12 suggestions on cultivating children's interest in photography

Dear friends who love photography, especially parents who are already children, have you ever thought about making your children interested in photography in the future, or even training them to become photographers? If children at home can also be interested in photography, it will be a very pleasant thing to make photography a common topic for parents and children and promote interaction and emotional exchange. If you really think so, try the following suggestions and see if it helps. ?

1. Don't be like Xiaoyu's father in Cherry Maruko …

Friends who have seen "Cherry Maruko" must have an impression on Xiaoyu's father, Mr. Sui Bo, who loves taking pictures. Xiaoyu's father is crazy about taking pictures. Although he wants to leave a good memory record for his family, his crazy behavior often bothers Xiaoyu and Xiaoyu. Under such circumstances … do you think Xiaoyu will like photography? (I'm afraid of more shadows ...) So, if you want your children or relatives to be interested in photography, the first thing to do is not to do something that will make them feel disgusted with photography and leave a good impression.

▲ Xiaoyu's fate with photography may be buried in his father's hands.

2. enlighten slowly, don't be impatient

For children's education, the most taboo seems to be impatience. No matter what talent, if parents are eager for success, there will inevitably be persecution, which is very easy to cause children's resentment and even rebellion. The knowledge and skills related to photography are complex. If you give your child too much at once, it will be difficult for him to digest, which will only reduce his interest and enthusiasm. Maybe at the beginning, children should be interested in "taking pictures". After arousing their interest, they will naturally want to know more about knowledge and skills, and then they can teach him one by one slowly.

▲ Children who find it interesting will naturally drive curiosity about the camera.

3. Start shooting from familiar topics in life.

When children start to pick up the camera, they can be encouraged to take photos of other family members from their daily lives and guide them to capture some pictures, such as when their mother cooks, when their father watches TV, and when their brother plays with building blocks. They can also be asked to take pictures of their rooms, homes and nearby streets from different angles.

4. Practice expressing your own shooting ideas

Thinking before and after pressing the shutter is a very important link in photography. When children take pictures, adults can ask them why they want to take pictures and let them talk about their ideas, whether in writing or in writing. Through such exchanges and children's pictures, parents can understand their children's perspective of observing the world, and perhaps they can also perceive their psychological state more deeply. At the same time, it is also a way to exercise children's expressive ability.

Before pressing the shutter, jump off the camera and exercise your composition thinking.

The convenience of digital images often leads some photographers to lack enough thinking before pressing the shutter, but for children, it seems that they are more susceptible to the influence of digital cameras in this respect. I remember wasting a negative when I was a child because it was broken, but for children who have more contact with digital cameras now, "shoot if it is broken, delete if it is broken" has become a matter of course, and it seems that you don't need to think much before pressing the shutter.

However, this kind of photography is not a good habit, which seems to be even more detrimental to the cultivation of children's composition ability. Lacy Austin of the International Center of Photography in new york often suggests that beginners can use cardboard as a "viewfinder" to practice composition simply instead of holding the camera all the time. Hu, a senior photographer in China, also wrote in the book "60 exercises before pressing the shutter": "Although walking does not take pictures, hands are a good tool. You can always use your thumb and forefinger to form a square frame to practice framing. " This is also a good idea.

6. Design photography themes for them and create photo opportunities.

For some children, sometimes it takes some special opportunities to pick up the camera, especially younger children, who are unlikely to think about a shooting theme and act on their own. At this time, parents may need to give advice or guidance. To arouse children's enthusiasm, parents' friends can think of some photography topics, invite children to discuss the shooting direction together, and then do it.

▲ When going out, they can also practice shooting with their mobile phones.

7. Practice choosing and appreciating photography.

Taking a bunch of photos with children outside, sorting and selecting after returning home is also a very important link. The advantage of digital photography is that you can browse the images directly after each shot, without waiting for the photos to be developed, although it also causes a lot of photos to be taken every time. Browse with children and let them evaluate their photos. If they feel good, where is it? If they feel bad, where and how to improve. Take this opportunity to review your shooting skills. For older children, you can also try to let them choose photos with a series of concepts to present the information they want to express.

8. Encourage more and replace criticism with suggestions.

In the process of interacting with children, try to give priority to encouragement. Whether taking photos with him, expressing ideas or choosing photos, please don't forget to praise him, so that they can get a sense of accomplishment from these studies, which is also an important key to drive them to further study and explore. Of course, when you feel that his performance is not ideal, the captured picture needs to be improved, and the posture is not equal, try to avoid direct criticism and negation, and you can propose ways to correct it. "That's great, but do you think that would be better?" When they don't accept your suggestion, maybe they don't have to be too impatient. Maybe after a while, they will find their own shortcomings, come back or correct their own operations.

9. Use a negative camera as a child's practice machine.

As mentioned in the current composition exercise, many people have developed the bad habit of pressing the shutter without thinking because of the convenience of digital images. If you want to prevent your child from forming this habit, you can try to let him shoot with a traditional camera. Because it is a negative film, you can't delete regrets at will after shooting, forcing children to think more before pressing the shutter.

▲ When you think your child has a certain photographic ability, you can consider giving him a small LOMO camera as a reward.

10. Take your children to some photo contests or activities.

A person's enthusiasm for photography can make people move, and the enthusiasm of a group of people may make people boil, and such strong enthusiasm is often best reflected in some large-scale photography competitions. Taking children to feel "the blood of a group of people" and integrating into the atmosphere of serious competition may increase his interest in photography. Not only that, the topics in large-scale photography competitions are an excellent opportunity for children to exercise their brains. If parents and children can complete the shooting of the competition works together, they can also enhance their feelings.

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After the child has been in contact with the camera for a period of time, he may have begun to ask you many strange questions himself, and he can enter the simple teaching stage. For photography, the most basic theoretical course is the setting of three basic photographic parameters: aperture, shutter and ISO. You can think of some interesting ways to compare the relationship between the three, and show them how to operate in combination with the actual shooting effect, leaving a deeper impression.

▲ For the teaching of some technical concepts and skills, you can slowly deepen in the usual photography interaction process and observe the children's acceptance.

12. Let children feel the happiness brought by photography.

If you want people around you to be interested in photography, the most important thing is to let them feel the happiness it brings you. Therefore, you must first learn to enjoy. Whether it is learning photography skills, pursuing beautiful scenery, capturing beautiful moments of life and so on. If you can smile from the heart and really smile because of the dribs and drabs of photography, children will naturally be curious about it.

"Dad (Mom), why are you so happy every time you take a photo?"

"Because dad (mom) can capture so many beautiful pictures with the camera and collect them, I feel very happy!"

"Really? Then I also want to learn photography. I want to be as happy as my father (mother)! "

Many bloody and inspirational stories seem to have this kind of dialogue, right?