Help with a Class Syllabus

[NicoleScraps]

This fall, I am going to be "teaching" a beginners digital photography class at Head Start for the parents. If you are not familiar with the Head Start program, it is kind of like pre-school, but the children have to meet specific guidelines for enrollment. For the most part, the children are from low income families. A small percentage of children have disabilities, and even smaller percentage are from medium income families with no disabilities.
This is a volunteer thing, I will not be paid. The class is called "Making the Most of your Point and shoot digital camera" because that is what most of the parents have, a cheap point and shoot camera.
I definitely do not want to get too complex with this. I want to cover what all the icons mean, in what situation to use what setting, when to use the flash or not, stuff like that. I am not going to go very deep into rules, like rule of thirds and all that. This is a very basic class that will more of a discussion, then me actually giving a lecture.
And I need to take up two hours.
I've got a big list of stuff that I want to cover and am working out the details. I am going to have a couple of handouts for people to take home etc.
Just wanted to get your input. What would you cover if you were teaching this class?

I would only talk about the fun stuff in photography first to get them excited and interested. Then move into composition and how that can make them better.

Then go into more detailed stuff maybe at a later date.

My $.02

~Eric

[NicoleScraps]

Originally Posted by maxharvard

I would only talk about the fun stuff in photography first to get them excited and interested. Then move into composition and how that can make them better.

Then go into more detailed stuff maybe at a later date.

My $.02

~Eric

Yeah, I definitely want it to be fun. Maybe I could include details and facts on a handout and skip a lot of that in the discussion.
Like the flower icon means macro and can be used for blah blah blah.....

[LeeR]

I am not sure why you would leave out the Rule of Thirds. Trust me, there is little love lost between me and the RoT but it is a handy tool for beginners as it helps prevent them from putting all their subjects dead center. You might also bring some of your own favorites and talk about what makes them such great shots. The main thing is to inspire them that the cheap little camera they have is probably capable of a great deal more than they have been using it for.

[NicoleScraps]

Originally Posted by LeeR

I am not sure why you would leave out the Rule of Thirds. Trust me, there is little love lost between me and the RoT but it is a handy tool for beginners as it helps prevent them from putting all their subjects dead center. You might also bring some of your own favorites and talk about what makes them such great shots. The main thing is to inspire them that the cheap little camera they have is probably capable of a great deal more than they have been using it for.

Well, I just didn't want to overwhelm them with rules. But maybe a few key tips to better composure might be good to cover.
I do plan on going through my HD and printing a few of my favorites to share. I have this one shot that I like to take every year, of my lilies when they bloom. I swear, you cannot tell the difference between the ones that I took with my P&S and with my dslr. Well maybe YOU could tell, but I'd be willing to bet the average person could not tell. I specifically wanted to show them those photos to prove that you CAN take good photos with a p&s if you know how to.

[Camdixon]

I think you should definitely make it more of a hands on type thing.
Actually I wouldn't cover all of the function on the point and shoot, because you don't want to go down the lecture route. I wouldn't even necessarily cover flash much (because they really can't utilize off camera flash which is much better anyway).

What I would do, is bring some of you're favorites and share only a few of them. Also I would bring a prop or two that people could photograph itself or photograph each other doing something silly or fun with a prop for experience.

Also, if it's for the parents of the kids I think it would be awesome if you brought in more really good shots of small children. You know the kind that get the "Aww, cute" reaction. :P
By the way, they don't have to all be your shots either.

[NicoleScraps]

Yes, I definitely want to cover how to take better P&S photos of children. It is so common that parents take a quick snapshot of their kids while standing over them. My photography greatly improved when I started getting down on their level and trying different angles.
As far the flash thing goes, I see this common mistake all the time since I have kids in a lot of different types of activities. Your kid is in some sort of performance, the parent is 20 rows back and the only light in the room is on stage. The on camera flash is completely useless in this situation. All it does is light up the guys head in front of you. It is much better to disable the flash and let the camera adjust itself accordingly using only the stage lights. And I also wanted to talk about disabling the flash in situations like "your child blowing out birthday candles" and stuff like that. You can get some really neat looks from a P&S if you just shut off the flash.
So yeah, thanks everyone, keep the suggestions coming. I appreciate it.

[CheaperKings]

If you have to fill 2 hours, you may want to cover anything you can!