I'm not instructor, never had the patience. My sisters son who incidentally is our neighbor wants to learn photography. I would like to teach him, but not sure where or how I should start. My sister was hoping for him to find interest in something at a young age so he gets an early start. He turns 8 in 2 months and will be getting a camera for his birthday. That I'm sure will be a challenge as well seeing that he has such small hands. My sister wants him to start out on a DSLR vs point and shoot. I was telling her that these cameras, even the small ones are going to be big for him. But she still wants to go that route.
I think it will be fun, but would like to see what learning material and books do you guys recommend for something that young just starting out? Any decent training video's on DVD worth taking a look at?
They manufacture P&S cameras that have manual mode control. That would allow growth from auto to manual as the user learns about exposure. A DSLR is overkill for someone just starting out, and at such a young age.
That said, take him on photo walks. You don't have to "teach" him anything. Let him see your enthusiasm for the craft; talk about what you see and focus on composition and getting shots first. The technical stuff will come over time, especially as you show him your version of a shot vs. his version. Fundamentally, enjoy your time with your nephew.
The Panasonic G3 and G5 mirrorless cameras are DSLR-like, while being more compact than even an entry level DSLR. And a used G3 would be pretty cheap. Specialty lenses for Panasonic are more pricey than Canikon, but the usual kit lenses are priced the same as Canikon -
If the kid is a bookworm, the book I like for this is "Exposure From Snapshots To Great Shots" by Jeff Revell. It is not so encyclopedic as some of the other books (270 pages) so it is not as intimidating and it's easier to tuck into a backpack. It is a pretty easy read, with lots of illustrations, covers all the basic stuff -
Well you will only hear me say this for teaching a youngster. Start them out in the modes such as Aperture, Shutter, and have them play with each. This way you can teach them through their photos things such as depth of field, and so on. My grandfather cut me loose with an old 120 camera of his, and had me do this when I was 9, but then he made take notes too. Then we would look at my photos, and he would give me a critique on what I did right, and wrong. Just take them with you when you are going out shooting for fun, that way you can urge him to experiment, and that makes the learning fun.
I was thinking along the same lines, maybe suggest mirrorless for a more compact size. For that age I don't think it would be worth the expense of a DSLR - even if he's interested now, kids' interests change; the camera may end up in the closet or basement along with everything else that kids eventually outgrow.
I've been a teacher and I think the idea of a photo walk is great. I'd let him ask questions and let that guide you in what he needs to know - kids usually will ask about whatever it is that they're ready to understand and that is at their level. If he asks for example about why/how the lens opening changes that could be when you talk about how aperture works.
Maybe sometime he might have a school assignment that would be appropriate to use his camera for and you could help him with that. I don't know offhand of any sites for kids related to photography but of course you want to send him to the internet with guidelines and supervision. I've seen and used info. on a couple of museum sites related to composition - you can search to see if you find anything for his age that he might like.
I agree about the Panasonic G3 and G5 mirror-less camera, to start with, the main ingredient for teaching is for the pupil to have the desire to learn. With this established the best way to learn is by doing, so take him out on walks starting him out on aperture priority and teach him how changing the aperture changes the photograph. Then teach him how the shutter speed effects the photograph and lead him down his path letting him explore the art and when he need help with something the guide him. There are numerous guides on the internet on any aspect of photography from searching for the right light to Photoshop...They are all here for the searching....
When my daughter was 7 I gave her a Fuji digital camera, nothing fancy, just something she could experiment with and start capturing what
caught her interest. We would then upload the images and go over them
together and I would ask her what caught her attention when she took the
shot. On hikes I would encourage her to try different angles on a
particular subject, such as getting the camera to the ground and
shooting the trail ahead.
Remember, the world is gigantic to a 7 year old and they have a voracious appetite for learning. If your
child puts photography on the back burner to learn something else, don't
worry, the seed has been planted and they WILL come back to it.
