| Last Updated: Jan 20th, 2009 - 19:56:46
Photographing Your Family - Review
By Cynthia Kirkeby
Feb 20, 2008, 17:21 PST
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For those of us looking to improve our photography of friends, family, and the occasional stranger, National Geographic has published a new book called Photographing Your Family (and all the kids and friends and animals who wander through too). In its beautifully photographed glossy pages the author, Joel Sartore, takes us through some basic concepts designed to improve our day to day photos.
The first chapter is entitled Take Baby Steps with Your Camera, and it covers many of the basics people seem to miss when they start to do photography. I have frequently run across individuals, who know every technical aspect of their camera, and yet they have never heard of the Rule of Thirds, and they still may take photos with trees apparently growing out of their subject’s heads. This is a back to basics chapter that is a good refresher even for those who think they know it all. Even though you may remember all of those rules and guidelines for better photos, there may be one or two that you forget to put into practice from time to time.
Chapter Two is a bit of a hodge podge and it’s ambiguously named, Advanced Techniques: A Gallery of Images and How I Made Them. Most of this chapter would have been better put under the category of Themes. Simple Moments, Museum Trips, and A Day With Grandfather are intermixed with Low Light and Selective Focus. It’s an odd little chapter, but it actually has some of the most interesting information. For many people the only time they think about taking out their camera is birthday parties, anniversaries, and other “special events.” This chapter is a reminder to take your camera outside the next time you see your child playing in the yard, and take a few minutes to capture the magic of their youth.
One of the things I like about Joel’s book is his writing. He’s managed to strip away the jargon that so many experts seem unable to shed. With some basic humor and an everyman style, Joel creates a photography book that is accessible to even the most basic weekend photographer.
Your Digital Darkroom is the title of Chapter Three; it gives an extremely short overview of the absolute basics of digital adjustments. If you don’t know what these do, you must not have touched a digital camera or photo editing software as of yet. For those individuals who are just now making the transition to digital from film, the chapter does the job of simple explanations on the basics everyone must know to work with photos in today’s digital world. The list at the end of this chapter has a quick rundown on editing software, although I’m not sure how they decided on their classifications. iPhoto is shown as a $$ ($50-100), however, as every Macintosh person knows, the program is bundled free with every Mac that has been made since OSX was released.
The chapter on Printing, Displaying and Storing Your Photographs, gives some critical information on resolution and printing, as well as good sources for processing digital information. With the advent of large mega pixel cameras, many people have no idea of how to optimize their images for their particular purpose. Although Joel doesn’t go into optimizing your images for online viewing, he does give a very coherent explanation of image quality and resolution for printing that anyone can understand.
The final chapter, oddly enough, is on Choosing Your Equipment. Although many authors would have made this the first chapter, there is a good reason to place it in the final position. Before you can consider which equipment you should be using, you have to have some idea of how everything works, because so many choices we make actually come down to personal preference.
All in all, this new offering by National Geographic Books is worth a look. If you’re an occasional photographer who is switching to digital, then this is a perfect book to help you figure out the new art of photography. If you’re a seasoned pro, a lot of this book will be too basic, but you may find a gem or two in that odd second chapter. Sometimes there’s a great concept absolutely staring us in the face, and all we need is a little reminder to look for it. If you are in between the total neophyte and the seasoned pro, I think you’ll probably find plenty here to justify picking up this book. Joel Satore’s simple approach is bound to improve your photos and take you to the next level of quality. As for me? I enjoyed reading Photographing Your Family, and even came away with a couple of gems.
About the Author: Joel Satore is an award winning photographer for Nation Geographic and a father of three. He has spent 16 years on assignment with National Geographic and he has produced 16 magazine articles for them. He is currently living in Lincoln, NE with his wife, 2 sons, and his daughter.
© Copyright 2008 by Classbrain.com
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