Capture the Moment: The Modern Photographer's Guide to Finding Beauty in Everyday and Family Life

by Sarah Wilkerson

The premier online community for female photographers, Clickin Moms presents a photography guide featuring big, bold images coupled with short, focused, prescriptive tips for translating everyday life into stunning works of art.

Clickin Moms is the photography industry's largest social network of female photographers, boasting a booming members-only community of more than 16,000 professional photographers, aspiring professionals, and women passionate about capturing their families' everyday lives. This guide captures the spirit of the community by featuring a compilation of stunning member-contributed images paired with photography tips progressing from elementary to advanced, leaving no skill level unserved. By letting the images dominate and keeping the teaching points short and direct, the book builds on the highly visual appeal that has made the online community so popular. Covering all the bases, including equipment, composition, posing, low light, natural light, black and white, still life, and lifestyle photography, the example shots feature plenty of inspiration for photographing children as well as other beautiful everyday moments. Assignments for experimenting with lighting and shooting locations round out the chapters, providing every photographer with both the inspiration and skills she needs to capture life's beautiful moments as frame-worthy photographic art.Â

Genres: Photography, Nonfiction, Parenting, Business

256 pages, Hardcover

First published October 7, 2014

Reviews

[Shelby *trains flying monkeys* · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was just kinda meh to me.
The blurb of the book says that it features some of the works of the members of the blog "Clickin Moms". I honestly thought that it would have been a great deal better than what I found. Their website is entertaining and I think the better deal.
For example: (This is one page of the book)
Turn off your flash
Avoid red-eye and unexpected bright glares by turning off your camera's automatic flash. This will greatly improve the quality of your images in most situations.
Followed by a picture of pears and cheese.

Groundbreaking info? Not really. You can do a basic google search about photography and pick up most of the info presented here.
For the photos, Some of nice and then some of them...well not.
There is a few of them that are out of focus or blurred.
I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review from blogging for books.

[La La · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was confused by the photographs in this book because they ranged in quality from horrendous to marvelous. At first I thought the sub-quality photos were included as examples of bad technique, but they were not. There is a big difference between "soft focus", a shallow depth of field, and having the entire picture grossly out of focus. I am wondering if they included an image from each member of the Clickin' Moms, and were helpless in having to include some less than acceptable shots. Also, what is this composition point the author continuously offers up with dead center single subject placement? I loved many of the examples, about a fourth were meh, and loathed about one third, so I gave it three stars. I really don't think I would recommend anyone spending money on this book because you can get much better inspiration randomly off the internet and because some of the instructional information was questionable it definitely isn't something I would give to a beginner. I was approved for this book on Netgalley in return for an honest review. I will not be reviewing this book on my blog because it is less than four stars.

[mad mags · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the Creativity Exercises

(Full disclosure: I received a free copy of this book for review through Blogging for Books.)

According to its website, Clickin Moms was founded by Kendra Okolita, who wanted a safe place to talk photography with her friends. Over the years, it's evolved into a "community of over 16,000 professional photographers, aspiring professionals, and women who are simply passionate about capturing the lives of their children." Written (or perhaps "compiled" is a better word) by company CEO Sarah Wilkerson, Capture the Moment: The Modern Photographer's Guide to Finding Beauty in Everyday and Family Life is a photography guide that couples tip and tricks with large, bold images contributed by Clickin Moms community members, thus capturing the spirit of the website.

Capture the Moment is divided into six chapters, each focused on a discrete aspect of photography: Natural Light; Composition; Storytelling; Fine Art; Black & White; and Low Light. Each page features one tip paired with an image for illustration; in some cases, the spread takes up two full pages. Along with the photographer's name, each photo includes information about the camera, lens aperture, shutter speed, and ISO employed in the creation of said image. The result is a photography guide that's aesthetically pleasing, but sparse on text: nice to look at, but with a minimum of instruction. As a beginner, I found a wealth of inspiration here - but more advanced photographers may be disappointed (or outright bored).

