I am trying to teach my 11 year old son two things currently, how Dawin developed his thinking on evolution, and the art of photography. I call it specialized extracurricular home schooling. I teach Darwin in response to his exposure to a nutball fundie friend who filled his head with unscientific crap-o-la. I teach photography because I love it and he appears to be interested in the subject. I gave him my camera at a recent party. His only instruction “be careful”. He produced this photo of his cousin Pong – I love it. He also shot two dozen other outstanding photo’s. I asked him what he was thinking while he was shooting, he said he was trying to take pictures that I would find interesting. He did a good job, there was not a single snapshot in the bunch.
This picture is his best. I gave him instruction in the zone system a few months ago. He used it in most of his photos. In this one, he lined up Pong’s left eye in the upper left zone junction. The effect is visible. The picture is interesting. He made his poppa proud.
Technorati Tags: Photography, Teaching, Home Schooling
3 comments:
Darwin and kids is a bit tough. I recommend "The Sandwalk Adventures" Read more here at my blog
Regarding Photography and Kids...
The "zone" system you refer to sounds like the "Rule of Thirds" (ROT). Where you divide the frame into thirds both horizontally and vertically. You will generally get a good image if you place your subject at one of the intersection points (there are 4).
The "Zone" method that I am familiar with is an exposure technique developed by Ansel Adams and Friends. He defined 7 zones of brightness/darkness. You use the zones to set exposure... It is good knowledge for any photographer but probably beyond the 11 year old at this point. You can read more here.
Funny - I was taught the zone system as what you call the rule of thirds. divide the frame into 9 zones, shoot at the intersections. The Zone System Ansel Adams uses... that's always been something beyond my skill level.
Thanks for the tip on the Sandwalk Adventures - very cool.
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