What book to learn to shoot?

I would suggest two books by Bryan Peterson:
1. Understanding Exposure
2. Learning To See Creatively (Design, Color & Composition in Photography)

I'll second Understanding Exposure, it's the first book I read. Can't speak for the second book though, haven't read it.

I would highly suggest another book by Bryan Peterson as well.
Understanding photography field guide
http://www.amazon.com/Bryan-Peterso...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263485681&sr=8-1
It's relatively small, so you can keep it in your bag for whenever you get stuck with something and need to look it up quickly. Overall, I heard his books are very good and easy to read and understand, this one is no different.

gnd said:

I would suggest two books by Bryan Peterson:
1. Understanding Exposure
2. Learning To See Creatively (Design, Color & Composition in Photography)

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These two are very good. For the technical aspects of photography, the first is probably the best in print right now. The title makes it sound narrow and simple, but it's a very well written and well illustrated book that I think any beginning photographer would do well to read.

Yea, the Bryan Peterson books are good, esp. #1 but don't forget about forums. POTN, DP Review, Fred Miranda. I have learned more from forums in the last 5 years than I ever did from books.

There's always Ken Rockwell's site

VirtualRain said:

There's always Ken Rockwell's site

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He is there to provide hours of entertainment* to the aspiring photographer.

said entertainment has been known to cause heart burn, headaches and other unpleasent feelings to some people who take the world to seriously

Photo books

Don't overlook used bookstores. The basic techniques of photography have not changed- only the method of capture. Real bargans on "obsolete film" books can yield a wealth of information for pennies on the dollar.

romanticf16 said:

Don't overlook used bookstores. The basic techniques of photography have not changed- only the method of capture. Real bargans on "obsolete film" books can yield a wealth of information for pennies on the dollar.

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Absolutely. Just last week I found two excellent vintage books at a used book store: one on lighting and another on aerial photography. Most of what is in both books is basic technique/theory that does not depend on any particular technology.

I've had "Scott Kelby's Digital Photography Boxed Set, Volumes 1, 2, and 3 (Paperback)" $44, http://www.amazon.com/Scott-Kelbys-...=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264008455&sr=1-5 for about 6 weeks now, a decent 3 set for beginners to learn/start, and even mid-level photographers.
I've read all 3, and now are going back to certain chapters based on what I'm trying to do/improve upon.
What I have to do, like studying for a test in college, is browse thru the books and write down key points in bullet form and put into my camera handbag, that will help cement the reading of them into memory for usage in shooting situations.



For the technical /Post Processing, since I have PSE8, I bought "The Photoshop Elements 8 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter) (Paperback)" $31, http://www.amazon.com/Photoshop-Ele...=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1264008455&sr=1-6 , I'm 75% done reading it thru the 1st time and already it's help me with PSE8 and PP.
Some of my earlier shots I'll re-PP using techniques learned by this book. I spent quite a few hours browsing various ones and liked this best. YMMV.




Next on my list of photography education: Composition and Lighting.

I want to first get as much as I can from what I've bought, so as to not overload by buying too many books and not enough time to read/utilize.


I agree on the used bookstore, unfortunately I threw away my 25 year old college photography books just 3-4 years ago on a "clean up the house" mission, not realizing I'd desire them again.....

Check out this book:

Within the Frame: The Journey of Photographic Vision by David duChemin

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0321605020/ref=ox_ya_oh_product

It's a very good non technical book about composition and how to tell a story with your camera.

Patriks7 said:

I would highly suggest another book by Bryan Peterson as well.
Understanding photography field guide
http://www.amazon.com/Bryan-Peterso...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263485681&sr=8-1
It's relatively small, so you can keep it in your bag for whenever you get stuck with something and need to look it up quickly. Overall, I heard his books are very good and easy to read and understand, this one is no different.

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I looked at this during lunch via your link and amazon "preview the book" feature (neat feature for quick virtual reading), this looks like good candidate for my next book, thx.