Digital photography instructional videos by Michelle Marusek
How To Create Super Slide Shows
National Arts Standards
Oh Snap! Taking Better People Photos
Overview
In this lesson middle and high school students in grades 6-12, students will learn the basics of composing portraits of friends, this is designed to gain maximum engagement in the lesson. Following a basic photography lesson students will take four types of portraits to post and critique. Students will take a final photo at end of course, an improved shot of one prior image. All will be posted in an ePortfolio.
Taking Great Portraits: Principles of Photography for Grades 6-12
Lesson: Middle and high school students, grades 6-12, will learn the Rule of Thirds and 3 Types of Balance as guides for composing portraits of friends. A GCF digital photography course and Beginning Digital Photography YouTube videos will provide basic knowledge of lighting, exposure, and composition. A formative quiz follows to help learners determine areas of further study if needed. The proper use of lighting, such as the principle of the Golden Hour and various types of natural, ambient and artificial lighting, will be stressed for the most pleasing color balance for taking portraits. No flash photography will be used as students are tasked with making adjustments on their camera for any lighting conditions they encounter.
Formative Assessment: At the end of the lesson, in a shared Google Slide wiki, students will submit their four photos along with a self-critique. To help students design their slides a resource has been provided by Sara Wendorf and Kelly Brennan on how to create super slide shows, geared toward grades 5 and up. Having the students post their work in a Google Slide show offers the experience of putting an ePortfolio together, as well as commenting on our own and others' work. Once their own work is posted each student will provide constructive critique and comment on at least one other student's work. Students will apply the photography lighting and composition principles they have learned as they analyze and describe their own and others' work.
Summative Assessment: A final assignment at the end of the course will challenge the students to retake one photo from the four previously submitted to improve upon. Students are encouraged to review the peer comments and critiques from their peers to determine if there are any constructive ideas that may help them improve their final image. The final image will be submitted with a description of the process they used to retake the photo and a self-critique and analysis of the result. As in the prior formative assessment students are tasked with responding to at least one other student's work.
The National Core Arts Standards are fully represented in this lesson: Creating, Performing, Presenting, Producing, Responding and Connecting.
They are your friends, of course you want them to look their best in your photos! What can you do to make that happen? Let's get started!
- First, we'll eye some good solid composition tips, tricks, and rules.
- Then, we'll shed light on the best way to illuminate the human figure.
- Lastly, we'll focus on some solid camera settings for capturing your subject, then...Snap!
- Let's get started!
Learning Objective: At the end of this module students will be able to take four distinct types of photos, one each of Formal Portrait, Candid Portrait, Detail Portrait, and Environmental Portrait using ambient lighting only, no electronic flash. The proper use of the Rule of Thirds or the design principle of Balance will be evident in the photos. Digital cameras or Smart phones are acceptable for use.
Standards: The National COre Arts Standards: https://www.nationalartsstandards.org/
Source: Title photo: Photo by Zachary Nelson on Unsplash