Best Photography Books

Summer time, vacation time. One of the things that I enjoy most is that you have more time to pursue photography. Evenings are long and you it’s easy to try different things rather than worrying about freezing. But summer is also a great time to pick up a few books and develop some new skills. Here are some of my favourites.

Fundamental Guides

• Within the Frame by David duChemin: One of my all-time favorites! This is not your usual photography book. There is hardly any technical talk. Instead, David du Chemin teaches you fundamental tools that can really improve your photographs. One of the key things I got out of it is to be more mindful about framing any photograph. The photographs are beautiful to look at as well. If there is one book you should get, this is the one!
• Vision & Voice: Refining Your Vision in Adobe Photoshop Lightroom by David duChemin: Another great book by David duChemin. This one focuses on using software to get the most out of your photographs. Once again, David’s book is very different as he does not focus on the software itself but rather on what you can do with it. I would say that this book is far more important than any technical guide that shows you how to use Lightroom or Aperture. There are a ton of great examples in there that demonstrate how David develops his awesome photos.
• Bryan Peterson’s Understanding Composition Field Guide: How to See and Photograph Images with Impact: A fun and very inspiring read. One of the best books about composition, in my opinion. Bryan does a great job explaining sometimes difficult concepts in an easily understandable manner. Most importantly, he backs up his ideas with amazing photos. I have found that this book makes it really easy for me to remember different techniques. Bryan’s writing style makes you want to grab your camera and go out there to shoot some photos.
• Picture Perfect Practice: A Self-Training Guide to Mastering the Challenges of Taking World-Class Photographs: One word – wow! Technically speaking, this is a book about wedding photography. But Roberto Valenzuela does such an amazing job at teaching job different photographic techniques that even landscape photographers can benefit from it. If you are interested in improving your people photography skills, get this book! It’s an easy read and the author provides a ton of exercises that you can do. This book will improve your photography – for sure!

Have fun with those books! I will provide some additional recommendations soon.