Help! How to teach a 10 year old?

PaulF

PaulF

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Hi,

I would really appreciate any ideas on how I can teach my 10 year old son photography and still keep him interested and not bored.

Basically, he mentioned to me 10 minutes before he went to bed last night that he wanted to do photography :thumbs: I have asked him what it is he wants to take pictures of which he has initially said 'still life'.

Now, I have a P&S compact he can use, he's used it before, and can set up a shot for him of a glass or some flowers in the house but after the initial click where do I go from there, I'm no teacher :thumbsdown:

My thoughts were to get him to take a few shots from different angles with maybe different light and then see if he can edit them on the computer, that should keep him going. I think Photoshop may be a bit too complicated for him at the moment, what would you recommend, I did used to use Lightroom at one point, Lightroom 2 if I remember correctly so I could sort that out for him. Do you think a 10 year old would be ok with the interface on that? or I've got iPhoto on the Mac (photoshop is on the Windows box)

I'm not too sure of the manual capabilities of the P&S so I may be a bit limited in what he can experiment with, maybe I'll get him a bridge camera if he keeps his interest up, although knowing him he'll assume that my camera will become 'his' camera too...........

Any suggestions would be gratefully received.

Paul.
 
Take some photos together, show him how you edit yours, let him edit his. The compare and see where he would like to do it better. Rinse repeat.

Let him set up photos, his toys or whatever, then look at different ways of doing it, use some desk lamps as lighting and let him take pics with it in different places to show him how light works.

As for Lightoom, show him the basics and leave him to play, I teach ICT and it is amazing how quickly 11 year olds can pick up new pieces of software when given the basics and time to play.

Just dont think you are a failure or be disappointed if he gets fed up and decides he doesn't want to do it any more.
 
My own feeling would be avoid photoshop etc, get him to just play with angles and light. Why avoid processing? my opinion is that it can make you "lazy" "if the photo ain't brilliant I can always photoshop it"
 
my little lad (10 also) asked me the same... but he already had in mind what he wanted to do. He wanted to do a time lapse of his lego men, so i set him up on a tripod and he was away in seconds. he created about a 150 shot time lapse that he is very proud of now.

he's not hooked yet, but he has a dabble now and again and is keen to see his work on the screen and even more excited to see it printed out. As far as editing is concerned - we've not even touched on that yet, but i'd probably show him the basic stuff on picassa.
 
We all learn differently, but I would say he needs to work things out for himself for them to stick in his mind. He needs to make mistakes and learn from them.

So instead of setting it all up, let him do that (or assist in a minimal way). He'll soon learn how things need to be to get the shot that he wants. Don't forget, he may have a different style to you, so you setting things up the way you like them, might not benefit him.

I agree with others on Photoshop and editing, there is no need at this stage. He needs to get to grips with light and angles - all of which can be done perfectly well on a P&S with no post editing.

Keeping him interested? I think you need to let him know that you are still interested in what he is doing/producing and if it was meant to be, it will be.
 
One question and one suggestion:

- what are his hobbies? incorporating an existing hobby could be a way in, eg if it's foota, then he might get excited about photographing games.

- maybe get out a few photography books from the library so that he can take time looking at some great examples for inspiration and food for though - after all, the world of photography contains many different genres.
 
Let him take pictures on a family day out or holiday, maybe make him the 'official photographer' on the day out.
 
I'm starting down this road with my daughter who is even younger. She'll be 9 in May but I'd like to get her in to Photography just so we have a bit of a common interest when we spend time together. I have no intentions of making it in to her favourite hobby or anything, I just want her to enjoy taking a photo like i do.

If the weather is nice I'm planning on taking her to Martin Mere Wildlife trust and giving her my spare D300 with a 28-300mm lens on it and I'll have a D300 with a 70-200mm. Primarily we'll just enjoy wandering round and seeing what birds and wildlife we can spot but I'll see if I can get her to think about how to take a photo of them. I'll teach her the very basics of composure and how to use the camera. I reckon the hardest part is going to be getting her half press the shutter to focus before firing.

Who knows, I might end up putting her off photography for life and I'll have to play with Barbie dolls with her instead.
 
I took a torch and a mug along to a class I run for 10 year olds. Once we had darkened the room down, they were amazed just how much you could change the shape and look of the mug and even more so when they saw some pictures (I had the camera tethered to a laptop so we could all see what the results were as we shot).
Further sessions have seen us setting up a few pictures as I am keen to point out how much can go into a still life, but sadly my group has 8 rather energetic kids, and the 6 lads often want to go and run around more than they want to set up a picture - however, with one on one you may stand a good chance of making progress, and I imagine he will have plenty of ideas for subjects so you will need to be the guiding hand.
Get him into editing so he can see just what can be done as well, as that is another aspect that may well see him all fired up.
And, good luck - hope it is fun for you both !
 
Hey Rob, that is going to be some weight around your 8 yr old's neck! Unless of course you carry it for her and then put it on a tripod when she see's something she'd like to take a picture of...
 
Thanks for all the replies, some good points raised :thumbs:

I will 'help' him set some shots up but I'll let him make the decisions with how to light them.

