JOHN DAVIS is full of ideas and has practical teaching experience from the American College in London, where he set up their studio and took two photography classes a week, teaching basic knowledge of the camera and ways to improve your photographs through composition, focus, exposure. He also covered 'how to look' in such a way that students 'see' the interesting shot. John is married and has a child of his own. He has recently set up a kids photography website, taking on private commissions and taking pictures of children for their parents: www.little1sphotography.co.uk

The Camera Book Loads of things to find and shoot with a camera CHAPTER 1: THINGS TO SHOOT INSIDE 1 Photograph your bedroom Take photographs of your room to show your personality and the things you like - especially through the props you use in the photograph. 2 Shoot one object, 5 ways Choose an object and photograph it in 5 different ways. 3 Create a still life Photograph a still life of a bowl of fruit using the light from a window. Think about what background you can use. 4 Focus on just one thing Photograph a flower within a bunch of flowers, make the flower in focus and all the other flowers out of focus. 5 Create a flicker book... ...by photographing a bunch of flowers over time. Take a photograph every day over a period of 2 weeks making sure the camera is in the exact same position each time. 6 Photograph birds from a windowsill by putting bread on the windowsill and waiting for them to feed. 7 Photograph a spooky face Shoot your friends face at night using a torch to create some funny and spooky shadows. 8 Shoot your dinner Photograph your dinner step by step, start with the ingredients, show how it is cooked and end with the finished plate. 9 Guess the object Take an everyday object and take a close up photograph of it showing a different angle and ask your friends and family to guess what it is. 10 Experiment with colour Find a coloured background and photograph an object of contrasting colour against it. Try this as well with objects of contrasting textures. 11 Set up a mini film scene Set up a mini scene with your toys such as a train set, garage, or dolls house and create a story. CHAPTER 2: ANIMALS AND PETS 12 Take great animal photos Go to the zoo or local farm and use your zoom to get as close as you can to photographing the animals. 13 Get in the water with some fish - Swim with the fish Photograph fish in a tank and make it look as though you are in the water with them. 14 Photograph a pet trick Photograph a pet doing a trick. Work out the best angle to take the photograph from and fill the frame. 15 Picture a dog running Show the speed by panning with your camera. 16 See like an animal - Animal vision Photograph an animal from their perspective. Get on their level. 17 Get close to your pet Take a portrait of a pet and get as close as you can, fill the frame to show all the detail of its face. 18 Capture stillness Take a photograph of a pet looking out of the window. 19 Go wild with your camera Go into the woods or local park and photograph all the wild animals and birds you see. Choose your position carefully and wait for them to come to you. CHAPTER 3: PEOPLE AND PORTRAITS 20 Take a portrait of your family Photograph the family, standing in the doorway of your house. 21 Picture yourself over a year Take a self portrait once a week for a year and see how you have changed. 22 Use white and black reflectors Photograph a friend by a window in 3 different ways and see how different each photograph is by using: 1) a white card or piece of material as a reflector to reflect the light into their face; 2) a black card or piece of black material to take away some of the light from their face; 3) Without any reflectors. 23 Use flash for a night portrait Take a photograph of family and friends in the garden at night using your flash. 24 Make friendly portraits Take a photograph of a group of your friends showing each of their personalities. 25 Time yourself in photos Take a series of self-timer photographs. 26 Fill the gap Arrange a group shot with a space for you to jump into after setting the timer. 27 Make an upshot group-shot Put the camera on the ground pointing upwards and get a group of friends to gather around it. 28 Photograph a job Photograph your mum or dad with props to show what job they have. 29 Shoot a reflection On a sunny day take a close up portrait of someone wearing sunglasses or ski goggles and have the reflection of the beach, mountains , trees reflected in the glasses. 30 Photograph a superhero Photograph your friend as a superhero by finding props around the house such as rubber gloves, a blanket, kitchen utensils. CHAPTER 4: GO OUTSIDE 31 Find nature's alphabet Go out and find objects that represent the letters of the alphabet. Once you have photographed A-Z put them all together in a poster. 