Media Arts Lesson Plan, BSAFE Spring 2012
Will Whelan
Lesson Title: Photoshop II: Portrait Framing
Week 11, YLC
Essential Questions:
- What story is a picture telling?
- What are some alternative ways of showing a subject rather than centered?
Tim Heatherton, Liberia, Monrovia, 2004.
Learning Objectives (SWBAT):
- Participate in a photo shoot: each student will take photos of classmates and also be a subject of at least
three photos.
- Compose three different kinds of photos: a straight ahead centered portrait, a portrait that is off center or
cropped off the frame, and a relationship between two people.
- Use premade frames and collage to practice these different compositions at the table while waiting to take
photos
Leads and Teen Involvement: Leads and Teens can help watch over the photo station and the table, and make
sure all students have taken photos by the end of class.
Materials:
- Camera and tripod
- White backdrop (projector screen, sheet)
- Premade black viewfinder frames, large and small
- Sturdy black cardboard viewfinder for photo shoot
- Magazine and newspaper clippings
- scissors
Vocabulary: portrait, composition, cropping
Allesandro Rocchi, Rings, 2008
Class Format:
5 min Game/Intro: We will start at the table with an icebreaker game for a few minutes. Then I will introduce
the activities and explain that groups of three students will take turns taking each other’s photos, while the rest
of class will be at the table practicing creating different kinds of compositions. I will show some example
collages of what I mean, and then the group should be able to divide itself into groups of three.
35 min Main Activity: Everyone will start at the table for the first five minutes starting collages, and then the
first group will go to the photo shoot area.
- I will break off and instruct them on how to use the cardboard viewfinder to plan a shot, and reiterate that
each person should be in three to five photos, either alone or with another person.
- A sheet of paper will be on the tripod with the three categories of pictures:
1. Straight ahead centered portrait
2. A portrait that is off center or cropped off the frame
3. A relationship between two people
-
Each group will have about 8 minutes to get all their photos done, so they will have to be efficient with
time, and I will give groups reminders.
Media Arts Lesson Plan, BSAFE Spring 2012
Will Whelan
- At the table students will be able to find pictures of people in bins, and then cut them out more exactly and
play with arranging two or three pictures in one frame to test out the effect of the three different kinds of
compositions. They will not glue the pictures down but the fold-over part of the frame will help them stay.
2 min Recap: This will be a quick popcorn at the table for people to share their collage compositions and what
effects they created by juxtaposing different kinds of images of people.
3 min Clean-up: All the collage material will go back in the bins, frames will be stacked in one of the bins, and
scissors put away. I will break down the photo shoot backdrop myself after class.