How do you teach photography to novices?

Know what it is that you have a passion for whether it's portraits, nature, fashion, etc. and start capturing images of those things you enjoy. Don't try and jump on the band wagon and follow what everyone else is doing. I always like to say that it's not about how expensive your equipment is, it's about how you use the equipment and the eye that you have.

Learn the difference between I-was-there-photos and storytelling photos. If a photo tells a story, the viewer is going to be more interested. Use light, composition and timing to create a compelling image.

Stick to the basics, make it fun. Encourage outside the box thinking. The world behind a lens is your world. find a passion, maybe its sunrises, maybe its sunsets and improve your skill. Some people may choose to capture nature, others may chose portraits. The important part is finding what you enjoy and capturing it. The nuts and bolts acn follow later on to help hone your craftand improve your skills. So for now let the novices be novices and point click and shoot, then go from there.

Tell them they have one frame left and the asteroid is landing in five minutes, you have to make it count! Then spin them around and force them to shoot on a 28mm prime for a week. If they are still keen they can proceed to level two..

First of all, never shame a beginner for shooting jpg. I was told when I started out "you need to shoot raw and in manual mode". I say, nope! Learn the basics about light and composition. It doesn't matter if you shoot raw or jpg at first. When you have a better understanding of light and compostion, that's when you can start playing around with manual mode. I teach rule of thirds and how to use the existing light before anything else. When you know these rules, you can start breaking them. Raw format is for editing purposes and that's a different story. Like someone mentioned, photography should be fun, creative and exciting not about technical jargons. The technical part developes with experience and understanding the basics.

What I've done in the classroom is teach the three settings (aperture, shutter speed, and ISO) what they control and their "side-effects" one at a time. After each one experiment with images only adjusting one of the settings. Eventually combining them to create your intended image. Then I teach composition with the perspective of these are the "rules"... learn them, identify them, and break them whenever necessary!

The technical side of photography is rather pedestrian and the technical information can be acquired from a plethora of sources. It’s the technical proficiency that allows one to accurately portray the emotion one feels when the architecture of the image comes to an equilibrium. If you’re a technical photographer most often the image lacks emotion, if you’re an emotional photographer then it becomes difficult to reproduce your style in different situations. A formal education is the best course of action, there are no shortcuts to greatness.

Nearly all cameras give you the basic metadata settings, including camera phones, so you can deconstruct the settings when you look at the images. Not too many phone apps allow one to change the settings, other than perhaps basic brightness, but don't make it a big deal. The main thing is to have fun and challenge people to get out of their comfort zones and play with their cameras.

It’s really all about light. You’re painting the sensor with it. Learn to see where good light is and where the shadows fall. Find the right balance and the photo will always be more interesting. Once you train your eyes to see that way and understand how the camera settings can give you the look you want.

I think it's important to find an interest and start there to learn how to make good pictures of that subject. I also think it's not about as much about camera operation, but learning about what makes a good photograph. This is a start....

Understanding light, composition and color science… in that order. Easy to grasp, but takes a lifetime to fully learn. Best advice I’ve ever got.

It was helpful for me, as a novice, to get a good grasp on the basics of how a camera works. A big step forward was experimenting with time lapse, so I could watch light emerge in and see how different the camera sees light than we do. Once my head was wrapped around all that, I found a few photographers, who’s work I liked and tested recreating their style. This experimentation further developed my understanding of light, composition and depth and how that shifts the story. I think it’s most important for a novice to have an idea of the kind of stories they want to tell. What is the why behind using photography as an artist tool? Or perhaps it’s more scientific and informational gathering. Good “why” conversations are so valuable.

I start each semester with a syllabus containing 10-15 assignments designed for the novice to gain compositional, artistic and technical experience. The first assignment is the Visual Diary where each student shoots 2-3 rolls of film and selects their own soundtrack that we then project with the music and this way each student introduces their work, their lives and interests. This is a great icebreaker as it frees students to start visually thinking and all assignments are process based meaning that I never impose that my students create masterpieces but instead through my creative assignments, they slowly start to think visually and through this context and the exhibition aspect of sharing work we then move into a dialogue based critique.

Use resources like Pinterest and Instagram to collect different styles and techniques. Photography books are useful to. They’re an interesting place to start thinking about how to tell stories or work through concepts through the medium of photography.

Try having them use the same subject and photographing it in different styles. By changing the lighting, angles and settings on your camera you can change how the subject is viewed. When photographing a scene, capture or make up a story and try to capture it all in one photo or a series of photos.

Avoid rules.. Let them make mistakes, and over time those ‘mistakes’ will be repeatable, and eventually transcend into a style, which will be uniquely theirs..

Once they have the basics down, I think it is a good exercise to have everyone show their ‘mistake’ photos and then go over what they learned in the process. A mistake is a step towards learning a skill. Getting past the fear of messing up is a lifelong process. Class work that shows mistakes, assignments to repeat attempts, and creative experimentation from the mistakes are important to build resilience when it comes to creative pursuits.

