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

Rating:
Summary: Fabulous Book
Review: If you are interested in taking beautiful and meaningful photos of your little angel, you should definitely order this book. I have also bought a few other books of the same nature but this book is by far the best one. It has excellent photographs and many useful tips for amateur photographers like myself in improving our skills. The layout is well thought out and the content is also well researched. This book is highly recommended. Well Done.

Rating:
Summary: Good for Beginners; Not as Good for Advanced Amateurs
Review: 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.