The first lesson, Converging Lines, is all about (you guessed it!) lines that converge. This means that there are a series of lines in the picture, and they all go to meet at a single point.

At my school, the Photo I students generally take all their pictures at school, since they aren't trusted with a camera at home yet. The most common ideas I've seen for that lesson were as such: The side of the school (the side is very flat, and the lines in the bricks converge), a locker hallway, or sometimes the wood floor in the gym. However, the same ideas are always generated when this lesson is used, because everyone uses the same local. No matter how you tweak it, you can only take so many pictures of a row of lockers. My teachers have been grading this lesson for about twenty years, and they are sick and tired of seeing things like this.

If you really want to make your picture stick out of the rest, the first thing you must realize is you need to take pictures of different places. Even if you are trapped at school, try and think one step ahead of everyone else. Maybe find some converging lines in an unused classroom, or at lunch (converging lunch line maybe?) A good picture, is a unique picture.

Another important part of the converging lines lesson is to decide what part is going to be in focus. Generally, one part of the line is closer to you, and one is farther away. Depending on the picture, either the fore, or background will be better to be in focus (rarely the middleground). One thing you can do, is to take both pictures, and then decide later which one is better. I typically take two pictures of everything, just to be safe. This however, could count as two pictures, because it is essentially the same object. Don't be afraid to use multiple roles of film! You don't pay for it (hopefully), so theres no reason you shouldn't use two or three rolls of film.

In the end, it is incredibly important above all to stay original, and keep your focusing straight. Keep these two things in mind, and you should be happy to see your first A+ in photography class.

Motion is one of the hardest lessons the beginning Photo I kids are faced with, mainly because you don't know you have the picture until after you develop it. There are two basic kinds of action: blurred, and frozen.

Blurred motion is motion that has either the moving subject blurred, or the background blurred. Either way, the subject must be moving. However, using panning (moving the camera to follow the subject, so he appears still, with the background moving) with a combination of a slow shutter speed (between 30-60) you can create the background blurred, with the subject frozen. This is undoubtly difficult to do, so there is no shame in devoting an entire roll of film to this idea. The other way is to have the subject still, and everything around him/her moving. A great way to do this is to go into a mall, have a friend stand perfectly still in the middle of a crowd, and use a really slow shutter speed (1-60) to have all the people blurred around your friend. Expreriment with other ideas similair to this, and it can create a very interesting picture that will send awe to your fellow students and teachers. Also be sure to decrease your f-stop a little, because with the shutter being open longer, it gives the light more time to enter.

The other form of movement is freezing the subject in motion. For this concept, you should have the shutter speed very high (250+) and keep a high f-stop, since light is only being absorbed for a fraction of a second. Also, it is generally a good idea to keep the subject in focus, for a subject frozen in time that appears fuzzy is just not a very good picture. Great ideas for this lesson are things that you do everyday, but can only sustain for a fraction of a second, like walking. When you walk, one foot is in the air, and one on the ground; if you freeze this, the subject looks like s/he is standing on one foot. Thrown objects also look good, however they are difficult to get in focus, so it might be best if the objects are thrown across the camera, instead of at it. In the example shown, you can see the juggler's pins are frozen in the air, if you know someone who can juggle, this would be a perfect picture!

The lesson is called "Light and Texture" because proper lighting is a big part of getting the perfect texture that you want to see.

For this lesson, you will definitely want to keep your f-stop high, and if you have access to a tripod, use it, because nothing will be moving in this lesson. My school is made of brick, so that is a popular choice when pictures are taken by the Photo I students. However, it isn't a very good one. More often than not, the first idea isn't the best one when it comes to photography. A better idea that the smarter Photo I's use is leaves. Our school begins around fall, so there are plenty of falling leaves that make great pictures. Be creative in your ideas for this lesson, most great textures are found outside, so take a walk around town or in the woods, and you could really find something unique.

When you find something of interest, you have to set up your shot. Take your tripod, and level it off with whatever you are taking the picture on. Make sure you have lots of contrast, because then shadows get in on the little grooves of the texture, and make it more noticable. It's advised not to do closeups however, because then you might not be able to tell what the picture is of, and then you just have a mounted bumpy slate.

When I did this lesson, I took my picture of a wooden post that had a chain, to keep cars froms from driving through the football field. I wrapped the chain around post, and then I got two different textures, one from the wood, and one from the chain. I also kept the contrast very high on the side of the post, so it went right from black to a near white. If it isn't used as the example picture, it soon will be (after it's scanned in).

The Depth of Field lesson requires that two pictures be turned in, so it is advisable that if you haven't learned time management yet, that you do so very, very quickly. The lesson is all about focus, it is the same picture twice, with the only different between them is the background is in focus in one, and the foreground is in focus in the other.

Since this lesson doens't require that you take pictures of any specific object, you are allowed to open up a little and take pictures of different things. One piece of advise however, don't take pictures of moving objects that you can't control. Because by the time you get the picture of the foreground in focus, advance the film, and adjust the focus, there's a good chance the object has already moved, and then you have wasted one picture. Feel free to take pictures of people or objects you can move about though, a good idea might be to have one person stand in front of another, moved slightly to the right or left, then focus on each of their faces.

I remember this was one of my least favorite lessons, but I had an idea that I used many times later. I took a picture with a playground in the background, and a corner of a brick wall in the foreground. With the brick wall in focus, it seemed almost like it was keeping you from going to the playground, which created a good effect.