book review: The Key to Taking Pictures Like A Professional Photographer

 The Key to Taking Pictures Like a Professional Photographer, by Katie Evans

Have you seen this beautiful book yet? I have several photography books, but none are as simple, honest, and beautiful as this one. I've read so many that are better served as a coffee table book, offering not much more than pretty pictures. I've read others that are so complicated and lengthy that it's hard to remember what technique they were talking about by the time you've finished reading about it.

This book is so easy to read; Katie talks right to us as amateur/hobby photographers in a conversational manner. She shows two versions of the same image and explains why one is better. What I like about that is that she's showing us the most common mistakes (that I make, anyway) and how to correct them. Katie shows us what gear she uses and why and even included a whole chapter on editing.

I've read this book (I have the e-version) twice so far, and I keep going back to reread sections and to browse Katie's lovely photos. She has just released a handy guide on exposure that can be carried in your camera bag. Right now, she's having a 20% off sale on both the e-book and the hardcover. I might just have to cave and buy the hard copy... Katie also has workshops which are on the top of my list for when I move back to the US.

If you love taking photos, but are disappointed with what you're getting from your camera, I highly recommend this book. I definitely find myself reaching for my nice camera more often now that I can make better use of the settings and get better images. I just wish I had more time to go out and practice!

fall

Fall is my favorite season.  I love the crisp air, the crunchy leaves, the hot cider, the fall festivals.  I got married in the fall, and fall colors were my palette for my wedding.  I especially love fall in upstate NY.  The colors are amazing up there.  People travel to the area just to see the colors.  Since I can't see the colors this year, I found some local color instead.

Oh, and while writing up this post, I enjoyed the end of another fall favorite of mine: maple sugar candy from the NY State Fair.  Thanks again, Mom and Dad, for sending me some!!

self-portrait

Here's my very late selfie for the week.  I actually ended up using a photo from last week because I just wasn't happy with anything I took this week.  Well, there were a couple I tried to use, but they were all out of focus, urgh.  I really need to get my tripod fixed...  Gosh I look old in this photo; and tired.

second selfie *ugh*

To be honest, I detest this one.  I hate the lines in my neck, the marks on my skin from Monkey pinching me, the freckles from my sunbathing days, my wide jawline, and my thin hair which is only just now starting to thicken up again, post baby.  But, it's me.  And we're always our own worst critics, right?  So I decided to have some fun with effects on this one. 

*gulp* my first selfie

As promised, I started taking some self-portraits. Now, I typically live my days in ponytails, bare-faced, no jewelry, and pretty basic clothing. My kids don't care if I did my hair today, so neither do I. Should I? Probably. So I've been trying to make more of an effort to make myself look like I leave the house once in a while. This weekend I had one of those days where I felt like taking a little time for myself. Granted it was only about 3 minutes longer than normal, but I need quick. And the quicker I can look nice, the more I'm apt to do it more often. I guess it should be a sign that mama needs to spend some time on herself when both kids noticed how different I looked. Since I took the time to change out of my ponytail, I figured I should try to get some pictures. I just took some quick arms-length shots while Mr. R was watching tv. I'm certainly not ready for an audience yet.

I did very minimal editing. I'm still working on learning GIMP, and haven't decided to part with the measly $20 for the extra features on Picnik yet, so I was limited in what I could do; not that I want to change so much that it wouldn't be me anymore. So? How did I do for my first selfie?

1 every 7, not 1 every 1 for 365

I found out about this 365 days of self-portraits just today.  You know how it goes: I was reading one blog, that linked to another, that linked to another, that mentioned this project.  Yea, that happens a lot; and is probably half the reason I spend so much dang time on the internet these days.  Here's why this project caught my attention:  I hate hate haaate photos of myself.  I want to change that.  The original blog post I read, by Chelsey of The Paper Mama was about enjoying self-portraits.  I'll be honest.  The idea of taking photos of myself on a regular basis makes me feel a little ill.  Enjoyment would not be part of the exercise, for me.  Is that normal?  I don't know.  I don't know if more people are happy with the way they look, or unhappy with the way they look.  I know that I have loads of issues with my physical self; I always have.  In fact, in school a dear, sweet girl asked our school counselor how to make a friend like herself.  She was talking about me. Ouch. 

Then, I found Elena's blog, Selfie Magic, and read her post about why people should take self-portraits.
 Can I just say that that all hit a little [read: a LOT] close to home.  I constantly (and silently) curse myself when looking through photos because there are so few of me.  I've even commented to Mr. R about how our kids are going to ask me what I looked like when they were small because they won't have a clue from our 'family' photos.

So.  As painful as this is going to be for me, I'm going to start taking some selfies.  There is no way I can commit [at this point] to a full 365 days of photos.  I was going to go with 30 days; but after reading Elena's blog, I see she has a Selfie Saturdays link-up that she does.  While that sounds interesting for later, I don't think I want to be stuck to a certain theme at first.  I need to just get comfortable with holding the camera the wrong way first (see? there I go again - 'the wrong way'; like it's bad to be taking photos of myself).  But, that doesn't mean that I can't still post selfies once a week. 

That's my plan right now.  I'm going to post a selfie once a week (1 photo every 7 days instead of 1 photo every 1 day for 365 days).  The reason I'm broadcasting this on my blog is to hold myself accountable.  This is going to be hard for me to do.  Very hard.  If you see a week go by with no selfie, you hound me until I post one.  I mean it.  I want to see my comments explode on day 8 of no photo.  And just to clarify, I'm keeping the rules simple right now.  All I will require of myself is that I be in the photo.  So while you might not see my face in all of them at first, it will be a photo of ME.

Talk about a challenge...