Advertising Photography

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Advertising photography


In this lesson, students conduct background research about a given company. They then create a new print advertisement and present their campaign to representatives of the actual company.

 

Grade level:
9th–11th

Subjects:
Photography, Art, Advertising

Skills addressed:
Layout/design, photography, advertising

Materials:
  • Computer
  • Scanner or digital camera

Time commitment:
12 class periods

Products used:
  • Adobe® Photoshop® Elements 4.0
 

Objectives

  • The students will brainstorm and problem-solve a given challenge.
  • The students will create a shot list, and execute it in a timely manner.
  • The students will design and lay out a print ad using Adobe Photoshop.

Introduction/background

Advertising Project
By Pat La Morte

The purpose of advertising is to catch people’s attention, create the desire to have a product, and motivate people to buy that product.

  • The advertising photographer’s job is to illustrate, explain, excite, and help create the desire for a product.

It’s a team thing!

Your talents must match with the rest of the team.

  • The art director. He or she works on copy, overall layout, output, and typography.
  • Advertising agency. This firm secures the client, and invests time and money to hash out goals, ideas, and the theme. People at the firm hold copy meetings, media conferences, idea discussions ... which all lead to the accepted layout and idea, given to the photographer.
  • Art directors make rough visuals or layouts. They get their creative cues from the copy department, account executive, and the advertising client.
  • The cues include the ad slogan, ad headline, and overall feeling or look of the ad.

Ethics

The photographer must:

  • Respect the confidential information with regards to the assignment.
  • Not sell the idea to any other business for as long as the ad runs.

Instructions

Day 1 — Introduction
Introduce the project, give examples, pick groups, pass out folders, and explain research.

Class work: Students are to get in their groups and begin to research their company, finding the mission of the company and its past campaigns.

Day 2 — Brainstorming begins
Students are to complete research and begin brainstorming ideas for their campaigns.

Class work: Students should come up with at least four ideas for the campaign, and describe the logic behind it. Then the students should rank the ideas and present them for approval.

Day 3 — Start layout and design
Class work: The students should take the top idea and map it out on a studio design sheet.

Day 4 — Continue in layout and design
Class work: Finish up layouts for the ideas.

Days 5–9 — Shoot images.
Class work: The students will shoot the necessary images needed to complete the campaign. The students will print out contact sheets to be edited to determine the final images.

Days 10 and 11 — Work on post-production
Class work: The students will lay out the ad campaign using Adobe Photoshop.

Day 12 — Presentation
Class work: Students will present their campaigns to the company and should dress appropriately.

 

Discussion questions

Does your image satisfy the given task?

Did you follow your shot list?

NOTE: Do a verbal critique after each presentation. This helps all the students see how the others think and process a task.

Evaluation

  • Objectives (20 points) — Does the photograph meet the goals and objectives of the project?
  • Creativity (30 points) — Was a lot of thought and effort put into the project?
  • Class work: Time management (50 points) — How well did the students work on completing the task on a daily basis?