Book to improve ypur photo skills

tea2085

Senior Member
I have been on this fine forum for over a year and have gleaned a ton of info to improve my pictures. I read before I go to sleep and want to know if anyone can recommend a book for me that will help me with with improving my skills even further?
 
I have been on this fine forum for over a year and have gleaned a ton of info to improve my pictures. I read before I go to sleep and want to know if anyone can recommend a book for me that will help me with with improving my skills even further?


Books are nice but nothing takes the place of SHOOTING LOTS OF PHOTOS. My mentor/friend that I shoot with all the time assigns photographers for me to follow on Facebook and then makes me critique their photos. It is amazing what this forces you to do. Good, bad and ugly. What it has done for me is to help narrow what style I like for myself. Sort of like ordering Chinese food. 1 from column a 2 from column b and none from column c. Find what you like and then work to find out how to do it and incorporate it into your own shooting.

If you do get books then do not read them all at once. By the time you get to the end you have not worked on the beginning and will not remember it. When I was in business selling cameras I would tell people to read the manual three times. Once to just read it through, the second time read it and do each step with the camera in your hand and third time to do it while someone else questioned you on it. I did the same thing in other jobs when I had to train someone. Read, read and do and then teach me how to do it. Once they could teach me then they were ready to do whatever it was I was training them to do.

I learn something more about photography each time I go out to help someone else with their shooting.
 

Horoscope Fish

Senior Member
I have been on this fine forum for over a year and have gleaned a ton of info to improve my pictures. I read before I go to sleep and want to know if anyone can recommend a book for me that will help me with with improving my skills even further?
Picture Perfect Practice: A Self-Training Guide to Mastering the Challenges of Taking World-Class Photographs by Roberto Valenzuela.
This book gets my highest possible recommendation. It's unlike any other book on photography I've ever read.

Two other favorites of mine (read them in order) would be The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos and The Photographer's Mind: Creative Thinking for Better Digital Photos, both by Michael Freeman.
 
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MaxBlake

Senior Member
Much depends on your destination, but I've found that good photography books can help get you to the right spots on your journeys around the country or world. For example:

Laurent's Books - Photographing the Southwest ... for the Southwest, Oregon, California, Washington state, etc.

I've also found that looking at postcards can turn you on to good spots to find and then shoot ... and they won't cost you a thing if you browse in the store.
 

Whiskeyman

Senior Member
If it has to be a book, the first should be either the owner's manual for your camera or a guidebook for your specific camera, such as those by David Busch or Thom Hogan. Get an idea by looking on Amazon to see what is available. After that, Horoscope Fish's recommendation by Roberto Valenzuela is a very good option, but there are others. If I were you, I would also look at the Certified Professional Photographer book list from PPA: CPP Exam Overview and Resources | PPA. I would start with one of the first three books listed in the Core Resources list.

WM
 

tea2085

Senior Member
Thanks advnturer, I may get that one next. Paul
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