Best photography books/references

Hey all,

As a beginner->maybe intermediate-level photographer, I was wondering what references other people have found along the way, or any books you've read through, that you feel really taught you a lot or helped shape the way you shoot today?

A little self-reflection for everybody... 0:-]

V/r,
Garrett

For me there were three stages of learning.
1. How to take photos (how to operate your camera)
2. What to photograph (how to compose photos and use settings for creative purposes)
3. Why the f am I taking photos (the art/meaning of my photos)

For initial learning (stages 1 & 2) I didn't read any books because I think they tend to go out of date too quickly. Instead I read magazines and watched youtube videos.

Once I knew how to use my camera and had a basic grasp of composition I moved onto books for more in-depth stuff (stage 3).

Light Science Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting
https://www.amazon.com …hotographic/dp/​0240812255

And a decent book on Photoshop. I forget which one I have and I can't find it at the moment.

I found Syl Arena's "Speedliter's Handbook" the single best photography book I've read over the past 25 years. Whilst aimed at Canon flash users, it contained many good principles of photography that would as relevant for users of any gear (as you are a Nikon user).

There are other books by the same author such as "lighting for the digital photographer" which is more generic (I think) rather than Canon orientated.

There is no better resource than YouTube

From personal experiences:

1) Understanding Exposure by Brian Peterson (learning the science part of photography)

2) The Digital Photography Book series by Scott Kelby (learning the experiences from experts)

3) Photography Q&A by Zack Arias (learning some of the thoughts to common queries)

4) Understanding Composition Field Guide by Brian Peterson (learning the art part of photography)

5) Speedliter's Handbook by Syl Arena (learning Canon's speedlite system and flash photography)

6) The Moment It Clicks by Joe McNally (learning the art part of photography)

7) The Photographer's Eye by Michael Freeman (learning the art part of photography)

8) The Photographer's Mind by Michael Freeman (learning the art part of photography)

There are also some great articles (Eric Kin, etc) and websites (The Strobist, etc) out there....

Lots of information out there but I would say, built a strong foundation first.

Happy Learning!

My library includes the following: (not ranked in any specific order and not a complete list)

"Photography & the art of seeing" by Freeman Patterson

"Speedliter's Handbook" by Syl Arena

"Road To Seeing" by Dan Winters

"The Passionate Photographer" by Steve Simon

"50 Portraits" by Gregory Heisler

"Light Science and Magic" (mentioned in an earlier post)

"The Photographer's Eye" by Michael Freeman

"Cape Light" by Joel Meyerowitz

"The Nature of Photographs" by Stephen Shore

I know you asked for books, but I'll echo the YouTube recommendation and also online...

In conjunction with Syl's book, check out Strobist and David Hobby's Lighting 101 course online.

One other online photography resource with links that are updated daily: http://photography.all​top.com/

Our local library has a used book sales area that I check frequently. More than half of my photography related books came from that source and they're usually very inexpensive.

Personally i would start with Bryan Peterson's "Understanding Exposure", and follow it with "The Photographers Eye" by Micheal Freeman. (both mentioned above) Those two will give solid grounding in both how to use your camera, and how to build a composition. Neil Van Neekerks "On Camera Flash Techniques" is an excellent book to get going with an on camera speedlight. Where you go from there will really depend on what you want to shoot.

I learned about technicalities by looking at pictures I was interested technically and checking EXIF. I asked a lot of technical questions at P.O.T.N. I read camera manual many times and was trying to repeat it with camera. I took 20K exposures in M mode to understand the exposure. All of those shaped me technically. But reading books wasn't helping much to me for it.

And then I started to try to understand what is good photography. Jane Bown, Fred Herzog, Henry Cartier Bresson and Gary Winogrand are my reference books for it. I use them as reference to tune in. And looking at the art I like in museums.