Been asked to do a lecture, OMG! Any advice is appreciated :)

[AmberAtLoveAndInk]

Howdy there folks! I have been asked to give a little lecture to the AV students about how to take better photographs at my old high school in about 3 weeks. I have finished up what I think is a great slideshow but I wanted a few opinions on what I will be actually "teaching". You see, I'm not diving into the exposure triangle or any of the really complicated stuff since the AV department is a low budget area and I know for a fact they do not use heavy handed SLR's and even if they did, teaching a whole room of kids to shoot in manual AND how to take a decent picture while doing so just won't fit into our 44min time slot.
So I have decided to come at this from a creative direction, teach them a few things that can be useful with any kind of camera, even their phones.

Here are the range of topics I'm covering:

The 3 Key Elements to a "Good Picture"

- Subject Matter
- P.O.I. (Points of Interest)
- Emotion

Technical Aspects of Light

-Golden Hours
-Shooting in Direct Sunlight
-Manipulating the Light Around you

I wanted to teach them how to make their intended subject stand out to the audience using clean backgrounds, rule of thirds, framing and general posing.
Points of interest was something I came up with that I feel is important in any image, the slogan is "Don't just take a "good picture", take an interesting one!" So I'll be showing them how to add points of interest that draw the viewer to their photos with small props or using the outdoor elements for backgrounds, as well as capturing their subjects doing interesting things.
Emotion is an obvious statement, I'll talk briefly about how important it is to capture an emotion rather than to create a fake posed smile (since someone staring at your camera with a stiff lip only has one emotion to me, boring!) I'll also touch down on how emotion doesn't have to come from your subject, that creating an image that sparks an emotion in your viewers can be just as great.

The aspects of light will be briefly discussed. I'll tell them when the best times to shoot are and why they are the best times. I will show them ways to work with the 2pm blaring sun using shaded areas, reflectors, and flash for fill light. I will also talk about the use of indoor flash (very very briefly) and how to bounce a flash. I'll also talk about the different kinds of lights and how all light is not created equal (color in light, strength of light, tungsten, florescent, natural)

I have timed out my presentation to last about 35 min, allowing 2 min to do a small intro in the beginning "Hey guys, how ya doin'! Here's what I'm talking about today!" and 7min at the end for Q&A.

Do you think this is a bit basic for high school students? I don't want to bore them, but I also don't want to lose them in the jumble of complicated tech-talk.

 

[tirediron]

Seems like a reasonable outline to me.

 

[AmberAtLoveAndInk]

Seems like a reasonable outline to me.

Anything to add? You always seem to give sturdy advice to us forum members, since I'm only a few years older than them I'm nervous I won't have that commanding voice or attention getting know-how.

 

[Overread]

If you're going to use the rule of thirds also go into a few other "rules" of composition and furthermore how to correctly use them in the sense of them as guidelines and compositional tools rather than rules and short-cuts to good photos. By branching out into other theories you also give them the idea that there is more than just the rule of thirds out there. It's a very popular "rule" to the extent that in common chat its often the only rule most people openly are aware of; so by introducing others and presenting the rule of thirds as just one of many (a feeling you can further increase by presenting it in a position other than first - if you mention several and then the rule of thirds and then a few more you've buried it with others so that its not standing out alone).


In my view composition is a very important area, but one that is also often glossed over and not as well taught; and certainly in common conversation is very overly simplified.

Remember Donald Duck could understand it

 

[tirediron]

When I do these sorts of lectures I always have 'right' and 'wrong' examples to illustrate what I'm talking about. Are you using PowerPoint (or something similar)? I also find it helps a lot to use the audience to illustrate points, so for instance you can have one of the students play the photographer, and another play the model, and then move them around to show them what you mean about backgrounds, emotion, etc.

 

[petrochemist]

Sounds like it should be fine, but just in case they prove to be better than the usual students have a spare slide or two that covers something like aperture & DOF.
It just MAY come up in the Q&A session. I find having a little extra material on hand helps enormously if your audience doesn't fit in with your plans.
I'm sure you'll know plenty to ad lib if required.
Having a few extra examples with both good & bad composition to discuss might also be helpful if none of them will ask questions

 

[AmberAtLoveAndInk]

If you're going to use the rule of thirds also go into a few other "rules" of composition and furthermore how to correctly use them in the sense of them as guidelines and compositional tools rather than rules and short-cuts to good photos. By branching out into other theories you also give them the idea that there is more than just the rule of thirds out there. It's a very popular "rule" to the extent that in common chat its often the only rule most people openly are aware of; so by introducing others and presenting the rule of thirds as just one of many (a feeling you can further increase by presenting it in a position other than first - if you mention several and then the rule of thirds and then a few more you've buried it with others so that its not standing out alone).


In my view composition is a very important area, but one that is also often glossed over and not as well taught; and certainly in common conversation is very overly simplified.

Remember Donald Duck could understand it

Thanks for your advice, my only problem is covering all of these things in a short amount of time so I'm trying to stick to the highlights. I'll come up with a way to work overall composition into the rule of thirds segment.

 

[AmberAtLoveAndInk]

When I do these sorts of lectures I always have 'right' and 'wrong' examples to illustrate what I'm talking about. Are you using PowerPoint (or something similar)? I also find it helps a lot to use the audience to illustrate points, so for instance you can have one of the students play the photographer, and another play the model, and then move them around to show them what you mean about backgrounds, emotion, etc.

I've put together an image slide using photoshop, I'm trying to only use text when needed since I know from a personal experience in this high school with guest speakers, the more words on the screen, the less likely anyone will want to pay attention. Especially if their teacher has asked to take notes before hand, like I know mine did when we had guests. The acting out is a great idea! I really like that and I think this will force some of the students to pay attention more.

 

[AmberAtLoveAndInk]

Sounds like it should be fine, but just in case they prove to be better than the usual students have a spare slide or two that covers something like aperture & DOF.
It just MAY come up in the Q&A session. I find having a little extra material on hand helps enormously if your audience doesn't fit in with your plans.
I'm sure you'll know plenty to ad lib if required.
Having a few extra examples with both good & bad composition to discuss might also be helpful if none of them will ask questions

Originally I had started 3 slides covering the exposure triangle and breaking it down, then I realized, unless each student has an SLR, it's kind of a waste. But I do still have the slides handy, perhaps I'll keep them around like you have suggested!

 

[tirediron]

Use the 6x6 rule - no more than six lines of text on any slide, with no more than six words per line.

 

[cgw]

With respect, I'd trim it down given your audience and the time available. Any chance you can split this into two shorter sessions?

Try sticking to three topics: composition, background, and exposure. These are technology/cost-independent considerations. Too little said about too many topics can be deadly. Try saying more about fewer topics. Give them a listing of links for online tutorials.

 

[vintagesnaps]

I think too in that short amount of time of one class period this would be more of a presentation than a lecture. If the purpose is to help them in taking better pictures you might have to stick to some basics of framing and composing images and exposure (maybe be prepared in case there are a number of them that do use SLRs) and minimize info. on doing portraits unless enough of them have a specific interest in that.

You could start out asking some questions to get an idea how much photography experience they have so you aren't presenting info. they already know or getting too advanced.

 

[Derrel]

I remember a long-ago school sports coach beginning a season with an off-color analogy/commentary to the assembled team. He drew two circles on the blackboard. He then called on volunteers to answer the question, "Do you know what these two things are?" He called on a bunch of people. Every answer was met with a resounding, "No!, and No!" We were perplexed.

He then said very loudly, "Well, it's clear than NONE of you know (pointing to the left circle) boys know the difference between your A$$, and this, which is a hole in the ground! Me and the other coaches are here to teach you to the difference!"

He then immediately proceeded to make more circles and bellowed: "THESE circles represent offensive line positions!" and then he drew six x's which represented the defensive linemen in a then-typical 6-1 defensive alignment. "And this is how we diagram offensive line blocking assignments !"

Whatever you do--do NOT open your talk that way. No. Just..no!

4811198.jpg

 

[pgriz]

The three things to make better pictures:

Simplify.
Connect.
Engage.

On the technical side:

Light
Shadow
Transition between the two.

This works whether you're using a DSLR or a cell phone.

 

[AmberAtLoveAndInk]

I think too in that short amount of time of one class period this would be more of a presentation than a lecture. If the purpose is to help them in taking better pictures you might have to stick to some basics of framing and composing images and exposure (maybe be prepared in case there are a number of them that do use SLRs) and minimize info. on doing portraits unless enough of them have a specific interest in that.

You could start out asking some questions to get an idea how much photography experience they have so you aren't presenting info. they already know or getting too advanced.

Well the AV kids are the ones that handle yearbook as well so I've been called in to help them get better at taking pictures of their classmates and the events throughout the year they will cover in the yearbook. So I would think portrait work would apply? They do have a little knowledge on cameras, or at least I would think. I graduated only 3 years ago from that school though and know that "in my day" the AV department did not have possession of an SLR that I can recall. But I added some extra slides covering more advanced topics in case they surprise me, then I'll quickly switch over my presentation to my "heavy hitter" stuff like someone above suggested.