Lets learn more about Photography - Part 1 An overview for kids Gr 3-4

These day almost everybody has cellphones with cameras on them and from a very early age, everybody starts taking pictures.  Not everybody are photographers, some people just have a natural feel for taking beautiful pictures.

In this 3 part series we will learn a bit more about photography and the history of it. (We will learn more about a camera, not the one in our phone, but a proper camera?

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A camera has a lens and a shutter on the inside.  The moment you press the button, they shutter opens for a moment and the light goes through it and goes to the film (if you use an older camera) or the sensor.  This is also in a way how our eyes work.  If the light is bright, the shutter opens and closes quickly but if it is dark, the shutter needs to stay open for longer - just like the pupil of out eye.

Have a look at the video for extra information.

We sometimes take photos that comes out blurry and we cannot sea clearly what the picture is about.  This happens if there are movement while the shutter is open.  It is more likely to happen during times when it is darker, since the shutter will then stay open for longer.

If you want to take very good photos, it is always a good idea to mount your camera on a tripod, especially if it is a cloudy day or at night where the light is low.  That way the camera will be perfectly still.

A blurry photo can also be caused because of the movement of the subject you are trying to photograph like someone running.  Luckily good cameras have settings and you can adjust the shutter speed so that it captures the picture faster.

 A fast shutter speed in bright sunshine may ‘freeze’ someone running for example but a slower shutter speed may produce a blurred effect against a still background 

The more photos you take and play around with your camera, the more effects you will be able to create using the different setting on the camera.

For different techniques, movements and angles, you can read more here and see what you can do to better your photography.

Most modern cameras have a setting called 'auto focus' where you can just carry on taking the pictures and your camera will keep everything in focus automatically, but you can also do it by yourself, where you will turn the lens in different directions to bring the object closer and more into focus.

A lot of photographers still like to go 'old school' and use film.  Most people these days just know and use digital cameras and have never seen or used film or do not even know how it is used and developed.

Have a look at the video so that you can see how cameras use to work when your parents were kids.

If you want to take pictures of things that are far away but you want them to seem closer, you will need special 'telephoto' lenses that can zoom in.

There are a lot of words that are related to cameras like zoom, angles, film, lenses etc.  Tomorrow we will have a look at some definitions and will also learn more about the history of photography.