Kangath Knits
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Patterns
    • Garments
    • Accessories
    • eBooks
  • Book Reviews
  • Inkscape Schematic Tutorial
  • Contact

Kangath Knits

Book Review:  The Crafter's Guide to Taking Great Photos

5/14/2013

0 Comments

 
Picture
The Crafter's Guide to Taking Great Photos by Heidi Adnum, pub. Interweave Press, 2011.

I recently purchased a camera, and am still finding my way around it.  Not knowing a lot about photography, I was pleased to find clear explanations of some basic concepts in this book.  Compared with Craftsy's Shoot It! class, this book had more specific information about settings and composition, and less information about working with people as models.

In the first chapter, Adnum briefly discusses light, aperture, shutter speed, exposure, color, focus, and major digital camera modes, and gives advice on choosing a digital camera.  I imagine I will outgrow this chapter fairly quickly once I learn these basics, but it will be a wonderful reference in the meantime.  

Next she goes into actually setting up your shot, touching on composition, background choice, and props---elements that will be dealt with more thoroughly later.  Then comes an excellent chapter on do-it-yourself camera accessories:   how to make your own light tent, light box, reflector, flash diffuser, seamless background, and even tripod (in a pinch).  These pages are referred back to in the following chapters.

A book like this is really hard to organize, and somewhere along the line the choice was made to separate the crafts from each other so entrepreneurs can look up their specific category and have all the information they need in one place.  The problem with this method is that there are many similarities when photographing products that come out of various disciplines, which leads to repetition and omission.  Some techniques that would be useful when shooting bags, say, are only given in the section on books.  

Furthermore, although the categories dealt with in this section are given at the beginning of the section and in the table of contents, they are only given a colored band in the header of the first page and the footer of every odd-numbered page to differentiate them from each other.  Given that the choice was made to divide the crafts into separate chapters, I would have appreciated large chapter titles announcing the categories.

Each of these chapters includes FAQs and an interview of a crafter in the respective discipline who takes beautiful and successful photos.  The FAQs were well thought out, but I found the interviews less helpful because they mostly reiterated tips found elsewhere in the book.  I can see how some people might appreciate reading about real people learning or discovering these things for themselves, though, and seeing the photos that resulted.  All the photos in this book are taken by crafters, with credits that not only cite crafter and craft, but camera and settings as well!

The final section of  the book contained a nice surprise---extremely useful tutorials on editing essentials, image handling, and optimization.  Again, I hope I'll outgrow these chapters soon, but in the meantime I'll really enjoy knowing they're at the back of this book.

The final chapter on business advice provided a nice wrap-up, even though I already knew most of the information it conveyed.  The glossary is also helpful, though it omits some terms like "in situ" and "MDF board."

If you have stuff to photograph, whether or not you made it yourself or plan to sell it, you should take a look at this book.  If you know a lot about photography, see whether your library carries it.  You may learn something new about styling or props.

But if you're a novice like me, you may want to purchase this book and refer to it frequently. Lots of information, effectively presented.  



Disclosure:  Kangath reviewed a copy of The Crafter's Guide to Taking Great Photos from her library.  Kangath was not compensated for the preceding review.  All opinions expressed in the review are the blog author's and are not necessarily the opinions of Interweave Press or Heidi Adnum.

0 Comments
    Picture

    Hi! I'm Kangath--- 

    knit designer, musician, writer, and mother
    ​who loves to experiment in the kitchen.

    Follow @kangathknits
    Picture
    Click here to join the Kangath Knits email list
    for insider updates and special deals.

    Subscribe to 
    Kangath Knits:

    RSS Feed

    Picture

    Ruth Roland is a top Baton Rouge, LA music lesson instructor on TryMusicLessons.com!

    Good Reads

    Amy Herzog Designs
    canaryknits
    dull roar
    Knit and Tonic
    Linda Marveng
    needled
    Ramblings
    The Sexy Knitter
    Sheep to Shawl
    Trappings and Trinkets
    Two Sides of the Same Stitch
    Yarn Harlot

    Archives

    November 2017
    October 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012

    Fiber Arts Bloggers

    Home/ Join | List
    Next | Previous | Random

    alt-webring.com

    Categories

    All
    Abrams
    Amy Herzog
    Ana Paula Rimoli
    Anna Dalvi
    Annie Modesitt
    Barn Door
    Betty Salpekar
    Book Reviews
    Britt Marie Christoffersson
    Buttons
    Canaryknits
    Cap Sease
    Chantal Garceau
    Cirilia Rose
    Clara Parkes
    Clotheshorse
    Colorwork
    Cooperative Press
    Creative Publishing
    Crochet
    Daniel Yuhas
    Dave's Stockings
    David & Charles
    Deb Buckingham
    Design
    Dream In Color
    Dyeing
    Dylana
    Elizabeth Green Musselman
    Eva Maria Leszner
    Eye Pillow
    Food
    Galler
    Garden Windows
    Genevieve Miller
    Giveaway
    Gluten Free
    Health
    Heidi Adnum
    Herbert Niebling
    Hestia
    History On Two Needles
    Honeymoon
    Hurricane
    Inkscape
    Interweave Press
    Katie Startzman
    Katya Frankel
    Knitting
    Kristina Mcgowan
    Lace
    Lacis
    Ladies Of Mischief
    Laura Lough
    Lena Corwin
    Lesley Stanfield
    Lisa Souza
    Livia Cetti
    Lori Ihnen
    Louise Walker
    Lynne Barr
    Malabrigo
    Manos Del Uruguay
    Margaret Radcliffe
    Martingale
    Martin Storey
    Meandros
    Megan Kreiner
    M'lou Baber
    Mountain Flight
    Nancie Wiseman
    Nancy Bush
    Needles
    Needles And Artifice
    Norah Gaughan
    Other
    Patty Nance
    Poetry
    Pop Knitting
    Potter Craft
    Quadrille
    Rebecca Danger
    Recovery
    Reversible Knitting
    San Graal
    Sarah Barbour
    Schematic
    Schoolhouse Press
    Shannon Okey
    Singular Snowflakes
    Socks
    Song Of Ice And Fire
    Stc Craft
    Stephannie Tallent
    Stitch Dictionaries
    St Martin's Griffin
    Storey Publishing
    Stroke
    Submission
    Summer Party
    Swedish Sweaters
    Tangled
    Tanis Gray
    Taunton Press
    Teresa Gregorio
    Teva Durham
    Theressa Silver
    The Unique Sheep
    Tips
    Toys
    Tutorials
    Universal
    Vanessa Mooncie
    Van Halen
    Vicki Stiefel
    Wendy Bernard
    Willow Yarns
    Yarn

Knitting with a Twist
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Patterns
    • Garments
    • Accessories
    • eBooks
  • Book Reviews
  • Inkscape Schematic Tutorial
  • Contact