opportunities. Make a photo-
of-the-day assignment to work
in daily grades. Let them find
inspiration and opportunity is
all around with covering their
campus. They’ll realize on their
own that it’s not the gear — it’s
practice and experience as the
best teaching tool.
4. Learn the
exposure
triangle using
manual mode.
Students like control. Help them
gain full control by learning the
exposure triangle—shutter,
aperture, ISO. Using program
mode can help students test the
lighting situation, but then they
can use those readings to set up
their own shots when they switch
to manual mode. Train them to
read the exposure compensation
bar. New photographers should
go to scrimmages and practices
with veteran staffers to practicing
shooting. We use our staff
GroupMe to share images and
5. Learn rule of
thirds.
MARGIE M. RAPER
Margie M. Raper, MJE, advises
student publications and teaches
journalism and photojournalism
at Highland Park High School in
Dallas, Texas. She is proud to share
her passion for scholastic journalism
with her students, see them grow
as storytellers and celebrate their
achievements. She serves as the
president of the Texas Association
of Journalism Educators, JEA News
Gathering Curriculum Leader and
on the board for the Gloria Shields
All-American Journalism Workshop.
photos of the camera settings
to coach when a coach is not
available. There are also apps
like Pocket Light Meter to help
students set exposure on their
DSLRs. Camerasim.com and
Photonhead.com are my favorite
websites for teaching exposure
triangle to beginners.
Composition
rules are important, and there
are a lot of them. Start with the
foundation of rule of thirds.
Engrain the tic-tac-toe board in
every photojournalist’s mind.
Start there for solid images, and
the other composition rules will
develop from there. Along with
training the students to identify
composition in photos, consider
giving them only prime lenses
to work with (50mm fixed prime
example). Eliminating the ability
to zoom forces students to get
creative with photo composition.
6. Make a shot
list.
A concept has to go
through the story pitch process
with editorial decision makers.
Add storyboarding and photo
planning as part of the story
pitch workflow. Let students
discuss potential photo ideas
before a story takes place to help
them anticipate composition
opportunities.