Photography 101

This week has been PINs week - this is where the students have a chance to sign up for a range of different activities with different teachers.  It's always an event that creates a huge amount of excitement in our kids.  PINs stands for Passions, Interests and Needs.  It is run for our year 1/2, year 3/4 and year 5/6 groups.  Lots of people get involved from learning assistants to DP's and Principals.  It's a fantastic event that always draws in a range of exciting activities and opportunities for the students.

Previously I've been running sessions around teaching gaming to students through Scratch.  But this time I decided to go to one of my other passions and ran a photography 101 session.  It was SUCH a great time.

We started in the class with a keynote presentation (see below) of a whole bunch of photos that I had taken that demonstrated basic elements of photography.  Concepts like viewpoints, considering your background, framing and the rule of thirds were all discussed while students had a chance to see examples of each one.  From here we talked a lot in pairs - recapping main ideas and deciding which concept we were going to experiment with next.

Next we spent 40 minutes exploring our playground.  We were on our stomachs, backs, climbing, jumping, underneath and above things all in the name of taking that interesting photo.  Students tried the same subject but from different angles and using different elements or trialling different focal lock points.

It was fantastic to hear kids using terms like focal lock, rule of thirds and reflecting on why their photo was great or not so great - then running off to make a change.

Finally, we came back to the class and hooked iPads and iPods up to the Apple TV through airplay and spent some time sharing photos.  I wish we had a lot more time to do this part of the session, as the room was buzzing and the students were keen to share their favourite photos.  This is definitely something to factor in for the next session.

Below is the presentation I created and used with the students prior to taking photos to show each of the concepts we were working on today.  It was a great way for them to see the difference these elements can make to their photographs.  I also created a sheet for students to use as a reference guide when taking photos and as a take away sheet of what was happening.  You can also access that sheet here - feel free to download and use in your class.
Both the presentation and the sheet are available under a Creative Commons licence - please no commercial use, attribute the work back to me and if you make modifications please attribute back to the original piece of work.  Click here for more information about this licence.

Enjoy!

Photography 101 from heymilly

Photography 101 by Amanda Signal is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

365ers to RSS

These are some NZ 365ers that you can follow if you are interested in seeing a year through their eyes!

Teachernz - http://teachernz.com/

Allanahk - http://allanahk.posterous.com/

Cheesy - http://summerland365photoaday.blogspot.com/

Chrissy - http://www.teachingsagittarian.com/photography/

Keamac - http://365kea.blogspot.com/

Barbs1 - http://barbspix.posterous.com/

Dragonsinger - http://kiwijoe365.blogspot.com/

Jane - http://daybydaybyjane.blogspot.com/

If you've got a 365 project happening please add it in the comment section!

365 Challenge

So, for the third year in a row I am going to attempt the 365 challenge. The basics of this is posting 1 photo a day, every day for a year. The logistics of it seem simple but I continuously seem to fall flat once the term gets going and I get enthralled in my class.

I have a couple of aims this year. One being to improve my photography skills and the second to really utilise my iPhone camera to find everyday occurrences to take photos of. Between these two aims I think this year I can do it. I'm finding that having a really good camera with me consistently is making this task much easier. I've been keeping up with the project365 app for over a month now, which is great!

As part of this challenge I've been playing around with lots of apps and websites that offer the versatility to help me complete this challenge.

The 365project app: a fantastic design that is simple and easy to use. If this app allowed for web commenting I would be sticking with it in a heartbeat. I love the web template that offers the photos in a calendar format with a lightbox window to view images larger. Here's my Project 365 site: heymilly.

Tumblr: this is another one that I would continue using but unfortunately it has one major drawback - it's inability to easily enable and leave comments. After research it seems I can use disqus to set up on my tumblr but after a bit of playing I still couldn't get it to work the way it was supposed to on my template. This is a pain as the tumblr iPhone app is easy to use, great layout and makes it simple. The same applies to the tumblr website. But alas - I would like feedback in this journey so at the moment that's a no go. Here's my tumblr site: heymilly.

Blogspot: has been my blog of choice for a while now. But unfortunately I can't seem to find a great iPhone app that is going to make this easy to happen. Any suggestions gladly accepted!

