Teaching kids photography

Soldato
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Anyone done it? Anything that worked / didn't work?

I think the best article I have seen is http://www.diyphotography.net/teach-kids-photography/ - think I agree with most of that (apart from the 'start with film' bit.. Sure fire way to bore a kid to death given the instant age they live in). The basic gist is start in auto, get them to think about composition and experiment/set challenges, then move onto some things like depth of field, motion etc later.
 
Yeah, use digital so they get instant feedback to learn on the spot (and save a load of money. Film is great, and one of the teaching exercises I tell people is to put a quid in a jar every time you take a photo for 1 a month period (or on a photography intensive day trip). Force you to think much longer about composition, exposure, setting, framing, orientations, positions, lenses, time of day, lighting, subject quality. At the end f the teaching you can do something special with the money- put it towards a new lens or holiday, present to the wife, donate to charity, rainy day fund etc.

However, one of the best things about digital is the instant feedback for learning, and the free experimentation.


Otherwise I agree. Put it in fully automatic mode (or f/8) and concentrate on composition, subject, framing, holding the camera level, taking care of the gear.
 
What age of kids are we talking about?

I teach photography up to GCSE level, we start in Year 9 (13/14) with composition, and move them to manual controls as fast as possible.
Younger than that, auto mode and composition for sure.
 
Younger than that, more 8 year old sort of age. I've just noticed the 1100D that I've bought her has a mode where it teaches you about the effects of shutter speed and aperture without using scary words, that looks nice to move into once she's up to that level.
 
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