Digital CameraIdeas for the Classroom

By Linda Nash

.

This photo was takenon a trip to Florida last summer. The architecture and the tropical flora make for great writing prompts.

Use a photo as a prompt for narrative or descriptive writing.

Publicize a class play or project

This scene from Cyrano de Bergerac was used as a flyer to advertise the upcoming school play.

Use photos for foreign language vocabulary

This unlikely photo was taken at last year's Mock Trial Competition. Captions could be added to say, oh, something like, "Who murdered the attorney?" in Spanish, or any other language.

ESL language prompts Teach vocabulary

to ESL students using a pictorial lesson on carving  jack-o-lanterns http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Olympus/7123/jack.html

Yearbook photos

Keep your digital camera handy. You never know when that perfect photo opportunity will present itself. This belongs in the year-book, right?

Student-created books

Elementary students can use a digital camera to make their own alphabet books. Teachers can use real-life pictures to make books dealing with sequence,  compare/contrast, or any concept that can be clarified with pictures.

D   DOG

Movie shorts Create a photo

journal  (A short digital-camera movie)

Check out your form(The Color Guard works out)

Science Concepts Document growth

of plants, animals, etc. (An example of a digital camera used for time-lapse photography to show seed germination)

Seeing is believing

Demonstrate difficult concepts in science  (migration of chloroplasts in plant cells) http://bioweb.cgb.indiana.edu/~rhangart/plantmotion/projects/ livingpics/livingpics.html

And the list goes on…

Demonstrate a P.E. exercise, a tennis serve, a golf swing, etc.

Create student portfolios Teacher's seating charts Observe weather over a period of

time Demonstrate a P.E. exercise, a tennis

serve, a golf swing, etc.

Connect to the past

Place a 200 year-old picture of a location side-by-side with a modern,  digital picture of the same location (History)

Find many more ideas at the sites below.

Why use digital cameras?

1001 Uses for the Digital Camera

Compare Digital Cameras

Why digital?

Once you have captured a digital photograph, it is already in a format that makes it easy to store, distribute, and use.  

For example, you can… 1. Insert digital photographs into a word

document 2. E-mail them to friends 3. Post them on a Web site 4. Immediately see your images on a small

LCD panel on the back of most cameras, and delete the ones you don't want.

5. Connect to a TV 6. Some cameras can connect to a

microscope

$$$

Digital will save you time and money, because you will have no more film to buy, no more trips to the store to drop off film, and no more waiting for pictures to be developed.

Shooting Digital Photos

Before you start taking pictures, it's a good idea to get to know your camera.

1. Know your camera's lag time: on many digital cameras, there is a slightly annoying pause between the time you trip the release button and the time the shutter actually releases.

Know your camera 2. Know your digital camera's power

requirements: start with fresh batteries, and keep back-up batteries with you.

3. Know how many images your camera is capable of recording, which will vary with your choice of formats, and with the size of your memory card or stick.

Shooting Great Digital Photos

Choose a file format Raw, comes directly from the sensor-

best quality TIFF, large files, no compression, 2nd best

quality JPEG, most commonly used, compresses

data by throwing away information- use lower compression for higher quality

Considerations…

Focus- Take time to frame and focus your shot

carefully. Many auto focus systems require a moment to properly adjust and focus.

Adjust sharpness For most lenses, the optimal f/stop is 2 to

3 stops narrower than the widest aperture.

White balance

Auto Cloudy Fluorescent or tungsten Color temperature Custom

Don’t forget to have fun!