Posterous: this seems to be becoming the choice of app/website for a lot of 365ers but I'm a bit wary of signing up to more sites to post to. In saying that I'll be watching the growing posterous crowd to see how this goes.

And so... it takes me back to my original photosharing website...

Flickr: This seems to be the choice that I'm going with for now. I can upload via the web and my iPhone with ease. Images can be easily linked to the right tag or group using the free Flickit app. It also allows me to create and utilise the flickr community through my account that I already have. The commenting section is exceptionally easy to use and I can set certain photos to family or friends only privacy settings to maintain privacy for some of my friends or family. The layout isn't flashy and I can't set a cool template (which I'm a giant sucker for!) but it seems to tick a lot of boxes for what I want at the moment. Here's my flickr 365 folder: heymilly.

Capture180 Camera

Found this today in my reader and it is on my photography want list big time!

The Capture180 by Lucas Ainsworth has a fish eye lens that captures a full 180 degree image. The 2 things I love the most about this camera are it's door lens and it's ability to 'knock out' an image.

The door lens allows the camera to act normally but also as a tripod for taking a photo. It also means that shorties like me can gain an extra bit of height in the crowd to take photos!

Capture180 has an ability to 'knock out' of the image. So once you select the image you want you can tap the camera and it creates a window view of the image. As you move the camera around it's like being able to view parts of a much larger image. Check out the video to understand this idea better.

Dropmocks

Courosa passed on this handy wee tool that you can use to create galleries of images by dragging and dropping into your browser. Dropmocks is extremely simple to use and allows you to create a url of your images to share with others.

You can sign in using your google account and keep your dropmocks together or edit them later on down the path.

Navigation of the screen is extremely simple and would be great for a quick way for students to put images into a slideshow and link to their blog post. Dropmocks gives you the ability to title your page of images and if the images are labelled before dropping it gives a list of the images that will allow the user to flick straight to them. This could also be a great tool to use for Visual Arts when introducing an artist model, for sharing examples of photography, artworks and so much more.

Check out the Dropmocks from the image above. Pretty simple and easy to use!

Next Project...

Yeondoo Jung is an amazing photographer.

Yeondoo takes children's drawing and re-creates them as photographs. The images are fun, creative and retain their childlike components. I can alway revisit photographs and spot something new that is happening in the image. This would be a great visual language task to complete with student and it is on the agenda for Term 4!

Check out his web page for more photographs.

Image:
The Magician Turned the Wale into a Flower.
c-print 2004

500 Photographers

Photographs from the series 'Evidence of things unseen' by Photographer #40 Simen Johen

500 Photographers is a weblog by Pete Wisse that aims to document 5 photographers over 100 weeks to collect 500 of the most stunning photographers from across the globe.

I have to say, he's doing a pretty amazing job so far. The project is in it's early days at photographer number 40, but already we have been exposed to some brilliant photographs. If you are into photography or just interested in amazing images, this is a blog to add to your RSS reader and keep an eye on.












Photographs from the series 'Landings' by Photographer #26 Branislav Kropilak

Flame

This is someone's experiment who got it completely right! Peter Blaskovic has created Flame as part of his 'I Am An Artist' project.

If you are anything like me and love creating photographs from moving lights and anything that shines - you will love this site.

Basically you can play around and create your own artwork using 'lights.' You have the control to choose and change colours, opacity, size and more to create your desired artwork. Without anymore explaining, the best thing you can do it to head over to the Flame site and have a play!

PicAp Example

PicApp - Images For Your Blog

Through the Google blog I came across the PicApp website. PicApp allows you to find thousands of images that you can easily add to your blog. The images are up to date and a good way to find images for current events. This could be a great site for students to find images that they can use when discussing current events.


Once you search you are given large thumbnails of the images on a single page. Once you click on the images a pop up window shows you a larger version with all the information, description, embed codes.
If you are a Wordpress user it gives you the direct code for your blog also.

The website is simple and the layout is clear, so easy for students to navigate.

Jelly Lens Filters

These things are AMAZING!! I first found them through the photojojo site and have been on my want list for a while.

