Grab your camera and learn how to create good image compositions for your next teaching and learning asset. Chris Mattia teaches you how to capture good image compositions with your camera that will enhance your teaching and learning assets and take less
- Let's begin by talking about how to capture good visual compositions of your images for use in teaching and learning and get a few other essential background concepts out of the way. There's a lot you can do in your camera before using Photoshop to take your images to the next level, so let's start there. The pictures you select need to be good images. They should enhance the story that you're telling and reinforce the points that you're making rather than distract from them. They should be properly exposed, have an easily identifiable and focused subject, and have a nice, pleasing balance to the composition.
Now, most digital cameras and smart phones have automatic settings that make the technical side of picture taking significantly easier for anyone to get good results with. Therefore, let your camera do the technical work for you and instead focus your attention on the subject and the composition of your shots. Think about how you intend to use the final image. Will it be as a slide background? A figure in a docket, perhaps? A navigational or a decorative element on your website.
Whatever you think the final image for the picture may be, always begin by first thinking about how the image needs to be oriented for the screen or page that you'll be using it on. To practice this, find a simple subject. I'm going to use this little wooden Moai. Take several pictures that may work for the type of learning asset that you're envisioning. Adjust the orientation of your camera for each shot. Take a picture in a portrait orientation and one in landscape.
Now look at the pictures. How are either of those pictures going to fit into your teaching and learning asset and support your story. Chances are, one of them will jump out as better for your particular use-case than the other but it still may be not quite right. Okay, let's take this a step further. Take some more pictures in the orientation that you think will work better for your learning asset but this time, move the subject around in the frame. Taking a picture with the subject in the center, one with the subject shifted to the left of the frame, one with the subject on the right.
Take pictures with the horizon near the top third, the middle, and the lower third. Finally, repeat the entire sequence, but this time, vary how close you are to the subject. Take a series where you're right up close to the subject, where the subject fills the frame, and a series where it fills only about a third of the frame, and finally, move a bit further back so the subject is much smaller in the frame. Okay, that's a lot of pictures, but with digital cameras, film is free.
The important thing here is for you to begin visualizing how you may want to use a particular image as a teaching and learning asset. Taking a few minutes to move the camera around and really start to look through that viewfinder with the mindset of a final teaching and learning asset is an invaluable skill. You now have a good collection of image composition references for a wide range of possible use-cases. We'll use these images and other similar, basic compositions throughout this course so you can see how to apply these concepts to your own materials.
Author
Released
4/11/2018- Mastering the Photoshop user interface
- Making selective adjustments
- Using actions for repetitive tasks
- Fixing common image problems
- Repairing an image with masks
- Preparing images for use on the web
- Creating 360 VR panoramas
- Making an animated GIF
Skill Level Intermediate
Duration
Views
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Introduction
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Welcome1m 21s
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Exercise files2m 10s
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What you need to know1m 13s
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1. Getting Started with Photoshop
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Making selections6m 56s
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Masking basics4m 59s
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Making selective adjustments3m 44s
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Scaling images4m 33s
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Quickly exporting images2m 7s
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Working with Bridge4m 20s
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2. Image Basics for Teaching and Learning
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Creating clean compositions2m 57s
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Using leading lines2m 28s
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Understanding image types5m 55s
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Raster vs. vector images2m 20s
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3. Fixing Common Image Problems
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Cropping images4m 20s
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Straightening images1m 39s
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Repairing an image basics4m 42s
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Making editable adjustments3m 14s
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Removing objects from images3m 51s
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4. Preparing Images for Presentations
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Modifying slide backgrounds3m 18s
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Using vector masks4m 24s
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5. Creating Web Graphics
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Using artboards4m 30s
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Using Smart Objects4m 16s
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Working with type4m 21s
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Using layer styles3m 34s
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Using type in Smart Objects5m 59s
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Generating web graphics3m 42s
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6. Videos, Animations, and 360 Media
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Making an animated GIF3m 24s
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Making a time-lapse video4m 43s
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Creating 360 VR panoramas6m 24s
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7. Exporting Images
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Exporting images for the web4m 23s
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Using the Image Processor4m 12s
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Conclusion
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Next steps1m 58s
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Video: Capturing good image compositions