Teach Art to Your Children v 2.9

Grab your kids. Grab your camera.

Today we picked up the DSLR and a copy of Vogue and headed to the living room. The change of scenery was good to stimulate the children's creativity. I had them look through the advertisements in the front of the magazine and spoke to them about the model poses and especially the light. We talked about where the light was hitting, whether it was diffused or harsh and why the photographers light this way.

Next, I had one child play the model and the other play the photographer. Positioning the children and teaching them how to work the camera's focus, they took turns moving our light closer and away from the model to mimic the vogue ads. We were shooting tethered to the laptop and the girls were very interested to see their shots as they came up. They were surprisingly good at this! The photos above are cropped by me...but straight out of the camera otherwise.

You don't need a fancy camera or studio lights for this lesson. Take your point and shoot or iPhone and talk to the children about composition. What do they see..look for everything in the viewfinder. Have them study pictures of you (or another sibling) taken in harsh sun and in the shade. Stand them next to a white or light colored building that the sun is shining on and have them watch how the building reflects light onto their faces..a natural reflector. Have fun with this and print them out some images to show their friends when they are done!

I am always happy to hear that people are following these lessons and sitting down with their children for some creative time. My daughter loves this every week.. if you have any stories to share about your time with children, drop me a line.