Time to Teach

I saw a post; a mother searching for an Intro to How to Photograph Babies and Kids with a DSLR class. Oh, I can do that, I thought, and without thinking, posted back: If there's enough interest, I can put one together. Next thing I know, 10 moms are interested and here I am lesson planning. The first thing that comes to mind is that I've never taken any photography classes, and everything I know about taking pictures is self taught. I need to distill, select and organize what is most useful and easy for a hobby photographer to put into practice to improve his/her photos. Much of what I will say I probably have blabbed on about in my blog.

I'll start with the obvious basics, which are: What do all the little buttons and knobs on the camera do, and what do all the little numbers on the body and lens mean? The technical aspect.

Next, a discussion on light - as this is all natural light photography, I'll share how I find the best light in a given environment. Composition and creativity might be the hardest to teach, if one doesn't already have a critical eye. Presumably, people who have purchased a DSLR have done so because they see the qualitative difference between a point and shoot pic and a DSLR pic, and thus must be conscious of what makes one picture better than another. Then, somehow pull all info together to apply specifically to portraits of newborns, babies and little kids. Now... going through my archives for photos to illustrate points - such as what makes a good B&W photo?