Reference material for teenagers

[purplehaze]

My 14-year old niece has appropriated my old D90 from her mom (with kit 18-120 lens) and, as I owe her a birthday gift, I was wondering if anyone knew of any good resources designed for a youth audience. She is a reader, but I fear everything in my library is a little too heavy for her needs and attention span right now. I got her started using the auto features a couple of weeks ago, but would like to get her launched on manual or semi-manual before she goes back home at the end of the summer and give her something to chew on over the winter. She is quite artistic and I think capable of doing great things with that camera, with the right instruction.

[William W]

. . . She is a reader, but I fear everything in my library is a little too heavy for her needs and attention span right now. I got her started using the auto features a couple of weeks ago, but would like to get her launched on manual or semi-manual before she goes back home at the end of the summer and give her something to chew on over the winter. She is quite artistic and I think capable of doing great things with that camera, with the right instruction.

I'm assuming a bit - but - she's living with you or close by now and will leave in the next few weeks to go 'home'?

If so -

My advice is not to 'fear' anything, that's sort of making choice or a limit for her.

Take the opportunity to Mentor her now and introduce her to your library, let her fossick though it.

I had a 15 year old borrow my Time Life Photography Series and my Kodak Professional Manuals - she loved reading them. She was the type of learner who benefitted by having a sense of story, development and history to Photography - and she took many COMPOSITIONAL ideas away from the Time Life Collection just by studying the Photographs.

Also, most kids are web oriented - point her to the Tutorials here at CiC. I do for my Students.

If she finds something that she particularly latches onto in your library, then you have you answer. If not then there are other options which are Photography related - if she has the interest in something particular you will see it soon.

WW

[purplehaze]

My advice is not to 'fear' anything, that's sort of making choice or a limit for her.

That's a great point, William. Thank you for that.

However, she is spending the summer at the lake and chances are slim that she will have an opportunity to browse my library (she lives two Canadian provinces away). I will for sure point her to CiC for this winter, but her access to wifi at the lake is limited. I do have one book that I think might be of particular interest to her and that is The Practice of Contemplative Photography. It has exercises for seeing with fresh eyes and sample images that we can dissect together to determine how they were made. I am going down there to join her for a couple of weeks and I am hoping that we can do a bit of photography together every day.

[Shadowman]

Nothing beats a field guide, gives a little bit more than you get from a manual.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/0470449926/...l_18ruapyibw_e

[William W]

Hi Janis,

The thrust of my advice was to take a step back for a few weeks (or whatever time that you have) and let her fly by herself, with your stimulation and guidance: but mostly take this time to OBSERVE her.

With absolutely all good intentions from yourself and no criticism by me: but your Post #1 indicates your prescriptive point of view - "but would like to get her launched on manual or semi-manual before she goes back home".

My point is if YOU become too focused on that particular outcome, by that particular time frame, you might not see, (for example), that your Niece is learning a truckload about Composition or the Design of the Image Palate, whilst she is still using Auto Mode. . . and for now topics such as the Exposure Triangle; Depth of Field; (both related to using more sophisticated Camera Modes) will be mostly irrelevant to her learning and progress . . . at this point in time.

WW

[William W]

Great suggestion John . . . I don't know that particular one but the ones I have read are 1000% more enjoyable than the Camera's User Manual and they stimulate ideas too.

WW

[purplehaze]

your Post #1 indicates your prescriptive point of view[/i]

It is not for naught that you are a teacher, William. I appreciate your pointing that out and will take your counsel to heart. I guess where I am coming from is that she already has a ton of experience shooting with her phone and with the compact camera that her family took with them on their 8-month tour of SE Asia and Europe last year. I assumed she had picked up the DSLR I had given her mom because she intuited that it could do something more than what either of those cameras can, but I will try to erase all my assumptions and do as you say: observe and follow her lead.

John, thanks for your suggestion. The field guide you pointed to looks more inviting than the Magic Lantern one I have, but maybe I will start by giving her the latter and see what she does with it.

[tao2]

Hi Janis,

while ah understand that wi-fi may be difficult tae access for your neice during the summer; ah'd recommend the V+A, - History of Photography.It has a strong emphasis on women in photography, especially in the youthful,early period.

An absolutely superb source of imformation, both practical and aesthetic. Ah've seen several exhibitions and visited the museum often.

As we speak, the new V+A is being built in my hometown (Dundee), really looking forward tae the opening.

[IzzieK]

Janis...wonderful to have a photographic companion about. I will be in the same boat as you are now with my DIL when I give her my D300s...she is also an iphone photographer so I will be benefitting from this post...especially with William's advice as my purpose is also for her to go straight to manual before I leave for home...Wrong...looking forward to your experience...wish you could ask her to join CiC too for further instructions from us here...

[Chris]

I have had my D90 for years but when I first started, you tube was a great resource from the basics of iso aperture etc through to using manual.

[purplehaze]

Boab (how's my accent?), thank you so much for the wonderful link! Hours of entertainment for my niece and me both!

Izzie, I will let you know how things go. My niece may be too shy to actively contribute to CiC, but I will definitely encourage her to do so, as you all have so much more to share with her than I do, and are wonderful nurturers.

Thanks for the suggestion, Chris. It just occurred to me that I could point her to the lynda.com shorts you can view for free on YouTube. No doubt there are many such videos from other sources as well.

