My Photography Books (and more)
Here’s a list of the photography books I’ve read and would recommend to people starting off photography, wanting to further their hobby, find some inspiration, find new locations or just like reading. Books are a great way to improve certain aspects of your photography. I’ll give a quick overview and what I thought of it. If you want more information you can always click on the link. I try and get hardcopy books whenever I can, especially photo books. But certain books aren’t available here in Ireland so the ebook is a great alternative and often very cheap. If you have any questions about any books please get in contact.
A few of the books I own
BOOKS
The Essence of Photography by Bruce Barnbaum
This a great book by Bruce Barnbaum and covers everything in depth from an understanding of the photographic process, and a firm grasp of how light and composition affect a photo and going deeper into the learning to expand your own seeing and creativity. Also how there must be experimentation, with the recognition that only a small percentage of experiments end successfully. Creativity is a topic that is almost always ignored because most instructors think that it cannot be taught but this book makes a good stab at it.
The Art of Photography by Bruce Barnbaum
This book is another fantastic book by Bruce and I actually got this one first. This goes more into the artistic expression of photography and how to achieve more individual pictures that you yourself are happy with and make a personal statement through photography. The book goes well beyond the technical, as it delves deeply into the philosophical, expressive, and creative aspects of photography so often avoided in other books and as beginners.
Books by Bruce Barnbaum
Mastering Composition by Richard Garvey-Williams
This could be the next step for a beginner photographer who wants to bring their photography to the next level and start thing more about compositions. The book covers a combination of four elements: an impactful subject; dynamic composition; effective use of lighting; and the ability to invoke an emotional response in the viewer. It also has some great pictures of the British landscape.
Capturing Light by Michael Freeman
As the title says, light is probably the most important thing in photography. Good light can transform any mediocre scene into a stunning picture. This book goes through the different types of light and how to best use and capture them. As you can see I have several books by Michael Freeman and can highly recommend them all, he is a fantastic writer and does very well at explaining and illustrating advanced techniques.
Lonely Planet’s Guide to Travel Photography
Does what it says on the tin, it has lots of tips and tricks for travel photography. The book covers a wide range of aspects and is easy to read. It also has some great pictures that would make you want to pack your bags and head off straight away.
1. The Photograph’s Eye by Michael Freeman
2. The Photographer’s Vision by Micheal Freeman
3. The Photographer’s Mind by Micheal Freeman
4. The Photographer’s Eye: A Graphic Guide by Micheal Freeman
I have grouped these four books together as they all cover composition but from different aspects ie. the way we see things, the way our brain puts this together etc. These are really interesting and dive deep into why certain pictures work and others don’t and what we can do to improve our composition and photography to make better pictures. If buying one I would start in the order above but any book works well as a stand-alone book too.
Books by Michael Freeman
The Art of Landscape Photography by Ross Hoddinott
This was one of my first photography books and was a great general introduction to landscape photography covering all aspects from composition to editing software. This is great for anyone looking to cover all the basics of landscape photography and get a broad overview of everything.
Exploring Ireland’s Wild Atlantic Way by David Flanagan & Richard Creagh
This book is great for anyone wants to explore the Wild Atlantic way and not just for photography. It’s like a travel guide showing all the places to visit and giving tips on where to stay, eat etc. It’s perfect for getting motivated for a trip out with the camera and discovering new places and locations.
Exploring Ireland A Guide to the Irish Outdoors by David Flanagan & Richard Creagh
Similar to the one before this one covers Ireland apart from the WAW. There are so many places to discover and get out into. An added bonus is I have two of my pictures in this book, one from Moycullen and another of the Milkyway from Valentia Island.
The Wild Atlantic Way and Exploring Ireland Books
Faszination Waldfotografie by Kilian Schönberger
Kilian is Germany’s best forest and tree photographer and one of the best in the world. He has a massive portfolio of stunning shots from around central Europe with a broad variation in his image style. The book starts with tips on planning and finding good locations and later gives numerous forests in Germany that are his favorite and have good potential. This book is only available in German as far as I know but Kilian has several different great books.
