Advise on Camera, photos & book publishing

[Rusky]

I am hoping to create a book with photos of children from a small village I will be visiting. I don't have enough knowledge or experience in publishing to know what quality camera and what features I need on it to produce photos that will be adequate for including in a book.

Anyone who can advise me, is very appreciated.
I presently have a 3.2 mega pixel Cannon PowerShot A75. Would this be adequate? Is it only the pixel capacity that is the determining factor in printing quality (besides the composition skill of the photographer of course)?

I am not comfortable with a camera that needs much setting as I get confused by all the things to set and balance. I was considering however getting a camera with more mega pixels. Would this substantially improve my photos in the printing process?

Thanks for any help. Even questions I don't know enough to ask.

Rusky:wink:

[Tars]

I presently have a 3.2 mega pixel Cannon PowerShot A75. Would this be adequate? Is it only the pixel capacity that is the determining factor in printing quality (besides the composition skill of the photographer of course)?

Not to be obtuse, but are you intending to create a photo book with photos of children? Or are you writing a book about children which includes some photos?

If you are intending to publish a mainly "photo book" with a children theme, then you will want a much better camera than what you currently have. This is because there will be larger photos in a "photo book", and you'll want those photos to be real striking. You can make them more striking by using high quality lenses, and a camera body or back that has a much higher pixel quality. For instance, I believe that the current Nikon professional body records in the 12-13Mega-pixel range per image. It would also be good to be able to take your photos in RAW format - available in higher range 35mm digital bodies. RAW format gives you a lot more ability to manipulate image files to get the effect & quality you desire.

The camera you have is really designed to make photo-quality prints at about 4"X6". That's fine for snapshots, and even for smaller photos in a book about children. Any images larger than 5X7 will really start to show the camera's shortcomings. If you want bigger photos invest in a quality body, and especially quality lenses. For 35mm digital, I would suggest a "fast" wide-angle zoom - say, 17mm-35mm, rated no higher than f2.8 throughout. A second lens might be a telephoto lens in the range of 30mm-80mm, also f2.8. Any lens with less capacity will probably mean a corresponding degredation in image quality. This combo of lenses should provide you with all the flexibility you need to photograph children from 2ft away, to 100 ft away. Street price (Nikon) for a body, and these two lenses should be in the range of $1500-$2000. Also, invest in extra camera batteries, and memory cards.

Do keep the smaller camera though. It's highly portable. You can tuck it in a pocket and get some usable shots even when you aren't lugging the better system around with you. One of my favorite all-time photos was a sports action photo shot with a disposable camera! The photog was in the right place at the right time, and was lucky. You can increase your chances of being "lucky" by investing in a quality system.

Have fun!

[BizWrangler]

Unless you are going to print photos larger than 8x10, your camera should probably be fine. I'm not a professional photographer, however.

I recently saw a book created on Shutterfly made from someone's photos taken at a wedding. It was hardbound and great! You might check out Shutterfly and see what they require. I think you upload your photos and arrange them the way you want, and they print the book. It was great!

Good luck! Sounds like a fun project.

Biz Wrangler