[Donald]

while ah understand that wi-fi may be difficult tae access for your neice during the summer; ah'd recommend the V+A, - History of Photography.

What an amazing resource. Thanks, Boab. Never knew about it.

Now bookmarked.

[William W]

What an amazing resource. Thanks, Boab. Never knew about it. Now bookmarked.

Ditto. Thank you, Boab. I have also passed on the link to my two Students. Excellent stuff.

WW

[rpcrowe]

Here is a bare bones PDF file which will allow you to insert your own images as examples. That, IMO, is a great idea and would personalize this booklet for your niece...

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/consu...es/picTake.pdf

The booklet covers most of the general information which, if followed, should bring any new photographer's work up to par.

Here is the table of contents which covers some of the basic information needed without a great amount of reading required.

Steady Camera = Sharp Pictures.......................................... .............................................. 4
Optional Exercise.......................................... .................................................. ............ 6
Rule of Thirds .................................................. .................................................. ............... 7
Level Horizon........................................... .................................................. ...................... 8
Fill the Frame .................................................. .................................................. ............... 9
Optional Exercise.......................................... .................................................. .......... 13
Framing .................................................. .................................................. ...................... 14
Optional Exercise.......................................... .................................................. .......... 16
Lighting.......................................... .................................................. ............................... 17
Frontlighting..................................... .................................................. ....................... 17
Sidelighting .................................................. .................................................. ........... 18
Backlighting .................................................. .................................................. .......... 19
Flat Light .................................................. .................................................. ............... 20
Point of View .................................................. .................................................. .............. 23
Leading Lines .................................................. .................................................. ............. 25
Flash .................................................. .................................................. ........................... 26
More Information .................................................. .................................................. ....... 30

You could insert your own images, print out the booklet and then have it bound for a dollar or two at a local Kinkos or other copy shop. The fact that YOUR pictures are the images in this booklet "might" make the information more interesting for the user.

In the "More Information" section, you could add anything such as images of the camera showing the pertinent controls.

Good luck to your niece! Digital format is wonderful for a young, new photographer. As a teenager, I never had enough money to buy large amounts of film and have it processed AND having a home darkroom was completely out of the question!

[purplehaze]

Fabulous, Richard! I think it fits the bill perfectly. Can't thank you enough!

[purplehaze]

I shared your pdf with the niece, Richard, and she found it very helpful, so thanks again. She has hardly put the camera down in the last two days, and shot more than 400 frames this afternoon and I don't know how many tonight. I think we have an addict in the making.

[jcuknz]

....and shot more than 400 frames this afternoon and I don't know how many tonight. .

I find this rather disturbing since when I was learning I made one exposure, developed the negative before taking another shot. There were financial restraints in my case ... three pound went much further in the fifties than today ... but it was one pound rent, one pound to live on and one pound materials.

I like the freedom of digital to shoot alternatives for free but is much really learnt in the process. And how much thought went into assessing frame one before frame two was clicked etc .... since we frequently read that little can be assessed from the LCD on the back of the camera .... how much time was spent in editing ... more than just downloading to the computer so the camera card can be re-used.

Altogether a quite horrific situation IMO ... sorry

[Donald]

I find this rather disturbing since when I was learning I made one exposure, developed the negative before taking another shot.

I take the point, but there are different things to learn and different ways of learning.

It struck me, from what Janis has written, that this young person is very much at the starting gate. She just needs to get a camera in her hands and start getting a feel for it. There is absolutely no doubt that the time needs to come (and probably sooner rather than later) when she needs to be guided towards slowing down and thinking more about what she's doing. But for now I don't think you'd want to dampen enthusiasm. Let her run free. The time for reigning in and taking it to the next level will come soon enough.

[William W]

. . . and shot more than 400 frames this afternoon and I don't know how many tonight. I think we have an addict in the making.

Excellent way of learning, dependent mainly upon:
> what she shot and how many different shots that she made of the one scene

> how she interrogates and uses all the information available to her AT THE TIME OF SHOOTING as well as afterwards.

This methodology can leverage three exceptionally valuable assets of the Digital Medium as opposed to the beginner's learning techniques that might have been employed using the Film Medium:

1. excessively low cost enabling many samples of nuance to be captured and investigated for COMPARATIVE LEARNING.

2. INSTANT REVIEW, whilst the mind is still hot on task

3. data (EXIF) AUTOMATICALLY RECORDED and ATTRIBUTED to each shot and also ACCESSIBLE immediately, no need to waste time scribing in a shot diary in long-hand

WW

[James G]

This is really off thread, but have to agree with William and Donald's take regarding this young lady's exploration of photography.

I'm not a teacher, but I my father was and I remember very clearly that he encouraged me to be inquisitive, enquire, and explore things that had caught my interest. I'm grateful that he preferred to encourage my excitement and curiosity.
I did discuss this with him in later life, and he explained that for him it had been simple since there does come a point where the discipline of learning comes in, but this does happen naturally, whereas introducing the discipline/proper way too early is much more likely to stop further progress.

I from Janis's update about the very obvious enthusiasm her niece is showing, it is more than likely that photography is going to 'stick' but even if the interest fades, she will move on to explore new things with same enthusiasm, but is unlikely to have become disillusioned or disappointed with photography.