Developing a love of photography at a young age can lead to a fulfilling hobby or even career when a child gets older. That’s why it’s important that parents notice an interest and help their kids learn the basics of photography. It might just feel like a game to them, but it’s never too early to start showing your children the joys of taking pictures. Here’s a guide to making sure your son or daughter has plenty of fun, and gets some good photos in the process.
Remember They’re Kids
This is the number one rule that everything else stems from. Depending on how young your child is, they might not be able to take a lot of complications and distractions. Keep things simple. Give them a short explanation and then let them practice so that they don’t get bored.
Give Them The Right Tools
If you’re teaching a young child about photography, it’s probably not a great idea to hand them your $500 camera and let them go wild. Think about a disposable camera that won’t damage easily if it’s dropped, or look into some of the cameras specially made for children. If you are letting them use your phone to shoot photos, then remember to keep that case on at all times.
Start With The Basics
You’re working with a little kid here, so there’s no need to jump right into the rule of thirds or critique their lines when they show you their photos. Start with getting them to hold the camera properly, show them how to zoom, and give them some basic rules for lighting. Once they’ve got the easy stuff down, then you can begin teaching them about more complex topics.
Give Them Some Room
When children first start out taking pictures, there’s a good chance they’ll end up taking a huge number of photos—possibly all of the same subject. Back when you had to develop the film for each shot, this was a bad habit, and probably pretty expensive. Now you can easily delete duplicates and keep the pictures you like, so let your kids have some fun and experiment with all kinds of different shots.
Go Over The Photos With Them
Take a look at all the photos your child brings back. Point out the good ones, and let the not-so-good ones slide. No need to crush their hopes and dreams because they took a few poorly focused photos. Encourage them and give them tips for how to make them even better. When you engage with work they’re doing, you’re showing them that it’s important to you—and they’ll pick up on that quickly.
When it comes to developing a love of photography, all your child really needs is a camera and some encouragement from their parents. And when they’ve finally taken some keepers, show them how proud you are by displaying them on your digital frame. They’ll be able to see their photos every day, and as they get better you can easily swap them out for new pictures. Check out our selection of digital frames and find the perfect one for your little photographer’s masterpieces.
Bea is Nixplay’s Social Media Manager. She enjoys drinking coffee, reading about wars, and writing stories. Send her a message at beatrice.bisais@nixplay.com.