, 43)"> <span style="color: rgb(115, 43, 43)">// Process Reflection (5 pts) // **


 * What did you learn from conducting this research? **
 * //<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">From conducting my research, I discovered the necessary knowledge needed to take good photos regarding Metering, ISO, and exposure. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">I<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">learned that taking pictures requires patience and accuracy. One may not get the shot he/she wants immediately, and therefore needs patience and perseverance to wait and capture the picture when the time is right.   //


 * What higher-order thinking skills did you employ? **
 * //<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">I employed research and repetition in efforts to get better results in my experiment. I took hundreds of pictures and I experimented with different ISO settings and exposure settings in order to produce well-balanced, vivid pictures. //


 * What research skills do you still need to improve? **
 * //<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">I need to improve my ability to navigate through the menu quickly, in the camera, in order to be able to capture the shot I need. I also need to improve my ability to hold the camera steady. this can be easily accomplished with the help of a tripod. //

<span style="color: rgb(115, 43, 43)">**// Connections to the Overall Project (5 pts) //****
 * What information did you think you knew before researching that turned out to be either incorrect or incomplete knowledge of your topic? **
 * <span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif">//Some research that seemed incomplete would be the usage of ISO, aperture, shutter speed, exposure and metering. I thought metering had to do with focus, but it has to do with the balancing of the exposure in the composed photograph. I also thought that aperture number could be changed without changing anything, I was wrong. Aperture and shutter speed are reciprocals of each other, and when one is large or fast, the other has to be small or slow. I realized that ISO was the amount of light that needs to be there to compose a shot. I learned a lot more than i thought i would, but I still need to find more time to apply all of the things I'm learning in the photography world.//
 * //<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif"> All of my finding fit into the big picture because without the research, I wouldn't know why or how, certain modes and conditions produce certain shots. //