Your Family in Pictures

We are a photo-taking family.  I grew up watching my Dad develop B&W pictures in his darkroom in our house.   At family events, it is not unusual to see five or six cameras going at the same time.

I have always wanted to take better photographs.  With just a few tips like (1) keep the light behind you (2) get close, and (3) put people in your scenery shots- I have managed to do a better than average with my photos.  I have learned much more watching my daughter develop her photography skills.  Also, many years of scrapbooking have led me to take pictures that tell a story - I think more like a journalist when I am taking photos of family events.

So I was delighted to get a chance to review "Your Family in Pictures" by Me Ra Koh.  I just love this book!  It is written for a person using a fully manual OR automatic camera and even has some special info about hybrid cameras like the one I use - a Panasonic Lumix G1.

This book has a lot of great information presented in a very readable way with lots of - you guessed it - PHOTOS!  The book is very well-organized and has chapters on every day life photos, holiday photos, family portraits, travel photos, etc.  Each chapter has some prescriptions to try - giving specific aperture, shutter speed and ISO settings to try in a particular set-up.  I think using these as "projects" would be an excellent way to learn take your photography to the next level.

Me Ra Koh has two other books in this same format "Your Baby in Pictures: The New Parent's Guide to Photographing Your Baby's First Year" and "Your Child in Pictures:  A Parent's Guide to Photographing Your Toddler and Child from Age One to Ten. " Based on how much I liked "Your Family in Pictures," I may start giving these books as baby shower gifts.  Good photos are such a treasure.

Besides this book, Me Ra Koh has an excellent blog (http://www.merakoh.com/) which I am going to be visiting regularly.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.