The Key to Taking Pictures Like a Professional Photographer Giveaway!!

I am very excited to share this beautiful book with you today, called The Key to Taking Pictures Like a Professional Photographer, by Katie Evens.

I love books and can never have enough. Especially a book I can learn from. Last year for Mother's Day Rob and I decided it was time for me to move up from my point and shoot camera, to a DSLR, so we went out and purchased a new Nikon D3000. A great introductory camera. Recently, I decided to take my camera off Auto and switch to Manual. That was a very exciting move for me.

With the help from The Key to Taking Pictures Like a Professional Photographer, I am working on moving past just snapping a picture, and taking time to frame, taking lighting into consideration, and am actually starting to notice the difference between good and not so good lighting. I can also play with the adjustments of ISO, white balance, aperture, f-stop, and have an idea of how they work.

My next move is to purchase a prime lens. At the moment I have the lens my camera came with, which is fine, but I really want to experiment with bokeh. Also, I am in love with photos where the subject is in focus but the back ground is blurry. With my current lens, that just isn't possible. My aperture is always fully open, but there isn't much blur, if any at all. This is another way the book has helped me. Where do I even start with lenses?

I am also braving photo editing. Not a lot, because I still find it confusing, but at least I'm making some small attempts. We have Photoshop, and there are so many tools, and I don't know how to use any of them. Most of my photo editing is done with Rob, because he is more familiar with the program than I am. There are some great tips for adjusting the colours, saturation, cropping etc in the book as well. I'm just not completely there yet. Just working on figuring out my camera and how to take a picture is my focus at the moment. I hope to graduate to photo editing in the near future:)

Here is a peak at the table of contents so you have an idea of what else you can expect to learn from this book.

Today I am very excited to be able to giveaway a copy of this beautiful and helpful book to one lucky winner.

Blog Giveaway Directory

An early Christmas present for.....

ME!!!

I don't like to spend money on myself. I always feel a little guilty when I do, so for months I have been pining over this beautiful photography book, and entered a few contests to win it, but without any success. Finally I decided it's okay to get myself a little something, especially because it will help improve my photo taking skills, giving us beautiful pictures to look back on, so it really is for all of us. At least that's how I am justifying it for myself:)

The book is by Katie Evans Photography, and is called The Key to Taking Pictures Like a Professional Photographer.

Just the cover photo sold me on this book!

Here is a quick peek inside the book for a preview of tips she shares:

 I find lenses overwhelming and have no idea where to start, so this information will be useful once I start looking for a new lens.

This tip is fantastic. It's simple, but not something I consider when I am taking a picture, but what a difference it makes.

I have also been spending a bit of time on Katie Evans blog where you can also find some great tutorials like:

How to make great black and white photos

Fast and easy backgrounds

and The beauty shot tutorial

so if you aren't ready to buy the book, you can still gain some great tools on her blog, as well as checking out all her beautiful photos. 

I purchased the eBook because I just couldn't wait any longer than I already have. I quickly skimmed through the pages, and can see that there are a lot of helpful tips for lighting (I am super excited to read more about lighting. I really struggle with finding natural light), framing, editing (which I really need help with. Photoshop scares me) and more.

More then anything I am looking forward to experimenting with the tips in this book and hopefully improving my photo taking skills.

The best thing is that right now the eBook and hardcover book are on sale until Dec 31st. Check out the deal here.

P.S. I am in no way being compensated for this post. I am just super excited to share this great book with all of you, and love to promote hardworking, talented women, and give them the credit they deserve.