My 13 years old cousin asked for it, she wanted to try my DSLR camera, and I allowed her to take a photo and you can see the result above. My little cousin is quite agile, so, I did take care that she wouldn’t drop the camera, and I explained her some of the buttons and how the lens works. Even if a DSLR is a quite complex device, I liked the idea to let her try to use it, especially because I think it’s important to show children something early, who knows, maybe they develop a passion for the things you show them.
Talking about the photo, I edited the image a bit, I cropped it to frame it better, I reduced the black values and changed the white a bit, I also reduced the vibrance and saturation a bit as there were yellow highlights that I didn’t like. Then I added a very little amount of clarity and sharpened it a bit. My cousin did cut off the chin of the sculpture when she focusses with the camera, it’s not perfectly framed, which is why I wanted to crop the image, but I do still like what she did, especially because it’s her first photo with a DSLR camera. Here is her original image without editing…
By the way, when she asked to use the camera, I asked her if there is something near us that would make an interesting photo, and she replied “Yes, look at the beautiful sculpture!”, I liked it when she was looking around to choose the subject on her own, that’s how we all started with photography, didn’t we? What do you think about the subject she did choose? And do you like her first try? To add something, here is a photo she shot a year ago or so with a smartphone camera.
Diary of Dennis 
This is great for your both. I really liked her first try and her selection. I hope she goes on to interest in photography. I remember, in my early years my father never let me to use his camera. I started to interest in photography many years then… and my first camera was a gift from my love. It was professional camera of course… But all my life photography has been one of my passion. Thank you dear Dennis, love, nia
I would be very happy if she would start with photography, or any other interesting or creative activity. A creative passion is always good, photography for example is very relaxing, you get out, you can calm down if you are mad or sad, and you can express yourself or show things you like… it was interesting to read how you started with photography 🙂 Have a nice weekend Nia!
I think she did well on her first attempt with a DSLR, looking at her previous photo from the smart phone it seems she has a good eye for a picture.
Yes, I agree with this, it would be fun if she would develop an interest for photography, I think too that she has eyes for it. I tried to teach her guitar a year ago and she gave up on this, maybe it’s working with the photography 🙂
My granddaughter started getting serious about photography around 13. She got very good very fast. Cameras are great gifts 😀
I am not sure if my cousin will getting serious about photography, but I hope so… starting with the age of 13, they would end up being experts in photography when they are 18 😀