Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Photo One - Basic Image

photo by Christine A.

Photo By Aubrey L.



Photo By Jordan B.





Photo By Jordan B

Trying to decide what to teach the first few weeks of Digital Photography has always been hard. Kids want to jump right in and take pictures. I have read several blogs and lesson plans but none really fit us. We only work in Photoshop CS 2 and we really need the basic beginning. The first thing I have to do is make sure that students understand that a camera is a camera and a phone is not a camera. Then we read the camera manual. Yes, I make them read it. Heck most adults don't know all the things their cameras can do. We talk about the idea, that although it's fun to hold the camera out and take pictures, that isn't something we turn in for a grade and if you are in the photo that means you are not taking it so don't turn that in either (no I don't encourage the timer right now)


So our first project is simply about basic photography rules. We talk about Rule of Thirds, diagonal and curved lines, simplified background, etc. Photoshop basics are focused on such as cropping, cloning, using curves, and working in color. Most years the projects are pretty average. They learn the skills but don't care about taking their image much farther. This year, I am quite proud of how excited many of them are in taking a little extra time in their imagery.





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