I can't help but notice that this book has already undergone a revision: Goodreads lists a 2014 edition that was published as Capturing the Moment: Inspiration and Techniques for the Modern Photographer, and in 2015 it was rebranded as Capture the Moment: The Modern Photographer's Guide to Finding Beauty in Everyday and Family Life. As another reviewer noted, the book is more a list of tips and tricks as opposed to a technical or instructional manual - so I think the new title is much more appropriate.

While it's true that some of the advice is almost painfully elementary - to use one much-cited example, "turn off your flash: Avoid red-eye and unexpected bright glares by turning off your camera's automatic flash." - I don't think this paints an altogether fair picture. As Wilkerson notes in the intro, "the accompanying tips within each chapter progress from elementary to advanced." "Turn off your flash" appears on page ten. The advice grows more complex and nuanced from there.

Of course, the advice offered here isn't specific to photographing kids or even families. While the photos do indeed focus almost exclusively on families, the tips are applicable across a wide range of situations.

I especially enjoyed the creativity exercises found at the end of each chapter (usually three or four, with a moderate amount of guidance). I would have loved to have seen more, but these are likely to keep me busy enough as is.

http://www.easyvegan.info/2015/04/20/...

[Callie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every now and then I like to read books on photography. Even though I am not a professional photographer, I do like to get good shots of my kids whenever I can, and when I read photography books I am more inspired to take pictures of the kids and try new things.

Capture The Moment is written by the CEO of Clickin Moms, Sarah Wilkerson. Each chapter is on a different aspect of photography, and each page is filled with gorgeous photos accompanied by photography tips. This book covers natural light, composition, story-telling, fine art, black and white, and low light photography.

I loved this book, and I think it has great inspiration to improve your photography, particularly portrait or lifestyle photography. I loved all the tips, and though I already knew some of the information presented, I learned a lot of new things as well. I especially liked the focus on how the photographer can change the mood of their photos by adjusting lighting, white balance, items that are within the frame, etc.

This book not only gave practical/technical tips, but it gave a lot of ideas for encouraging you to be creative and try new things with your photos. I liked the challenges at the end of each chapter, ideas for activities to help you experiment with style. I thought the tips and exercises would be helpful for beginners or for more experienced photographers. You should probably have a DSLR camera to get the most out of this book, but if you just have a point-and-shoot- or phone camera and are looking for composition ideas, this book is full of them.

If you are a mom (like me) who just likes to play around with photographing your kids, this book is perfect to get you thinking outside the box! Check it out!

Note: I received a copy of this book for free front he publisher in exchange for this review. This is my honest opinion.

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Initial thoughts: The overall organisation was great as each section focussed on a particular theme, such a composition, light, darkness (low-light photography), black & white, etc. Under each section there was a collection of photos demonstrating each and a option accompanying each photo providing tips. Oddly, some captions and photos didn't exactly match, so the selected photo became more of a showcase piece for the photographer rather than a demonstration for the tip. While some photos were very strong, showing great skill, others were somewhat lacklustre, thus dragging down the overall impact of the book.

For a beginning photographer, Capturing the Moment is a good discovery tool of approaches to photography. Each chapter ended with prompts to challenge photographers. This showed that a lot of thought went into putting together this book. However, for someone seeking to improve their photography, this book is nothing more than a quick source of ideas to play around with. Few photos left a lasting impact on me but at least there were a couple that did spark my imagination.

[Sheila Guevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read some of the other reviews and one of them discussed photos that are grossly out of focus and of poor quality.

I find the book charming and an exceptional book for today's contemporary photographer. Here a group of women (Moms) take photos of the everyday and produce beautiful photographs. And that is the point. Using a shallow DOF to the point of being just a wisp or producing a photo that is in fact softly and completely out of focus is the point. Imagine impressionistic painters being told their work was "out of focus" and you will understand how the viewer or reader is off point by not understanding the material.

There are a range of tips in the book which are directed at photographers of all skill levels.

