Photography Books and References

AZ JazzyJ

<font color=teal>The Talented One<br><font color=p
Joined
Dec 6, 2000
Messages
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As the price of digital cameras continues to decline and the features of these cameras continue to increase, we are seeing more and more people become interested in photography. On the boards we’ve seen quite a few posts from people asking for information on cameras then returning to post that they had gotten their new equipment. Photography is one of those things that is easy to pick up but can be painfully difficult to master. This is especially true as the equipment becomes more sophisticated. I’m constantly asked by friends and family if I could recommend a good book or other source of information that they can carry with them in the field to make them better photographers. I thought this might be an interesting topic to bring to the boards.



What books or publications would you recommend to others to help them better understand photography (this can be for digital or film) and why?



This should be beyond the manual that came with the camera as that should be a given that people should read through that documentation to get acquainted with the features that their camera has and how they are used. To get the conversation going, I’ll start.



I recently read Master Lighting Guide for Portrait Photographers by Christopher Grey and found it interesting. It provided a great description of various lighting techniques used by portrait photographers. While it dealt mostly with studio lighting, the same concepts could be adapted to outdoor lighting as well. There were numerous photos and diagrams that showed the arrangements of the lights to show you the effect that was being described. It’s a fairly large book (size not content) so I would not suggest carrying it in your equipment bag but it can be a good resource for those who want to explore how to light a subject when shooting portraits.





Jeff
 
I always recommend "Understanding Exposure" by Bryan Peterson. He does an awesome job of explaining lighting and how it relates to shutter speed, aperture and ISO amoung others. He has excellent photos that he captions with what he wanted to get from the picture and which readings he ultimately used to create the exposure. His info is pretty short but right to the point. It is an excellent book to help get started and also to use as a reference as your going along. I've read it twice and have refered to it dozens of times in the short time that I've owned it. It is especially helpful to those who are stuck on Auto or any of the preprogramed settings, who are looking to try and explore their camera more and get into Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority and even full Manual. Definately worth the $20 or so. 5 Stars.
 
The ShortCourses series of books and CD's are great. http://www.shortcourses.com/ Many specific to various cameras and various photography questions. I have one for each of my cameras, VERY helpful, very easy to read and absorb.
 















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