Capturing Memories: Your Family Story in Photographs

For the family historian looking to incorporate photography into their research toolbox, this well-written and beautifully illustrated book by Maureen Taylor is a great place to start. She discusses gear and gadgets without getting too technical, and offers practical advice on lighting and composition for photographing everything from your living family members to historical documents. Best of all, she offers suggestions for using technology to get those family videos and photographs out of the closet and "into the hands of people who will love them as much as you do."

Writing for anyone with an interest in capturing family memories through photographs (and even video), author Maureen Taylor covers all the basics, from selecting the right gear and gadgets for your needs, to the use of lighting and composition to improve your photo results. I really appreciate that this book spends several chapters on taking better pictures and using photography to document the present for future generations - something many of us genealogists forget to focus on! If you've always wondered why your pictures don't look like the ones you see in books and magazines, you'll appreciate the practical advice on setting up your photograph to really tell a story - using background, lighting, color, props and subject placement to highlight exactly what you want the photograph to convey.

This isn't your normal photography guide, however. Maureen Taylor also discusses practical methods of using photography to document the past, from photographing gravestones to capturing digital images of historical documents. She introduces a variety of technologies for converting your photographs and videos (both new and old) into easy-to-share digital format, and highlights a variety of projects you can do with your family members to share your family photographs and the stories behind them. Along with this, Maureen also covers the ethical and legal concerns you may want to consider when posting photographs on the Internet.

If you're looking for an advanced technical guide to creating great photographs this may not be the best book for you. But if you're an amateur photographer and/or family historian looking for practical tips and advice to make your every-day photographs look better, or for fun suggestions on incorporating photographs and movies into your family history, Capturing Memories is an excellent place to start.