TP: Which photography book?

One of the best discussions on personal photographic vision is in Bruce Barnbaum's 'The Art of Photography'. The book includes some technical information, but takes you deeper into the process of individual artistic vision and how to make photographic technique work for you.

in photography you need two skills: on the one hand the craftsmanship to use your tools (camera, PP) and on the other hand you will eventually need to have a vision of what you want to accomplish in terms of mood/atmosphere and composition. the second element (the one you are looking for) is not specific to photography, is highly personal and does have "something" in it where others can relate too - otherwise nobody would like the photographs you think are good.

the craftsmanship can be obtained through training and practice, and there are a lot of very well written books around more or less written on the "how to..." principle.

the second part is far more difficult, because there are no hard and fast rules, and what is thought to be beautiful may not be regarded that way by people grown up in a vastly different culture - compare for example the classic flemish painters with traditional japanese drawings.

the second part is usually taught in art schools and i think you could learn more from the books that are used there then from books on photography. since you are a graphical designer you must already be familiar with that scene - why not just try to design a photo with your camera the way you do your designs when at work? it's just another tool that has to be mastered, but the real skill is in your ability to express what you think that should be expressed - by means of your camera.

btw, the Harald Mante book is good (and available in the english language), because it shows a lot of examples. it does so in a very "clinical" way, and as a result of that lacks "soul" imo. books and courses on how to look at visual art "products" imo do offer more because they will force you to think about what you see. so, back to school....

I highly recommend Tom Ang "Digital Photography Masterclass" Great book with lots of photos and great explaination. Was about 30 bucks, hardbound at Borders.

"Photography and the Art of Seeing" by Freeman Patterson is one of an excellent series of books by this Canadian author. Freeman tended to use a Minolta with just a couple of zooms and his books are very non-technical in nature. (Edit... Freeman is still very much alive, I'm just not sure what he's shooting with these days!)
The focus is generally on landscape and nature photography.
As an artist, I really appreciated his visual thinking in his approach to photography. The books are simple to read with great shots and explanations of what makes them work.

(Edit... as well as the two additional books noted by accady below, there's "Photograpy of Natural Things" by Freeman Patterson.)

Edit: Freeman Patterson's website: http://www.freemanpatterson.com/index.htm

Edited by DavidB - 31 January 2009 at 08:26

I was looking for something similar lately (a book to make my pictures better and not a book about basics of apertures, depths of field, shutter speeds and something like that).
I was thinking that no one can teach me (or anyone else) to be creative, because creativity is a natural gift. So I was looking for a book that shows good pictures and have a small story on the side to tell what exactly the photographer thought when he took the picture, and maybe some short comments about how to get it (in case that you need to be creative to get the pciture and solve the technical problems...). Unfortunately, I was aware of this thread when I was looking...

I found The Moment It Clicks by Joe McNally to be something like I was looking for. Picture and a story about the things that led to the picture. I don't think it is a brilliant book, but it is quite nice. Although most of the pictures are just impossible for amateur like me, I still learned alot. However, I don't like that he is using an American slang, which makes it anooting for non-american guy like me.

One that I liked that I read a couple years ago was Leonard Lee Rue's How I Photograph Wildlife and Nature. It was written many years ago, but I found it a very enjoyable read. It is linked to Amazon.

Edited by ferretracer - 26 September 2008 at 19:14

brettania wrote: Happy Hour wrote: I can't believe nobody has mentioned Understanding exposure by : Brian Peterson. and from two posts above Diddlbiker wrote: Since they haven't been listed yet, I really liked these two books by Bryan Peterson: (amazon links included) Understanding Exposure Learning to see creatively I use lens cleaning cloths for my glasses too.

Haha I guess i missed that one! funny since it was right on top of mine!LOL