The work is consistent with Click magazine or Bella Grace. And the style is consistent through out the book despite being a compilation of 115 photographers.

This book will make it to the top shelf of my teaching collection of contemporary work. This book throws out the old rules and old film and shows us life as it is today!

[Panda Incognito · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is full of beautiful pictures, but unlike other photography collections that focus on exotic locales, costumes, and contrived poses, this one emphasizes everyday life and the beautiful things right in front of us, turning baby feet, cherries, swimming pools, and noodles into art. This book is largely targeted towards mothers interested in documenting their children's growth and family life, and is very accessible to a busy mom: instead of pages of hard-to-read technobabble, the instruction here is broken up into a paragraph or two juxtaposed with images that show the technique in practice. The collection is absolutely beautiful, and even though my knowledge of photography is beginner level, I enjoyed admiring the techniques on display and the unique angles on life. The photography showcased in the book shows how breathtaking the ordinary really is.

[Rebecca Jo · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a neat book.

This is such a beautiful book to have for inspiration, to learn some tips, to get some ideas.

This is made from all the ladies at Clinkin' Moms - a site that I love to go visit & see what questions they are answering & to see what the latest is.
This book is a collection of their works broken out into categories.
It's not so much a book that gives you direction or teaches you anything, but on each picture, it does let you know the settings of the camera, which is good to know so you can practice yourself.

The book is heavy & thick & well constructed as well.

For a photographer, I think its great just to thumb through to get inspired. Glad to have it.

[Jiaying · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the book didn’t evoke a sense of awe in me, it still served as like a comprehensive range of techniques I’ve previously explored in my photography journey articulated with elegance.

But I appreciated that the book didn’t really emphasise and focus much on demonstrating how to create those effects but instead had a feature of photographs to give light to the tips covered.

I also like that the photographs were thoughtfully curated such that they not only focus on finding exotic locations or contrived poses typically found in travel or lifestyle photoblogs but rather, to renew our way of seeing by rediscovering the beauty in our everyday life.

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable book of inspirational photographs family photographs taken by many different photographers in a cohesive style. Though, I would have appreciated more examples of photos in different shooting styles, as many of the photos featured wide open apertures for shallow depth of field. I appreciated reading a book by female photographers for female photographers. Every photo included its camera, focal length, aperture, shutter speed, and ISO, which is helpful to understand what tools they used to achieve the desired effect.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not the best book for photography instruction or even for example photos for various photography techniques. However, I appreciate the simplicity of the pages and the short photo-taking tips. It is quite helpful for teaching photography to kids. Each chapter ends with creativity exercises, and the book was a good starting point for ideas.

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful and inspiring photos with great tips throughout the book. Was a little disappointed there wasn't more "meat" in terms of content / learning though.

[Kathleen Messmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this book! It has wonderful images to say nothing of the exercises and inspiration. Read it.

[Lois · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful. Good tips and beautifully presented.

[Andrea · Rating 5 out of 5]

Capture the Moment by Sarah Wilkerson
ISBN: 978-0-77043-527-1
Retails for $21.99

About:
"Modern guide to photography."

Impression:
Capture the Moment is such an eye-catching book, especially when you receive the hardcover version like I did. It most definitely deserves it's own display on a tabletop or a shelf. When I get my own studio, you better believe it, this book will be displayed!!

This guide book first of all contains such amazing photographs and portraits throughout all of it's 244 pages. This book covers many techniques and shows you a photograph and then offers suggestions-er teaches you how each image was achieved and how you can utilize lighting to illuminate your subject, how you can use backlighting through natural light, or how you can use a light source to focus on the catch lights in the eyes of your subjects. This book also shows you different ways to capture body language, emotion, perspective, and how to conceptualize photographs to tell stories with your images, making them very powerful to your viewers.


My favorite chapter was Chapter 5: Black and White. Black and White photography is so artistic to me and I found this particular chapter to be full of emotion within the photographs. B/W is timeless and you can capture so much mood alone by adjusting your light accordingly and your contrast as well. I feel like you can appreciate a photograph more when you aren't distracted by colors.

