Communicating With Photography

They say a picture is worth 1,000 words. In this course, learn how you and your students can tell a story with photography and practice creating meaningful photos. You’ll use lighting, framing, and composition principles like the “rule of thirds” to communicate mood, emotion and even abstract concepts in your photos.

course duration icon 6 Hours
course cost icon Free
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What we provide:
  • Practice activities to do on your own
  • Examples from other educators
  • Free online tools recommendations
Understand how photos communicate   Learn the basics of photo composition
Explore the difference between literal and suggestive meanings, and how photographs can be used as depictions, examples, or representations.   Understand how to employ the rule of thirds, balance, framing, simplicity and leading lines to create a photograph that resonates with your audience.
     
Explore how lighting, perspective and filters change an image's story   Create your own photo essay
Practice using filters and changing the perspective of your image to communicate different messages.   Make and share a photo essay that uses composition techniques and can serve as an example for a student photography project.
  • Intro to Photography
  • How Photos Communicate
  • Media Analysis
  • Composition Basics
  • Practice: Rule of Thirds
  • Lighting
  • Filters
  • Practice: Filters
  • Perspective
  • Practice: Photo Essay
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PBS Media Literacy Educator Certification by KQED

This course can help you develop the skills needed to earn the Making Media for Classroom Use: Images, Graphics and Interactives micro-credential. Earning eight micro-credentials qualifies you to become a PBS Certified Media Literacy Educator. Learn more.

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What is KQED Teach?

We offer a collection of free, hands-on professional learning opportunities focused on digital media. Educators can build skills in video and audio production, data visualization and media analysis to support all curriculum areas. These skills allow educators to facilitate learning environments where their students can create digital content, develop their communication and technology skills and engage in deeper learning that encourages critical thinking.

Have a question? Email us at teach@kqed.org or check out our FAQ.

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The KQED Teach course "Communicating With Photography" is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. This license applies to all course content unless otherwise noted. This license excludes all user generated content unless explicitly labeled for reuse by the user. Permission to reuse user generated content should be directed to the individual creator.