Pixiq

We're giving away a copy of the book. Details at the end of the "review".

Photography for Kids!: A Fun Guide to Digital Photography [Amazon] Rocky Nook; 1 edition (May 8, 2011)

About the Book

Digitization is the biggest advance in the history of photography. While some seasoned photographers may still be wary of the filmless technique, unbiased children have easily found their way into the digital world. Children are excited by the instant gratification of capturing an image and immediately seeing the result.

With today’s digital cameras, what used to be an expensive and disappointing process is now as easy as pie. Enthusiastic and confident children are able to handle digital cameras with remarkable skill. The instant feedback motivates them to continue exploring, and soon they are able to create small masterpieces full of inspiration and fantasy.

Photography for Kids introduces children between the ages of 8 and 14 to the world of photography. Technical concepts—like how a digital camera actually works—are explained in a way that is easy for children to understand. The book emphasizes creativity and presents techniques for capturing exciting images.

About the Authors

Photography for Kids Book Review

So how do you write a book that's supposed to be aimed at budding photographers ages 8 to 14? You keep it short and simple while providing good examples and enough creative exercises to keep the "kids" inspired. Did the authors hit their mark? I'm not sure.

The first section provides a quick rundown of what photography is, how it got started, and why it's special and important. I kinda liked that. It's a good intro.

Then the authors delve into some of the technical aspects of taking photographs. Things like autofocus, the how's and why's of macro photography, etc.

The remaining sections, and this is most of the book, covers ideas for getting creative. Taking pictures of your pets, other animals at the zoo, black and white, more macro, etc.

My thoughts

Normally after I sum up what's in the photography book I'll give some good points and bad points and suggest photographers that the book might appeal to. I also suggest whether it's worth the purchase as well as give an overall rating.

My problem with this book is that as I looked it over I kept asking myself if a 10 yr old would pick up the book, read it, do some of the exercises, go back to the book, etc. Would they flip through it and lose interest? I simply don't know. My kiddos aren't old enough to test this on them so here's what we're going to do.

The fine folks at Rocky Nook accidentally sent me two review copies so I'm going to give one away.

Here's your criteria: You have to live in the U.S., you must have an 8 - 14 yr old you'll give the book to and observe whether they read the book, like it, etc, and I'd like it if you could give me your thoughts on this whole experience via email. We'll update this post with your added thoughts. Leave a comment expressing your interest and we'll do a drawing at random at the end of the month 6/30/2011 midnight CST from the comments below.