One particular thing stood out to me through this book that I valued the most and that was that at the very bottom of almost every page, you could find the photographer's name, camera, and camera settings that were used to capture each of the photographs listed throughout. This was very helpful and important to me. As a photographer, we see another's work and often find ourselves asking, "What lens did you use? What camera do you use?" and this answered those questions for me. Incredibly useful.

Lastly, at the back of this book, you will see a section called the Contributor Directory. This directory includes a photograph, the photographer's name, website, and page number their work was published on. All of these contributors were from Clickin Moms, which is the largest female organization of photographers in the world. 100% of the royalties from this book's sales go to the Ronald McDonald House Charities! I love that!

All in all, this is a great how-to book for the amateur and professional alike. I love this. It's heavy, beautiful, full of information and gorgeous photography. I personally hope to be published like this one day! :) If you buy this book, you will love it!

[Mazzou B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sometimes, you can judge a book by its cover! When I saw the exquisitely beautiful photograph on the front of this book, I knew I had to get my hands on the volume! And I was not disappointed. This quality-bound hardcover book is absolutely filled with beautiful photographs capturing the joys and wonder of childhood as well as other small yet important details of life. Can coffee table books get any better? This book will be sure to delight every person, whether a photographer or not! I am an amateur photographer and I am looking forward to being inspired by the pictures contained within this work of art. All the photographs contained within the pages are all contributed by members of the online community called Clickin Moms. To understand more about the group as well as this new book, read the following;
The premier online community for female photographers, Clickin Moms presents a photography guide featuring big, bold images coupled with short, focused, prescriptive tips for translating everyday life into stunning works of art.

Clickin Moms is the photography industry's largest social network of female photographers, boasting a booming members-only community of more than 16,000 professional photographers, aspiring professionals, and women passionate about capturing their families' everyday lives. This guide captures the spirit of the community by featuring a compilation of stunning member-contributed images paired with photography tips progressing from elementary to advanced, leaving no skill level unserved. By letting the images dominate and keeping the teaching points short and direct, the book builds on the highly visual appeal that has made the online community so popular. Covering all the bases, including equipment, composition, posing, low light, natural light, black and white, still life, and lifestyle photography, the example shots feature plenty of inspiration for photographing children as well as other beautiful everyday moments. Assignments for experimenting with lighting and shooting locations round out the chapters, providing every photographer with both the inspiration and skills she needs to capture life's beautiful moments as frame-worthy photographic art.
I received this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest review.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an inspiring book! I know it is a guide but after reading one section I immediately changed my photo taking habits (notice I left my babies toys and hands in the photo). I think I may have gotten stuck in a rut when taking photos of my books. Not to mention I feel like every photo of my children is blurry or just not appealing.

This book gives you an understanding of the surroundings within a scene and how to use them. The lighting and its emotional effect on the photograph. Every piece is small and it makes photo taking not so overwhelming. The Storytelling section just happened to be my absolute favorite part. There are so many moments in life I would love to hold on to forever and this book has given me the tools on just how to do that.

It's interesting how inspiring a photo can be. The photos in the book are so beautiful yet so DIY. I actually think I can pull off taking photographs that are just as breathtaking because of how simple it really is. I think a little knowledge goes a long way, especially with things we do everyday. We just need to learn how to do it right!

I don't think there is any room for improvement with this book so I gave it 5 stars. Also, I absolutely love the book.

I feel like anyone can use this book, I mean we all take photos right? Seriously the guides are so understandable, they make professional photos approachable. This book tells you that you can take professional quality photos on your own.

Capture the Moment: The Modern Photographer's Guide to Finding Beauty in Everyday and Family Life by Sarah Wilkerson. Amphoto Books (April 7, 2015). 256 pages. Arts and Photography. I received this copy through the Blogging for Books program.