32 Choose a colour Choose a colour and go out and photograph 5 objects that have the same colour. 33 Play with sunlight Photograph a ball or cardboard box in the garden in direct sunlight. Move around the ball or box taking photographs to show how the shadows and light change each time you move. 34 Take the car to bits Photograph your parent's car in sections - ie the door, tyre, window, bonnet and roof and put all the photographs together to make 1 image of the car. 35 Where's the sun? Show how a picture changes with the sun in front of, or behind the camera. 36 Go for a mystery walk Take your camera on a walk photographing everything that you see. Ask your friends if they can guess where you have been. 37 Tell a story Tell a story with your camera, eg a day in the life of, my visit to my grandparents, my holiday. 38 Dress up your shadow Photograph your shadow and make it have a funny face by putting objects as eyes etc. 39 Photograph a tiny beast Go into the garden and photograph an insect on a leaf. 40 Find the best view Go out and photograph your favourite view, make sure there is a point of interest. 41 Photograph fire writing Photograph someone writing their name in the air with a sparkler at night. 42 Capture a sunset Photograph a sunset and put an object in the foreground to give you a silhouette. Do not use your flash. 43 Play water games Photograph your friends having fun in the garden with a water hose. Make sure the sun is in front of you so that the water spray will show up on your photograph. 44 Shoot the snow In the snow photograph your friends having a snowball fight or building a snowman. Show the excitement and fun. 45 Make a treasure hunt. Go on a walk photographing interesting and obscure objects and get your friends to go on the same walk with the photographs and try and find all of the objects. 46 Look into some puddles Photograph reflections in puddles CHAPTER 5: CAMERA TRICKS 47 Hold up a building Photograph someone holding up a building by their fingers. 48 Get chased by a toy Photograph your parents being chased by one of your toys. 49 Photograph a flower fairy. 50 Jump out of someone's hand Photograph someone jumping out of someone's hand. 51 Paint the clouds Photograph a friend painting the clouds with a paintbrush. 52 Make a giant pencil Make an ordinary object such as a pencil appear really big in the photograph with someone trying to hold it. 53 Give a flower to a shadow Photograph someone giving a flower to another persons shadow. 54 Lose your friends in a bucket Photograph your friends about to be buried underneath a giant bucket. 55 Eat a cloud Photograph a friend eating a cloud from an ice cream cone. 56 Find the vanishing point Photograph a long road, railway lines from a bridge, an avenue of trees and show the vanishing point. CHAPTER 6: LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION! 57 Up in the air! Photograph a group of your friends jumping in the air at the same time. Make sure you capture the jump and keep the horizon/picture straight. 58 Make the background blur Sit on the roundabout in the park with your friend on the opposite side. Take a photograph of them going around and make the background blurred giving the sense of speed. 59 Shoot all your friends! Go to the park and find as many different angles as you can to photograph your friends on the swings, slide, roundabout etc to give the sense of height, perspective, speed. 60 Take an action shot Photograph a friend on a bike, roller skates, sledge, skis. Take time to choose the best angle to get the best action shot. 61 Capture group action Go to the local skateboard park and capture the action. Choose your angles and position. 62 Get the winning shot Take your camera to your school sports day and position yourself by the finish line and photograph your friends winning their races, capture the emotion of winning. 63 Jump over Catch a dynamic picture of your friend jumping over you. CHAPTER 7: WHAT TO DO WITH YOUR PHOTOGRAPHS 64 Frame it Collect old frames from junk shops to show off your photographs brilliantly. 65 Put on an exhibition Find out how to put on an exhibition of your photographs. 66 Make a calendar Prepare your favourite photographs for sending online to a company that can make them up into a calendar for you. 67 Make a card Make a handmade card for someone's birthday, using a picture of them (with you, if possible). 68 Make a collage Make a collage/montage of photographs to tell a story of where you have been (such as a holiday montage, or your years at junior school). 69 Use a digital frame Put your photographs onto a digital frame. 70 Your life in pictures Keep a journal of your photographs, a diary in pictures