Do you like to take pictures? Have you ever used a camera?
I love photography! Taking pictures is so much fun.
There are so many things to take pictures of! Here are some ideas:
- your pet
- your brother or sister
- a funny face
- flowers, trees, animals, birds, bugs
- rocks, lakes, mountains, the ocean
- your new haircut
- a party, a cake, decorations
What would you like to take pictures of?
I named this picture ‘Eye in the Night Sky’.
Have you ever looked up at the sky at night and seen an eye watching you? You’ve probably seen a nice bright moon and many beautiful stars, but how would an eye be in the sky?
I made this picture by combining two pictures together – a picture of an eye and a picture of the night sky. By putting the two pictures together, it looked like the eye was in the sky!
Here is the same picture with a few small changes:
Photography is so much fun! You can take pictures and create things with your pictures.
I love to write! How about you, do you love to write?
Writing and photography are great. You can take pictures and write stories about them! You could write a story about how you took your picture.
Let your natural talent shine, create away!
Do you want to meet a cat who does ballet? Well, maybe she does ballet. Check out the pictures below and see if you think this cat is doing ballet.
Photographic Illusions
Hello. Meet Jasmine, the ballerina cat! Is she really doing ballet?
Look at the next picture to find out how Jasmine holds this pose.
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Jasmine is lying down with her paws pressed against the back of the couch.
With a little “trick” photography, a sleeping Jasmine appears to be doing ballet. She may be dreaming about ballet, but she is comfortably resting with her paws pressed against the back of the couch.
The “trick” includes taking the picture from a unique angle, looking down at Jasmine from behind the couch and zooming in. Getting closer eliminates most of the couch from the picture, making it look like Jasmine is standing, not lying down.
This is not really a trick, but what photographers call composition. Composition is how you arrange the things in your picture.
You can use things to create a frame within your picture. A tree branch arched over a pathway could be included in your picture to frame a person walking or posing on the pathway. A doorway in your home could be included in your picture to frame your subject. The subject is the person you are taking a picture of.
In creative composition, what you choose to leave in your picture is equally important as what you choose to leave out of your picture.
One way to choose what you want to include in your picture is to zoom in and out. You can use the zoom feature on your camera to get closer to your subject, or you can physically move closer to your subject. Let’s try it!
Take out your camera and see what you can create!
If you do not have a camera, you can still try this. Cut a rectangle hole in the middle of a piece of paper. This will be your LCD screen, just like on the back of a camera.
If you like to color, you could decorate your paper.
Look into the viewfinder or at the LCD screen on your camera. If you are using the paper camera, hold the paper about 12 inches (30 cm) away from your face and look through the hole.
Look at everything that you can see, not only what is in the centre. Move the camera or paper around to look at different items and to place them in different positions in your picture.
If you move your body to the left or to the right, how does that affect your background?
Decide what you want to include in your picture and what you want to leave out of your picture.
Try changing your position. Look at your subject (or scene) from different angles. To change the angle, you could get below and look up, get above and look down, lie down on the ground, or try shooting at eye level.
Zoom in – move closer, or zoom out – get further away.
Turn your camera sideways and try taking a vertical (tall and narrow) picture instead of a horizontal picture. How does this change what you see?
Use these composition techniques to make unique photographs. Capture your own special view of things.
Congratulations! You are a photographer.
