Horoscope Fish
Senior Member
I read a lot of photography books but I've never felt compelled to suggest one here like I am now... But then it's also an unfortunate rarity I come across a book on photography as good as this one:
Picture Perfect Practice: A Self-Training Guide to Mastering the Challenges of Taking World-Class Photographs by Roberto Valenzuela.
First and foremost I want to mention what this book is NOT about: This book is not about gear. This book is not about mastering the basic settings of your camera. This book is not about gear. This book is not about photographic "Tech" at all. This book is not about gear. I would not suggest this book to someone just getting started. This book is not about gear. It does not cover landscape photography or macro, per se, but many of the principles discussed would apply to those areas. This book is not about gear. I'm not a portrait photographer but I do shoot people and I'm getting more out of this book than any other I've read.
The first half (roughly) of the book deals with principles of composition but this is NOT the same old same old you've read a hundred times already (Rule of Thirds, Leading Lines, etc.); this about things like achieving balance (in several different ways), using and controlling color in your background and why it's important. The second half of the book deals, primarily, with posing and portraiture so there is definitely a people/places emphasis in this book.
In short, this book is about the Art of photography. It's about the subjective, creative side of photography and the author approaches it like no other book I've yet read. You should know the author is a wedding photographer so many of the photos used in the book reflect this. If you can't look past the wedding dresses and tuxedos and flowers and such and instead see the deeper concepts, how they would apply to non-bridal situations, then this book is probably not for you. The author does a great job of making the concepts relevant, he just happens to have a lot of brides and grooms as examples.
If you feel you've got the mechanics of photography down pat, if you're looking to improve your photography from an entirely different aspect (think right-brain vs. left brain) I can not say enough about this book. Every page (literally) has been beneficial and many have been groundbreaking for me. Probably the best $25 I've spent on my photography EVER.
I should probably also mention I'm reading the print version of the book. It is available for eReaders but I don't typically read photography books on mine.
.....
Picture Perfect Practice: A Self-Training Guide to Mastering the Challenges of Taking World-Class Photographs by Roberto Valenzuela.
First and foremost I want to mention what this book is NOT about: This book is not about gear. This book is not about mastering the basic settings of your camera. This book is not about gear. This book is not about photographic "Tech" at all. This book is not about gear. I would not suggest this book to someone just getting started. This book is not about gear. It does not cover landscape photography or macro, per se, but many of the principles discussed would apply to those areas. This book is not about gear. I'm not a portrait photographer but I do shoot people and I'm getting more out of this book than any other I've read.
The first half (roughly) of the book deals with principles of composition but this is NOT the same old same old you've read a hundred times already (Rule of Thirds, Leading Lines, etc.); this about things like achieving balance (in several different ways), using and controlling color in your background and why it's important. The second half of the book deals, primarily, with posing and portraiture so there is definitely a people/places emphasis in this book.
In short, this book is about the Art of photography. It's about the subjective, creative side of photography and the author approaches it like no other book I've yet read. You should know the author is a wedding photographer so many of the photos used in the book reflect this. If you can't look past the wedding dresses and tuxedos and flowers and such and instead see the deeper concepts, how they would apply to non-bridal situations, then this book is probably not for you. The author does a great job of making the concepts relevant, he just happens to have a lot of brides and grooms as examples.
If you feel you've got the mechanics of photography down pat, if you're looking to improve your photography from an entirely different aspect (think right-brain vs. left brain) I can not say enough about this book. Every page (literally) has been beneficial and many have been groundbreaking for me. Probably the best $25 I've spent on my photography EVER.
I should probably also mention I'm reading the print version of the book. It is available for eReaders but I don't typically read photography books on mine.
.....