Photography Books
This is a list of the photographic books I have read, and I add a little comment on each. These are my personal findings and are not meant to be a representation on each book that will apply to everyone.
My advice is to buy a book if you are confident it contains information useful to you, or to try your local library before purchasing.
Some of these books I read over and over again. Many have great tips and details to help in choosing how to shoot subjects and I find even just flicking back though the images over a coffee can give new inspiration to my work.
Understanding Exposure (Bryan Peterson)
This is a great book for all levels of photographic skill. Bryan has a wonderful style in which he describes all the components of exposure with detailed explanations and real world examples. He encourages experimentation to allow the beginner to really ’see’ what each of the exposure elements can do.
Nikon: A Celebration (Brian Long)
A wonderful journey into the history of the infamous Nikon Camera line. Following the beginnings of the company and its range of optical products, through the rangefinder series and on to the Nikon F series (the system still underlying todays super-shooters like the D3x).
This book has many wonderful snippets of history and beautiful images of Nikon equipment through the ages. Its not aimed at teaching anyone how to use Nikon products; more to show where they came from and some of the technical achievements through the years.
Creative Nature and Outdoor Photography (Branda Tharpe)
I am still reading this one, but so far it is on my ‘must have’ list for budding wildlife photographers. Brenda has a unique eye and she describes the techniques and look used to create the beautiful works in this book
Nikon F5: The expanded guide (Chris Weston)
This is like an extended manual for the great F5 (my film camera of choice until the F6 drops in price). I don’t usually go for aftermarket manuals but as my F5 was already 13 years old when she came to me; I decided to get this one. I am very happy I did as it explains lots of the esoteric custom functions and other features of the camera and how helped me set it up to my preference of shooting style.
The Digital Photography Book: The Step-by-step Secrets for How to Make Your Photos Look Like the Pros’!
The Digital Photography Book Volume 2: The Step-by-Step Secrets for How to Make Your Photos Look Like the Pros!
These books are more like photographic recipe books. They are packed full of great examples of shooting situations and projects, and have many great tips for each and how to best achieve goals within them.
The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter)
The Adobe Photoshop CS4 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter)
These two show technique and workflow for post production (the Digital Darkroom as I call it). I am only beginning steps in these as until now my post production has been limited to cropping and occasional colour correction. So far they seem to be very good guides in using these two great products in the art of photography.