Customer Reviews

Photographing Your Family: And All the Kids and Friends and Animals Who Wander Through Too (National Geographic Photography Field Guides)

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

 

 

You know how you used to take lousy photos with your old film cameras, but then the digital revolution came along and you finally bought an expensive, feature-laden 10MP digital SLR and you suddenly find yourself... still taking lousy photos?

Yes, because it doesn't matter what kind of camera you have. You still need to learn a few hints and tips to use it properly. A photographer with good skills could get amazing images out of a pin-hole camera.

The wonderfully clear and simple new National Geographic book, Photographing Your Family, provides just about everything you need to know about taking great pictures of your kids, spouse, friends, pets, and whoever else you point your camera at. Award-winning photographer Joel Sartore offers his guidance and tips on subjects ranging from light to composition to printing. More importantly, on every page of the book he features examples of his own images. There is no better way to learn photography than to study the work of others. Sartore's accompanying text is easy to understand for a beginner, but detailed enough for those who might need a refresher. My 9-year-old son even enjoyed looking through it, and picked up a few techniques he can use right away.

So, stop taking lousy photos. Instead, take the time to learn a few things so you can start having fun with your camera. Photographing Your Family is the best book I've seen for helping the average person capture those special family moments that belong in a photo album. Highly recommended!

I really enjoyed reading John Healey and Joel Sartore's book on family photography. The title is a bit lengthy, as there are small sections on photographing pets, but it's mainly about people photography. I hesitate to use the term "portrait", as most of the pictures shewn here are informal, and aim to capture family members doing the things they do every day.

The book contains a useful guide to novice photographers about using cameras, with information about focal depth, shutter speeds and apertures together with some gimmicky features many digital camera manufacturers include. The emphasis is more on digital photography over film, which is probably a fair balance these days. It's interesting that the book was published in March 2008 and already some of the technical information seems out of date. But this doesn't really matter, because what I wanted the book for was ideas about how to photograph people, and a few examples of techniques and results.

National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore has shared many pictures of his wife, children and parents with us, so much so that by the end of the book we feel almost as if we know the family. This is a mark of the success of his picture-taking, because the shots contained here are not just a selection of posed portraits, but shapshots of the family going about their daily life. As well as children laughing, there's children crying, his mum showing her superb-looking roast dinner, his daughter having her ear pierced and son having his haircut. There is also a poignant photo' of his wife during her treatment for cancer, which reminds us that we ought not to just document half of our lives, but need reminders of the bad times as well. John Healey, the principal writer of the text, is also a photographer and his thorough understanding of the subject and user-friendly explanation blends well with Sartore's photographs. I recommend this book to anyone who likes taking family pictures, as they will certainly find some new ideas here.

This book is about how to take good PHOTOGRAPHS, not portraits, of your family. The author has a documentary, photojournalistic style.

The first part of the book discusses the basics of composition - no surprises here (rule of thirds, backgrounds/foregrounds, pov, light, etc...), although the author strongly emphasizes the idea of taking photographs that represent what life is REALLY like, not staged photos, or those group pictures of everyone close together on holidays.

My favorite part of the book is the gallery, where he showcases dozens of photographs and discusses what he was thinking when he composed and shot each picture. There is a poignant photograph in here of his wife resting in bed, sick with cancer. This picture really exemplifies the author's entire mantra of"show life as it is". I think I will always want to beautify things a bit, but I cannot deny the power of recording daily family life as it occurs, and I will make a more concerted effort to do.

Anyway, I would have liked to see camera detail - ISO, shutter speed, aperture, etc... - but that unfortunately is not included for any of the photographs.

Finally, the book includes a basic introductory section about the digital darkroom, and printing/displaying/storing digital photographs that would be of benefit to those new to digital photography.

All in all, a lovely, interesting book.

I am not an expert photographer but I have to admit that I am a pretty good amateur one. I also have a family, which led me to borrow this book at the library the first chance I was able to.
After a few hours of reading, I was hooked. I took out my Canon Powershot (I know, I know...what can I say - I am low budget by necessity) and started snapping away at everything I could. I came back with some pretty sweet shots that actually persuaded my husband to maybe buy me a rebel for x-mas...

The book is a great guide. #1 in my opinion.
In both belief, influence, and technique, it is superior compared to most of the photography books and magazines that I have already read.
Intimate and exhilarating, I find that simple phrases in this book can lead to many more possibilities (if one is willing).

I recommend buying this book. 100%.

I have been shooting with a Canon Rebel XT for about 4 years, since the birth of my 2nd child. I bought a DSLR specifically to better capture the candid moments in my family's life. I'd consider my technical understanding of my camera's capabilities as intermediate. The book provides the right combination of shooting philosophy and technical considerations for taking better photos of moments in your family's life.

Though I don't consider myself a beginner, there are many parts of the book that a beginner would really appreciate, such as the discussions on equivalent exposures, or the section on The Digital Darkroom.

And, since I'm not an advance shooter, there was plenty of helpful insight, such as his brief discussion on the importance of subject, composition and lighting. Perhaps the part of the book I liked most is the Gallery of Images, where he tells the reader his thought-process behind each photo, and where he (usually) provides the camera settings he used to capture the image. Also, I really liked his description of his philosophy when shooting his family, which has helped me to achieve a better balance of capturing moments and experiencing moments

Personally, it is hard to understand how someone could read this book and not feel better-prepared to take family photos, unless you are already an very experienced photographer.

Perhaps I am so pleased with the book because I bought a quality copy used for $8.42 with shipping. I probably would have knocked off one star if I had paid full price.

The only negative of this book is how the author discusses flash photography. Like other authors I've read, he suggests avoiding using flash whenever possible. And, I understand how the on-camera flash can make a photo look horrible. But, he doesn't give enough guidance with how to best use flash on those occasions when it's necessary. Or, alternatives to pop-up flash, such as a Speedlight.

This book is gold. It's written in a very down to earth manner but has the fingerprints of two very experienced and National Geographic photographers. The real value in this book is in the paragraphs of text, rather than photos themselves, though the captions do bring a lot out of them. The photos themselves are okay. Perhaps show their age a little, but just unpretentious. Great stuff.

I am just starting out in photography and this book not only gives great tips on how to take better pictures of your family, etc, but also why to take pictures. It's also really enjoyable to read, not boring or over my head.

I enjoyed this book a lot. It would a great first book for learning how to photograph your family. It is deceptively simple in its approach and a lot the stories within the book have a Joe McNally "The Moment It Clicks" personal feel to them since he uses his own family photos throughout the book with stories about each photo. He explains why some photos work and some don't. He prefers natural light so don't expect lighting diagrams in the book. I would characterize the photo style as documentary. If someone were to ask me to recommend a single book on photographing a family, this would be the book I would recommend.

This is a very informative book regarding techniques and camera settings. The information regarding
"posing" that doesn't look posed was great. A great addition to any photographer's library.

I glanced at this book while on a hiking trip and knew I had to order it when I got home. Mr. Sartori has written in simple to understand terms, with humor and a large dose of reality. I promptly ordered a copy for my daughter for Christmas and have recommended it to a fellow amature photographer, who purchased it and loves it as much as I do. Easy to read and understand, great photos to demonstrate what is discussed, this is a book that would be a benefit to anyone who can't keep their finger of the shutter button!