Practice produces passion and even if they put the camera down for a
couple of years, the desire is still within them, as with my daughter,
who gave it up for about a year and a half, only to pick it back up again
last month. Here is a recent photo she took (she is now 9):
I asked her the other day what caught her eye when she was taking this photo and she said that she likes how the branches seem to be touching the sky. We uploaded this image to a free online user-friendly photo editor and she "tweaked" the photo. It is best not to get too technical with children at first because it may frustrate them, so keep it creative and fun....techi stuff can come later.
PixieBlue wrote: When my daughter was 7 I gave her a Fuji digital camera, nothing fancy, just something she could experiment with and start capturing what
caught her interest. We would then upload the images and go over them
together and I would ask her what caught her attention when she took the
shot. On hikes I would encourage her to try different angles on a
particular subject, such as getting the camera to the ground and
shooting the trail ahead.
Remember, the world is gigantic to a 7 year old and they have a voracious appetite for learning. If your
child puts photography on the back burner to learn something else, don't
worry, the seed has been planted and they WILL come back to it.
Practice produces passion and even if they put the camera down for a
couple of years, the desire is still within them, as with my daughter,
who gave it up for about a year and a half, only to pick it back up again
last month. Here is a recent photo she took (she is now 9):
I asked her the other day what caught her eye when she was taking this photo and she said that she likes how the branches seem to be touching the sky. We uploaded this image to a free online user-friendly photo editor and she "tweaked" the photo. It is best not to get too technical with children at first because it may frustrate them, so keep it creative and fun....techi stuff can come later.
PS. sorry for the jacked-up text format.
This is pretty close to right on. Forget the learning materials and books unless the kid ask's for them. 8 yrs old and teaching with books and learning materials is boring, 8 yr olds don't put up with bored to well. But they do like to snap shutter's and like to look at their stuff on a screen, all the tools you'll need; camera of most any kind and a computer.
icepics wrote: I was thinking along the same lines, maybe suggest mirrorless for a more compact size. For that age I don't think it would be worth the expense of a DSLR - even if he's interested now, kids' interests change; the camera may end up in the closet or basement along with everything else that kids eventually outgrow.
I've been a teacher and I think the idea of a photo walk is great. I'd let him ask questions and let that guide you in what he needs to know - kids usually will ask about whatever it is that they're ready to understand and that is at their level. If he asks for example about why/how the lens opening changes that could be when you talk about how aperture works.
Maybe sometime he might have a school assignment that would be appropriate to use his camera for and you could help him with that. I don't know offhand of any sites for kids related to photography but of course you want to send him to the internet with guidelines and supervision. I've seen and used info. on a couple of museum sites related to composition - you can search to see if you find anything for his age that he might like.
i can relate to this, cause i started teaching my niece photography at a younger age from 7 and on ..basically when i babysit her i would take her with me to the museums , zoo, parks, photoshoots , just anywhere...she always watched me photograph, so she had a point and shoot digital camera which she took with her always so i would teach her the basics tips on composition using her camera, i showed her different angles to shoot at even shooting when on glass, but as mentioned before all basic, ... i even would let her go to the gift shop and choose any props for a photo that i wanted to take of her, such props could include a hat and necklace or earrings or whatever she wanted to wear for the shot, this would make a fun day of photos .. i would give her different subjects to shoot and she would do it even getting the camera down to the ground and shooting from there.. she loved more the adventures outside and that was more fun for her.. well she was fortunate enough to learn from the best of course me .. have fun with it.....
It depends on what type of learner he is. Some kids aren't so great with sitting down and learning fundamentals. They're better at just getting in there and learning hands on. That's how I was and mostly still am (though I do enjoy an occasional tutorial if I'm stuck on something). I would just take him out and have fun with him then later share photos and maybe talk about them. Tell him which of his you like and maybe show him some of yours. At that age I'd only sit down with a book or something if he's really the reader type. I wasn't at that age, but some kids are.
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