An Introduction to Digital Photography

Digital photography can be a blast to teach, but it also comes with a lot of challenges. You might not have cameras or the proper technology for all of your students. You likely have some students that are great with a DSLR and others that have never seen one before. It’s also very possible that you’re being asked to teaching photography, when you yourself have never taken a photo class. That’s one of the tough parts about being an art teacher, while you know how to teach, and have a solid background in art, that doesn’t mean that you have a solid background in EVERY art form and medium.

When I first started teaching photography, I’d only taken one film photography class in college. It was through a lot of learning, asking questions, and trying that I become comfortable teaching my students. Each year I made adjustments, added new lessons, taught skills in a different way, and over 10+ years I’ve acquired a bit pile of lessons.

Most recently I’ve been teaching a class where students bring their own cameras. The plus side is that students are learning on a camera that they can take home and work with, the down side is so many different cameras with settings in so many different places, so this year I decided to try some methods of flipping and it was a game changer. This course was made of video, so that I could walk around the room and help, student discovery, group collaboration, and choice, and I must admit, I had a blast teaching, the students learned a lot, had fun, and walked away with a lot of great photos.

You can grab the entire unit ( videos included) below.