Elementary School 5th Grade - Depth of Field

Depth of field - also sometimes known as depth of focus - is an area many photographers feel some confusion over. By changing the aperture in the lens, you can make the resulting picture have more of the picture in focus from near to far, or you can limit the picture's focus on one place. At ƒ1.8, the focus point will be much more defined with things in front of and behind the subject becoming softer looking the further from the subject they are. This is a very nice way to bring attention to the subject. At ƒ22, the focus will seem to be sharp from very close to the camera to pretty much infinity. This is great for giving a sense of the place you shot the image, or for including many people in the image and keeping everyone clearly in focus. However, there are limits to how that will appear in the final image.
Exercise: Find a subject/object that is still or will be in one place for a couple of minutes. Stand about 2 feet from the subject and focus on it. Set your ƒstop to 1.8 (or a close as possible to that based on the light) and set the shutter speed to get a proper exposure according to your meter. Now set your ƒstop to 16 and change the shutter as needed. Step back to about 10 feet from your subject and re do the above settings - first at ƒ1.8 then at ƒ16. To really push this exercise, try all the above steps with different lenses or at different lengths if you have a zoom lens - i.e.. try it at 35 mm and at 200mm, or whatever your zoom lens range. Also create images like these two examples. In the first photograph, notice how the foreground is out of focus but the subject is in focus. In the second photograph, see how the background is out of focus but the subject is in focus. Practice these depth of field or depth of focus techniques.

5th Grade

Answer the 5th Grade Quiz

1. Changes in aperture effects ________ of ________.


depth of field

focus of subject







2. Another term for the above question is ________of_______.


focus of subject

depth of focus







3. A way to emphasize the subject is to change the depth of focus.


True

False

First things first, practice what has been learned in this lesson. If you passed this section, great - you can move on to the next lesson. If you failed (80% or less) that's ok, you can retake the quiz whenever you like.

Elementary School 6th Grade - Shutter Speed

You've probably seen those pictures of athletes where where the subject is in fairly sharp focus but the background is blurry with streaks denoting speed. Perhaps you've seen a waterfall that looks like flowing milk. Or you seen a picture with a car totally frozen in place during heavy traffic. These are a result of creatively using the shutter speed of the camera. High shutter speeds, such as 1/500th, 1/1000th, 1/2000th or higher (remember these are fractions of a second) create a stopped motion. Conversely, slower shutter speeds such as 1/15th, 1/4, or even whole seconds, creates a sense of motion through blurring of some part of the picture. Exercise: This is best done on a lightly clouded day that isn't too dark or too bright. Find a street where you can photograph cars passing. For example, a park near a busy street. Go and set up your position in a undisturbed place with a good view of the cars. You'll need to do lots of exposures to get the shots. First set your shutter speed as high as you can for the light - hopefully around 1/500 to 1/2000 - with the aperture as open as you can set (i.e. ƒ1.8). Choose a moving car. As the car passes, keep it in your viewfinder, turning yourself at the waist to constantly point your camera at the car. Take lots of pictures of several cars passing, while changing the shutter speeds. Note your settings for each shot, so you can compare each image to your notes. Following your subjects in this way is known as "panning." Now, set your shutter speed as low as you can - I'd suggest around 1/30, remembering to set the aperture as high as you can for the light. Repeat the above panning motion to keep the car in the viewfinder. Take lots more pictures, remembering to keep turning yourself at the waist as the cars goes by.

6th Grade

Answer the 6th Grade Quiz

1. High shutter speeds like 1/500th to 1/2000th create a _______ motion image.


blur

slow

stop

none of the above




2. Slower shutter speeds like 1/15th, 1/4th or whole seconds create a _______ image near the subject.


blur

slow

stop

none of the above




3. Following a moving subject is known as ________.


following

circling

panning

none of the above

First things first, practice what has been learned in this lesson. If you passed this section, great - you can move on to the next lesson. If you failed (80% or less) that's ok, you can retake the quiz whenever you like.

Middle School 7th Grade - Rule of Thirds

The most used lesson in artistic composition is the rule of thirds. While there are lots of ways to compose pictures, this short cut always makes an image more interesting than most where the subject is dead center. If you're shooting a close up of a person's face or other object, putting it in the center is the thing to do. But, if you have a picture with a person in the center and lots of scenery around him or her - well, it could be improved.
When taking images of scenery, divide it into thirds wherever possible. For example, when taking an image of a lake, mountains and sky, try to compose the shot into one third - lake, one third - mountains and the final third - sky.
Exercise: Take a piece of paper and draw two horizontal lines dividing the paper into thirds. Now draw two vertical lines again diving the paper into thirds. Note the four places where lines intersect each other. Now go take a picture of anything - placing the main subject at one of those four positions one third of the way from the top or bottom and one third of the way from the side. In fact, try placing the same subject at all four intersection positions. Take a look at the pictures.

7th Grade

Answer the 7th Grade Quiz

1. The most used technique in artistic composition is the rule of _______.


thumb

thirds




2. When shooting scenes such as a lake, try to get the mountains and sky into equal thirds too.


True

False

First things first, practice what has been learned in this lesson. If you passed this section, great - you can move on to the next lesson. If you failed (80% or less) that's ok, you can retake the quiz whenever you like.