Low and behold when I talk to the brilliant Lisa, she tells me they are available at NOOD. So off I went to pick some up - $5 each. They easily attach to your phone or camera but I am keeping mine in a little bag altogether.

Once you pull off the cap, there is a sticky jelly ring that attaches to your phone or small camera. It easily attaches and detaches from each camera easily - the cap keeps it clean so it's ready to go when you want them.

There are lots of different ones available through photojojo but NOOD only had 3 - starburst, wide angle and 6 view. I haven't had much chance to play with them but here are a few examples:


Wide Angled Filter:

















6 View Filter:


















Starburst Filter:

The Daily Shoot

Daily Shoot is a great site for those taking part in the 365 challenge!

If you are stuck with an idea for your daily photo head here to grab an idea. Each day there is an assignment based on a huge range of ideas. You can check out the website daily or follow them via twitter to see the assignment also.

What I love the most about the site is the easy integration between flickr and twitter to take part in the daily assignments. It's not another site that you have to sign up to and log in to each time you want to take part. Your image is easily linked through a quick process.

Once you have selected your image post your photo to flickr (or another twitter images sharing site). Then all that needs to happen is you send a tweet to @dailyshoot with the link and the assignment hashtag (#ds54 for assignment 54).

A few minutes later the image will be loaded up on The Daily Shoot front page... couldn't be easier. You can then also see how other people have interpreted the daily assignment and leave comments/feedback etc for them.

Give it a go... you can go back through the past assignments and take part in them when you have extra time or aren't feeling the assignment of the day!

365 in 2010

NZchrissy is always inspiring me... she is one of the first people I met outside of my school through twitter/blogging and I have continually loved the passion she has for things. She's inspired me again!


The 365 challenge is a simple one - take 1 photo a day and share it.

I started this last year but stopped after day 92. This year I am more determined to complete the 365 days. For me it is more about documenting my year and being able to have a look back at what I have done & where I have been over the year. Intertwined in this is my passion for photography - I am hoping to improve with my photography skills also. People take part in this challenge for different reasons!

It's never too late to start - so pick up a camera, sort out your blog or flickr and get get started! There are a lot of people who have taken on board the challenge - head over to my 365in2010 blog and check out the blogroll to see what people are up to. Already there has been a strong start with some gorgeous photos!

Misstep & Tumble

Since purchasing a Canon SLR I've been loving heading off for photo missions with some of my best friends and by myself.

Some of you already know about my keen interest in Digital Photography and my photography blog Misstep & Tumble. For those of you that don't - head over to keep an eye on what I've been up to!

If you are a keen photographer leave a comment with your blog so I can check it out too!

Flickr: World Through Your Window

A fun group to share what the world looks like out your window - where ever that may be!

Flickr: 5 Frame Storytelling For Kids

5 Frame storytelling is a great idea to incorporate into your oral, written and visual language programmes.

This is the student version of the 5 Frame Storytelling group that is on Flickr. I started this after running a unit on 5 frame storytelling with my Year 3&4 class. We used Flickr to successfully get comments and feedback from around the world as part of the original 5 Frame group.

After talking with the admin of the group, I branched out and created a student based one - Tell A Story In 5 Frames. I have posted lots of instructions on the group to help you get started - but don't hesitate to leave a comment if you would like to know more! We also have a 5 Frame Ning that was established to support teachers interested in giving 5 frame storytelling a go... it's been a bit slow lately, but head along to find out more!

Canon

If you followed my last blog - Thinking Past The Square, you will know from my 7 Things About Me meme that one of my passions is photography.

A month ago I made the upgrade from my Kodak to a Canon 1000D Digital SLR. With all the business of the last month I haven't had much time to play around with it. There are so many new features and the movement to more manual (or creative zones as canon calls them) is exactly what I wanted - but this proves a big learning curve.

On Saturday night I ventured out to Westhaven, the Auckland ports and Queen street to take photos. It was fantastic being able to play around in manual mode and have some ability to control the shots. As it was night time and I didn't have a tripod it was quite hard getting clear still shots. Here are a few of my first shots. It's an awesome camera that takes much clearer and crisper shots than my Kodak or Olympus model cameras and am looking forward to learning more about using it.