help

[ceno2000]

hello there
i got offered a chance to teach a darkroom leisure learning class a local college.... i need ideas for assignments or tips on teaching

 

[karissa]

One of the assignments when I took the class was designed around understanding the use of test strips. The assignment was to find a page out of a magazine that when you held it up to the light both sides of the page made a photograph together. Then we took that page and made a print by placing it on top of the photo paper.

 

[ksmattfish]

Typical assignments that I ran into in school, and assign when I'm teaching at the local arts center are:

demonstrate short DOF: wide aperture
demonstrate long DOF: narrow aperture
freeze action: fast shutter speed
blur motion or panning: slow shutter speed
self portrait
environmental portrait: should give us more info about the subject
3 times of day: the exact same photo taken at 3 different times of the day
3 kinds of lighting: the exact same photo taken with 3 diff kinds of lighting
3 focal lengths: the same (as close as possible) photo shot with 3 diff focal lengths
bad photo: intentionally take the worst pic you can
documentary: 3 or more photos on a single subject
bracket: the same photo shot at 2 stops under, normal, and 2 stops over

It's important to get the students to think about the assignment. Obvious subjects are boring. They should be encouraged to not only accomplish the point of the assignment, but also incorporate what they are learning about composition and some creativity. There is little point in freezing a speeding car, it just makes it look like a parked car.

 

[ceno2000]

thanks for the suggestions