Middle School 8th Grade - Diagonals

A nice dynamic method of composing a photo is to have a diagonal line running through he photo, from corner to corner or from 1/3 down from the top to 1/3 up from the bottom. The line could be a street, a fence rail, a road or a shoreline. Anything which creates a line or division in the picture. Whether the line rises or falls creates different feelings about the photo. Typically, for english speaking people and others with "left to right" direction of writing, if an line descends into the picture from top left to bottom right it appears to be entering the picture. If the line rises from bottom left to top right, it appears to be leaving the picture. You can use those concepts to create specific feelings in your picture. Such as, a person standing beside a lake shore - if the line descends, it would suggest the person is entering the picture and thus would be, perhaps, happier and more inclusive. If the line is rising it would suggest the person is leaving and is thus more distant and removed. Exercise: find a location where you can use a line to run diagonally through a picture. Take two pictures, one with the line descending into the picture from the left, and the other rising to right.

8th Grade

Answer the 8th Grade Quiz

1. A good rule of composition is the use of _______lines.


dotted lines

diagonal lines




2. A diagonal line entering an image usually begins in the _______ and ends in the_______.


bottom left, top right

top left, bottom right




3. A diagonal line leaving an image usually begins in the _______ and ends in the_______.


bottom left, top right

top left, bottom right

First things first, practice what has been learned in this lesson. If you passed this section, great - you can move on to the next lesson. If you failed (80% or less) that's ok, you can retake the quiz whenever you like.

Middle School 9th Grade - S curves

Another dynamic composition tool is to include a "S" curve. As the name suggests, a major element of the composition would be an object such as a stream, path, railing, or other curved object that creates an "S." If the S is right facing and starts in the lower left corner and exits the upper right corner - the feeling for most english speaking people is that the picture is moving away from the viewer. If the "S" is reversed, and starts in the upper left corner coming down to the lower right, the picture seems to be coming towards the viewer. This effect is from, I believe, learning to read left to right. Exercise: Go out and find an S Curve to photograph. Explore right facing and left facing curves and see how they feel to you.

9th Grade

Answer the 9th Grade Quiz

1. A good rule of composition is the use of _______ curves.


c curves

s curves




2. An S curve entering an image usually begins in the _______ and ends in the_______. But not always.


bottom left, top right

top left, bottom right




3. An S curve leaving an image usually begins in the _______ and ends in the_______. But not always.


bottom left, top right

top left, bottom right

First things first, practice what has been learned in this lesson. If you passed this section, great - you can move on to the next lesson. If you failed (80% or less) that's ok, you can retake the quiz whenever you like.

High School 10th Grade - Balance

There are a number of way to create balance in photographs. For example, having equal size subjects on either side of your photography - it's called symmetry. This creates a static, solid look with little or no movement. The second is to place dissimilar size objects on either side, but to use the center of the photo as a balance point in an asymmetrical composition. Just like an adult and a child on a teeter-toter, the adult has to be much closer to the center balance point for the child not to be held way up in the air the whole time. If you have a grouping of objects on one side, you'll need something further out on the other side to create balance. An asymmetrical composition creates a sense of movement and action, even if the subject is a stone.Exercise - collect a bunch of rocks, some similar size and some dissimilar. On the sidewalk or other handy surface, try creating several symmetric and asymmetric compositions, taking pictures of each.This exercise is based on exercises in Drawing on the Artist Within, which is on the upper right corner of this page. This is an excellent book for learning about creating art - the basics are taught through drawing but are applicable to all art forms and just learning to be creative. I highly recommend it.

10th Grade

Answer the 10th Grade Quiz

1. Having similar size subjects on either side of an image is called _________ composition.


equal

asymmetrical

symmetrical

balanced




2. Symmetrical composition creates a ________ appearance.


flowing

action

balanced

static




3. Dissimilar sized subjects on either side of an image is called ________ composition.


asymmetrical

symmetrical

imbalanced

balanced




4. Asymmetrical composition creates a ________ appearance.


static

balanced

action

imbalanced

First things first, practice what has been learned in this lesson. If you passed this section, great - you can move on to the next lesson. If you failed (80% or less) that's ok, you can retake the quiz whenever you like.

High School 11th Grade - Positive & Negative Space

Positive and negative space. The primary subject of your photo, an animal, structure, your significant other, whatever, is the "positive space." Negative space is everything - other than your primary subject. Most people don't see those weird faces in a crowd of friends or family until after the photograph is taken. Basically, photographers often see the subject clearly, but don't see what's happening in the negative space until later examination. Here's your exercise: take pictures of three different subjects outside. Choose something that interests you and it doesn't what it is. While taking the picture, don't be concerned with the subject, pay attention to the negative space, what is near or behind your subject. Use the negative space to compose the photograph. If you don't like the background, move around until it is more pleasing. Experiment until you have found the correct angle and lighting.

11th Grade

Answer the 11th Grade Quiz

1. The primary subject of an image is call the ________ space.


negative

positive

minimal

none of the above




2. ________ space is everything other than your positive space.


Negative

Positive

Minimal

none of the above

First things first, practice what has been learned in this lesson. If you passed this section, great - you can move on to the next lesson. If you failed (80% or less) that's ok, you can retake the quiz whenever you like.