# Must Have Photography Books



## SoulfulRecover (Jan 3, 2017)

I love books and have a few about photography/photographers but I would like to see what you all would recommend?

What are some must haves?

My most recent purchase is Gregory Heislers 50 Portraits.


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## weepete (Jan 3, 2017)

The Digital Negative
The Digital Print
Light, Science and Magic
Adobe Photoshop CC (Classroom in a book)

Are pretty much my go to references. I think I have a lightroom book about somewhere too. The first two were a massive help when I was trying to get my head around post processing.


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## jcdeboever (Jan 3, 2017)

I like Hedgcoe books but you're probably too advanced for them. 

I am reading, studying, Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Decisive Moment, it is pretty informative and extremely interesting. Fascinating images. Very challenging text and images for a noob like me. 

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## Frank F. (Jan 3, 2017)

Fred Herzog the 2016 edition "Modern Color"

August Sander "People of the 20th century"


Several more Biographies and Monographies and exhibition catalogues. I have a wall full of these here.


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## JoeW (Jan 3, 2017)

I'm looking over at my bookshelf which is 2 feet to the left of my chair.  Here are a couple that jump out at me:
--Photo Nomad, DDD
--Food Photography & Lighting, Campbell
--The Photographer's Vision/Mind/Eye, Michael Freeman
--It's What I do, Lynsey Addario
--A Photojournalist's Field Guide, Stacy Pearsall
--The Hot Shoe Diaries, Joe McNally

There are a bunch of other books but those are the ones I keep going back to or have connected with me in one fashion or another.


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## KmH (Jan 3, 2017)

Be sure you get the Adobe Lightroom CC and Photoshop CC for Photographers Classroom in a Book

I will also second:
The Digital Negative: Raw Image Processing in Lightroom, Camera Raw, and Photoshop (2nd Edition)
The Digital Print: Preparing Images in Lightroom and Photoshop for Printing
Light Science & Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting

and add:
Real World Image Sharpening with Adobe Photoshop, Camera Raw, and Lightroom (2nd Edition)
Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers: 2016 Edition - Version 2015.5
The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC / Lightroom 6 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers


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## webestang64 (Jan 4, 2017)

A little dated but "On Photography" by Susan Sontag is wonderful.

On Photography: Susan Sontag: 8601400953068: Amazon.com: Books


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## DanOstergren (Jan 5, 2017)

I think that visual inspiration and reference is incredibly important and is very educational in terms of posing, lighting, color, style, editing, etc, and these are my favorite books for just that. As well, any issue of Surface Magazine featuring their annual "Avant Guardian" competition.

Michael Thompson: Portraits

Michael Thompson: Images

Lachapelle: Heaven to Hell

Robert Trachtenberg: Red Blooded American Male

Vogue: The Editor's Eye

Joyce Tenneson: Wise Women

Mario Testino: Private View

As far as instructional photography books go, I buy them and never read them; visual reference just works better for me. I did however read this book and found it incredibly useful in terms of educational content and visual reference, but as the title suggests it's best for photographing men.
Photographing Men by Jeff Rojas


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## john.margetts (Jan 5, 2017)

My main go-to book is my 1950s Ilford Manual of Photography. Obviously, it contains nothing to do with digital photography but has chapters of optics, composition,light  theory, exposure, representation of colours as tones, as well as many film only topics. I also have Camera Work (all the photographs published in Stieglitz's periodical) and Mastering Digital Black and White by Amadou Dialling.

I have other books but those are my main reference works.


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## DriedStrawbery (Jan 5, 2017)

Thanks for sharing the various books. 

Are there any that bridges the aspects of Art and photography? 

Mainly focusing on the artistic aspects of how the image/art brings out the artist's intent, mood etc?


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## Ysarex (Jan 5, 2017)

john.margetts said:


> My main go-to book is my 1950s Ilford Manual of Photography. Obviously, it contains nothing to do with digital photography but has chapters of optics, composition,light  theory, exposure, representation of colours as tones, as well as many film only topics. I also have Camera Work (all the photographs published in Stieglitz's periodical) and Mastering Digital Black and White by Amadou Dialling.
> 
> I have other books but those are my main reference works.



The Ilford manual started to add in digital info with the 9th edition (2000) and more again with the 10th and current edition (2011). 

Joe


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## john.margetts (Jan 5, 2017)

Ysarex said:


> john.margetts said:
> 
> 
> > My main go-to book is my 1950s Ilford Manual of Photography. Obviously, it contains nothing to do with digital photography but has chapters of optics, composition,light  theory, exposure, representation of colours as tones, as well as many film only topics. I also have Camera Work (all the photographs published in Stieglitz's periodical) and Mastering Digital Black and White by Amadou Dialling.
> ...


