Lesson Plans for Digital Stewardship: Photography

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Lesson Plan One
Title: Light Painting


Learning Objectives:
    • To learn how to control aperture in a limited setting
    • To experiment with composition and rule of thirds using simple lines made of light. This will allow you to think about what you would like to include in your images without worrying about details, object varieties, and color. 
Activity Plan:

    • Students will begin activity by placing cameras on tripods, and turning their shutter speeds to bulb setting. This will allow them to keep the aperture open for as long as they want. 
    • They will then turn off the lights, take out their flashlights, hold the shutter release down, and begin making images with their flashlights. They will have to experiment to figure out which f-stop (aperture opening) is best to capture their light paintings.  
    • After deciding on the aperture, they can then experiment with their flashlights to see what kind of images they can make focusing on composition. 
Essential Questions/Ideas to think about:
  • What types of light drawings can you make? One's with words? Shapes? Portraits? Abstractions?
  • What happens when you use a smaller flashlight? A larger one? A variety of sizes and brightnesses? 
  • What happens to your image when you have a higher f-stop? Lower f-stop?
  • How can you play with the rule of thirds and focal point to create captivating images?
  • What kinds of movements can you make? 
  • What happens when you move continuously? Start and stop? 
Age Group: Grades 7-9

Materials: DSLR cameras, tripods, flashlights

Lesson Plan Two

Title: Points of View 



Learning Objectives:
  • Learn what different kinds of vantage points exist through experimentation
  • Learn how different points of view affect your audience's perception of an object and what kinds of feelings can you convey
Activity Plan:
  • Bring students outside 
  • Have students experiment with bird's eye view, worm's view, eye level, angled shots, becoming the subject (as if photographer interacts with subject like photographer as painter with photo of act of painting), close ups, wide angles, and panning shots
  • Have students try to convey a particular feeling: loneliness, intimacy, wonder, fright, dizziness, excitement, calm, godliness, feeling small
  • Come back to classroom and have students show their work to each other- see what they were able to capture and the different perspectives everyone took. Talk about how each change of view affects the overall feeling of the image. 
Ideas to think about:
  • What types of vantage points can you take?
  • What happens to your object when you take a bird's eye view? Worm's view? 
  • What happens when you take a picture at eye level? What effect does this have on your subject? 
  • Can you purposefully convey a particular feeling using a point of view? Or do you realize the feeling you've captured after you've taken the photo?
Age Group: Grades 9-12

Materials: DSLR cameras

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