Using social media to share quizzes is a fun way to connect with photographers who want to learn more about photography. It's a good idea to have some multiple choice questions that can be graded so they can see how much they've learned. I also recommend adding a "what are you working on" post and then sharing the answers to increase interaction.

Photography is a fun activity for those who are passionate about it but can look a little complex for a beginner. Teaching it in a fun, practical and interactive way will surely help the learning process.

Mix it up and have students self critique and anonymously critique each others images in a way that is constructive. Initially perhaps to encourage constructive criticism have them sit in on some critiques of images poorly exposed by others not in the classroom (maybe even your own images). Give them a list of words to use in order to constructively critique. Provide them with examples of good critiques vs. bad critiques.

Please stop using jargon all the time! It may sound silly to say the camera is blinking to you as a seasoned photographer, but interchanging aperture and f/stop for a beginner is very confusing. Also saying terms like "fast lens" doesn't make sense to a novice photographer. Using fancy jargon to sound smart pushes away new photographers who are too shy to ask questions. If you say jargon, please explain what the term means for beginner courses. Content should be easily understood by a small child. Even Einstein said, "If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself."

Keep things simple. Over compensation leads to poor results. Composition, lighting and experimenting with camera settings. Enjoy and have fun with every outing.

Learning photography can be challenging due to its technicalities and specific jargon. To help beginners and students understand the concepts better, it is essential to start with layman's terms. Additionally, since most learners are visual people, diagrams and photos can be used to explain complex concepts like the exposure triangle and the rules of composition. After all, photography is a visual process.

??ADULTS need to hear this too! ??About that f/stop ??Darkness = Big circle (eye pupil gets large) ??Brightness = little circle (eye pupil gets small) Now that's how I like to learn. Kiss.?? (keep it simple ...well, you know the rest)

I avoid jargon where possible keeping things clear and simple. Visual aids are essential. I have a white board and even a flip chart for illustrating concepts along with Keynote slides. All the time discussing with the participants the images they like or want to create. Questions and interactions are encouraged for the benefit of all.

In my experience, we should work on developing the art of "analyzing the images" instead of just scrolling past them on social media. Analyzing our work as well as that of other photographers can help to understand fundamentals and also develop visualization skills. I have observed that classroom exercises such as photo analysis and presentation have helped the students to go deeper into understanding the techniques and context of the picture and also contribute to their in-class presentation skills.

I discuss with my students how I've adapted aspects of wedding and photojournalism in the early days of my own photography of children and families. I also discuss how the Impressionists' works have impacted how I view people within scenes and how that translates to my finished photography works. I also often speak of how going to the art museums in any city I visit and how it is imperative for my continued growth and development of vision. I discuss my enjoyment of looking at social media images captured by others to gain inspiration for differing perspectives and get ahead of trends. All these moves are vital for myself to continue to grow as a photographer for my own work and also because it feeds my soul.

Photography is a creative platform. Looking through the history of photography, magazines, and the age of social media, photography is everywhere and can inspire people to create fantastic work. Of course, spending time analyzing and understanding how to achieve and create the shot is paramount. My favorite inspirations are looking at exhibitions in museums (photography or painting, sculptures, and other media). The showcased works are curated and inspirational. Also, looking through the works of the photography legends and understanding why the photos are successful. Motivating by trying to recreate the photos that resonate with them or following the inspirations' approach and applying their own creative style or personal signature.

Don't copy what everyone else is teaching. Teach the basics and come up with fun projects that you design for your audience! They will have more fun with a specially designed project than a cookie cutter project they could find by searching the web.

Tools, equipment, kit, the tools of the trade. Whether these are Tripods or Flash heads, tripod heads, lenses, reflectors, light meters, adobe products, whatever. These are part of the picture too and need some introduction, some advice and some sensitivity so that students are not overwhelmed but informed and empowered

As a freelancer teacher I can clearly see that photography is changing, mostly novices think that they need advanced tools to take a good picture. But from my point of view a good photographer should provide best result within their equipment, either it's a phone or high end mirrorless. I think people mostly lack in composition, focus, light control and DOF. So good composition or basic good framing rules will encourage them a lot to change their style and get better photos. I believe showing endless possible frames is crucial, so they always can look differently. Basics are applied to every imaging device. the rest is light, vision and composition and knowing hardware limits. Be practical and show they can shoot well even with a phone.

Understand that photography & related skills can be improved without actively doing photography. Consuming photography related media, conversing with other artists, and “pretending your eye is a lens” get you more exposed to the medium and develop your technique and style outside of camera operation.

Focus on fundamentals. I found out that providing a hands on teaching experience helps students learn faster. Encourage students to shoot and experiment. Create an environment where it’s ok to make mistakes. I feel it is important to share work in a group setting and participate in critiques. This helps the student learn how to talk about their work as well as other’s work in a constructive manner. It is also important as a teacher to critique your students work by showing them what they did well, what they did incorrectly, and how to make their work better. What helps novice students the most is real life application and real time feedback.