Tips on teaching a youngster (11) how to use a dslr

Tomorrow there is this kid (11) coming over with her first dslr (old 450 with kit lens), intended on learning how to 'make good pictures' from me. Has anybody some cool experience how to do this successfully? My current plan is to put the thing in green box mode and to get familiar with the camera. If this works then I might add depth of field. That should be good enough for an afternoon? What do you think?

Shoot RAW.
Take the focus beep off

In simplest form photography is about
1. Choosing what to shoot and when
2. Deciding how much light is let in to the camera
and
3. Focusing to desired subject.

I would primarily make her concentrate on item 1 and 3, so Auto mode (or P) is wise for beginners, and simple explanation of how to focus is needed. Better not to kill the enthusiasm with too many technical details. Item 1 above is the main thing. Timing the shot is everything (unless you do still life).

Above three points are pretty easy after a while, main things to battle are in my opinion are:

- framing/composing the image.To not rely on cropping later, perspective is part of composing.
- deciding what area in image quality to sacrifice when optimal situation is not possible.
- choosing a lens before the moment of shooting.
- handling people, find subjects, access locations, finding the right moment, seeing the good light and shadow.
- affording all the gear.

Are you getting paid for this endeavor?

My boys enjoyed getting out and walking around with my old 450D and kit lens hiking and around downtown, the zoo, whatever. If they found something they liked, and that I thought could be photographic, We would stop and take pics of it from different angles and focal lengths. We used green box but they are 10 now and moving to P mode. I'd probably go with P mode for nothing else than being able to control when the flash pops up and demonstrate underexposure.

Despite common thinking, kids today are pretty smart compared to us old dudes.

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #18794514
Are you getting paid for this endeavor?

My boys enjoyed getting out and walking around with my old 450D and kit lens hiking and around downtown, the zoo, whatever. If they found something they liked, and that I thought could be photographic, We would stop and take pics of it from different angles and focal lengths. We used green box but they are 10 now and moving to P mode. I'd probably go with P mode for nothing else than being able to control when the flash pops up and demonstrate underexposure.

Despite common thinking, kids today are pretty smart compared to us old dudes.

Without a doubt!!! Incredible what their young minds can comprehend...when they want to. If it interests them they can do most anything so the idea is to build and encourage that interest.

I applaud drmaxx for these efforts and wish him the best success. But, I don't have much to offer in the way of advice. I would at least briefly mention the exposure triangle...maybe not a lot of technical detail, but something for her to think about...you might be surprised what she will research on her own!!!

I do have a ulterior motive for subscribing to the thread...my granddaughter is 12 and a brain, and I've been pondering putting a camera in her hands. Maybe a point-n-shoot to begin with, see how she does with it in regards to use and care, then move her to my 550D and 17-55 f/2.8.

What does she like to shoot what hobbies does she have, my daughter was 16 when she started and now she studied photography for a living.
I never pushed her but showed her the way what is possible with a dslr. Nowadays it must be an extension of their social life and therefore they are using there
smartphones. A dslr can put more creativity into their pictures so they can seperate them from others.
First off i would start with the aperture and depth of field to let her see how to seperate the subject from the background. It will give a instant reaction , and like
a magician they want to see more tricks and get involved.

Left Handed Brisket wrote in post #18794514
Are you getting paid for this endeavor?

No. Just doing a favour.

If she plays video games, prepare to have your mind blown. She’ll catch on very quickly.

When I let my son (age 12) use my first DSLR (350D), I put it in shutter priority mode and set ISO to 400. Within a few days, he had figured out most of the controls, was adjusting shutter speed, focus points, etc. Aside from pointers on how to keep the camera more steady, he didn’t need much more from me.

drmaxx wrote in post #18794570
No. Just doing a favour.

That should make it much easier.

Just get out and wander around. That's how I learned, and I kinda assume most people learn. We use to wander around down by the river, under a huge train trestle and abandoned docks. Not that I'd recommend that for you two, lol, but for a few high school kids with tri-x and a dark room, it was awesome.

To explain exposure I like to use the analogy of filling a bucket of water. A full bucket is the right exposure. Shutter speed is how fast the water is running, aperture is the size of the hose, and iso is the size of the bucket. Changing one affects all the others.

Avoid technique. Make it quite simple and somehow magic !

Go shooting in M mode and spot-metering with a grey card, at full aperture for a while, and at f8 for a while.
Once exposure is set easily (and quite naturally) this way with minimal explanations, she just has to focus and frame at whatever she wants to put in the box.
She can capture with absolute success both contrasted scenes with dark cast shadows, scenes with soft light in open shade, scenes backlit,...on the same day.
She can capture scenes with white tones only, scenes with dark tones only : doing so, she will realize it's the same amount of light needed for correct exposure of low-key and hight-key as well.
She can try paning photos on cars, motorcycles or cycles passing on the nearby roads : doing so, she will discover all elements in background need not to be clear and recognizable nor identifiable.
Alternate period with vertical framing, period with horizontal framing, and period with bias framing : it will be up to her to sort out afterwards what she likes most.

My two cents,

Thanks - I'll go for the simple and 'just do it' approach and answer any questions. I'll report back how it went.

This kind of neutral 18% grey chart is a pretty nice educational tool , good to teach with :

Went really well. Ignored almost all theory. Green box mode (with some P to have control over the pop up flash). I explained some things while we were taking pictures and when there was a problem. She learned what the red squares are in the view finder and how to know what is in focus before she presses the shutter; how to minimize camera shake (keep the camera quite while you press the shutter); how to deal with back light; and to include some foreground in landscape photography. Not too bad for an afternoon.

Auto mode is awful on Canon from this time. But P works fine.

Looks like she's off to a good start!