The Lighting Cookbook… by Jennifer Bidner and Eric Bean

April 6, 2008 | Book Reviews | No Comments

The Lighting Cookbook… by Jennifer Bidner and Eric Bean.

The Lighting Cookbook offers some useful advice for setting up equipment to get high key shots. Overall though, I found most of the information to be impractical for what I needed. In fairness, this book is written for adult fashion and beauty photography. Because I really wanted a simple setup to photograph children, and because I wanted to setup in my home, the guide was often impractical.

The Lighting Cookbook does give some useful suggestions for setting up your lighthing - with diagrams and recommendations for specific equipment, including specifics about lens choices and distance of background, model and lighting. The book also gives a general overview of equipment, including camera and lighting equipment. Finally, it gives you several “set” ideas for creating fashion shots. Most of the sets are extreme and would probably not be appropriate for children’s high key photography.

Much of this information is available for free in various places on the internet - but it was nice to have it all in one place to reference as I was setting up equipment. Overall, the book was adequate for getting the information on high key photography. At under $20 I felt that my money was well spent, but it’s not a book that I’ll keep for my library!

star rating (out of 5 stars):

***

The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby

April 6, 2008 | Book Reviews | No Comments

The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby

I love, love, love this book by Scott Kelby. It took me a couple minutes to get over his sense of humor, not very humorous - sort of like the uncle who thinks he’s being funny when really he’s just being annoying. But once I got used to it I found the book excellent. It’s easy to read, and full of useful tips that will help you understand your camera alittle better and take better pictures immediately.

I should start by saying that his book was only the second book on digital photography that I had read, not including my camera’s manual. I was looking for something quick and dirty - something I could read in small chunks and use right away. I didn’t need lots of fancy explanations or complicated details - I just wanted to know how to get better results quickly.

This book delivered. I got my camera out while reading and immediately saw a difference in my pictures. Although he does recommend buying a tripod and remote sensor, for the most part he didn’t recommend lots of expensive equipment. Most of his tips and tricks are ones that you can use immediately with just your camera and basic lens.

As a bonus, he also includes some very useful and easy tips to help edit pictures in Photoshop. The key is to get the best shots that you can, but when they are less than perfect, Photoshop can work wonders. He also provides several websites that I found useful; some for camera accessories, some for photo editing tips or software.

This book is written for amateur or beginning photographers. If you have an in depth knowledge of your camera and digital photography then this book probably isn’t for you. If you are just starting out and need a good, comprehensive guide, then I highly recommend the Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby.

star rating (out of 5 stars):

****

Interview with Children’s Photographer Amanda Keeys

April 6, 2008 | Interviews | No Comments

May 2007

We are so excited to bring another insightful interview, this time with Amanda Keeys. The moment I saw Amanda’s photography, I was mesmerized. She has a way of capturing the essence of childhood that is just amazing! Make sure to check out her website to see more of of her incredible work!

www.amandakeeysphotography.com

How long have you been photographing children?
Around 3 years now, counting from the very beginning. I used to practice a lot on my niece when I got my first camera. Professionally, about 2.

What equipment do you use?
I use the Canon 5D and a bunch of different lenses - my favourites are the 85mm f1.8 and 50mm f1.8. I have a macro and wide angle too which are lots of fun to play around with!

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Interview with children’s photographer Shannon Stewart

April 6, 2008 | Interviews | No Comments

March 2007

We are so excited to bring this month’s interview, with the fabulous Shannon Stewart of Madison Avenue Photography! Make sure to check out her blog to see samples of her incredible work!

What was your first camera? My first camera dates back to high school, it was an Olympus OM10. Believe it or not this camera actually accompanied me on several shoots I did when I was first starting out, since I was using film this camera was used as my B&W camera. Some of my most precious pictures of my daughter when she was an infant were taken with this camera. Two years ago I went digital with the canon rebel. I love digital, I love the ease of seeing images immediately and not waiting for film to be developed. Before I went digital I never did any editing on my computer, it was all done in the lab … once I went digital I had to learn photoshop which was no walk in the park. Over time and tons of trial and error (I mean tons! LOL) I got the hang of it and now I actually enjoy editing.

How did you get started photographing your daughter for other boutique sellers? When Madison was 6 months old I started selling hair flowers that I had made for her on ebay, using her as my model. During that time I had the pleasure of meeting many great designers and slowly I began to model for other designers when Madison was about 12 months. I have a love for children’s clothing which is really what got me into photographing for other designers. I am also a buyer so that keeps me in contact with lots of designers and opens up communication with them. I’ve always felt strongly about regulating the amount of time Madison models, it’s important to me that she is always having fun and is not being over worked. I’ve had to decline modeling jobs so many times because of this reason.

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Interview with Children’s Photographer Rebecca Cleary

April 6, 2008 | Interviews | No Comments

January 2007

This month we interviewed the very talented Rebecca Cleary whose pictures of darling Bren can be seen in various auctions on eBay!

How long have you been interested in photography? I can’t really remember a time when I wasn’t interested in photography. I was that girl in high school that brought her camera to every event and did silly photo shoots with her friends on the weekends. It’s neat though because I have loads and loads of scrapbooks documenting my life from when I was able to click a camera up until now.

How did you get started photographing your daughter for other boutique sellers? Well, first it was out of necessity because I needed a model for my bows and bracelets. I used my older daughter until Bren was old enough to enjoy having her picture taken. The first seller she modeled for was Kate of Katiebugsclothing. Bren was only 18 months at the time and was not really interactive with the camera like she is now. We modeled for a few other designers when Bren was just bareley two years old, but nothing very regular. Her “career” really took off though when we met Lisa of 912lisab. She and I live close and we’ve been the face of her incredible designs. It’s really progressed wonderfully from there and we’ve been blessed to model for lots of awesome designers.

What equipment do you use? I shoot with a Nikon D50. Around here we call it “My Precious!” LOL!

Do you have a favorite photo(s) that you have taken? Oh my gosh! YES! But asking me to choose would be like asking me which child I love the most! As soon as I declare one my favorite, we’ll do another session and I’ll find a good one and say, “Ok, now THIS is my favorite!” Here are a few that have held the “favorite position” over the past month or so.

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Get Noticed

April 6, 2008 | News | No Comments

Thank you so much for your patience! We are finally back. We are in the process of reloading all the old site information onto our new format and then we’ll be up and running again!