Rachel Devine - Beyond Snapshots: How to Take That Fancy DSLR Camera Off Auto and Photograph Your Life like a Pro

Copyright 2011
by Rachel Devine and Peta Mazey
All rights reserved.

Published in the United States
by Amphoto Books, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York
www.crownpublishing.com
www.amphotobooks.com

AMPHOTO BOOKS and the Amphoto Books logo are trademarks of Random House, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Devine, Rachel.
Beyond snapshots : how to take that fancy DSLR camera off auto and photograph your life like a pro / by Rachel Devine and Peta Mazey with Tara Austen Weaver. 1st ed.
p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. PhotographyDigital techniquesAmateurs manuals. 2. Digital camerasAmateurs manuals. 3. Single-lens reflex camerasAmateurs manuals.
I. Mazey, Peta. II. Weaver, Tara Austen. III. Title.
TR267.D482 2012
771.3dc23 2011020986

eISBN: 978-0-8174-3581-3

Cover and interior design by La Tricia Watford
Front cover photograph by Rachel Devine

v3.1

We want to take a moment to thank the many people who have contributed to our journey.

Thank you to Danielle Svetocov and Amit Gupta for believing in the idea and in our work, and to Julie Mazur and Tara Austin Weaver for helping us craft this book into something much bigger and better than we had ever imagined.

Thank you to our first muses, Harper Cullen and Imogen and Ashton Hetariki and their families. You will forever be the ones who started it all.

A special thank-you to Tyke, Jon and Monty OBrien Leaver, Ann, Chris, Indra and Arlo Wicke, Karin, Chris, Natalie and Allie Hawk, Leah, Ron, Ben, Kate and Joe Zawadzki, Deb, Steve, Kiele, Skyler and Ryder Schwedhelm, Kate, Nathan, Maya and Pepper Vale, and all of our other friends who have generously shared themselves, their lives, and their families so openly with our cameras, time and time again, and whose love and support has been unwavering.

To the many friends who have not graced our lenses as often, but who have been there when we actually do put the camera down, thank you for helping us stay well rounded. And to those special people who just knew when we had a lot on our plates, thank you for picking up the slack (and the kids!) when deadlines loomed.

To the kind supporters of our photography, whose comments and encouragement have pushed us through all the hard work to realize our dream of publishing this book, thank you.

Without our wonderful assistants over the years, Meredith Magnusson, Rebecca Sanabria, and Linda Nguyen, we would still be procrastinating.

A big thank-you to all of our clients for trusting us to represent your families, stories, and products alike in images.

Finally, to our families, this is for you:

Alec, thank you for being the logical left brain to my artistic right-brained selfyou keep me grounded. To my three wonderful children, I thank the universe for every single day I have with you. Gemma, Clover, and Kieran, you each inspire me to see in a different way and the world looks more vibrant and beautiful now that you are in it. Deepest gratitude to my parents for footing the photo lab bills for me as a teenager so that I could start chasing my dreams early; I hope there is a bookstore in heaven because I really want my dad to read this. Rachel

So much love and thanks to all my family. Mum and Dad, a girl couldnt ask for two more loving and supportive parents. Thank you for always believing that I could do anything I put my heart into. To my little sister, Tasha, thanks for all of your support, for stepping in front of the camera when I was in need of a model, and for helping out behind the scenes when I was in need of a hand. Peta

WHERE TO LOOK:
A Reference Guide

These days almost everyone has a digital camera. People are e-mailing photos, posting them online, and recording their lives in ways unimaginable just ten years ago. As photographers, we find this exciting. Photography is storytelling, and everyone has a story worth telling.

The drawback to everyone having a camera is that now, more than ever, people dont know what to do with the nice cameras they have. You take your new digital SLR (DSLR) out of the box and, without the constraints and expense of film, just shoot away and hope youve caught a few good images. Theres a better way to do this!

The other danger, we find, is that you might think you should be able to take great photos right from the start. If you fail to do this, or get overwhelmed by the camera dials and options, you either go back to the auto setting, or put the camera on the shelf and pick up your trusty old point-and-shoot. Sound familiar? Wed like to change this.

Almost anyone can learn to take good photos by investing a little time in understanding the simple controls of the camera. And by going just a bit further, you can take great photos. We want you to understand how your camera works, so weve broken it down in the simplest way possible. Weve read numerous photography books that are technically overwhelming, or as dry and dull as the camera manuals themselves. Weve tried to make sure this book is neither.

Being a photographerwhether you are shooting for yourself or have aspirations of going prois about more than just camera settings and equipment. Well explain about light, composition, ways to improve your photos on the computer, and how to avoid making the common mistakes we see all the time. Most of all, we are going to challenge you to become a better observer, to see the world in a new way.

While the two of us are both photographers, in some ways the similarities stop there. Peta is from New Zealand, while Rachel is American (though married to an Australian with three dual-citizen kids). Rachel is in the family stage of her life; Peta is more than a decade younger. Rachel shoots Nikon; Peta prefers Canon. Rachel works on a PC; Peta loves her Mac. Rachel started shooting with film; Peta is a child of the digital age, trained in design as well as photography. These differences allow us to cover the full spectrum of equipment and options. What we share is a passion for photography and how it can enhance your life. We met posting our photos online, became close friends, and started teaching photography workshops together. Our combined forty years of experiencethirty as professional photographersmeans we have plenty of insider tricks to share.