ART 39 – Page 1
Date Approved:
4/5/89
Scanned:
4.22.05
Date Inactivated:
9/28/07
College of the Redwoods
CREDIT COURSE OUTLINE
DEPARTMENT AND COURSE NUMBER: ART 39
DEGREE APPLICABLE
NON-DEGREE APPLICABLE
FORMER NUMBER (If previously offered)
COURSE TITLE
Commerical Photography
LECTURE HOURS: 1.5
LAB HOURS: 4.5
PREREQUISITE: ART-35 and/or ART-36
UNITS: 3.0
Eligibility for: Engl 150
Math 105
Request for Exception Attached
CO-REQUISITE: NONE
GRADING STANDARD:
Letter Grade Only
TRANSFERABILITY:
CSUS
UC
Articulation with UC requested
Repeatable
yes
CR/NC Only
NONE
no
Grade/CR/NC Option
Maximum Class Size 20
Max No. Units 6.0
Max No. Enrollments 2
CATALOG DESCRIPTION:
Introduction to applications of photography in the contemporary market place. Instruction will include
technical, aesthetic, basic management and fundamental legal aspects of a wide range of commercial
photography and photo related careers. Emphasis will be placed on providing information on a wide
range of careers including how and where to get formal training and education, and first hand visits to the
work places of various career photographers.
NOTE: Course repeatable to a maximum of 6.0 units
COURSE OUTCOMES/OBJECTIVES: List the primary instructional objectives of the class. Formulate
some of them in terms of specific measurable student accomplishments, e.g., specific knowledge and/or
skills to be attained as a result of completing this course. For degree-applicable courses, include
objectives in the area of “critical thinking.” Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be
able to:
1. Be aware of the range of career options in photography.
2. Understand and use techniques specific to professional portrait, fashion, product, advertising, stock,
architectural, and industrial photography.
3. Understand how and where to go to get specialized and/or intensive advanced career training in
commercial photography.
4. Understand a range of basic management principles in commercial photography.
5. Understand how and where to get academic and professional career training in the business, legal,
and managerial skills necessary to succeed in commercial photography.
6. Show a portfolio of photographs that will visually illustrate a basic understanding of, and competence
in, the technical, compositional, visual, and aesthetic aspects of the fields of commercial photography.
ART 39 – Page 2
Date Approved:
4/5/89
Scanned:
4.22.05
Date Inactivated:
9/28/07
COURSE OUTLINE:
% of Classroom Hours Spent on Each Topic
Course introduction, assignment summary, portfolio, critiques, grading material
A survey of the fields of commercial photography
Guest lectures by photographers working in specific fields of commercial photography
Oral reports relating the methods and work of specific commercial photographer
to the kind of commercial work the student is most interested in pursuing
Critiques - Share and analyze specific assignments by each student for technical
quality, composition, content, and idea
Final portfolio analysis
Homework assignment review
Lecture presentations and technical demonstrations
The Commercial Studio (lighting, set design, equipment, portraiture,
still life, product photography, fashion, interiors, industry)
Field Work (equipment and travel planning)
Applications (illustration, advertising and documentation)
Business Records (legal documents, contracts, copyright, model
releases and record keeping systems)
Methods of presentation of commercial work - to clients, for job review, for
client approval, slides, prints, portfolio, resume
Homework, worksheets, quizzes and exams - in class review of material/each
Presentation of class assignments and homework assignments
Career options in commercial photography including where to go for intense specialized
training
Business, management and legal aspects of the fields of commercial photography
including where to go to get more training in these specialized areas
The Commercial Darkroom
Design, equipment and set up
Special practices and material for commercial use
5%
5%
5%
5%
20%
5%
5%
15%
5%
5%
5%
7.5%
7.5%
5%
APPROPRIATE TEXTS AND MATERIALS: (Indicate textbooks that may be required or recommended,
including alternate texts that may be used.)
Text (s)
Title: The Business of Photography
Required
Edition:______
Alternate
Author: R. Cavallo and S. Kahan
Recommended
Publisher: Crown Publishers, Inc.
Date Published: 1981
(Additional required, alternate, or recommended texts should be listed on a separate sheet and attached.)
For degree applicable courses the adopted texts have been certified to be college-level:
Yes. Basis for determination:
is used by two or more four-year colleges or universities (certified by the Division Chair or
Branch Coordinator, or Center Dean)
OR
has been certified by the LAC as being of college level using the Coleman and Dale—Chall
Readability Index Scale.
No. Request for Exception Attached
ART 39 – Page 3
Date Approved:
4/5/89
Scanned:
4.22.05
Date Inactivated:
9/28/07
If no text or a below college level text is used in a degree applicable course must have a minimum of one
response in category 1, 2, or 3. If category 1 is not checked, the department must explain why substantial
writing assignments are an inappropriate basis for at least part of the grade.
1. Substantial writing assignments, including:
essay exam(s)
term or other paper(s)
written homework
reading report(s)
laboratory report(s)
other (specify) _____
If the course is degree applicable, substantial writing assignments in this course are inappropriate
because:
The course is primarily computational in nature.
