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Photography Merit Badge

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January, 2024

Requirements for the Photography merit badge:

Safety. Do the following:
1. View the Personal Safety Awareness "Digital Safety" video (with your parent or guardian's permission)
2. Explain to your counselor the most likely hazards you may encounter while working with photography and what you should do to anticipate, mitigate, prevent, and respond to these hazards. Explain how you would prepare for exposure to environmental situations such as weather, sun, and water.
Explain how the following elements and terms can affect the quality of a picture:
1. Light - natural light (ambient/existing), low light (such as at night), and artificial light (such as from a flash)
2. Exposure-aperture (f-stops), shutter speed, ISO
3. Depth of field
4. Composition-rule of thirds, leading lines, framing, depth
5. Angle of view
6. Stop action and blur motion
7. Decisive moment (action or expression captured by the photographer)
Explain the basic parts and operation of a camera. Explain how an exposure is made when you take a picture.
Do TWO of the following, then share your work with your counselor:
1. hotograph one subject from two different angles or perspectives.
2. Photograph one subject from two different light sources - artificial and natural.
3. Photograph one subject with two different depths of field.
4. Photograph one subject with two different compositional techniques.
Photograph THREE of the following, then share your work with your counselor:
1. Close-up of a person
2. Two to three people interacting
3. Action shot
4. Animal shot
5. Nature shot
6. Picture of a person - candid, posed, or camera aware
Describe how software allows you to enhance your photograph after it is taken. Select a photo you have taken, then do ONE of the following, and share what you have done with your counselor:
1. Crop your photograph.
2. Adjust the exposure or make a color correction.
3. Show another way you could improve your picture for impact.
Using images other than those created for requirements 4, 5 and 6, produce a visual story to document an event to photograph OR choose a topic that interests you to photograph. Do the following:
1. Plan the images you need to photograph for your photo story.
2. Share your plan with your counselor, and get your counselor's input and approval before you proceed.
3. Select eight to 12 images that best tell your story. Arrange your images in order and mount the prints on a poster board, OR create an electronic presentation. Share your visual story with your counselor.
Identify three career opportunities in photography. Pick one and explain to your counselor how to prepare for such a career. Discuss what education and training are required, and why this profession might interest you.

Photography Worksheet

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Comments:

Mar 07, 2014 - Jim Ewins

Where is the history of photography? Where is there a short description of darkroom (film) photography. The material and requirements appear very shallow, especially in comparison to other merit badges. The text could just reference books on the subjects with a few questions in the worksheets to indicate comprehension.

Mar 26, 2014 - Alan

I agree with Jim. A little bit on the history of photography would be nice. Also, I really think that for 99% of the population, digital photography is more relevant than film photography. I think leaving out ISO as a factor in exposure is a big oversight. Depth of field is a consequence of aperture and focal length, but I don't believe it should be categorized under exposure. Also since digital cameras are what most people use, I think white balance should be brought up. I also think that photographers should understand RAW vs jpeg file formats and the pros and cons of each format. No mention is made of lenses, focal length and what a big factor they are in the final product. I didn't realize what a difference they made until I bought my first professional quality lens. I think there could be at least one section devoted to lenses. I hope that I haven't offended anyone. I am just trying to increase the quality of material presented.

Mar 26, 2014 - Scouter Paul

@Jim and @Alan - I certainly hope both of you are Photography merit badge counselors. Scouts learn much, much more from mentors that are experienced and passionate about the topic than from someone just "getting them through the requirements". Adding additional topics that you feel are relevant to discussions and experiences is OK to do. The whole idea of having adult counselors is to make an environment where scouts learn from adults. You just shouldn't add any requirement that a scout know or demonstrate that additional information or skills.

Apr 22, 2014 - Rick Rose

Just to tag on to the other suggestions for additional material--I would suggest a discussion of the effects on image quality of film/sensor size, and, in related fashion, the meaning of "crop sensor" vs "full frame," "medium format," and so on.

Dec 30, 2014 - Art Ewing

I agree with Jim and Alan that the merit badge is weak. Available light is missing. I agree that white balance should be included. The badge should be workable on a smart phone which is today's Brownie. There should be more on editing digital photos with a computer since a darkroom is history. Use of a computer software should not be a problem, since the counselor will likely have it. The merit badge should make the scout aware of what he can do with photography as a life long hobby or a profession, and it should be fun to do. In the 1970's scouts made pinhole cameras, and saw pictures develop. Although this is no longer practical since materials have changed, there is plenty of plenty of magic still in photography, particularly in digital editing..

Feb 28, 2015 - Mark Kodra

Exposure is missing ISO. Exposure is f-stop, shutter speed, and ISO. Depth of Field has nothing to do with exposure. This whole course needs to be rewritten.

Dec 25, 2015 - Chris

I have created a powerpoint teaching the photography merit badge. It can be found at www.slideshare.net/mobile/chriswi lliamdavis/photography-merit-badge- powerpoint

Feel free to use or edit it as you please.

Aug 02, 2017 - Steve Schaefer

I think all these comments are valid more for a beginning photo course say in high school and are therefore too academic. The curriculum guideline is great. It gives the boys simple assignments to have fun seeking out and therefore have fun with the camera. Spending more than just a glancing blow on all these topics mentioned in the comments is a complete BORE to a 12 year old. Sorry, but it just is. Our goal as teachers of photography is to "sparki" a fire in a participant's heart to want to jumper deeper into photography.

Feb 28, 2018 - Jack Adamyk

History of Photography: This is not very important, especially since the information is not pertinent to the fundamentals of photography. It's cool to know, but not useful.

Film: It is hardly used and is considered in todays standards as a niche.

Exposure: Has been addressed in the 2016 requirements.

Lighting: Both ambient and flash has been addressed in the 2016 requirements.

Cell Phones: Although there is a time and place for these, they are currently not the standard for professionals, as opposed to DSLR and mirrorless cameras.

@Scouter Paul: Excellent advice!
@Rick Rose: Yes, APS-C, 35mm "full frame", medium format, and large format would all be excellent topics.
@Chris: Thanks for the slideshow, I'll download it and make adjustments as needed.
@Steve Schaefer: Excellent advice! Absolutely have to keep the student (or Scout in this case) engaged.

Nov 24, 2018 - Arnav Gupta

I think the Photography Merit Badge really helps scouts understand the concept of taking pictures and with every year passing by the merit badge gets better and better.

Dec 13, 2019 - Adam Taylor

I believe that there should be a section about mobile photography as even though a smartphone is not as good as a dale or mirror less, certain cheap third party lens, and apps that allow you to change FPS, and iso on your camera for free. After all, if we’re teaching children that you need to spend 200$ or more, the inspiration would probably be quashed by budget reasons.

Apr 28, 2020 - blerg

The photography Merit Badge is a good one to try during these COVID-19 times.

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