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Since I discovered this book this year, I've given three copies to new parents and it has been a tremendous hit. This book is easy to read and drives home the points with excellent examples. This is an excellent primer on photography in general. But what better way to inform and bless all the precious moments that lie ahead for the new mom and dad. In my opinion it's one of the ultimate baby blessings.
It taught me timeless photography "rules" that help me constantly when photographing anything. Later I went back and read each chapter more in depth to try to solidify the principles in my mind. Ginny, as well and many other photographers, contribute to make it a great forum for gaining helpful feedback on photographs of children. Although I had read several books on photography the previous year, none inspired me quite as much as this one. Why don't you join us. And while I did want to learn how to take better photographs of children, Ginny's book taught me much more than that.
It has allowed me to directly see the principles outlined in "Photographing Children" in action both in my own work and in others. I received this book last Christmas from my husband as an accompaniment to my new camera. I read the book quickly because it was well written in simple terms that just made sense. The greatest lesson I've learned is "seeing the light" which has changed the way I photograph.In addition to the fantastic book, I've had the privilege to be a part of a Facebook group by the same name.
Cosmetic ads are shot with front or flat lighting because it creates a shadowless light that disguises imperfections. *For a short depth of field that makes the subject jump out and the background be more blurry use larger apertures. Negative space is empty space around your subject that works to emphasize. It covers a lot of issues in photography and gives highlights and good advice on many areas. Common settings are:*Sun100*Porch light200*Overcast day200-400*Window light400*Indoor w/o flash800 and up*Stage performance w/o flash1600*Indoor sports event w/o flash1600F stop (aperture) affects depth of field*f/8 to f/22 produce a long depth of field, meaning most things are in focus, this is referred to as shooting closed down. With a wide angle lens you are going to have a long depth of field, and with a telephoto, you are going to have a shallow depth of field. On the high end:*Toddler roaming 1/250*Kids running 1/500*Child swinging 1/1000For noise free results use ISOs of 100-400. The focal length discussion needs to be in the depth of field discussion.
With studio lights, the closer they are to the subject, the softer they appear.On composition, keep it simple, and do so by getting close. Contouring light is 3 times as much light on one side of your subject as on the other side. Rembrandt lighting is achieved by placing your subject at a 45-degree angle to your light source such as a window. Specular light is the bright line dividing the highlight from the shadow. The flash in the eyes is called catch lights. I was disappointed with their treatment of depth of field, which is what is in focus.
Larger f-stops, such as f/1.5 and f/1.2 make for very selective focus and make everything else blurry.In the chapter on natural light, called "seeing the light", the authors favor natural light, and sweet light with is the first hour of sunlight of the day and the last hour. Focal length*12mmWide angle -good for large groups*50mmStandard -this is what the eye sees*105Telephoto -often considered ideal for portraits (finally).*200mmTelephoto -good for blurring out backgrounds and getting close to action High-key photos are light subjects against a light background. It is not until page 196 where they mention that focal length affects depth of field.
Watch for dark things in light spaces and vice versa. Either zoom in to the head and shoulders, or zoom out to get the hands, or zoom out more and get the whole body including feet. Never crop off hands and feet. Most photos in this book were shot between f/1.4 and f/5.6. They claim that the aperture (f-stop) determines the depth of field, and discuss this for several pages. Many authors make this mistake and send amateurs on wild goose chases because they don't have the proper lens to get the depth of field they seek.Below are the notes I took for myself from this book. This is called shooting wide."Photographs are not made by cameras, which are only tools."Program modes;*Portrait mode is a precursor to aperture priority, sports mode to shutter priority, *f/4 and f/5.6 give you pleasing depth of field for portraits.
Using your on camera flash as the main light is almost always a mistake. The faster the shutter speed, the more likely to freeze motion. I thought this book was a good read. I hope you find them helpful.Shutter speed can either freeze movement, or cause blurring. There is also a chapter about manipulating light with flash, light modifiers, white balance, and studio lighting.
It has great assignments at the end of each chapter to help comfirm what you have read. I bought a new SLR camera to improve the quality of my pictures. While I still have along way to go, I already can see a difference in my pictures. I am by no means a professional photographer, I did take a photography class in high school and have always enjoyed photography and taking pictures. I think anyone wanting to improve their knowledge on their camera and on the skill of photography would benefit from this. This book has helped me understand a lot of the functions of my camera, what differnt setting to use to get the look that I want out of a pictures.
I bought a couple of other books with this one and this is by far the best. This book is wonderful. After having children, I wanted to improve my skills. I have run around the house after my kids using the techniques I learned in this book.
The reason I found it so helpful is because of the assgnment at the end of every chapter. Not enough feed back for sure but seeing what others have done is inspirational.
Karren Hubrich It really helps to follow through with the assignment and acturally try the new things that I have learned about.
I also commented on many other photos that had been submitted. Thank you for a good product that is well researched and easy to understand.
I really love the book, "Photographing Children". I uploaded photos to the website for critique.
I like the idea so much that I am purchasing more books from this series.
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