The course primarily involves skill demonstrations or problem solving.
Other rationale (explain) __________________________________________
2. Computational or Non-computational problem-solving demonstrations, including:
exam(s)
quizzes
homework problems
laboratory report(s)
field work
other (specify)_technical and
career oriented photo assignments
3. Skill demonstrations, including:
class performance(s)
field work
performance exam(s)
other (specify)_completion of visual and technical assignments and portfolio for class critiques
4. Objective examinations, including:
multiple choice
completion
true/false
other (specify)
matching items
5. Other (specify) _attendance, individual effort, and participation in class discussions and critiques
NOTE: A course grade may not be based solely on attendance.
REQUIRED READING, WRITING, AND OTHER OUTSIDE OF CLASS ASSIGNMENTS:
Over an 18-week presentation of the course, 3 hours per week are required for each unit of credit. ALL
Degree Applicable Credit classes must treat subject matter with a scope and intensity which require the
student to study outside of class. Two hours of independent work done out of class are required for each
hour of lecture. Lab and activity classes must also require some outside of class work. Outside of the
regular class time the students in this class will be doing the following:
Study
Answer questions
Skill practice
Required reading
Problem solving
Written work (essays/compositions/report/analysis/research)
Journal (reaction and evaluation of class, done on a continuing basis throughout the
semester)
Observation of or participation in an activity related to course content (e.g., play, museum,
concert, debate, meeting, etc.)
Field trips
Other (specify) ____________________________
ART 39 – Page 4
Date Approved:
4/5/89
Scanned:
4.22.05
Date Inactivated:
9/28/07
COLLEGE LEVEL CRITICAL THINKING TASKS/ASSIGNMENTS:
Degree applicable courses must include critical thinking tasks/assignments. This section need not be
completed for non-degree applicable courses. Describe how the course requires students to
independently analyze, synthesize, explain, assess, anticipate and/or define problems, formulate and
assess solutions, apply principles to new situations, etc.
1. Textbook Worksheet Assignments - Require students to understand, define, and refine the basic
technical, visual, and aesthetic concepts that are used in commercial photography, and to relate and
incorporate these concepts into their photographic assignments and portfolios.
2. Oral Reports - Requires the student to read, analyze and synthesize a body of material about a specific
group of photographs and be able to understand, compare and contrast the work of this photographer
with the student’s own work. It encourages the development of individual visual ideas and aesthetics
based on analysis and comparison of visual imagery.
3. Critiques - Provide a major opportunity for students to review (both visually and verbally) an immense
amount of photographic imagery and photographic ideas.
Encourage and require individual analysis of the technical and visual elements of commercial
photographs
Teach and require the use of the process of “creative criticism” which includes:
Defining technical, visual, and aesthetic “problems” and offering solutions to such “problems”
Encourages and requires the development of individual analytical skills in solving assigned problems
and their verbalization of the “problem-solution” system
Present a wide variety of ideas, problems, and possible solutions that might not appear in the work of
one individual student’s work
4. Photographic Assignments -Serves as a way for students to incorporate lecture and textbook
assignment material into the solution of a series of technical, visual, aesthetic problems in the field.
Encourages each student while solving assigned technical, visual or aesthetic problems.
5. Final Portfolio - Encourages each student to define and develop individual visual ideas and to learn to
maintain a universally high degree of technical, visual, and aesthetic quality throughout a body of work.
Requires the students to think in terms beyond the single visual image to the concept of a “body of
work” (portfolio) and how best to put single images together to communicate coherent visual ideas.
6. Lectures and Class Assignments - Requires that each student demonstrate understanding of specific
technical, visual, and managerial problems and graphically illustrates the thought process, scope of
understanding, and solution(s) to problems in the photographs presented for each class assignment
and in the required verbal explanation of how and why specific technical and visual ideas were used to
complete each assignment.
ART 39 – Page 5
Date Approved:
4/5/89
Scanned:
4.22.05
Date Inactivated:
9/28/07
REQUEST FOR EXCEPTION
The Curriculum Committee is authorized to determine the appropriateness of entrance skills and
requisites for any given course; to determine whether or not language and/or computational skills at the
associate degree level are essential to success in a given course; to determine what is “college level” in
learning skills, vocabulary, and in the ability to think critically and apply concepts; and to determine on a
case-by-case basis when any departure from the attached guidelines may be justified.
To request an exception, provide the following information:
Art 39
Department and Course No.
Commercial Photography
Course Title
NATURE OF THE EXCEPTION REQUESTED AND RATIONALE:
REPEATABILITY
Repeatability justified, since course content differs each time it is offered and skills or proficiencies are
enhanced by supervised repetition and practice within class periods.
ADDITIONAL REQUIRED TEXT:
Selling Your Photography
The Complete Marketing, Business and Legal Guide
Arie Kopelman and Tad Crawford (Authors)
St. Martins Press (Publishers)