A personal point of view - Photographic expression

Arts & Activities, April, 2003 by Karen Skophammer

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Students will ...

* define the terms: angle, texture, lighting, placement, harmony, balance, repetition, point of view, bird's-eye view and worm's-eye view.

* learn how to take a sharp photo.

* use leading lines to capture the viewer's attention.

* fill the frame of their viewfinder when taking a photo.

* use frontlighting successfully to illuminate a photo.

* relate the principles of art to photography.

* learn how to develop film and make prints using safely measures (recommended for grades 9-12), and become better technicians.

Whether you have a darkroom or not, photography skills can teach volumes about angles, texture, lighting, placement, harmony, balance, repetition, point of view and more. All of these components that are studied in art can be applied to photography and turn photography into art. I tell the kids that photography is art. All around us are artistic elements just waiting to be captured on film.

First of all, I want the students to learn how to take a "sharp" picture. This comes about by holding the camera steady. Learning not to jab at the camera when snapping a photo is a "biggie" when it comes to successful photography.

Next, I tell the students to "fill the frame." A person should move in close enough to the subject so that it fills up the viewfinder. We also talk about lighting. Frontlighting (where the light falls directly on the subject) generally provides a bright, well-exposed photograph.

After we've covered these basics, the students take a few photos with black-and-white film (ASA 400) in a 35mm camera. They are told to consider the factors we talked about for a good photo. Of course, if you do not have the capability for students to develop their own film, color film and commercial development can also be utilized for this lesson.

Part two of our lesson deals with point of view. Different angles can give you dramatic results in photography. We tried bird's-eye views and worm's-eye views of normal subjects, such as a playground slide. Each student took eight or more photos of a similarly "normal" subject using a different point of view.

The last thing we discussed was how to use leading lines to capture an audience's attention. The lines in a photo should lead into a picture and draw your attention toward a subject, or lead your eyes to go back and forth in the photo, leading you to "explore" the angles.

My class is taught to develop their own film and produce black-and-white photos. This takes patience, diligence and safety precautions, along with lots of instruction and supervision. By developing their own photos, they become better photographers because they strive not only to be good technicians, but fine artists as well.

With them being so readily available, and much more cost-effective to use, I am starting to instruct younger students (grades 6-8) in the basics of photography using digital cameras. You should see the kids' eyes light up when they see the photos they've taken come to life on a computer screen.

What an exciting way for students to learn and reinforce the principles of art! They get so excited to be able to look at things from an odd point of view and be able to see somewhat immediate results from their photography.

Karen Skophammer is an art instructor for the Manson Northwest Webster Schools in Barnum and Manson, Iowa.