Opinions-Children and Photograhy

[NicoleScraps]

My girls (14 and 11) are very interested in photography. I've been working with them on and off, but one of my goals is to really help them to get into it and learn more.
In your opinion with children this age, do you think that it would be more beneficial to just allow them to explore composition and subject matter....just let them go on a scene or auto mode for a while, just to spark their creativity. Or should I immediately incorporate the technical stuff, like how the camera works and so forth?
I think that the technical stuff is important to learn, but it can be a bit overwelming. I am concerned that they will get discouraged quickly if I focus too much on that part.
What do you all think?

[Meadster]

Great question, Nicole! Since you are only dealing with two "students" here I think you need to look at their interests and personalities with regard to your style of teaching. I teach middle schoolers and in this case I think that they certainly need to be competent at making a decent technical image which can be accomplished via "auto" mode. As they start to "see" the world differently through the lens, they will naturally want to be able to do more with the technical side of "shot making" and will be very open to learning & internalizing more detailed aspects of exposure.

I'd certainly be ready to realize that each of your girls may have a unique style of learning that means she will be interested in different aspects of photography as they learn. With only the two of them you have the chance to explore with each one on her personal path.

I hope this helps!

[Quo Fan]

I would encourage composition over technical perfection. I'm a technically competent photographer and I struggle with composition all the time.

Have to pipe in ----

While taking flying lessons, I was blessed with a remarkable instructor that exuded his passion for flight but also knew his stuff when it came to the technical (not-so-fun) aspect of the responsibility of flying.

That being said - my "flight lesson" consisted of an hour or so of ground school (the technical aspect) followed by an hour long flight (composition, the fun-stuff). The goal, when applicable, was to apply the principles just studied in that windowless, stuffy office, to the aspect of flight (the fun side of the equation).

I have a friend that got all of the fun stuff out of the way first and week after week he would barrage me with his tales of flight. His enthusiasm and excitement was simply uncontainable. Then he started ground school (technical aspect of flight). He quickly became overwhelmed and bored with it and would find reasons not to go. Those reasons piled up and eventually he just stopped going.

So Nicole, my advice is to tailor a lesson plan, to each of your girls, that includes both the composition (flying) and the technical aspect (ground school) of photography and immediately apply that technical aspect to the composition. It keeps it fun and progressively learning the not-so-fun side.

Thanks for asking - I hope this summary of my experience blesses you and yours.

Bakeys

[NicoleScraps]

Thanks for the opinions! I guess I need to just gauge how much information each child can handle.

[autofocus]

I think it's best to start with the basics, regardless of the ages of the subjects. You really shouldn't try to jam down their throats what can take years to learn and master. Use the KISS formula for starters, and as they get more comfortable with the equipment work in some of the more techie stuff. Shooting in full auto mode and maybe a mention of the rule of thirds would be a good starting point.

[bookloveraz]

I'm 13, almost 14 and I love photography. I got a camera for my birthday a few years ago that had manual mode and all that (not a DSLR) and just started learning on my own. For a while I was just taking snapshots and then I started wanting to learn how to use the manual modes. Now I always shoot in manual, and I'm learning about composition. I say just let them play with the camera for a while, and maybe give them a few tips once in a while. In a bit if they are still interested then they could really start learning the technical stuff. It worked for me.

[DannyF1966]

In my opinion you should go for the composition side of things first - it doesn't matter how technically comptetent a photo is if the subject matter is boring! If they take some bad photos of interesting subjects then you can introduce various technical aspects of photography to help them improve. But having an "eye" for a photo is more important than knowing what all the knobs and buttons on the camera do, especially when starting out.

[Izzy]

I would also have to say that composition trumps the technical stuff. I would teach them composition and set them loose with the camera on P mode.

As an exercise tell them to ask them selves what they like about particular pictures. Just about everyone can answer what they like about and image. Now the trick is catching that shot for themselves. If they really like advanced shots then teach them stuff that is related to that one shot. IE: DOP and so on.

[doubleg]

This past year my 12 year old friend and I have been learning digital photography together and this Christmas break we kept a blog with the rule that we had to work on composition by posting photos every day and where possible use the manual setting. IShe took some pretty amazing pictures because she was thinking about more about what she was seeing, rather than just clicking away. We'll figure out the manual stuff- but learning how to take a good, interestingly composed photo to me is more important. And it's fun learning with her! Have fun teaching (and learning) with your girls!