I like the time lapse idea, that would probably keep his interest once he's got the hang of the camera. The mug thing will be good too, he already wants to do a Coke glass so that would be good for him to play with.

Editing, the more I think about it the simpler would be better although as Carl say's he'll probably pick up the software very quickly, he did a presentation on the Mac the other week with very little instruction and he'd never used Open Office before!

Thanks again
Paul.
 
Give him a go with "daddy's proper camera", that'll get him more interested. Or buy him his own - a bridge camera with a decent zoom and manual control - even used, will get him interested.

Give him a play with long shutter speeds too - painting with light, light trails, as well as the above.

Get him editing too -cutting peoples heads off, photo stitching landscapes etc.

And also get some photos printed out for him, even framed.

You can always sign him up for a junior account on here too!
 
If you want a simple to use free editor try Photoscape.

Dave
 
I would say I was about that age when I got my first SLR, maybe a couple of years older but not much. I would let him learn by himself, maybe get him a book if you can find one which is at his level. Let him know you are there if he has any questions or needs any help.

H x
 
My step son took more of an interest when i got my first dslr. So i found my old sony dsc p & s and let him have that told him how much i paid for it (well it was a long time ago) He treats it like its the crown jewels. Most of the time his compost ion with Lego men and his f1 cars is better than mine. Ive let him have a go with my d60 and d90 now and he is pretty good. He mainly takes pics of his interests ie football and wildlife.
Looking at getting him a cheapish bridge something like the Fuji s5600 as we are off the Silverstone this year and going on our first family holiday to Spain. But i just let him click away put them up on the pc.

He also likes to look on here with me at photos taken and what sort of subjects people capture.
 
the way you teach all kids, chocolate buttons when they get it right, water spray when they get it wrong :D
 
If you don't have a second camera you want to trust him with, I'd suggest getting him something like a D40 or D70 ('it's like Dad's' - whereas a p&s is different) and let him get on with it. You'll quickly find out if it's a passing phase or something he really wants to do and learn more about. The worst that can happen is that you end up with a spare body for those rugged days when you don't want to take a chance with your decent model. The trouble comes when he wants your lenses!
 
Thanks again for the suggestions and encouragement.
Photoscape looks good for him so I'll probably set that up for him on a laptop.

I've no doubt he'll want to have a go with 'daddy's' camera and that won't be a problem under supervision but I would love it if he was happy and capable of setting the shots up for himself and just getting on with it while I'll be on hand to encourage and assist if needed, and throw in the odd project suggestion.

I agree with the general opinion of letting him 'find his way' with me helping when needed.

Think the printing of some of his pictures will really encourage him, he'll be able to take them into school etc, and my wife works for a reprographics (spelling?) company so that won't be a problem.

He's been ill for the last couple of days but hopefully we'll be having a go at the weekend.

Cheers
Paul.
 
or posting them on here under general photos. A few people may comment positive stuff and that may help
 
Hi Rob, You could lookout for some childrens photo competitions in your area. I know where I live our local council run a photo competition for children every year, they haven't got to be first class pictures just something a child would take, and it gets the kids interested. You could even ask in his school if they have anything going on. A friend of mine teaches photography in a few of our local schools and also youth clubs, it seems to be very popular with youngsters.

HTH

Graham
 
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my advice would be, give him the P+S let him take loads of pictures with that, start showing him some basic stuff on the slr and just take photos of everything and anything, just like when we learn to read we read everything when we learn to take photos we should take photos of everything, plenty of time to specialise when he comes to choosing his own slr and lenses!
Jack
 
PickleB said:
If you don't have a second camera you want to trust him with, I'd suggest getting him something like a D40 or D70 ...!
Click to expand...

Like this ...

2105.jpg


... or this ...

1168.jpg


... my cousin's grandkids having fun with my camera.
 
I would of thought it would be rather difficult to keep a 10 year old interested in anything other than running round going barmy. If this is the case just encourage him when he does show an interest and not hammer him when he doesn't.

Water spray is also a good idea.:thumbs:
 
Try logging onto BRickfilm and looking at what can be done with LEGO - it will probably work on a photography and a toy level - my kids have produced a number of short films using lego - "I can animate" is also a good piece of software for this - also school may be using these techniques
As for straight photography - take pics of what he likes and does - no point going on a walk and composing still life if its not something he is interested in
 
Blasted said:
I would of thought it would be rather difficult to keep a 10 year old interested in anything other than running round going barmy. If this is the case just encourage him when he does show an interest and not hammer him when he doesn't...
Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more about encouragement, not hammering etc ... but they can be quite serious and apply themselves when they're interested, but not necessarily for long periods. I gave a quick explanation to the youngsters pictured in my previous post and then left them to their own devices. It was grandma who was worried about the equipment ... I was impressed by the care they were taking trying to get the shot they wanted.
 
I have let my 5 year old girl loose with my old fuji a330, sometimes when she concentrates she frames some pretty good pictures but normally she rattles em off like a demon,costs a fortune in batteries !!


Note to self remember to buy some rechargeables and a charger :bonk:
 
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