Lesson Plan for Photography Workshop June 20, 2009
Understand aperture, shutter speed, ISO (know how to set these on your camera, understand when to change these settings, be aware of auto ISO and when to turn it off; show how the camera meter can sometimes be fooled, and demonstrate how to use exposure compensation in aperture priority mode)
Depth of field (selective focus; demonstrate this in the field with different aperture settings)
White balance (daylight, overcast, shadow, tungsten; how to use a white balance card)
Use of a tripod (when to use and why it is important; why serious students should invest in a good tripod and ball head)
Importance of background (Tony Sweet says choose your background first and then find your subject; watch out for busy backgrounds, hotspots, black hole's, and extraneous elements entering the frame; there may be as little as an inch or less of camera repositioning to go from a distracting background to a pleasing, muted background)
Rules of composition (rule of thirds, and magic number three, simplification, visual separation, pattern, repetition, etc.)Use of a reflector (demonstrate this in the field)
Use of a reflector and diffuser (demonstrate this in the field; show how to use these with McStick, etc)
Demonstrate use of Phlamp, McStick, or equivalent on subjects
Macro (different methods to get close, macro setting on point and shoot cameras, extension tubes, magnifying filters; be sure to demonstrate the use of an extension on a wide angle lens)
Use of a polarizer (demonstrate why and when to use)
Rain and water droplets (a good time to shoot is in light rain or shortly after rain when colors are saturated; add moisture to subjects with a spray bottle)
Tabletop photography using a light tent, floodlights, and tripod
Soft focus (different methods of soft focusing)