Digital Photography Beginner: Camera Basics Mini Course

Ages 13-18

Live Group Course

This is a 3-week course learning the basics of photography and camera settings. Ever wonder what all of the buttons and dials do on your fancy cameras? Your child will walk away from this class knowing each and every one of them!

Sara Vincent

Live video meetings

1x per week, 3 weeks

2-7 learners per class

60 min

About Learning Overview Teacher Reviews

What's included

3 live meetings

3 in-class hours

Assignments

1 hour per week. 1-2 per week

Assessment

1 after class completion

Class Experience

US Grade 8 - 11

Beginner Level

This mini course on camera settings will be learning all of those buttons and dials on the camera.  Shooting modes (Portrait, landscape, macro, sport etc), changing your shutter speed, apertures, ISO, focal points, even learning a few composition hacks and tips a long the way.  

We will go over each one on a live class, as we all will have our cameras in front of us, so that we know where the buttons are located and exactly what they do.

This is an excellent beginners class for any teen that has an interest in photography but just don't know where to start. 

We will have a few worksheets, show a lot of slides while we discuss things and then have weekly photo assignments to go practice what we have learned in the previous class.

Learning Goals

Learn all of the shooting modes and what each one do to an image.

Learn the ways to change exposure in a photograph and when to use which option.

Syllabus

3 Lessons

over 3 Weeks

Lesson 1:

Camera Parts and Dials

 There are a LOT of buttons on a camera!  We are going to take a look at them all and learn what they do.  We will go through each of the shooting modes and learn about how each one affects your image taken.

60 mins online live lesson

Lesson 2:

Exposure

 Let's look at different ways to change our exposure in a camera, and how to know which to use and when.

60 mins online live lesson

Lesson 3:

Camera essentials and composure

 This will be a lesson to recap what we have taken in so far.  We will also discuss some camera essentials and touch base on a few composure hacks to really get your images popping.

60 mins online live lesson

Other Details

Parental Guidance

I will be sharing my slides and worksheets through google docs and asking students to post their images in google drive if they are comfortable with sharing them.

Supply List

It is best to have a DSLR or mirrorless camera for this class (doesn't matter the brand) as these cameras will give you the most options in the settings and adjustments.

External Resources

In addition to the Outschool classroom, this class uses:

Sources

I have created my own curriculum for this class which I teach a various local facilities and co-ops.

Meet the teacher

Sara Vincent

Joined October, 2024

Profile

Teacher expertise and credentials

I have been a professional photographer for almost 20 years.  I earned my CPP (Certified Professional Photographer) through the Professional Photographers Association as well as having several of my images published in various magazines.