[Alison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pinterst, Instagram, Facebook, Selfies...so many people are using cameras and smart phones to photograph more than ever before. Capture the Moment The Modern Photographer's Guide to Finding Beauty in Everyday and Family Life by Sarah Wilkerson (mphoto Books (April 7, 2015) provides a treasure-trove of useful if basic information, tips and ideas to make your photos (be the taken with a smart phone or an actual camera), better and more interesting. The book is nicely organized, divided into six chapters, each focused on something you might want to know about if you're new to photography: Natural Light; Composition; Storytelling; Fine Art; Black & White; and Low Light. For advanced photographers, there isn't going to be a lot more to impress other than the pretty photos but as an art book it's nice just in itself. As an advanced amateur, I admit that I didn't find much to help me improve my photos that I didn't already know, but I was inspired just by the photos. For the beginner, contributions by the members of Clickin Moms, the photography industry’s largest social network of female photographers, will offer ideas to give you those coveted "Likes" on Instagram, and "shares" of pins on Pinterest. not to mention just making your own personal photo albums, better. Learn about how to use light, frame a photo, and pick just the right place to post your subject for maximum impact. At just $16.000 in hardcover, this would a also make a nice Mothers/Father's Day gift or for a bridal shower gift.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are an educated professional photographer, this book is not for you.

If you are a hobbyist, photography fan, learning to become a professional, or even a new mom who just wants to figure out how cameras work to capture the moments of her new baby’s life — this book IS TOTALLY FOR YOU!

Sarah does a fantastic job pairing stunning photographs with helpful insight to help you create gorgeous photographs of your own. Each image is accompanied by the details behind the photo — the ISO, shutter speed, aperture, lens, and camera type are all listed beneath. This is helpful as you are starting out to understand a little more about the different situations you might be shooting in and what settings you need to capture them.

The book is centered around capturing moments in all kinds of situations. She delves into using natural light, properly composing your images, how to tell a story through photography, and how to capture even darkly lit low-light moments. If there’s a moment to be captured, she’ll help you figure out how to do so.

Like I said, as an educated professional, I didn’t find this book very informative. I did however find a lot of inspiration in the images and in Sarah’s words about storytelling and her own background. “The moment” is something photographers of all skill levels love and long after.

The title doesn’t lie, folks. If you struggle with capturing the moment, this book is for you.

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Capture the Moment is best described as a mixed bag: what we have is a set of images by mothers, likely of their children and some bridals, culled from users of a mommy photography blog. As such, this is an inspiration book and very light on the technique part. Suitable more for the very beginner to photography/child portraiture or as inspiration/ideas.

Most of the book consists of photographs with some flowy 1-2 sentence script on the side along the lines of "don't use your flash" and "shoot with the light to your back." Most of the images are standard child photography fair with some additional 'arty' ones at the end. But the layout is very slick and with a very strong feminine feel - making for a very pretty book.

What I appreciate is that the forward says all proceeds are to be donated to Ronald McDonald House. But I'm unsure what the book brings to the medium that can't be found already online, other than to see the images in print rather than digital format. Most of the images are what they are through strong post processing techniques - which isn't covered in the book at all and could not be replicated with just a camera. Beginners should be aware of that and not be frustrated when they can't make a similar type of image. The emphasis is definitely on moment/emotion more than technique.

Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

[Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a photography enthusiast, I was hoping to get my hands on something that would be simple yet technical, and help me along in my photography journey. Capture the Moment has done that. It’s filled with beautiful and inspiring images. From a purely artistic stand point ─ and as a lover of all things scrapbooking ─ I thoroughly enjoyed turning the pages and discovering precious moments in a child’s life captured in time.

Although the book is easy to read, I took my time absorbing each section and planned on which technique I was going to try and emulate. I ended up choosing a few favorite images and then took my camera outside to see what I could capture. I’m more interested in rural photography than in people, but I do have four pretty adorable grand children that I tried a few techniques on. My daughter even asked me to take pictures of my granddaughter’s first birthday two weeks ago. She and I both are pretty pleased with some of the images.

