Photography Books for Bloggers? A Beautiful Mess Photo Idea & Picture Perfect Social Media
Recently, I found two photography books written by bloggers and I'd be remiss not to do a review on both of them. Now, neither of these book claims to provide technical photography skills BUT seeing as they are listed in the photography section instead of lifestyle I was hoping that they would provide some tips for someone like me who doesn't own super fancy cameras or a separate studio for taking pictures. The end goal is to see whether I think either of this book is a "must-have" in my blogging library.
A Beautiful Mess Photo Idea Book
95 Inspiring ideas for photographing your friends, your world and yourself
Elsie Larson and Emma Chapman
I think the best way to do a review on both of these books is to just talk about what I liked and disliked but before we start I just want to do a little rant on the physicality of the 'A Beautiful Mess' book. I am a bed and couch reader and I find that the giant square shaped book (which I get is supposed to be reminiscent of an instagram photo) is awkward to hold. I had to read this book on my desk laid flat because it was just such a pain to hold up.
I actually browsed this book at Barnes and Noble not knowing that the creators have a very popular website titled A Beautiful Mess. So since I haven't read their website or know who they are this is my review.
The book is divided into 8 chapters: Capture your favorite people, Add backdrops and props, Use beautiful lighting, Get creative, Get inspired, Capture yourself, challenge yourself and Show off off your photos. This book is definitely big on the words "candid", "unique" and "lights". I like a couple of the ideas that they presented in the book. One was about using paper as a backdrop (which I've added to a couple of my photos) and making homemade filter using objects like lace or sunglasses.
I really want to like this book but I feel like it's more of a styling idea book than a photo idea book. There's so many chapters on how to set things up and not much on how to actually take and produce quality photos. The last 50 pages of this book are DIY photo display projects and also, is there really a need for a whole chapter to be dedicated for taking selfies?
Using the Goodreads rating method as usual, I give this book 3/5 stars. I still think it's entertaining and the pictures are beautiful but the contents are not necessarily educational or something that I need to have in my blogging library.
Picture Perfect Social Media
A Handbook For Styling Perfect Photos For Posting, Blogging, And Sharing
Jennifer Young
This book is divided into three sections- Understanding your camera, understanding your subject and the technical stuff.
The first section talks about the different type of cameras, settings and exposure which are pretty basic information that people who are getting into photography should know. She also talked about the different type of lighting and what makes a good photo. Then she went on to talk about tips from the pros including some fun DIY camera equipment which were really neat. The best part? Only 2 pages on how to take selfies.
One of the section that I thought was really useful for someone who has a blog is the section on basic photography etiquette. Most of the tips are common sense but sometimes people forget that what you post on your personal facebook page is slightly different than posting it on a blog post or article. I try to be really conscious when taking pictures, when I can I will avoid taking pictures of people or taking it in a way that I can crop it.
The second section is a quick read for me. Seven chapters on different subjects: food, kids, pets, interiors & homes, travel and fashion written more in an interview type manner with different bloggers.
Section three is probably the most useful. Young lists software recommendation for photo editing, understanding print quality, resizing images and the importance of water marking your images. I used to watermark my photos when I started this blog and then I just stopped cause I mean let's not sugar coat it, I'm lazy. I should probably start doing it again so maybe in the future when you start seeing watermark, you'll know why.
So all in all, I think that this book fits more to what I have in my head when I think about Photography books for bloggers. It's not a full technical photography book, but it does have some useful technical photography information. I know Goodreads doesn't have half stars but I would give this book 3.5 stars. I think it has better technical content than the first book but not enough for for a fourth star.
Final Thoughts
So do I think that either of these books area "must-have" in my blogging library? Honestly the answer is no. You can probably guess that I didn't like the first book very much but as much as I like the second book, I don't think the information is worth it and will just take up space in my bookshelf.
I do have books that I got specifically for blogging, if you want me to write about that I'll be happy to do so.
As always, thanks for reading!
Until next time,
A Beautiful Mess Photo Idea Book
95 Inspiring ideas for photographing your friends, your world and yourself
Elsie Larson and Emma Chapman
I think the best way to do a review on both of these books is to just talk about what I liked and disliked but before we start I just want to do a little rant on the physicality of the 'A Beautiful Mess' book. I am a bed and couch reader and I find that the giant square shaped book (which I get is supposed to be reminiscent of an instagram photo) is awkward to hold. I had to read this book on my desk laid flat because it was just such a pain to hold up.
I actually browsed this book at Barnes and Noble not knowing that the creators have a very popular website titled A Beautiful Mess. So since I haven't read their website or know who they are this is my review.
The book is divided into 8 chapters: Capture your favorite people, Add backdrops and props, Use beautiful lighting, Get creative, Get inspired, Capture yourself, challenge yourself and Show off off your photos. This book is definitely big on the words "candid", "unique" and "lights". I like a couple of the ideas that they presented in the book. One was about using paper as a backdrop (which I've added to a couple of my photos) and making homemade filter using objects like lace or sunglasses.
Using the Goodreads rating method as usual, I give this book 3/5 stars. I still think it's entertaining and the pictures are beautiful but the contents are not necessarily educational or something that I need to have in my blogging library.
Picture Perfect Social Media
A Handbook For Styling Perfect Photos For Posting, Blogging, And Sharing
Jennifer Young
This book is divided into three sections- Understanding your camera, understanding your subject and the technical stuff.
The first section talks about the different type of cameras, settings and exposure which are pretty basic information that people who are getting into photography should know. She also talked about the different type of lighting and what makes a good photo. Then she went on to talk about tips from the pros including some fun DIY camera equipment which were really neat. The best part? Only 2 pages on how to take selfies.
One of the section that I thought was really useful for someone who has a blog is the section on basic photography etiquette. Most of the tips are common sense but sometimes people forget that what you post on your personal facebook page is slightly different than posting it on a blog post or article. I try to be really conscious when taking pictures, when I can I will avoid taking pictures of people or taking it in a way that I can crop it.
The second section is a quick read for me. Seven chapters on different subjects: food, kids, pets, interiors & homes, travel and fashion written more in an interview type manner with different bloggers.
Section three is probably the most useful. Young lists software recommendation for photo editing, understanding print quality, resizing images and the importance of water marking your images. I used to watermark my photos when I started this blog and then I just stopped cause I mean let's not sugar coat it, I'm lazy. I should probably start doing it again so maybe in the future when you start seeing watermark, you'll know why.
So all in all, I think that this book fits more to what I have in my head when I think about Photography books for bloggers. It's not a full technical photography book, but it does have some useful technical photography information. I know Goodreads doesn't have half stars but I would give this book 3.5 stars. I think it has better technical content than the first book but not enough for for a fourth star.
Final Thoughts
So do I think that either of these books area "must-have" in my blogging library? Honestly the answer is no. You can probably guess that I didn't like the first book very much but as much as I like the second book, I don't think the information is worth it and will just take up space in my bookshelf.
I do have books that I got specifically for blogging, if you want me to write about that I'll be happy to do so.
As always, thanks for reading!
Until next time,
