By LAURA BROOKHART / Community Columnist

Down the art hallway at HHS hangs a black curtained doorway leading to a room filled with computers set to employee Photoshop Elements.

The windows have been recently covered over, as well, and the students of Ms. Ana-Sky Johnson are well underway to turning their classroom into a darkroom facility that will be useful as they further delve into photographic techniques once aligned with shooting film.

“Above all,” Ms. Johnson says, “I want them to learn what constitutes a good photo, so we are also studying the history of photography.”

The diversity of the projects displayed certainly elicited a wow reaction from me, as someone who first took up photography in the 1960s.

A striking portrait of inventor Nikola Tesla composed of dots was created digitally by “overlaying a black and white photo with a second layer then using the eyedropper tool to sample the actual values or colors,” Ms. Johnson explained.

“The students then used a small brush and created a dot over the area selected which is a perfect color match. The dots are on a separate layer independent of the portrait. When it is all done, a black background is added.”

Students also recently completed a project that combined photography and secret messages. Each student hand-lettered on a piece of cardboard a “secret,” then worked in small groups or pairs to photograph an image of the other student holding their secret.

Several held them in front of their faces, some behind their back so that the final capture speaks to just what is the secret on multiple levels.

Still another assignment was to capture a landscape panorama from as many as 50-70 different angles, print each individual angle as a 4-by-6-inch photo and reassemble and glue all into a large collage that simultaneously presents multiple views.

This technique introduced students to the work of David Hockney, an influential British artist.

In the upcoming student show to be held at the University of Montevallo beginning March 4, the following students will have photography work displayed: 10^th grade –Sydney Warren, Noah Yawn and Drew Crenshaw; 11^th grade – Angel Sarris, Ashlynn Mays, Drake Bessant andNick Williamson;12^th grade – Alex Vavra, Toni Massey,Avery Mann, Grace Romero,Taylor Goodwin and Elizabeth Alderete.