An early bird...

[Surprised]

Hi.

This picture, taken by my 7-year-old son with the simple point-and-shoot we got him last Christmas, is SOOC apart from a little crop (by me).



I suppose part of the reason why I'm posting is a bit of a complaint: there doesn't seem to be many (any?) decent websites or (particularly) books for children who like taking pictures and want to take good ones (rather than just random blurs!) -- indeed there don't seem to be many decent kids' cameras on the market either, at least not here in the UK, which is why we ended up getting a low-end adult point-and-shoot. (We're probably going to have to get his 5-year-old brother one for Christmas too: any suggestions?!).

As far as the photo is concerned, is there any simple feedback you could offer to a 7-year-old about lighting, for example?

EXIF data:
Camera: Samsung ES55
Exposure: 0.002 sec (1/500th)
Aperture: f/5.8
Focal Length: 18.9 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Taken at 4:10pm BST (early September)

[karen_s]

Focus is on the eyes, the light hits his head nice, he caught a nice pose, the photograph is well composed ... quite nicely done I'd say. About the only thing I could offer him is to watch the background. It's not all that bad by any means, it's just doesn't ad much. Overall, the kid has a really good eye for photography. (And maybe even a special gift for working with birds :-)

And I'll just add I looked for photography books for my nieces (7 and 10) a few years ago and found very little. I ended up making my own book of simple assignments and gave that too them. I picked a few basic principles about photography, wrote them in simple terms, made up an easy assignment to bring the principles to life, added a few examples, then put them into a simple book form. I had things like, take a portrait of Grandpa, make a toy look real (like a toy dinosaur), take a close up of a bug (macro), stuff like that. They were pretty excited and spent the rest of Christmas day on their assignments.

[Surprised]

Hi Karen_s and thank you so much for taking the time and trouble to reply. My 7-year-old will be deeply chuffed with your comments!

Thank you too for your thoughts about resources for younger photographers. Your ideas are absolutely fantastic! -- "Make a toy look real" is a brilliantly creative suggestion. I honestly think you could sell your book to a wider audience very easily... Indeed, is what you did for your relatives available electronically?

The other thing that's interesting about my 7-year-old's camera is that it gives us a glimpse into what he thinks is important. We might go on a day-trip out by train somewhere and instead of taking pictures of where we go to, he'll take a picture of the dot-matrix display at the station that says where the trains are going -- because actually that's what he really found interesting. Not only is his camera a window for him into the world, it's also a window for us into his mind; hopefully he feels more understood as a result...

[karen_s]

You are welcome. I honestly think your kid has a great eye and he seems like he might have a rather inquisitive mind too.

Unfortunately the file I made for my nieces is gone. It was pretty small too, but they liked it and enjoyed the projects. You could probably make one yourself, you just have to put yourself in kids shoes and think back to when life was fun and your imagination wasn't crushed by the world ;-) Then, create fun assignments that you can maybe do together. That way, he can get a glimpse into how you mind works too.

And I have been considering writing a book but not being a writer makes the task look quite daunting. If I do write one, you will be the first to know.

ks