[Class A]

Let's share our knowledge about good photography literature.

Many technical questions will be answered in the Digital Photography Tutorials of the fantastic cambridgeincolour website. The information is detailed, precise and wonderfully presented.

I've just read the book "Photos with IMPACT" by Tom Mackie. I enjoyed it because he shares quite a lot of his approach and the book is full of stunning pictures.

He really showcases the possibilities one has with a view camera (Wista Field, 4 x 5) and the highly saturated colours possible with Fuji Velvia film. He also uses a Fuji GX617 panoramic camera and -- Pentaxians take note -- a Pentax MkII 6 x 7.

In terms of equipment I learned that a polarising filter can be very useful. He uses it on almost every shot to enhance the saturation of the sky / foliage and remove reflections.

In terms of composition he emphasises the need to remove clutter from the frame, look for interesting lines, exploit reflections, including people to provide a human scale, etc. There is nothing that goes beyond the ABC of composition but I found it interesting to read a successful photographer's thoughts about seeing the world and taking pictures. For instance, w.r.t. buildings he doesn't try to capture them in their entirety but always picks out interesting features.

He is a commercial photographer so a number of tips, like the suggestion to obtain height maps of the shooting location, charts for sunrise/sunset, tides, etc. do not really apply to people who shoot what they see and will not visit the same location over and over again to get the best picture out of several seasons and weather conditions.

Here are the contents:

Introduction
Seeing the picture
Light
Designing the image
Colour and form
Enhancing the image
Equipment
Index

I found it entertaining to read, mostly because of the excellent pictures.

The next book I'm going to borrow from the library is entitled "Composition".

Let's hear from you what books/literature you can recommend. Photography courses (online or not) also count.

[Wheatfield]

The Adams boods are as valid now as they were when they were written, and have more relevance to the digital shooter than they ever did to the roll film shooter. I would also recommend "On Photography" by Susan Sontag, and a subscription to National Geographic (still some of the best photography to be seen anywhere).

[bdery]

The Photographer's eye by Michael Freeman is the book I'm currently reading, and it's an eyeopener. The guy knows is stuff, and has improved my composition greaty (and will continue to do so).

Best I've seen so far.

[ftpaddict]

I have a sizeable online collection of links on my weblog, but I have to recommend strobist.com for anyone who wants to learn the art of flash-aided photography.

[pingflood]

Ansel Adams:
The Camera
The Negative
The Print

Even for digital shooters, the above books are well worth a read.

For lighting I very highly recommend
Light: Science & Magic

It kind of reminds me of Alton Brown's cookbooks in that instead of just a bunch of setups this book really explains WHY and HOW things work a certain way. Once you really understand everything in the book, you will be able to "roll your own" and get things setup just the way they need to be for a certain scene. It really reads like a textbook on light.

[Class A]

tranq78 recommended John Shaw's "Closeups in Nature" for macro photography. I haven't seen it yet so I can only comment that it refers to pre-digital technology but is still heavily recommended by many.

[PDL]

I was lucky enough to talk my father into buying the Time/Life series on Photography back in the 70's - you know before AF and autowinders became the norm. The series covers Film, Camera's, History, Technique, Subject matter and many other odds and ends. Twenty odd books with really great images.

Even though I shoot mostly digital now, I just love film. My wife still finds me sitting on the floor in front the bookcase thumbing through those books.

I also have a few books on Scientific Photography (a task that is not as simple as it sounds) and other books by other photographers on methods, subjects and opinion. Books are good.

The Elitist - formerly known as PDL

[Kerrowdown]

Slight off base a bit, but the best photography book I've bought, which has allowed me to fully develop and extend my photography is Adobe Photoshop CS3 for Photographers by Martin Evening ISBN 978-0-240-52028-5.

I have gleaned more from this one book about Photoshop than from all the others put together. Wish I had bought this one first, I could have fed my LBA or CBA with the savings.

[Venturi]

My small but growing library consists of:

Understanding Exposure, Bryan Peterson. Fantastic primer and/or refresher on the technical basics of the exposure triangle, and using DOF and shutter in composition.

Digital Wedding Photography, Glen Johnson. This was a good all around baptism into the world of shooting weddings. Without it, and some great advice from people here, I don't know if I would have survived taking on a wedding shoot.

Understanding Shutter Speed, Bryan Peterson. A bit of overlap with Understanding Exposure; the main thrust, as the title suggests, is controlling shutter speed to achieve the "creatively correct" exposure.

