Teaching a photography class to kids. Most important topics to cover?

I will be teaching a digital photography class to the homeschoolers at our church.

I am a novice. I am trying to figure out which aspects of digital photography would be best starting place.

It is a 2 hour class and they will need an assignment activity.

So in your opinion, what would be the best topics to cover?

Lighting, focus, camera anatomy, post processing, others??????

The best advice I got from my first instructor was this:

Get it right in the camera, as right as it can be. DO NOT rely on post production to fix what you've shot. The darkroom (now Photoshop) is the place for you to get the most out of what you have shot, to be creative with what you done in camera...

Composition/exposure are the most important things to get down first. "Understanding Exposure" is probably the best book to lay it out. Bryan Peterson says it again and again. Get it right in the camera. Spend 1/125th of a second getting it right in the camera instead of 5-15 minutes fixing it later.



My first assignment was "Human Interest". It's interesting to see what everyone thinks that means (this was 20 years ago, and I still remember some of the stuff my classmates came up with!)...

Probably best to split them up and have them practising taking portraits of each other or photographing objects, taking note of composition and exposure. I did 2 years of photography at college, and I have it as part of my university course for 3 years, and every first project is something fairly simple, like "Lines and Patterns" or "4 well-composed photographs".

If it's only one 2-hour session, I'd leave manual control for now, and concentrate on good composition.
If it's a recurring class, teach them about shutter speed, aperture/depth of field, and ISO. And have them practice these on an assignment.

Forget about exposure, composition etc... Teach them to be creative and to follow their own instincts. Have them break out of the mold. GIve them an assignment to go photography whatever they like, and then come back to class and share their experience. Don't get them hung up on too much technicalities as that is the best way to turn a kid off of photography.

Teach them the basics, composition and light.

Whats good about being creative if they don't know how photography works.

im taking a class at a homeschool co-op & i haven't learned anything.... well all it is is composition but serioulsy haven't learned anything bc nothing is taught, all we have to do is take pictures but I feel so uninspired I don't know what to take pics of? . I've learned more just by looking @ this forum & reading half of this kodak book on composition.. I wish someone would teach me. all my photos on my 10d come out blurry.. is it a bad lens? Tamron 28-75 (I think) I guess I dont know how to set it.. yikes!Oh well, I'll learn

i say teach them how a camera works, including how iso, av and shutter speeds are related. after that's covered, let them loose and see what styles they are comming back with. throw in comments about that style, and possible places to improve. don't forget to answer any questions they have. at least that is what i believe would have helped me the most if i had a photography teacher when i started...

and never, and i repeat, NEVER force them to shoot random assignments in areas where they feel less comfortable, but DO encourage them to expand their breadth in a low pressure way. everyone has something they will enjoy more than others, i've gone towards sports and photojournalism (bit of a whole lot more too), and other people that started around the same time i have are into just about everything from abstracts to studio portraits to landscapes

Wow so many varied answers. Ballarina, your experience is exactly what I want to avoid. I don't want the students walking away wondering what they learned.

You have all given me some things to think about. Thank you.

Firstly, what's the age group?

If they're pre-teenage, talk about being creative and the basic - basics such as Focus, composition, etc.

If they are older, then crack into shutter speeds, ISO, apature and how it affects the DOF.

http://www.photosecret​s.com/p03.html
http://www.kodak.com …317/10032&pq-locale=en_US

I'm getting ready to do a presentation for my yearbook staff, using Powerpoint, and found these sites helpful.

Is the class taking place every week, or is it a one-off thing?

What age groups? What are the students abilities? Do they all speak English? I used to teach in the former USSR.

No matter what age (after about 8YO) I would spend
- 15-20 minutes teaching camera operation and very basic composition (basically spend the time making sure everyone understands how to operate the camera they will be using,

- 15-20 explaining shutter, aperture, ISO versus exposure relationships (Don't expect them to retain all of this, the goal is for them to understand there is a relationship, not at this point how they are related.

- The final 20-30 minutes of the first hour with a quick assignment (such as
A. Bird's Eye, Worm's eye view (high shooting down, low shooting up)
B. Close, Closer, Closest (should be obvious - but if they have zoom have them shoot one set with the zoom and then one walking up to the subject)
C. Abstract (for older kids and adults)
(Pick one of the above for everyone - use a different one the next time you teach the class)

Then spend the next hour showing off every one's photos and as you go through them explain what was done right, what was done wrong and what could have been done better. Make sure to get through at least one of every kid's photos. This last is more important then the comments for a single 2-hour class.

Just my experience and opinion,

Yeah.. I wish I had a different teacher, oh well this is why I need to allocate time to teach myself. Just avoid saying "We're going to focus on composition for the whole semester" and not say anything about composition.

I think that composition is important, but if you want to teach that be sure you teach it so they understand. Bring in books, go to the library, show your own work.
Inspire them to want to take pictures.

*All of which hasn't been going on in my class*

Teach them what helped you.
But please, don't teach them nothing. It will leave them feeling frustrated and almost hating photography. I came to class wanting to learn and each week leave feeling I wasted an hour.

My teacher says composition is important-that's it, but the whole "unschool" approach in a classroom setting doesn't work. I want to learn settings, exposure, lighting, everything!! Well speaking of whcih I have to take 24 photos in 20 degree weather and I don't feel like there's much to take pictures of ... I'm so uninspired : (

Good luck with the class

The ages of the kids range from 6-16. I figured I pair up younger ones with older ones for the actual taking pictures. They all speak english.

Thank you Liza for those links. They helped a lot.