Photography Notebook: Books

These are books that I found particularly helpful in learning about photography.

Teach Yourself Photography by Lee Frost

This is a book about film photography, but it is so concise, well-written, and well-illustrated that I found it invaluable to review the fundamentals of photography. I appreciated learning more about film photography, because I did not learn anything about film before studying and practicing digital photography.

This book has many helpful charts and illustrations, and I'm impressed by the clean simplicity of this book's design. The clear, concise presentation saves a great deal of time in grasping the basics of photography.

The New Manual of Photography by John Hedgecoe

This book is an impressive reference on photography topics: the camera, the elements of photography, the art of good photography, special projects, advanced photography, and post production. A hardcover book of 416 pages, this is definitely not something you want to carry to the field, but its readable format, generous illustrations, and encyclopedia-like entries mean that you can read articles on photography topics in one sitting. The cogent, clear, and concise descriptions are augmented by diagrams as well as many photos. Professional tips give you practical advice.

Digital SLR Cameras & Photography For Dummies by David D. Busch

For the first time, I found a book that patiently explains the basics of digital photography! I looked at book after book, and each one jumped into technology and obscure camera settings without ever defining the basics. This is the book to read if you are just starting out.

This is a well-written book for people who want to learn the basics properly. You'll learn what an SLR camera is (for example, I learned the definition of "SLR" in this book--a definition I had found in no other place). This book contains a descriptions of exposure, including time value, aperture value, and manual settings that are easy to understand because the author does not assume prior knowledge of photography. His astute description of crop factor helped me understand what exactly is going on with my lens focal lengths.

This book will get you started into topics such as using software, improving your photography, and understanding your options for memory cards, camera choices, lens choices, and online resources.

Complete Guide to High Dynamic Range Digital Photography by Ferrell McCollough

Showing off many examples of High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography with big, glossy pictures, this book presents a good overview of HDR practices, software, and examples of HDR prepared by the author and other photographers. The very basic idea of HDR is that the brightness, or luminance, of scenes in real life is much, much more than can captured by any current cameras. Luminance, in candelas per square meter, can range from 0.001 for starlight to 100,000 for a sunny sky. An outdoor scene might have a ratio of 100,000:1 in luminance values from the brightest to the darkest. HDR techniques try to capture more of this range by combining several photos of the same scene. In this way, we can see that HDR photography aims to more truly represent this reality than single-shot photos which clip off only a limited luminance range for the scene.

I learned some good basics from this book: the idea of the +2/0/-2EV range as a "basic" interval of photos to use for HDR preparation; keeping the f number constant across the shots; and avoiding changes in the shots due to white balance, ISO, or focus--I hadn't realized these issues before trying out HDR. Also, a key point the author points out on page 47, is that creating an HDR from a single RAW file does not provide the dynamic range of multiple exposures--so this method does not produce an HDR photo, although many people use this technqiue. The book does not mention the freeware Qtpfsgui program that I use, but I appreciated seeing examples of HDR photos prepared with other software programs. Overall, this book is a useful overview, a great source of examples showing off HDR

Mastering Digital SLR Photography 2E (Paperback) by David D. Busch.

I appreciate this book's coverage of camera techniques (not Photoshop techniques) to create excellent images in the camera.

David Busch's Canon EOS Digital Rebel XSi/450D Guide to Digital SLR Photography by David D. Busch

Be sure to have the background of this same author's book Digital SLR Cameras & Photography For Dummies before you pick up this specalized guide to the Rebel XSi.