Hadn't realised that it was still in production.  I shall have to look up a more recent edition.


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## click1911 (Jan 5, 2017)

Years ago I bought the Time Life Library of Photography.  Got it where they sent one volume every couple months so the cost did not kill me.  Later I found, liked, and bought a couple of Alfred A. Blaker's books; "Handbook for Scientific Photography" and "Field Photography Beginning and Advanced Techniques".


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## click1911 (Jan 5, 2017)

And forgot that another great book is one on the camera you have.  I had a couple simple point and shoot digital cameras but when I got into digital SLRs I went to a book store and looked at a couple books specific to the camera I had purchased.  For me what I selected was David Busch's "Canon EOS REBEL T3i/600D Digital SLR Photography" book.  For me these cameras are so complex compared to what I had used before (Nikon, Cannon, Pentax and Olympus 35mm SLRs) it was a worthwhile purchase.


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## Frank F. (Jan 5, 2017)

click1911 said:


> And forgot that another great book is one on the camera you have.  I had a couple simple point and shoot digital cameras but when I got into digital SLRs I went to a book store and looked at a couple books specific to the camera I had purchased.  For me what I selected was David Busch's "Canon EOS REBEL T3i/600D Digital SLR Photography" book.  For me these cameras are so complex compared to what I had used before (Nikon, Cannon, Pentax and Olympus 35mm SLRs) it was a worthwhile purchase.




Good idea. I bough the Tom Hogan book for my D500. Then I read the Chapter about the AF-System. After that I had the feeling I need liquid cooling for my brains and I am used to a lot having studied Physics and working as a science writer. Very complex system, only slightly logical. Not Tom's fault but Nikon's....


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## chuasam (Jan 5, 2017)

The education of a photographer. - Charles Traub


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## Derrel (Jan 5, 2017)

click1911 said:
			
		

> Years ago I bought the Time Life Library of Photography."



OMG--I read that entire series of books in the mid-1970s and early 1980's as a kid. It had so much great information. I loved _The Camera_, _The Studio_, _Color_, S_pecial Problems_, _The Darkroom_,_The Great Themes_, and _Photojournalism_ the most. It was a fantastic series of books, undoubtedly! I loved also _The Amateur Photographer's Handbook_, the various John Hedgecoe books (32 titles), and Harry S. Asher's old book which was named _Scientific Principles of Photography. The History of Photography_ is another interesting title.

Lots of books out there, filled with great photography too. The Rolleiflex Photography Annual is an interesting series: almost ALL the images will be in square, Rollei 6x6 cm aspect, and most all were shot with either a Rolleiflex or Rolleicord, with either the 75mm or 80mm normal lenses. Only the rare examples would be with the wide- or tele-rollie cameras. These books were from the 1950's. The 1958 issue is superb. Kind of "the best images from one year" type books. Similar are old "Photo Annual" magazines of 200,250 pages. Fascinating to look at. Sort of *the Instagram Square,* but decades earlier.

Thrift shops have a TON of large picture books, often $3-$4 each. Most of the 50 United States, and all regions, and ALL the continents have been chronicled in books, back in the day when photographers were sent on 3-week to 120-day to six-month assignments, so they could get a real, true feel for the area they were shooting. 

A Day in The Life of America, A Day in the Life of Australia, neat photo books, like time capsules.

The cool thing is to look at old books, and see 250 people in a public square, and NOT ONE of them is isolated and dicking around with a phone. people doing stuff like, gasp, talking to one another, or reading a newspaper, or working on a puzzle, etc..


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## SoulfulRecover (Jan 6, 2017)

Great suggestions! Im hoping this thread sticks around for others to find


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## r0r5ch4ch (Jan 6, 2017)

I liked a lot "Photography Composition & Design -  a fun approach for serious artists". Explains a lot about composition with really nice street photography. 

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## Drive-By-Shooter (Jan 7, 2017)

David Doubilet is THE underwater photographer.  Now i see he has a 25 year 'best of' book i'll need to get. 
https://www.amazon.com/Water-Light-Time-David-Doubilet/dp/0714846058/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8


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## webestang64 (Jan 7, 2017)

A few for the film peeps.....




Also the Ansel Adams series of books are good too........ Ansel Adams: Technical Books


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## Derrel (Jan 7, 2017)

One of the largest bookstores in the world is located here in Portland. Powell's City of Books. It takes up half of a city block and has multiple levels. Search online at Powell's for amazing photography titles, from the mundane, to the obscure, to the truly rare.

A UK fellow sent me a very old book called The Focal Encyclopedia of Photography. It was given to him 20 years earlier and he passed it on to me about 15 years ago. It is one of the thickest books I have ever seen. It is one of the most unusual books you will likely see:the entire field of photography ,as it stood years ago,  in one, single encyclopedic volume that must weigh oh, around four and a half pounds, and is 1,298 pages and over 4 inches thick.


