UNS – Bringing up on ‘Coping with The New Normal’ as their topic, the Vocational School (SV) of Universitas Sebelas Maret (UNS) Surakarta held another Vocational Coaching Corner. This event was held on Friday (5/6/2020) through a Zoom meeting with more than 200 active participants from various regions. Two speakers were presenting on this 4th series of Coaching Corner, they are Ovide Decroly Wisnu Ardhi, M. Eng., a lecturer from the Diploma in Informatics Engineering Study Program and Jauhari, M.Sn., a lecturer from the Diploma in Visual Communication Design Study Program.
In this series, Ovide presented material on Opportunities and Challenges in Online Lectures as Transformation Media in ‘Merdeka Belajar (Freedom in Study)’ program, which differs from Jauhari who presented material on Virtual Photoshoot Application to Improve Product Selling Through Online System. The COVID-19 pandemic has led every activity transformed into online activity, including teaching and learning. At the end of 2019, the Minister of Education has started to launch ‘Merdeka Belajar’ program from university students. Certainly, the pandemic poses its own challenges for the implementation of the program through online lectures.
Ovide explains that there are 8 activities for the ‘Kampus Merdeka’ program namely, internship, village project, in school teaching, student exchange, research, entrepreneurship, independent project, and humanity project.
“The internship activity can be done in various institutions or companies; the planned internship can last for several semesters. This, then, will be supported by entrepreneurship activity in the form of entrepreneurship development by students that proved through an entrepreneurship proposal. Further, students can enroll for a class or semester in another, either abroad or national university, in which their score/credit can be converted,” Ovide revealed.
Currently, all teaching and learning activity is conducted through the online system until the schools and universities are reopened. This provides an opportunity to improve the existing technology by considering several aspects such as the perception of usability, perception of ease of use, attitude toward application, behavior to use, system application, user experience, and financing/funding.
Besides the education sector, the economic sector also affected since the pandemic hit Indonesia. An effort that can be taken to fulfill people’s daily needs is by utilizing the online transaction. In order to attract customers, entrepreneurs have to maximize the visual of the product offered. Photography session usually involves many people, especially product photo, model, event, and many others.
Jauhari mentions that one thing that can be done by photographers in facing the new normal is to hold a virtual photoshoot.
“Virtual photoshoot is a technique that relies on internet technology through social media such as Facetime, Zoom, Google Duo, Whatsapp, Skype, and many others. Thus, the object of a photo was taken from the picture shown on a computer screen or other electronic devices. The equipment needed for this is not as much as the normal photoshoot,” Jauhari explains.
During a virtual photoshoot, the photographer does not face the object directly, thus, it is difficult to get the ‘feel’ in order to produce photos with high artistic and aesthetic value. Other than that, internet network signal and photography gear compatibility become another issue for those who wish to do a virtual photoshoot. Jauhari also added that this type of photoshoot will not replace the direct photoshoot, but also become an alternative during the pandemic.
“The step taken for a virtual photoshoot is not significantly different from a direct photoshoot. We need to find a spot with excellent lighting, if it is conducted indoor, then natural lighting should be used such as from the door or window. The product should be photographed using a camera, while editing can take place afterward to improve the picture quality,” he concluded. Humas UNS/Bayu
