Little One, God Made You Special

Little one, God Made you Special written by Amy Warren Hilliker and illustrated by Polona Lovsin is a cute little board book that will make any toddler understand that God made them special. The book is very durable for little hands and I absolutely love the illustrations. The animals all look so sweet and cuddly it makes you want to smile. “God made you special, little one. There’s no one like you – no, not one!”

Perfect little book to teach your baby and toddler just how special they are. My little one loves to read it together over and over.  I received this book at no charge from www.booklookbloggers.com in exchange for an honest review.

Understanding Exposure

Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson 4^th edition “has taught generations of photographers how to shoot the images they want by demystifying the complex concepts of exposure in photography.” Bryan Peterson explains how to move from using your camera in fully automatic mode to fully manual mode to get the most from your camera.

In this book you will learn fundamentals of light, exposure, shutter speeds, apertures and all written in easy to understand methods. He uses many of his own photos as examples and his instructions are very clear. I own an earlier edition of this same book and was curious to see how if any had this edition. The biggest difference in my opinion are the photographs he uses. The methods and explanations are basically the same so either edition is nice to have.  I didn’t really notice any big changes.

If you are wanted to get the most out of your DSLR and are a beginner I would highly recommend this book. I have read a lot of photography manuals and Bryan Peterson is by far the easiest for me to understand and I have learned so much from all of his books. I would suggest beginning with this one and then moving on to others that he has available.

In this book you will learn how to adjust your camera to make your shutter speed and apertures to work together in order to get the effects you want. You will be able to become more creative. Learn how to adjust you aperture to blur your background or adjust your shutter speed to show movement in your pictures.  Your photography will definitely improve if you use his techniques. I love his analogy on how to get correct exposure using the “Sky Brothers” and their cousin “Mr. Green Jeans”

He also gives you tips and techniques to adjust your settings in tricky lighting situations such as night time cityscapes and high contrast situations. He talks some on using flashes and filters and what you can do to get the most out of them.

I believe novice photographers will get the most from this book but just about anyone can learn something from it from the extreme beginner to the expert.  The book is full of beautiful photography, the paper quality and print are exceptional and will lend itself to being read again and again. I often find myself needing a refresher and I’ll pick it up and read through it again and again.

I highly recommend anything by Bryan Peterson but I have to say Understanding Exposure has probably helped me the most. I received this book from www.bloggingforbooks.com in exchange for an honest review. You can purchase a copy here.

Wonders of Creation

 

Wonders of Creation: Illustrations to Color and Inspire by Cindy Wilde and Pimlada Phuapradit, over 90 pages of detailed line art designed for you to “sit back, relax, and experience amazing flora and fauna from around the globe.”  When reading the description for this particular coloring book I assumed that it was more of a spiritual or Christian themed coloring book. But upon receiving it it really doesn’t convey any Christian inspirations throughout although it does depict animals and plant life created by God. The only real mention of anything remotely Christian is in the beginning introduction that mentions God’s creation. Other than that there isn’t any scriptures or any inspirational quotes.

That being said the book is lovely. It kind of reminds me of books such as Millie Marotta’s Tropical Wonderland or others that are similar except this one is slightly more whimsical and not very tiny details. So if you really like those books but are intimidated by the tiny details then this may be more your speed. It’s slightly more whimsical and not as realistic as others, it’s almost cartoonish. The lines are thicker and the spaces are more open and wider. The pages are double sided again like many of my other reviews I wouldn’t recommend markers because of bleed through. I used cheaper Crayola pencils on this one and it took the color very well. The pages are thick cardstock and have a very smooth feel to them. The pencils went on smooth and very bright. It probably is one of my favorites in this respect.

I think this would be a good book for those who have issues with sight and have problems seeing tiny lines.  The lines in this one are very bold and easy to color in. It would probably also be good for those who have issues being able to stay in the lines on more detailed works. The beauty of it these attributes of this book doesn’t change the aesthetics or make it less appealing at least not to me.  I’m very glad to have this in my coloring book library and would recommend it to anyone who likes to color. Especially those who want something a little easier to work in. I do believe the description should be changed if it hasn’t been already. I don’t believe it is very accurate in leading you to believe this is an “inspiration” type coloring book that typically would have scripture or inspirational quotes.

I received this book from www.booklookbloggers.com at no charge in exchange for an honest review.  

Wonderland

Wonderland by Amily Shen an adult coloring book that is based on Alice in Wonderland. Amily Shen is Taiwanese  illustrator who has really outdone herself with this book. I really like this coloring book. An excerpt from the book: Do you know Alice’s story? Do you draw pictures in your head while reading” Strange conversations with a strange cast… has the story been transformed? If you too jumped down the rabbit hole, who would you meet? What colors would you encounter? Take up your colored pencils, and together let’s make a book. Read with your colored pencils and give Alice a new adventure.

This coloring book is a coloring book and story combined. Left to color by your imagination. I wouldn’t say it is what we typically see Alice depicted as. It isn’t the traditional looking or Disney looking Alice in Wonderland. I really like that aspect of the book.  It is broken into 9 chapters In chapter 3 there is an activity that helps make the book interactive. I’ll leave that for you to discover. Don’t worry the answer key is in the back. There are so many different aspects to this book. It isn’t your ordinary adult coloring book.

The book itself has a very nice dust cover that can be colored. The actual book has very interesting cover but I’m not sure it would lend itself to coloring with just any media. Maybe markers but I haven’t tried them. I think it is way too slick for pencils.  The pages are all double sided and printed on very thick pages. There is a slight tooth to the pages. I would be afraid to use markers for fear of bleed through and I wouldn’t want to damage the reverse side page. I will stick to pencils with this one. There are several types of drawings some more detailed than others and some being double page spreads. The pages have lots of details without being extremely tedious to finish. There is a little bit of everything in this book: mandala style pictures, animals, flowers, buildings, etc.  The pictures are quite whimsical and fun. It is going to be a fun book for me to color.

This will make a great addition to your adult coloring book collection especially if you love Alice in Wonderland. I received this book from www.bloggingforbooks.com at no charge in exchange for an honest review. I love this book and you can purchase your very own copy here.