Are there any really good composition books or dvds out there for studying photos?

I can't go to a photography school at the moment and dont have a mentor yet to talk about photography with so while I am consistently shooting I'd like to self-study and analyze good/notgood photos because I love the art so much.

I am looking for guides, articles, books, dvds, anything that is comprehensive and thorough. Where the author takes me through a series of photographs and breaks down why they work or dont work, and what the elements of the photos are. You know, composition talk. I've used Peterson's "Understanding Exposure" to learn how to operate the exposure triangle, but I'd like to delve deeper and do some serious study. I am looking to further my understanding of composition, contrast, balance, harmony, all that jazz, through texts.

Any help appreciated!

David DuChemin's got some good stuff here ..
http://davidduchemin.c​om/books/

and here ....

http://craftandvision.​com/

thedcmule2 wrote in post #16386733
I can't go to a photography school at the moment and dont have a mentor yet to talk about photography with so while I am consistently shooting I'd like to self-study and analyze good/notgood photos because I love the art so much.

...the other two personalities that share your account claim to know a bit about photography. I suggest you ask one of them to mentor you.

banquetbear wrote in post #16387983
...the other two personalities that share your account claim to know a bit about photography. I suggest you ask one of them to mentor you.

Please dont troll if you cant help, Ive let the mods know. I am here to learn, and my family cant always help me, hope you can understand thanks.

Spend some time with these three books. They won't tell you but they will show you.

Thanks WaltA and airfrogusmc, exactly the kind of direction im looking for!

Keep em coming guys

thedcmule2 wrote in post #16387986
Please dont troll if you cant help, Ive let the mods know. I am here to learn, and my family that comes to this forum cant always help me, hope you can understand thanks.

...not trolling at all. You said you didn't have a mentor, your family seem to have excellent photography knowledge. Its a shame if you can't get access to that knowledge.

banquetbear wrote in post #16388005
...not trolling at all. You said you didn't have a mentor, your family seem to have excellent photography knowledge. Its a shame if you can't get access to that knowledge.

Please spare me of your rude judgements. You have no idea what my family knows or doesn't know, or what my relationship is like with them. Even if my family consisted of all professional photographers, I am more interested in written texts so I may study on my own time. Your replies so far have not contributed to the original point of this thread one bit, and after looking at your work I think you could find this thread useful too.

I'd really appreciate it if you can contribute to this thread, because it may help a lot of other students looking for texts. If not, then please spare us from your personal issues with whomever.

What type of photography are you interested in?

iamascientist wrote in post #16388229
What type of photography are you interested in?

Great question. I can safely say I want to shoot portraits (outdoors, and indoors) so I am into "people photography". However, because backgrounds are just as important as foregrounds to me, I feel like I need to have an understanding of landscape composition as well (correct me if im wrong). So really, anything that'll help me learn and absorb as much information as I can to help me become a "visual storyteller". I know nothing beats practice which im doing, but I really enjoy reading about photography too.

Edit: As much as I love portraits, I can't help but appreciate a good landscape photograph that just makes you stare at it and get lost in it. So of course id love to study both naturally.

thedcmule2 wrote in post #16386733
Are there any really good composition books or dvds out there for studying photos?
I am looking for guides, articles, books, dvds, anything that is comprehensive and thorough. Where the author takes me through a series of photographs and breaks down why they work or dont work, and what the elements of the photos are. You know, composition talk.

I think Scott Kelby's "Crush the Composition" video may be very helpful to you. In the beginning of the video, specifically, starting at 2:55 into the video, he explains what is "wrong" with most of the composition books on the market today, and on those points I agree with him.

It's right here on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=FpHMuK7Htic

EDIT:
Here's another one I remember having seen, and I thought it was both inspirational and informative:
http://www.youtube.com​/watch?v=o9RQ6YPVWhA

Find the work of photographers that inspire you, study the work, break it down, really analyze it, keep returning to it. The work of photographers like Irving Penn, Richard Avedon, Diane Arbus, Helmut Newton to name a few. If you can, buy photobooks, look for them used on ebay.

Alain Briot has a very good e book on composition. You can find it here

http://www.beautiful-landscape.com/Ebooks-Books-1-2-3.html

Composition Articles library

Load your image & see how it works in the Composition Adjuster.

Incredible help, thank you guys!