"Threshold concepts"- In photography?

[Neare]

I think also, every time you see a great or terrible result in your work, you learn something, intentionally or not.

 

[sreed2006]

Grain.

Grain can destroy a photograph, or make it forever memorable. Learning the causes of grain (and, similarly, digital noise), and how to manage it, make for a giant leap in photography that a student would probably never expect at the beginning of the education process. Understanding it ties together a lot of different areas of the photographic technology, too, such as chemistry, film emulsions or digital sensor types, chemical or digital processing, sharpening, and printing.

 

[sreed2006]

Camera shake

I believe that learning about holding the camera still long enough to get the photograph fits all of (a), (b), (c) and (d).

It certainly has been difficult for me - because after 30+ years, I still get so excited to take a picture sometimes I don't make sure I'm holding the camera still.

Knowing the rule that the shutter speed needs to be at least the focal length of the lens has been a big help, and understanding why that is the rule integrates other bits of knowledge into the photography education.

 

[Soothsayerman]

For me, a first was the inverse square law of radiation, or put more simply, light falloff and its relationship to aperature and shutter speed.

It was counter intuitive to me to open the aperature to make the background disappear.

 

[Pico]

[...]
A fundamental question is - if threshold skills are that important, why we don't structure courses around them (instead of stuffing courses with other less important material) & whether teaching effort is appropriately proportioned to make sure students "get it"

David

I usually encounter threshold concepts in medical education where one example is recognizing shock. Recognizing shock is a firm metric. Another threshold that is far more difficult is recognizing behavior that reflects internal medical changes. I'd call the later a soft, but critical metric. Learning it requires immersive experience and critique.

In a sense, then, we see two things: the firm skill and the very difficult - the later being difficult because the medic must look to the patient's behavior with a careful balance regarding his (the medic's) personal point-of-view.

Corresponding thresholds in photography can have similar contrasts: the craft side of photography, and the art (and where the two meet or conflict for the sake of craft or art.) It is fairly easy to teach the technical part which I take to be the hard skills (not difficult, but certain.)

Concerning the art, well the history of photography as an art can be taught, but art cannot be taught. Understanding the art requires immersion and critique, and critique is almost impossible to teach, let along practice - the discourse of criticism is a study unto itself, and also because most art is taught by artists and artists tend to have entirely self-centered points-of-view. (If MDs behaved as artists, we would be in dire trouble.)

I'd like to recommend a challenging book: Why Art Cannot Be Taught - A Handbook for Art Students by James Elkins. Elkins takes a provocative approach.

 

[Chris101]

One of the last threshold concepts to be integrated into a photographer's bucket is the idea of communication and connecting - to the audience, from one picture to another, and ultimately from a series of images to a statement that can best be said through photography.

Of course, once this process is learned, it becomes irreversible, and all of one's output goes in that direction.