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Unit Synopsis
This unit explores the theory and practice of contemporary photography, examining its role in news, art and visual culture. Through a combination of historical context and modern perspectives, you will gain insight into the evolving language of photography and its impact on society. This unit also covers key practical skills such as composition, lighting and colour management. As part of the assessment, you will be required to produce a photographic portfolio. To complete this unit, you must have access to either a mirrorless digital camera, a digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) camera, or a high-end camera phone, as well as image-editing software capable of processing digital photographs.
Details
| Level | Undergraduate |
|---|---|
| Unit Level | 1 |
| Credit Points | 6 |
| Student Contribution Band | SCA Band 2 |
| Fraction of Full-Time Student Load | 0.125 |
| Pre-requisites or Co-requisites |
Prerequisite: Nil Anti-requisite: Students who have completed DGTL12005 Contemporary Photomedia may not enrol in this unit. Important note: Students enrolled in a subsequent unit who failed their pre-requisite unit, should drop the subsequent unit before the census date or within 10 working days of Fail grade notification. Students who do not drop the unit in this timeframe cannot later drop the unit without academic and financial liability. See details in the Assessment Policy and Procedure (Higher Education Coursework). |
| Class Timetable | View Unit Timetable |
| Residential School | No Residential School |
Unit Availabilities from Term 1 - 2026
Attendance Requirements
All on-campus students are expected to attend scheduled classes - in some units, these classes are identified as a mandatory (pass/fail) component and attendance is compulsory. International students, on a student visa, must maintain a full time study load and meet both attendance and academic progress requirements in each study period (satisfactory attendance for International students is defined as maintaining at least an 80% attendance record).
Recommended Student Time Commitment
Each 6-credit Undergraduate unit at CQUniversity requires an overall time commitment of an average of 12.5 hours of study per week, making a total of 150 hours for the unit.
Assessment Tasks
| Assessment Task | Weighting |
|---|---|
| 1. Reflective Practice Assignment | 40% |
| 2. Portfolio | 60% |
This is a graded unit: your overall grade will be calculated from the marks or grades for each assessment task, based on the relative weightings shown in the table above. You must obtain an overall mark for the unit of at least 50%, or an overall grade of ‘pass’ in order to pass the unit. If any ‘pass/fail’ tasks are shown in the table above they must also be completed successfully (‘pass’ grade). You must also meet any minimum mark requirements specified for a particular assessment task, as detailed in the ‘assessment task’ section (note that in some instances, the minimum mark for a task may be greater than 50%).
Past Exams
All University policies are available on the Policy web site, however you may wish to directly view the following policies below.
This list is not an exhaustive list of all University policies. The full list of policies are available on the Policy web site.
Feedback, Recommendations and Responses
Every unit is reviewed for enhancement each year. At the most recent review, the following staff and student feedback items were identified and recommendations were made.
On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
- Operate a digital camera and image-processing software
- Identify the characteristics of a photographic image that suit different purposes and contexts
- Produce digital images suitable for a range of specified media purposes and contexts
- Compile a high quality portfolio of digital images in a particular genre
- Assess the strengths and limitations of Generative AI in photography and create effective image prompts.
| Assessment Tasks | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Reflective Practice Assignment | • | • | • | ||
| 2 - Portfolio | • | • | • | • | • |
| Graduate Attributes | Learning Outcomes | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
| 1 - Communication | • | • | • | ||
| 2 - Problem Solving | • | • | |||
| 3 - Critical Thinking | • | • | • | ||
| 4 - Information Literacy | • | • | • | ||
| 5 - Team Work | • | ||||
| 6 - Information Technology Competence | • | • | • | ||
| 7 - Cross Cultural Competence | • | ||||
| 8 - Ethical practice | • | • | |||
| 9 - Social Innovation | • | ||||
| Assessment Tasks | Graduate Attributes | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 10 | |