photography's key

I've been so fortunate to know a few great photographers who have passed along some helpful tips to improve my photos. There was the journalism school professor who taught me the rule of thirds and composition basics. Bree patiently shared her tips on gear, pointing me towards my prized camera body and showing me the magic of prime lenses. Then, Allison lent me Understanding Exposure.

Despite all of this intervention, I'm three plus years into SLR ownership and I almost always use the automatic setting. Pathetic, I know!

With a new resolve to learn the awesome technology I already own, I turned to Katie Evans, photographer and author of The Key to Taking Pictures like a Professional Photographer. Katie graciously shared her book with me and let me review it here for you.

Someday, my kids are going to thank Katie Evans.

Because of her, I may not have to take a million photos anymore to get that one sweet shot. Her book is inspiring, encouraging and written with a common sense, approachable style. If you want to take consistent, higher quality and even more artsy photos, this book is worth every penny!

Katie breaks photography down, into easy-to-digest steps, with inspiring photos as examples and only the most essential graphics. She shares tips and tricks she's learned on everything from gear to camera settings to composition. The best part of all is that she doesn't explain every last setting on your camera or every last theory on perfect lighting. Photography is stripped down to just what you need to know.

Finally! Someone totally understands what I can handle right now.

In other photography books, I've read about the aperture-shutter speed-ISO relationship in technical terms. As noted, I don't regularly use the manual setting, so you see how far that theory has gotten me. Katie, on the other hand, actually dishes: She shares exactly what settings she starts with and her step-by-step process to achieving beautiful images, that people pay her for. For a non-technically wired person like myself, this approach is a breath of fresh air, giving me a solid starting point. Then, when her explanations get the most technical, she follows up with a pep talk to reassure you to give it a try.

Beyond your camera's settings, Katie shares tips like how to make your subject's eyes sparkle (I always wondered how photographers did that!), how to properly transform an image to black and white, suggestions for how to create unusual, yet dynamic angles and framing and a very cheap, but really neat idea for softening the automatic flash light. Katie even breaks down essential photo editing tips - hitting the highlights with specific parameters.

My biggest complaint with this book is that it is electronic. As a manual, the book begs to be dog-earred and referenced while sitting in a field somewhere, fiddling with your camera's settings. But never fear, while the electronic book is still available, paper copies are hot of the presses too.

I would not sing this book's praises if I did not think it whole-heartedly deserved it, but it does. With SLRs seemingly becoming the new family norm, everyone deserves to be able to maximize the powerful camera they've invested in to document life's adventures. Katie's book will get you there. It's already gotten me off automatic.