[Photography] 6 Photography Projects to do With Your Kids

Her eyes were like saucers as joy filled them wide. You could already sense the smile that was about to land upon her face.

She was becoming a photographer like mommy.

It was always my intention to pass along my old point-and-shoot camera to my daughter, but it wasn’t until she turned four years old that I found her asking to take pictures more and more and I felt like she was ready to inherit this gift.

As a mom perhaps you’ve found the camera to be an amazing source of discovering passion and purpose through documenting memories of your family. Photography is a hobby you can easily squeeze into your busy days of caring for your kids and tending to your family.

But the joy can come full circle as your children want to take pictures too. Through the lens I’ve found deeper more meaningful connections with my family as we snuggle up together and flip through old albums or go on photo taking adventures together.

If you’re looking for a few ideas to begin involving your kids and family in photography more, here are six creative photography projects and ideas to get you started.

1) Guessing Game

Go out on a photo walk and take photos of objects, both close-up and far away. This would be a great opportunity to play with a macro lens if you have one! Print the images and then turn them into a game. Hold up a close-up image and guess what it is. Reveal the far away shot and see if you’re right.

2) Digital Stories

Take your child’s favorite toys on an adventure. Allow your child to take the lead and come up with a fantastic plot, taking the toy around the house or out and about with you for the day. Write down the story as you go along. Compile the story digitally, or have it printed and snuggle up with your child to re-read it together.

3) Cloning Magic

Your kids will get a kick out of this one. Set up your camera on a tripod. Take multiple shots of your child doing various activities in one location. I suggest no more than four to five poses to start. Once all the poses are captured, pull them into an editor that will allow you to work with layers, such as Photoshop. Layer two of the shots in one document, and erase away parts of the top layer to reveal a clone of your child. Flatten the image and repeat. Do this until all of the clones make it into the image, then save.

4) Letter or Word Hunt

Create your own photo art by taking a scavenger hunt for objects that look like letters in your town or community. You could search for each letter of the alphabet or simply try to create a word of your choosing, such as your name or an inspirational message. Another variation would be to complete a simple scavenger hunt to find an object that begins with each letter of the alphabet.

5) Point of View Comparison

I find it compelling to watch how my children compose and frame shots. They haven’t developed a sense of perfectionism behind the lens, they snap away with ease, and they have a natural eye for composition. Why not go on photo walks with your child where you both take photos of the same thing: the same flower, tree, dog, bird, sky, etc. When you get home and review the images it will open up rich conversations where you can compare and contrast your images together.

6) Day in the Life

Ordinary moments are often when I have the greatest difficulty picking up the camera, but they’re also the times I most want to capture too. This project will help hold you accountable, and aims to help you capture ordinary days from start to finish. Set up a timer on your phone to ding every hour, for one day, and stop whatever it is you are doing to snap a photo when it goes off. I bet you’ll find that your kids will love the anticipation of waiting for that timer to go off and become more willing participants in the photo taking, since it will be tied to a meaningful family project.

Do you have any other family photo project ideas? Please share in the comments. If you give these a try share your experience and images here too.

The post 6 Photography Projects to do With Your Kids by Beryl Young appeared first on Digital Photography School.

it's from Digital Photography School http://ift.tt/1ocTWUv

via Beryl Young