p.1 #1 · OT: Photography Projects for High School Students
Hey all!
I've been teaching high school photography for 10 years. I'm looking for some fresh, new high school photography projects for my students. I want the projects to be 'skill based' and not 'subject based'. This is a 101 course and my students have daily access to a Digital Rebel and kit lens. They have a basic understanding of the camera and are able to consistently make manual exposures.
p.1 #2 · OT: Photography Projects for High School Students
How about a learning exercise wherein they create a demonstration of the effect of aperture that they can use as future reference. Such as setting up on a tripod or stationary support, focusing on an object and then adjusting the aperture to demonstrate how changes affect background and dof. I've done this in my intro classes, and it has served the students well.
Douglas
p.1 #4 · OT: Photography Projects for High School Students
Back in high school art class, we were taught how to draw a three dimensional sphere from a two dimensional circle on a piece of paper, simply by adding shadows.
Years have gone by and I became an engineer. It was not until much later I picked up the camera and I was reminded of that lesson. Once you learn how to see the light, you can no longer un-see it. Once you start looking for shadows, you fall in love with the darkness and that's when you achieve a higher level of photography.
Paraphrasing Cliff Mautner, shadows give your images dimension, texture and mood. This is fundamental truth, well beyond the context of wedding photography.
I would challenge your students to do the same, learning how to go from two to three dimensions by using a camera and light, instead of pencil and paper.
p.1 #6 · OT: Photography Projects for High School Students
I want to say it was in one of Tonys workshops, or it was a blogged review of someones workshop, but they did the "F8 Challange" Where they were restricted to using F8 for a portrait or an idea or whatever. I thought that was a cool idea that I've played with in the past.
p.1 #9 · OT: Photography Projects for High School Students
DannyBostwick wrote:
I want to say it was in one of Tonys workshops, or it was a blogged review of someones workshop, but they did the "F8 Challange" Where they were restricted to using F8 for a portrait or an idea or whatever. I thought that was a cool idea that I've played with in the past.
You owe me residuals for any improvements you've made as a result
p.1 #11 · OT: Photography Projects for High School Students
- Showing an item/subject in a static form and a moving form.
- 1 identifiable portrait of someone without clearly showing the face paired with one showing the face.
This could also be done with object - a clear image of the object, another from an obscure angle or with unusual lighting.
p.1 #17 · OT: Photography Projects for High School Students
How about a lesson in color-correction gels and flash photography? Then moving from there gels to add drama and mood to an image rather than correcting to match ambient.
Relevant, interesting videos with Gregory Heisler:
p.1 #18 · OT: Photography Projects for High School Students
Thanks all! Especially JKnight! I haven't been on FM in a bit
I think JKnight is moving in the right direction. When I said that I wanted to the projects not to be subject based and I wanted them to be skill based I meant that I didn't want to assign them specific subjects to go photograph but rather give them a skill to work toward so they can apply it to any subject they want. So JKnight's ideas are good!
I think it's important to remember that these students have never touched a DSLR prior to September and for us to remember what it was like when we first picked up a camera. They have never heard the terms 'aperture, shutter speed, ISO, etc'. My goal is to make them feel successful in the projects. So ideas like Kurtis posted (while very cool), would be WAY above their capabilities and most likely lead to students rejecting photography because 'it's too hard' rather than embracing it.
One of our first projects was to create an image using shallow depth of field and 'rule of thirds'. Yes, very basic, but those two things make students go 'oooohhh, thats cool....and look, my subject isnt in the center of the frame'. The skill involved is to select the proper aperture, distance to subject, focal length, and to focus and recompose. That is a lot for a kid who never used a camera.
I also introduce them to 'elements of composition' (leading lines, framing, symmetry, simplicity, patterns, texture, color, etc). We try to work those elements into our assignments. Our current assignment is called 'from above'. The idea behind the project is for them to look at subjects from a variety of angles, not just at eye level. I explain to them that simply getting above a subject and taking a photo does not make it a good photo and encourage them to apply the elements of composition.
Thanks all, keep the ideas coming! I'm listening and taking it in! I appreciate you taking the time!
p.1 #19 · OT: Photography Projects for High School Students
Ah... I thought you were looking for a bit more advanced stuff to introduce them to.
So how about a skill such as 'finding the light'? In any given location how do you find where the light is best? This matters whether you're shooting with a DSLR or with a phone, so whether they get deeper into photography or not it's useful for them. And to be honest, you might even want to do this lesson with just their phones so they understand how applicable it is and how simple it really is. No need to make it more complex by passing around the DSLR to one another.
For a practical example, if you're outside and there's a field and there's trees, you have several different types of light to choose from. There's direct light which is very hard and unforgiving but can potentially be beautiful and has the benefit of having a nice deeper blue sky since the sky is at the same exposure level. You can simply turn their back to the sun and you will blow the sky but have generally nice exposure and you can play with flare or no flare to taste. If you want to introduce the concept of using a reflector, you could do so here. Then you could walk them over by the trees just into the shade a little bit, with the subject facing out to the open air away from the trees. If you have the subject and the photographer rotate you can let them visualize how the light is different facing out into the open versus back towards the trees - now they will understand what open shade is.
Moving on from that example you can show them how positioning someone near a window with the room lights off has a vastly different look than simply shooting them with mixed light where they stand. Show them the awful effect of an overhead can light on someone's face, especially depending on where they're standing in relation to it... All kinds of ways you can show them the light.
