Evening star., 1952-06-22

IL yOu are HAVING UllllC UlIy III
keeping your child happily occu-
pied give him a camera. Photog-
raphy is hobby that most of us
take up sooner or later and pic
ture taking is such a fascinating
pastime that the average child
will take to it like a duck to water.
When your child reaches the
age of 7 or 8 he is ripe for his
first lesson with the camera. Some
will object that youngster of
that age isn't capable of figuring
out the problems of exposure,
focus or the gadgets that go with
many of our modern cameras.
True enough-but that isn't what
we propose.
In spite of all the improve
ments of recent years in the field
of amateur photography, there
still remains the old faithful
the basic box camera. You can
still buy foolproof picture-tak-
ing box that is just about the
same as it always was, even
though it may be wearing a new
dress. To get a picture all you
have to do is aim it and trip the
shutter. OF course. pictures made
this way won't be the best, but
in almost any case you will get.
a picture. and getting a picture
is the main thing to the beginner.
Give a child an expensive in
strument and invariably he will
become quickly discouraged be-
cause his pictures will be out of
focus, very badly exposed or not
worthy, due to causes stemming
from the camera. But give him a
box camera that will bring him
half a dozen pictures for each roll
OF fllm he shoots and you will have
a rabid camera fan in the making.
Junior Learns Fast.
The chances are his first shots
will be poor things, indeed, by
your standards. but an adult isl
just as apt to make the same mis-
takes at the start. You will soon
discover that your child not only
will absorb all you know about
photography, but he is on the way
to outStripping you in the ways of
picture taking.
Don't just hand Junior his new
camera and let him figure it out
by himself. Even the simplest
camera needs some explaining.
Take the box camera and explain
the function of the shutter. If
you have picked a really basic
camera. the shutter will work at
only one instantaneous speed,
which is a good thing, for this
factor will decrease the chances
OF making a critically bad expo
sure. The shutter may also have
time and bulb settings and it
should be pointed out that these
should not be used at first.
Weeks, or perhaps even months,
later. depending upon the aptitude
OF your young pupil, you can tell
him how and why the other shut
ter settings are used. But the op-
erations involved call for a some
what more advanced knowledge of
exposure and it will be well to put
OFF these explanations until the
child is proficient at making pic
lures at the set speed.
Explain About ClOse-ups.
There will be very little to ex-
plain, at this stage, about focus
for these simple lenses will pro-
duce sharp images at all distances
except when the subject is very
close to the camera. Clarity this
point for children are otherwise
apt to make the disappointing
mistake of attempting closeup
shots of pets and insects only to
discover that the pictures are out
OF focus. Chances are the dia-
phragm opening is fixed and can
not be changed and this cancels
other exposure mistakes.
After you are satisfied that your
child understands the functioning
OF these parts of the camera show
him how the finder duplicates the