Overall, this is a lovely coffee table book but not an in-depth instruction manual on how to photograph subjects. It gave me some ideas that stirred my creative juices, helping me to step out of my ‘rural’ comfort zone and into the people zone.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

[Susan Barton · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you think you have to travel the world to take great photos Capture the Moment will prove you wrong. Sarah Wilkerson begins her book with a chapter on “Natural Light” to show how inexpensive it is to take awesome photos without the need for costly lighting equipment or the dreaded red eye producing flash. From there the author progresses through:

• Composition
• Storytelling
• Fine Art
• Black & White
• Low Light

She also includes a generous section at the end that addresses the technical terms associated with photography and a thorough directory where readers can find more about the photography contributors.

Capture the Moment will motivate the novice to pick up a camera and embark on an exciting hobby that could quite possibly become a career. It will also encourage experienced photographers to find creative inspiration in their own backyards. The photos are gorgeous and the accompanying text is easy to follow, concise and knowledgeable. It has certainly motivated me to grab my own camera and experiment with some of the detailed techniques!

http://ebookreviewgal.com received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Becca · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars.

This is a gorgeous coffee-table style book, which has 1-2 tips per two-page spread, with a beautiful picture demonstrating each tip. I took three years of photography classes, but my last class was 15 years ago, so this was a terrific refresher for me. It would have been nice if the book got a bit more technical, but at least there is a glossary at the end, which briefly goes over the technical details (like f-stops and ISOs). Use this more as a guide for getting inspiration for artistic photos.

Topics covered include natural light, composition, telling stories through photos, fine art, black and white, and low light.

I felt so inspired while reading the book today that when the sun started to go down and the lighting was perfect, I blew the dust off of my camera, grabbed my kid and started snapping away on the porch! I feel this book can inspire anyone and help them create their best images yet.

I received this book free of charge through Blogging for Books in order to see if it was a good fit for my library's collection.

[Tima · Rating 5 out of 5]

Large photographs with easy to understand explanations fill each page. The contributors explain the concepts behind capturing that perfect moment and making it a moment of beauty. A wide variety of aspects are covered such as lighting, composition, posing vs. free style, black and white photography, and equipment. The book has enough variety that professionals and beginners alike will be able to learn and enjoy it.

I loved the presentation. The photography is beautiful, the sections are nicely laid out and easy to understand, and the concepts are explained concisely. This is the perfect gift for photographers, parents, and beginners, but also work well for a coffee table book. It's definitely a book I'll be keeping and sharing with my photographer friends.

I received this book free of charge from Blogging for Books in exchange for my honest review.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's always fun to read new books on photography and this book is really well put together. I thought there might be some more step by step examples but really this entire book is just full of pictures that say things like "use photography to explore and express your own emotions", and "Prioritize your light". So each picture has an idea for you to try which is indeed helpful. This book is a collective set of many different people's pictures and they really are very good and gave me some new ideas.

This isn't just a mommy book but great for anyone who likes photography.


Five stars.


"I received this book from Blogging for Books for free in exchange for an honest review."

[Aubrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really loved this book, and will come back to it. Chapters include Natural light, Composition, Storytelling, Fine art, Black and white, and Low light. I loved that within each chapter there were huge photographs to illustrate each aspect she was showing, including the specifics of the shot if you do manual settings. At the end of each chapter are additional ideas for experimenting on your own.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the photography, but the explanations of the photos were a bit over my head. I don't understand all the photo jargon, and the definitions in the back of the book were not all that helpful. This book must be aimed at a more experienced photographer than me.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. and I love that it goes to a good cause too (Ronald McDonald house) full of inspiration and good tips.

[Celebrilomiel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful, simple photos combined with basic, bite-size, understandable guidelines in concise, elegant wording.

[Trish · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a neat book. It shows how to take all kinds of pictures. 100% of the proceeds from this book of to the Ronald McDonald House Charities.