teaching a photography class

tron

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so i figured in an attempt to negate being such a crappy person, id teach a photography class to a bunch of students through a program that runs classes on saturdays.

so i got two classes to teach. each has kids ranging from 5th grade to adults. i have to teach 4 classes (each saturday in november)

so far i have taught them about f/stops, shutter speeds, iso, whitebalance, and a little about framing pictures. in addition i told them that each week they can take a couple of pictures and i will print and mount the pictures so we can have comment and critique sessions each saturday.

now the problem is im running out of things to teach. i mean photography is sort of a do it and go type thing. what else could i teach them without getting too technical? i know each saturday the comment/critique session will take about 30 min. the classes are an hour and a half each.

and its cool cause at the end im planning on having a show where the kids can display their pictures and the other kids from the other classes being run (leathercraft, baking, knitting, that sort of thing) can walk around and see the pictures we took.

anyways any help on what else to teach would be appreciated.
 
The rule of thirds, ummm.....

Basic portraiture, basic on camera lighting, DOF...

OOH, OOH, teach 'em how to focus manually, correctly, that will always come in handy when AF goes retarded.
 
Really depends what the class is interested in and the direction that they want to head. Sounds like the dumb ol' basics have been covered. How about them getting inspired? View the work of the Masters. View their work and discuss it. Keep in mind that photography is about feeling and emotion. The technical stuff is just a means to the end.

Love & Bass
 
yeah good point craig. i told them that i had to go through the boring **** first before i got to the good stuff :) maybe your right, maybe i should bring in some pictures and talk about them.

most of the people have point and shoots or prosumer cameras. i told them that although they cant adjust shutter speeds and f/stops (on the p&s ones) its still good to know in case they get interested in photography.

i do want to take the class in more of an artistic direction, i mean id love to get into the math behind it but i dont think that would go over too well with the class haha.

thanks for the quick replies and suggestions guys, i wrote them down :)
 
The different types of photography? Photojournalism vs. portraiture etc. Maybe how to connect with your subject? History of photography (it really is quite fascinating)? Different lighting techniques
 
Get technical, it's photography after all.
 
Composition, panning, rule of two thirds, when to use it and when to break the rule. Photography safety ie: when is it ok to take pix, when its not, what you shouldnt do to get a good pic etc
 
... PP'ing is an integral part of digital photography, you can introduce them to photoshop and 'basic processing'... Levels, Curves, Saturation, WB...
Basic intro to colour spaces... workflow from image capture to print...
Talk about RAW and how Raw-converters allow the photographer to control camera settings after the image is taken...
HTH
Jedo
 
+1 for photoshopping!
use something like elements or paintshop pro - cheap enough for most to afford if they wish and not as complex as something like GIMP will be to newer users.
And definatly cover the printing aspect (so often neglected) and also how to submit to an online or shop printing service (incase they want to get better prints than their cheapy printer) - might all seem very basic - which is why you definatly need to make sure they know.

After that I would move onto composition - ie using the camera and editing skills that they have to get the photos that they want.
 
Use of light is another thing that seems to escape people without formal training. If nothing else, show them the difference off-camera flash makes.
 
Take a hands-on approach. Divide them into small groups and have them do portraits of each other in the classroom or outside in the immediate area. Put the results together for discussion and from the critiques build together a simple list of dos and don'ts for portraiture. Review the dos and don'ts in the next class and then have them do the portraits again. If they are missing things, go around to the groups and interrupt, asking questions to direct improved posing, lighting, camera angle etc.

Do the same with macro photograhy which can also be done in the classroom, flowers that might be in the immediate area, shapes, movement etc.

It works and produces some exceptional shots with a good group.

skieur
 

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