I’ve been an affiliate for Craft & Vision for a while and have read and reviewed a bunch of their photography books. Here’s a quick guide to the various books and links to my full reviews.
I’ve been an affiliate for Craft & Vision for a while and have read and reviewed a bunch of their photography books. Here’s a quick guide to the various books and links to my full reviews. I’ve tried to break things down into categories.
Fundamentals
Craft & Vision – a free ebook that’s a compilation of chapters from a variety of authors who have written material for the Craft & Vision series. Most of the articles are of the artisting/creative bent rather than being gear-specific.
Exposure for Outdoor Photography – Michael Frye explores exposure, starting with the basics, discussing the histogram, and then concluding with a series of cases studies of various exposure scenarios and an explanation of how to use the camera to make a good result.
Dodge & Burn – a good book by Piet Van den Eynde in which he dives into the world of selectively lightening and darkening areas of a photo. Today’s digital tools make this easier than in the chemical darkroom, but it’s still a skill worth study and experimentation for any photographer.
Finding Focus – Nicole S. Young explores how to create sharp and compelling images, diving not just into how to focus but also how that focus affects storytelling and other interesting aspects to a photograph.
Vision, Inspiration, Creativity
The Inspired Eye III – David duChemin looks at imagination and creativity, offering some suggestions for photographers who want to make interesting photographs.
Vision is Better 2 – David duChemin brings together a collection of essays and articles previously published on his blog, collecting them into a sizable volume that tackles a variety of topics around creativity and vision.
Composition & Format
Beyond Thirds – Andrew S. Gibson tackles composition, moving past the “rule of thirds” and into other composition techniques that create visually pleasing images.
EyePhone: Making Stronger Photographs With Your Camera Phone – a good compilation of tips for making great images using an iPhone or Android device. He offers a good mixture of creative tips along with some recommendations for apps that help make and enhance the photos.
Square – Andrew S. Gibson presents a thorough discussion of square images, covering all angles of this topic from the past where square images were common up through modern square photography such as we see on Instagram. Square composition is given extensive treatment in order to create interesting pictures.
Up Close – another Andrew S. Gibson title (this is a good thing), Up Close dives into the world of macro and close-up photography. In 90 pages, beginners are taken through macro equipment, technique, and lighting in order to produce compelling images at close distances.
Printing & Output
Making the Print – Martin Bailey dives into the world of printing, offering a complete walkthrough including the selection of a photo printer, a look at papers and inks, and a discussion of accurate color management.
SHOOT + SHARE – Stuart Sipahigil explores photographic output and how one can share photos with the world. This sharing could be either online (via social media and the web) or via more tangible means such as prints or other gallery work.
Lighting & Portraiture
Forget Mugshots: 10 Steps to Better Portraiture – David duChemin offers ten suggestions for photographers who want to make better photographs of people.
Making Light 2 – Piet Van den Eynde moves beyond Flash 101 to talk about more advanced lighting topics including high speed sync, working with multiple flashes, triggering systems, and a set of case studies of interesting lighting.
