Class survey for Digital Photography DeCal

General Rating

On a scale from 1-10, how would you rate the class overall?
1 (terrible) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (great)

Given the 13 week timeframe, how would you rate the comprehensiveness of the material (did the class cover all you wanted to know about digital photography)?
1 (didn't cover a lot of stuff) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (covered almost everything)

How would you rate the competence of the course facilitator? :)
1 (incompetent buffoon) 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 (omnipotent genius)

Class format

Did you feel the quizzes were...
Too hard Yes No
Too long Yes No
Confusingly worded Yes No

Do you think it would have been more effective to give take-home quizzes, and just review the answers in class?
Yes No

One of the ideas for next semester is to hold a sort of "office hours"/photo talk session during the hour before class, where people could just come in and talk about photos/get to know each other better. If this was held, would you have attended, and do you have any ideas for this or other sorts of activities outside of lecture/photo review?

What do you feel is the ideal size for the class (this semester's class had 30 students)

One of the problem areas this semester has been photo review - they were somewhat long and repetitive. Do you have any suggestions for how the photo review portion of the class might be improved? Some ideas being considered are:

• having the class meet twice a week, once for the lecture portion and once for photo review
• have smaller classes so photos can be talked about more in-depth
• make a student lead photo review each week
• find other experienced photographers to lead photo review, for a change of pace and new perspectives each week
• assign students to do online critiques of other students' photos before the week's class

Curriculum

Did the online assignment write-ups explain the assignment sufficiently, or should more time have been spent in class going over the asignment?
Online assignments were fine We should have spent more time talking about the assignment in class

Of lessons you remember, which were particularly interesting/useful/practical? (if any)
Basics of Image Sensors (Week 1)
Blur/Camera Shake (Week 2)
High ISO and Noise (Week 3)
Creative usage of blur (Week 5)
Flash photography (Week 6)
Focal lengths and Perspective (Week 7)
Depth of Field (Week 8)
Lens characteristics, software correction (Week 11)
Dynamic Range (Week 12)
Restoring Dynamic Range (Week 13)
White Balance (Week 14)

Which lessons did you feel were *NOT* very interesting, useful, or relevant to the course? (if any)
Basics of Image Sensors (Week 1)
Blur/Camera Shake (Week 2)
High ISO and Noise (Week 3)
Creative usage of blur (Week 5)
Flash photography (Week 6)
Focal lengths and Perspective (Week 7)
Depth of Field (Week 8)
Lens characteristics, software correction (Week 11)
Dynamic Range (Week 12)
Restoring Dynamic Range (Week 13)
White Balance (Week 14)

Which lessons did you find particularly hard to understand? (if any)
Basics of Image Sensors (Week 1)
Blur/Camera Shake (Week 2)
High ISO and Noise (Week 3)
Creative usage of blur (Week 5)
Flash photography (Week 6)
Focal lengths and Perspective (Week 7)
Depth of Field (Week 8)
Lens characteristics, software correction (Week 11)
Dynamic Range (Week 12)
Restoring Dynamic Range (Week 13)
White Balance (Week 14)

If you have any comments/suggestions on any particular lesson, write them below. In particular, comments about difficulty, presentation style, and activity/demonstration suggestions would be appreciated.

Basics of Image Sensors (Week 1) - how the image sensor worked, basics of exposure

Blur/Camera Shake (Week 2) - Analysis of blur, and techniques to avoid camera shake

High ISO and Noise (Week 3) - Using faster shutter speeds to avoid blur, sources of noise, how to handle noise at high ISO

Creative usage of blur (Week 5) - Creative ways to use blur

Flash photography (Week 6) - Lighting techniques, flash techniques, wireless flash setups

Focal lengths and Perspective (Week 7) - interplay of angle of view and subject distance to define framing and perspective

Depth of Field (Week 8) - Factors, how to use effectively

Lens characteristics, software correction (Week 11) - "Quality" properties of lenses, and software to improve image quality

Dynamic Range (Week 12) - definition, and DR limitations of cameras

Restoring Dynamic Range (Week 13) - software techniques to restore shadow and highlight detail

White Balance (Week 14) - how cameras derive color, white balancing methods before and after shooting

Would you have liked the class more if there was less of an emphasis on the technical elements of photography, and more on the artistic/aesthetic elements?
Yes, more emphasis on non-technical elements
No, it was just fine
No, it should be made even more technical!

Were there any missing topics in particular that you wished the class covered, or covered more in-depth?

Any extra comments?

Thanks for taking the survey. If you're interested and will be around next semester, I'm very much looking for people to help co-facilitate the class (which could be doing anything from giving lectures/presentations to simply leading photo review). If you're interested, please send me an email at nathanyan@berkeley.edu