Photographing Friends and Family PDF
Preview Photographing Friends and Family
PHOTOGRAPHING FRIENDS AND FAMILY THE KODAK IIBRARV OF PHOTOGRAPHV CREATIVE Digitized by the Internet Archive 2010 in http://www.archive.org/details/photographingfriOOscot PHOTOGRAPHING FRIENDS AND FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHING FRIENDS AND FAMILY ma Publishedby Time-LifeBooks inassociation with Kodak PHOTOGRAPHING FRIENDS AND FAMILY CreatedanddesignedbyMitchellBeazleyInternational inassociationwithKodakandTIME-LIFEBOOKS Editor-in-Chief JackTresidder SeriesEditor JohnRoberts ArtEditor MelPetersen Editors IanChilvers LouiseEarwaker RichardPiatt Designers RobertLamb MichelleStamp LisaTai AssistantDesigner SusanRentoul PictureResearchers BngitteArora NickyHughes BeverleyTunbridge EditorialAssistant MargaretLittle Production PeterPhillips JeanRigby WrittenforKodakbyTonyScott CoordinatingEditorsforKodak KennethT. Lassiter KennethR.Oberg JacalynR. Salitan T©heKoKdOakDLAiKmitLeidbrAalrlyroifghCtrsearteisveervPehdotography ConsultingEditorforTime-LifeBooks PhotographingFriendsandFamily ThomasDickey ©KodakLimited,MitchellBeazleyPublishers, SalvatEditorcs,S.A., 1983 PublishedintheUnited States andCanadabyTIME-LIFEBOOKS Nopartofthisworkmaybereproducedorutilizedin anyformorbyanymeans,electronicormechanical President includingphotocopying,recordingorbyanyinformation storageandretrievalsystem,withouttheprior ReginaldK, BrackJr. permissionoftheoriginalcopyrightowners. Editor LibraryofCongresscatalogcardnumber82-62975 GeorgeConstable ISBNb-86706-206-1 1 1 1 1 Contents 6 Pictures ofOurselves 16 People at Their Best 18 Expressing personality 32 At work and play 20 Relaxing the subject 34 Capturing smiles 22 Composing the picture 24 Filling the franne 26 The perfect compromise 28 The right lens 30 Ways oflooking 36 Matching Light to Subject 38 Sunlight or cloud? 40 Backlight and silhouettes 42 Modifying the light 44 Using portable flash/ 46 Using portable flash/2 48 The soft-focus portrait 50 People Together 52 Spontaneous groups 66 Loving couples/1 54 Arranged groups 68 Loving couples/2 56 Around the table 58 Wedding day/ 60 Wedding day/2 62 Wedding day/3 64 Pictures at parties 70 Chronicling the Family 72 Parent and child 84 Brothers, sisters 94 A touch ofhumor 74 Baby portraits and friends 96 Unusual approaches/ 76 Toddlers/ 86 Growing up 98 Unusual approaches/2 78 Toddlers/2 88 Parents and grandparents 100 Using movement 80 Little children/! 90 The family pets 82 Little children/2 92 People reflected 102 Glossary 103 Index 104 Acknowledgments PICTURES OF OURSELVES The first pictures any photographer takes are likely to be of family or friends. Whether good or bad photographically, they have a personal meaning that grows as time passes. Such pictures can make us laugh - or cry - because they record our own lives. In a real sense, they are pictures ofourselves. Nevertheless, in every album there are some pictures that we look at more often and with more pleasure than others. These images may be brimming with life - the gap-toothed grin of a six- year-old - or utterly quiet - the frail face ofa loved grandparent. But their special quality is that they seem to place us in direct contact with the people we know. They reflect the fact that a photographer who is familiar with a subject can reveal insights impossible to a casual observer, and capture moments that could never be staged. All the pictures on the following nine pages have this direct emotional impact, and the impression of having been snatched from life. Many ofthem were taken by relatives, and all by photographers who personally were close to the subjects. Yet strong, spontaneous pictures such as the one opposite are comparatively rare. Although friends and family are the most convenient, as well as the most changeable and fascinating of subjects, they also can be among the most difficult to photograph well. The aim ofthis book is to suggest ways of avoiding pitfalls, so that you can take pictures of your family or friends that have qualities as good photographs - as well as being records of your own life and times.
The list of books you might like