Praxisbuch Wälder fotografieren by Ellen Borggreve and Daniel Laan
Both Ellen and Danial consistently produce stunning forest images. This is a book with some great tips and tricks for planning, shooting and editing forest and tree pictures. The book is only available in Dutch and German as far as I know.
Photographing the Night Sky by Alyn Wallace
The Astrophotography bible, a lump of a book and well worth the price. I have been watching Alyn’s Youtube videos for a few years and it was great to support him for all the free work he puts out. This book literally covers EVERYTHING, from gear to settings to best locations. Can highly recommend for anyone wanting to get into Astrophotography or just learn more about it.
Creative Calling by Chase Jarvis
A great book on creativity, increasing it and getting the most out of it. Chase is an action sports photographer turned entrepreneur. I have been listening to Chase’s podcasts for a good while and are also a great source of inspiration and information.
More than a Rock by Guy Tal
Although Guy is a great photographer this book is a series of short stories about his photography trips and his thoughts on these trips, photographs and life but also very easy to read. I would recommend this to anyone who just wants to read with nothing technical with this photography book.
The Interior Landscape by Guy Tal
Books by Guy Tal
Weather: Collins Nature Guide
A fantastic little book explaining the weather and loads of different phenomena. Each page deals with a different one. It’s great to have a good understanding of the weather as a landscape photographer as it can make or break a picture.
Wayward by Chris Burkard
A super inspiring book with amazing pictures and great stories by one of the most prolific outdoors photographers in the last 10+ years. The book goes through Chris’s career which started as a surf photographer and is one of the best outdoors photographers on social media.
E-BOOKS
I have the Kindle app downloaded on my laptop and use this to read ebooks from Amazon or downloaded PDF books. It works great and is also easy to save important information you want to look back on.
A screenshot of my Kindle App on my computer
Low Light Photography by Micheal Freeman
As you can see Michael Freeman writes good photography books and when it was only €1 for Kindle I had to get it. Haven’t read it yet but looking forward to it.
Insights from Beyond the lens by Robert Rodriguez Jr
After seeing Robert Rodriguez Jr giving a few online talks and printing tutorials I got his first book. After reading that I got this one too. This was free for Kindle so couldn’t go wrong. Haven’t got around to reading this one yet either.
Micheal Freeman on Composition by Micheal Freeman
Like his other books further up, a well-written photography book on composition, it goes into great detail on different composition ideas and tools.
Insights from the Creative Path by Robert Rodriguez Jr
It goes through the thinking of the creative side of photography with some interesting questions to ask yourself on why you take pictures. Had been looking to get this for a while but couldn’t order it so got the ebook version on the US amazon.
No such thing as bad light by TJ Thorne
I got this ebook because I wanted to get out of the habit of only shooting at the start and end of the day when the light is best. Thus missing loads of other potential shots when the light isn’t ideal. It is a great book and helped me to shoot smaller scenes when the big picture wasn’t there due to nonideal conditions.
Photographing Wild by Paul Nicklen
Paul is one of the best-known nature and conservation photographers. A nice ebook going through Paul’s workflow in the field and the thinking behind how he creates his pictures
Wildlife Photography at Home by Richard Peters
I attended Richard’s talk at the Photography show in the UK some years ago. I was inspired by his talk AT The Photography show on taking wildlife shots which started at home. He didn’t have to travel to Africa or the places we expect Wildlife Photographers to start taking amazing animal pictures. This book is a great insight into how to get creative at home to capture something different when taking wildlife pictures in your local area, something I still haven’t fully succeeded with.
Luminosity-Contrast by Alister Benn
Alister has a lot of thought behind his pictures and processing. So it was interesting to see his thinking on how luminosity and contrast affect how we view images.
Visual Flow by Ian Plant
This a nice ebook on landscape photography composition and how to create visual flow in your images. It is very well explained with great diagrams explaining this in many of his images.
11 Composition Lessons For Photographing Nature’s Small Scenes by Sarah Marino
A fantastic photography book on creating small scenes from one of the best at photographing everything from intimate landscapes to abstract renditions to plant portraits to macro photography. Can highly recommend this ebook.