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## jcdeboever (Jan 7, 2017)

The most interesting one I ever seen was rare reference books located in the main library in downtown Chicago. They were images from the civil war depicting surgical procedures, surgical instruments, civil war camps, aftermath of battles, and so on. Fascinating images and text. I believe Matthew Brady was the largest contruting photographer. It took me months of visits to get through the huge volumes. I had no interest in photography then, just stumbled across it.


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## Dave442 (Jan 8, 2017)

Great books, thanks for sharing. I did pick up Photography by London a few years back, now watching the video classes by Marc Levoy and he has sent me back to that book as reading assignments. I downloaded The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby when I first got a DSLR and found that a very easy book to read if you just want to know when to apply some of those great camera features you have been reading about in the camera manual.


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## SoulfulRecover (Jan 10, 2017)

My wife picked up two books over the weekend.

Ansel Adams The Negative and Successful Self Promotion for Photographers by Elyse Weissberg


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## SquarePeg (Jan 10, 2017)

Dave442 said:


> Great books, thanks for sharing. I did pick up Photography by London a few years back, now watching the video classes by Marc Levoy and he has sent me back to that book as reading assignments. I downloaded The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby when I first got a DSLR and found that a very easy book to read if you just want to know when to apply some of those great camera features you have been reading about in the camera manual.



I just started the Marc Levoy series of classes where he was teaching to Google, is that the one you're watching?  My photography meetup group had it linked online.


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## webestang64 (Jan 11, 2017)

For Photoshop....... "Adobe Photoshop for Photographers" by Martin Evening.


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## Frank F. (Jan 19, 2017)

Fred Herzog:Amazon.co.uk:Books


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## dasmith232 (Feb 2, 2017)

There are *lots* of good ones above. Adding from another perspective...



DriedStrawbery said:


> ... Are there any that bridges the aspects of Art and photography? ...


I've enjoyed books that focus on composition as the core topic. I think(?) one of my more favorites is "Photographically Speaking: A Deeper Look at Creating Stronger Images," by David duChemin. Another one is "The Photographer's Eye," by Michael Freeman.

Neither will teach how to use a camera, but rather how to see.


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## JasonC (Feb 5, 2017)

dasmith232 said:


> There are *lots* of good ones above. Adding from another perspective...
> 
> 
> 
> ...



I, too, have_ The Photographer's Eye _by Freeman. Also I have the following:

_Learning to See Creatively _by Peterson

_Advanced Photography_ by Hedgecoe

_The Joy of Photography _by Eastman Kodak

_More Joy of Photography _by Eastman Kodak

_Photoshop Elements 14 _by Kelby

_Canon EOS Rebel T6s/760D & T6i/750D_ by Taylor
Best,

Jason


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## dasmith232 (Feb 5, 2017)

JasonC said:


> ...Also I have the following:
> 
> _The Joy of Photography _by Eastman Kodak
> 
> ...




Ah yes ,the Joy of Photography series. The original was one of the first photography books I got as a teenager. I loved it and still have it. Lots of topics, each covered in a single page or so.


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## droaingsong (Feb 7, 2017)

The Photographer's Eye by Michael Freeman is one definite read.


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## table1349 (Feb 7, 2017)

One that I didn't see mentioned nor does it seem to often get read is the USERS MANUAL that came with the camera.   Best book for anyone be they newbie or seasoned vet.


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## cherylynne1 (Feb 7, 2017)

I love Roberto Valenzuela's books. I've read Picture Perfect Lighting and Picture Perfect Posing. Both are focused on portrait photography, because he's a wedding photographer. Both are really good at breaking things down to help you understand why, rather than just giving you poses and lighting set-ups to memorize.


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## DanOstergren (Feb 7, 2017)

gryphonslair99 said:


> One that I didn't see mentioned nor does it seem to often get read is the USERS MANUAL that came with the camera.   Best book for anyone be they newbie or seasoned vet.


I don't think I've ever gotten a user's manual with one of my cameras since I've always bought off of craigslist. So long as I can figure out the controls for focusing, shutter speed, ISO, aperture, white balance, the menu location for picture style and file type, I'm happy. But as I was typing that I realized how much easier it would be for me to figure all of that out had I had a manual to flip through.


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## Overread (Feb 8, 2017)

DanOstergren said:


> gryphonslair99 said:
> 
> 
> > One that I didn't see mentioned nor does it seem to often get read is the USERS MANUAL that came with the camera.   Best book for anyone be they newbie or seasoned vet.
> ...



You know most user manuals are on the manufacturers website for free download


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