The Moment It Clicks, Joe McNally. I'm still working my way through this one. It is basically a collection of one-liners quipped by Joe from seminars and workshops with supporting text and photos to drive the concepts home. It really is half instructional and half coffee table.

And coming soon courtesy of the big brown truck, are Papa Adam's books: The Camera, The Negative & The Print to carry me through the winter - and then some most likely.

[ChrisN]

The latest addition to my library is The art of black and white photography: techniques for creating superb images in a digital workflow by Torsten Hoffman. 2008, Rocky Nook Inc. 260 pages.

I'm only part way through the book at the moment. It is in hard-cover, very good quality. There are plenty of excellent images illustrating the text. It comprises four section:

1. Tools and fundamentals
2. Photographic genres and concepts
3. Rules of composition
4. The digital darkroom

I am pleased to find the book does not concentrate solely on the digital darkroom; rather the real guts of the book is in the second and third sections. There is as much emphasis on creating "superb images" as there is on converting digital images to back and white. It looks like it will be the best treatment I have come across so far on this subject.

[MrA]

I have "Take Your Photography to the Next Level" by G Barr (Rockynook, 2007). 250 pages, ISBN: 978-1-933952-21-5

I bought it because I wanted a book that talked about the artistic side of photography, composure, concept, strategies for finding good images, mental attitutes, approach to shoots, etc, and it does this very well. Nothing about apertures or shutter speeds at all - there are plenty of good books for that already - and indeed this is mostly assumed knowledge. I'm only an amateur, and have never been 'taught' photography, so it was very useful.

[Wombat]

I've just bought The Epson Complete Guide to Digital Printing, by Rob Sheppard, 2008 edition. Although it pushes Epson printers there's a vast amount of generally-applicable, detailed information on every part of the process, from what makes a good print, camera techniques, editing, workflow, software, prepping etc. I particularly like the title of Chapter 3 - A Good Print Starts When You Take the Picture. There are stunning illustrative photos from top photographers of many genres and the text is exceptionally clear and easy to follow. One of the best photography books I've read.

One magazine I've started getting regularly is the English monthly Black & White Photography. Lots of interesting articles, great photos, inspiring assignments for you to try, competitions to enter and pages of mouth-watering gear that's simply not available here at the bottom of the world. You'd know about that, Class A. (BTW, I lived in NZ for 15 years and am married to a Kiwi). Good thread.

[smf]

Mke Moats' new 77-page book "Tiny Landscapes" has more than 60 of his close-up images and brief text on how images were made and on style, depth of field, exposure/ISO, white balance/shutter release, equipment and a bit more. I'm a big fan of his photography. ISBN 978-0-615-25479-9 (Website: www.tinylandscapes.com; blog at mikemoatsblog.com or Macro & More)
Ross Hoddinott's "Digital Macro Photography" is 176 pages. Contents: Digital cameras and technology, lenses and close-up accessories, basic techniques, light and colour, still-life subjects, natural-history subjects, textures and patterns, post-camera processing, glossary, websites, index. ISBN 978-1-86108-530-6 Photographers' Institute Press, index

[Class A]

Joseph James' essay on comparing sensor formats (Equivalence)
has an abundance of information regarding basic technical terms (FOV vs AOF, DOF, aperture vs f-ratio, etc.) and makes a very comprehensive comparison between different sensor formats.

I particularly learned that FF is less demanding on lenses (with the exception of extreme corners in particular with wide angle lenses). FF glass can be slower and less sharp and will still give the same IQ as APS-C glass.

I recommend this essay to anyone who gets confused by how to compare different sensor sizes fair and square, plus anyone wishing to get a firmer grip on the basic technical terms relevant in this discussion.

[Marc Langille]

And this one is worth checking out... do a search for the "Simplified Zone System by Farzad".

Not light reading, and very worthwhile (for me). It's done in Layman's terms, and progressive in it's instruction. That is just one book - it got me away from letting the camera decide how it should expose an image. This is only one small part of the sum, and it is a good foundation to build on.

Unless I am shooting something that specifically requires AV mode, the rest of the time is almost always M mode. Now the camera's metering is just used to give me an initial rough idea of what ISO, shutter speed and aperture I should use prior to taking the shot, when time is of the essence.

Good reading for anyone, and you must learn and practice to become proficient. Take control back from your camera! So far, it's worked very, very well for me...

Regards,
Marc