College of Education
Dept. of Curriculum & Instruction
Instructional Technology Program

CUIN 7358:
Educational Uses of Digital Photography
& Digital Storytelling

fall 2008

This course is linked with CUIN 7336: Popular Culture in Education

 September 3, 2008: Class Two                  Course Blog                          return to main page

Topics for Class Two:

Review Assignments from Class One
All about Digital Cameras & Digital Photography
In Class Activity 1: Using Picasa & Creating a Photo Blog
In Class Activity 2: Taking Pictures with a Digital Camera

Assignments for Next Class:
  * Reading Assignments
  * Blog Assignments
  * Hands-On Assignment 2
 

Review Assignments from Class One

Blog Assignment

Post a comment in which you introduce yourself and briefly discuss your experience with technology in general, and with digital photography and digital storytelling, specifically. Also, please indicate what type of digital camera you have used in the past and discuss what technology skills you hope to gain from this course.

Hands-On Assignment 1:

Select any topic related to some aspect of popular culture and find at least 10 digital images that could be used to help tell a story on that topic. The images may be downloaded from the web or may come from any other source you choose. Once you have the images, you should put them in order so that the begin to form a visual outline of a story.

If you want, you may use the program of your choice to arrange the pictures or you may simply bring the images with you to the next class on a CD, a flash drive or you may upload them to a location where you can access them from the CITE Lab next week.
 

All about Digital Cameras & Digital Photography
 

Click on the links below for information that deals with digital cameras, images and photography techniques.

Digital Camera Basics


 

Camera Functions


 

Image Characteristics


 

Photo Composition

The most important things you should remember when you start taking digital pictures:

1. Move in close to the subject

2. Try to fill the frame

3. Use the Rule of Thirds

4. Try to take outdoor pictures early in the morning or late in the day when sunlight turns things more  golden

5. Try to keep the camera stable (with a tripod or any flat stable surface)

6. Take lots of pictures under different conditions, at different angles, different lens settings, etc.
 

In-Class Activity 1: Using Picasa & Creating a Photo Blog

As we discussed, each student will set up and use their own personal blog in this course. Setting up a blog is a fairly easy process using Blogger, free blog software from Google.

To begin the process, you can go https://www.blogger.com/start and click on the Create Your Blog Now link.

Below are links to a video (they are the same, just 2 different video formats) that describes how to set up a blog in Blogger.

Setting Up A Blog in Blogger
http://www.rpgmp3.com/work/blogger_account.flv
http://www.rpgmp3.com/work/blogger_account.wmv

And as a refresher, here is a video that discusses how to post comments to a blog in Blogger.

Posting To A Blog in Blogger
http://www.rpgmp3.com/work/blogger_posting.flv
http://www.rpgmp3.com/work/blogger_posting.wmv

 

Downloading and Installing Picasa 3 for Windows

We will also use Picasa 3, another free program from Google to organize, edit and create images and upload them to Blogger.

You may download Picas 3 from:
http://picasa.google.com/#utm_medium=embed&utm_source=pwalogin

Important Note: Be sure that you are downloading the new Picasa 3 and not an earlier version.

The first time you run Picasa 3 after you download and install it on your computer, you will be asked if you want the program to scan your entire computer, or just a few locations, to find and organize the digital images that are stored on your hard drive.

You may also want to go to the Tools menu and select Options to change the default settings so that Picasa will include or exclude any particular digital image file types on your computer.

 

You can also view a promotional video about Picasa 3 here:

Creating a Collage with Picasa 3

After Picasa has been launched, select the images you want to use to create your collage.

Then go to the Create menu and select Picture Collage.



Or you can click on the Collage icon at the bottom right of the screen.




This should bring up the Collage Settings panel. 

Click on the Create Collage button to create the collage. In the example below, the collage was created with the Contact Sheet setting, but you should experiment with the other settings to see what works best with your images. 

When your collage is complete, you can click on the Blog This! button which will connect to the Blogger site, so that you can post your collage to your personal blog.



Remember that you can add text to your blog post by clicking under the picture and start typing.

In-Class Activity 2: Taking Pictures with a Digital Camera

If we have time, we will take some pictures with a digital camera.

Digital cameras (and other technology devices) are available for 7-day check-out from the CITE Lab. For a list of equipment that's available, go to: http://coe.uh.edu/mycoe/cite/equip.cfm

Assignments for Next Class:

Reading Assignments

Read:

Digital Cameras - A Beginner's Guide
http://photo.net/equipment/digital/basics/

What's a Megapixel and Why Should I Care?
http://www.apogeephoto.com/june2000/megapixel.shtml

Open Thinking Wiki Page on Blogging
http://couros.wikispaces.com/Blogging

Photography's Photoblogging Future
http://ddunleavy.typepad.com/the_big_picture/2006/12/photographys_ph.html

 

Review:

Dr. Robin's Web Page about Blogging
http://coe.uh.edu/courses/cuin7376/topics/blogs.htm

The Houston Institute for Culture Website
http://houstonculture.org/

Surviving Katrina Audio Excerpts
http://houstonculture.org/houston/SKRHphotos.html
 

Blog Assignment 2A:

Create a picture collage using the images you selected for Assignment One and post it to your personal blog. You should add some text to this blog posting in which you briefly describe the images you selected and what they mean. When this is done, send me an email message at brobin@uh.edu that includes the link to your blog.

Hands-On Assignment 2:

First, shoot a series of pictures with a digital camera on a particular topic, either related to pop culture or not.

You should try to remember some of the details about what you are photographing, including:

Where are you taking the picture?

What time of day are you shooting the picture and what is the weather like?

Are you using a flash or other type of special lighting?

Plus think about any other special details you feel will be of interest when we review the pictures.

After you have taken several images, you should review them but resist the temptation to delete all the images that you feel are not good enough to save. Some of these images will be helpful if we have an opportunity to review them and come up with suggestions for improving them.

For this assignment, try to post at least 3 different pictures to your personal blog and remember that if you have not already done so, send me an email message at brobin@uh.edu that includes the link to your blog.
 

Blog Assignment 2B:

Go to the course discussion blog at: http://cuin7358-pop.blogspot.com/ and post a question or comment about any of the material covered in Class 2, including: