photography class: My adult photography class starts a week from next Wed. I"m looking for some ideas on weekly assignments. I want to teach shutter, aperture, and ISO along with...

diannarucker Loc: Iowa

My adult photography class starts a week from next Wed. I"m looking for some ideas on weekly assignments. I want to teach shutter, aperture, and ISO along with topics such as Rule of Thirds, Finding the S curves in a photo, finding patterns etc. Does anyone have some good ideas for assignments?? thanks in advance

snowbear

I'm assuming you're teaching digital.

1. Use aperture to control depth of field in a photo - take several shots of a scene varying aperture from large to small.
2. Use shutter speed to control movement in a photo - take shots with slow speed to show movement and fast speed to stop it.
3. ISO and exposure - take shots of a scene or object varying the ISO from lowest to highest. They'll have to note the aperture and shutter speed. This could even be a "dry" exercise - just meter it and note the settings.
4. Multiple shots of the same object - exercise in perspective/points of view.
5. Scavenger hunt: photograph a circle, diagonal, triangle, square, reflection, sign, door, the letters A, B, C, D, E, etc. - creative thinking and compositions.
6. White balance: take a shot of a small white object (plate or cup) in different lighting (incandescent, fluorescent, sun, shade, flash) using each white balance setting - help them figure out what the blue, yellow and green cast is.

Hoss Loc: Near Pittsburgh, Pa

diannarucker wrote:

My adult photography class starts a week from next Wed. I"m looking for some ideas on weekly assignments. I want to teach shutter, aperture, and ISO along with topics such as Rule of Thirds, Finding the S curves in a photo, finding patterns etc. Does anyone have some good ideas for assignments?? thanks in advance

How to shoot in manual!!!!

Iduno Loc: Near Tampa Florida

Don't give the students too much detail in the assignment. Allow them (make them) use their own creativity in choosing the subject matter that best represents the concepts you've just taught them. It will enhance their learning.

overthemoon Loc: Wisconsin

Hoss wrote:

diannarucker wrote:

My adult photography class starts a week from next Wed. I"m looking for some ideas on weekly assignments. I want to teach shutter, aperture, and ISO along with topics such as Rule of Thirds, Finding the S curves in a photo, finding patterns etc. Does anyone have some good ideas for assignments?? thanks in advance

How to shoot in manual!!!!

:thumbup:

bee7474 Loc: Selah, Wa

I have attended many seminars on photography and I find that the instructor wants to cover too much material too fast then when I get home I can't remember how to do it. My suggestion is go slow repeat until everyone gets it and keeps it. Wish I could attend

BigBear Loc: Northern CT

Hoss wrote:

diannarucker wrote:

My adult photography class starts a week from next Wed. I"m looking for some ideas on weekly assignments. I want to teach shutter, aperture, and ISO along with topics such as Rule of Thirds, Finding the S curves in a photo, finding patterns etc. Does anyone have some good ideas for assignments?? thanks in advance

How to shoot in manual!!!!

I agree. I learned to shoot manually and never went back. Best thing I've done. I also shoot RAW for the best detail.

Bear

calbaby

I recently took an adult ed. photography class. The instructor began by saying we had to shoot in manual and then gave assignments that included: creative shooting-using aperture for DOF, shutter speed for stop/blur, ISO for light; black/white images; special interest subject matter, and final presentation. The most helpful part of the assignments was a requirement that we turn in contact sheets with at least fifty photos on them. Of course to get 50, one had to shoot a couple of hundred. Clear, helpful, brief explanations and discussion of student work also helped. Avoid too much information. Tell students to read their camera guides. One final note: the instructor had a weekly student critique where we were asked to put our photos on the wall. A student was asked to choose an image and make positive comments as why the chooser liked it. The student whose photo was chosen to do the same and so on. By the time the remaining photo was chosen, it was clear which images were best and weakest. Worked well. Good luck.

diannarucker Loc: Iowa

thanks for all the ideas everyone. One thing I didn't mention is that yes, will be digital, but also assuming most will have point and shoot cameras. I won't know until we meet the first time. ANy suggestions for point and shoot cameras?

normsImages Loc: Alabama for now

When I attended collage photo class we had to shoot manual and each weeks assignment we had to bring in work for a critique. Back then it was slides, so what you shoot is what you get. Have them bring in the work for critique without any post processing so as to teach get it right in the camera. If you have a computer and projector the students can bring their work in on a flash drive so you can project them to the class to save cost on their part.

diannarucker Loc: Iowa

I was thinking of using google+ to invite all the members of the class then they could upload their weekly assignment for us to critique? There are nice projectors at the site, community college.

snowbear

diannarucker wrote:

thanks for all the ideas everyone. One thing I didn't mention is that yes, will be digital, but also assuming most will have point and shoot cameras. I won't know until we meet the first time. ANy suggestions for point and shoot cameras?

For P&S, I'd concentrate on composition & perspectives. For the technical side, they should all be able to control white balance so you could cover that. Ideas four, five and six of my first post should work for P&S.

Google+ is a good idea, or even a Flickr group.

Jer Loc: Mesa, Arizona

Have them take one object and photograph in 10 creative ways.
They can choose the object like a Starbucks cup and find 10 different ways to photograph it... it could be location, lighting, situations, viewpoints, HDR, abstractions, etc.

docrob Loc: Durango, Colorado

diannarucker wrote:

thanks for all the ideas everyone. One thing I didn't mention is that yes, will be digital, but also assuming most will have point and shoot cameras. I won't know until we meet the first time. ANy suggestions for point and shoot cameras?

you may need to spend some time with each student and their camera showing them what buttons to push - why and how. Be patient.

jimmya Loc: Phoenix

I learned one quick way to find out how creative a photographer is. Send them on a news assignment. The subject is of their choosing - could be street scenes to an accident scene, it doesn't matter.

What does matter is you limit the amount of time for this assignment. So here's the situation:

You're on deadline, your employer wants you in the building with your shots at 5pm, your scene is 20-minutes from the building and it's now 4:30pm. That means you have about 10-minutes to shoot the scene and get out.
Only one of your shots will be printed. The student has to pick which one based on what they want the viewer to understand about the situation depicted.

With this assignment you'll soon see who understands shooting so the viewer understands the basics of the scene without a single word being printed.

Good Luck, Jim