Customer Reviews

How to Photograph Children: Secrets for Capturing Childhood's Magic Moments

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a good book for beginners, with extensive discussion of many of the basics of lighting, composition and exposure. However, if you have read a couple of the excellent books on general photography out there for beginners, you will already have heard most of the advice. The fact that this book puts the basics in context for people who photograph mainly children is mildly useful, but it would be much more useful if the authors instead would delve into greater detail on issues peculiar to children.

As examples, children tend to need softer lighting, and additional material on how to generate soft lighting would have been useful. Children also tend to be more difficult to direct and they don't stay still. This, as the book acknowledges in several places, requires a more spontaneous set-up and approach, yet the discussion rarely follows through with details, reverting instead to a more traditional and meticulous set up.

Please don't misunderstand this review. If you are a beginner and have a particular interest in children, this may be the book for you, especially if you are only going to get one book. I would tend to rely instead for most of the basic information on the classics, like Basic Photographic Materials and Processes (Stroebel et al); the Ansel Adams series (the Camera, the Negative, and the Print); and Horenstein's book on Black and White Photography, and would look for more advanced information from a book focused just on children. Unfortunately, I picked this up hoping it would be that more advanced book, and it is not.

As an amateur/hobbyist photographer for 20+ years as well as an avid reader I have read a lot of books on the subject, but none as fun to read as this. It contains lots of practical advice about composition and lighting as well as basics about film and equipment selection. The authors also tell how they got a particular shot, and give very clear examples and advice about technique. I recommended this book to several friends and relatives who wanted a basic book about photography, and, although the focus is on children's photography, this advice is translatable to other areas as well.
I was very impressed by the conversational tone and humorous approach which is often evident. What was great was that they encourage a lot of experimentation and they are not camera snobs - they actually acknowledge that such things as point & shoot & single use cameras are in use and tell you how to get the best of them, without making you feel like you're somewhat inferior if you're not using an SLR or medium format.
All in all, I highly recommend this book. Did I mention that the photos are great and the feeling is that they are actually attainable by the average amateur photographer?

I almost didn't even pick-up this book because of the title. I have no interest in photographing children. But almost everything in this book applies to photographing people. Both the writing and photography are very good. The content is concise, well organized and straight to the point. The example photos are those that any weekend shutterbug can aspire to create, not overwhelming masterpieces that would take years of experience and tons of equipment. And technique applies to any type of camera.

I am just learning about photography and I found this book to be very helpful. It covers almost everything; composition, film, lighting, outdoors, indoors, and a lot more. As one reviewer stated, you don't have to be interested in child photography to get some great info from this book because most information can be used for photographing people of any age. If you are just beginning photography, I highly recommend this book, you won't regret it.

After Rick Staudt took portraits of our 4-month old son, I fell in love with his work and was excited for his new book, co-authored with Lisa Jane. I was not disappointed -- the book is fantastic. It is very easy to follow and understand even though I have no photography experience, yet it isn't condescending at all. While I look forward to having our son's annual portraits done by Rick in the future, I am also looking forward to using some of his simple advice for better pictures year round. Enjoy!

I think this book was wonderful. It stated the basics to get you going then added more detail when needed. The camera jargon was not overwhelming in any way, and the lighting suggestions were great. I read through the whole book then went back and highlighted the most needed parts. I would recommend this book to any parent wanting to take more memorable pictures of their children. Deserves 5 stars without a doubt.

I've been using an SLR for many years, and am pretty familiar with how cameras work and how to take good pictures. What I had been hoping for from this book was some advice on how to take what I already knew about photography one step further when taking pictures of my kids.

The book goes over some basics about photography at a high level, talking about the types of cameras, some basics like aperture and shutter speed, types of film, etc. There are better books out there that go into more detail if you need this sort of information.

Other than equipment, the book has a pretty good discussion about lighting. It talks about when to take pictures (i.e., avoid harsh sunlight), and some good suggestions regarding reflectors. It also has a discussion on how to use flashes for best effect.

The information I was really interested in was the discussion on how to photograph children at various ages, and that was maybe half of the book. Most of it would be common sense to parents, i.e. don't try to force kids to do what they don't want to do, make sure you don't try to take pictures around nap-time, etc. The rest, I'm not sure how useful it will be, since 90% of the time I'm taking pictures while visiting somewhere like the park, the zoo, the aquarium, etc.

I guess that of the material in the book, I found about a small part of it useful. For someone who is new to photography, a general photography book would be better than the cursory overview in this book. The discussion on lighting was welcome, but I think there's much more to it than what they've discussed, so I'm leaning toward looking into some books specifically on lighting for photography.

So, to summarize, while there may be some interesting material in the book, the lack of depth in most areas makes me question if it's really worth $18. I don't get the feeling that this is one that I'll be using over and over again as a reference.

This is a nicely done book by Lisa Jane and Rick Staudt. If you have children to photograph and already understand the basics of photography, this is the book you should have. The photography is outstanding from both a technical and artistic standpoint. And, the ideas for making memorable photos are excellent.

An especially nice feature of this book is that it does not contain an excessive amount of technical information. It's more about impact and emotion (some call it vision) of the photos. This is a nice change from the typical book on photography which usually places the emphasis on the technical side of photography.

The only aspect about of the book of which the reader should be aware is the inclusion of several very high quality images that apparently were taken with a medium format camera and high-quality studio lighting. Because of this, an amateur photographer using a 35mm SLR camera (the typical situation for which this book apparently was written) might be given some false expectations about what is possible with their own equipment.

The above situation brings up an issue that I have with many photography books (most of which, incidentally, are not worth the paper upon which they're printed). This is the use of mostly medium- or large-format images in a book written for the 35mm SLR crowd. Apparently, the authors and publishers like to direct their books towards these people because this is the audience that can provide the largest volume in book sales. At the same time, however, their books incorporate mostly images taken with, for example, a 4x5 view camera, color transparancy film and a $2000+ lens. After all, great-looking images also helps to sell books! Flipping through the pages, the unfortunate reader is given the false impression that he'll be able to learn how to make the same type of wonderful, high-quality images after buying and reading the book. Unbeknownst to the reader, however, is the fact that those photos where not made with a 35mm SLR camera! And, no matter what brand of 35mm camera the reader uses (especially if equipped with a zoom telephoto lens and loaded with 400 speed color negative film) the image quality they can obtain will never begin to approach the clarity, sharpness and impact of those presented in the book they just bought!

Have a child at home? Once you read through this book you'll find yourself saying "Of course - how intuitive!" Suggestions are presented clearly and with photos to help you maximize good pictures for the fussy kid. A must have for every parent.

I am a beginning photographer, and this book was very helpful, the shots in it are beautiful and it gives lots of helpful tips on how to acheive the children's portraits you want. I reccommend this book to any beginner who wants to take wonderful kids photos.