Day Two of Book Review Week

I probably should have thought about this before yesterday's post but I was doing that one way early in the morning. My darling baby girl woke me up very early and then she promptly went back to sleep leaving me up to write book reviews. At any rate I have a stack of books to do and it has thusly occurred to me to see how many I can get done this week. So onward to today's review. Dream Weddings Create Fresh and Stylish Photography by Neal Urban Let's just start with the brides who booked this guy are super smart and totally lucky. His work is crazy good. If you're a photographer you're going to be jealous and super inspired at the same time reading this book. My all time favorite image in this book is one he did of his wife after their wedding day. The background is the northern lights. He lit her with a flash and it is OUTSTANDING. He emphasizes not becoming stale and having cookie cutter copies of your own images, let alone others. I figure if I could take just one of the elements of his photography and make it my own, it'd be worth buying this book.

Set the Scene Book Review

I was quite excited to get into this book based on the cover image. The car and the camera are two of my favorite things. Several years ago I shot that same model of car for my own work. It was the grill that drew me in. The rest of the images in the book are just as inspiring. They showcase what it means to use props effectively. It gives excellent examples of how to use multiple props without being cluttered and how one prop can change the whole image. It even suggests things you wouldn't normally think of as props such as the headband a baby girl might wear or the clothing in a vintage inspired shoot. The ideas are really endless. Special consideration is also given to the safety of the props especially when babies and children are involved. I read this book through of course, but really, I just loved looking at the pictures!

Beyond the Nude

It's merely coincidence that I am reviewing two books on nude photography one right after the other. This one is a very different take on the nude form than the other one. When you think nude image you probably don't see beyond that-a nude person, however this book does see beyond that. A considerable amount of time and thought went in to the creation of these images especially, I think, the ones done on film. The lighting is carefully done to accentuate the curves of the women's bodies and is quite beautiful. After reading this I would like to give myself a challenge to create a more artistic photograph, maybe someday with a nude as well.

Seriously don't judge a book by its cover, or its title for that matter

Ok so the title of this book is Creating Erotic Photography- find models, choose locations, design great lighting, and sell your images by Richard Young. Now I put off reviewing this for a bit thinking that the title meant it would be somewhat in the porn realm and out of my comfort zone. However once I sat down and gave it a shot I learned it was less about the subject matter (nude women of course) and more about being a smart photographer and protecting your own behind. He mentioned paperwork that I had never heard of that appears to be fairly essential not just for a nude photographer but almost any type of photographer. He discussed being comfortable with your model and the mutual trust necessary for a project to be a success. Also a good portion of what he has to talk about can easily be applied to boudoir photography, which as you can see from my previous posts is something I'm beginning to delve into. There are some very beautiful photos that are most definitely fine art also. I'm happy I finally made the time to read this one.

Book Review Time

Its time for another book review. This one is Master Lighting Guide for Portrait Photographers. I have read several other Chris Grey books and I really enjoy the way he writes. It's like he's right there talking to you. The first part of this book is a review of the basics of lighting equipment and the core setups most often used. Everyone needs a review of these every now and then. The second part, portrait lighting lessons, goes over specifics - certain equipment, types of portraits such as a business portrait and getting a certain look like a vintage portrait. There are of course a ton of pictures which is always good, especially for us visual people. It's also an all around good book to get ideas from. I plan on trying out the double key lighting in my next session. I'll be keeping this one around for reference for years to come.

Amy's Boudoir Session

I had to wait until today to do a blog post for this session even though it was shot a few months ago because she was giving her husband to be an album as a wedding present and it needed to be a total surprise. They are getting married today and she gave him the album last night so now I can finally share all of her amazing beauty. Congratulations to my cousin Amy and her man Jeremy!

Back to the book reviews- Storytelling Techniques for Digital Filmmakers by Ross Hockrow

I got this book awhile ago and just recently got around to reading it. I always used to think that filming a movie would be only slightly different than still photography and thought I would someday try my hand at it. I had my eyes opened by reading this book though. There is SO much that goes into a movie. Besides the things that relate to still photography like camera settings and similar equipment there are the types of scenes, transitions, story plot, and audio to think about. Audio is a huge one. Every sound has to be tracked separately, down to the sound of a can of pop being opened to make it all sound real and flow properly. This book is really just the beginning though. Enough to either whet the appetite or scare you off completely from becoming a filmmaker.