We have selected the best of photography technique books, photo learning books and photography books for beginners. Select a letter to discover our A to Z glossary of must-read tips and technique books:
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This book breaks new ground by doing something for digital photographers that's never been done before–it cuts through the bull and shows you exactly "how to do it." It's not a bunch of theory; it doesn't challenge you to come up with your own settings or figure things out on your own. Instead, it does something that virtually no other Elements book has ever done–it tells you flat-out which settings to use, when to use them, and why.
If you're looking for one of those "tell-me-everything-about-the-Unsharp-Mask-filter" books, this isn't it. You can grab any other Elements book on the shelf, because they all do that. Instead, this book gives you the inside tips and tricks of the trade for organizing, correcting, editing, sharpening, retouching, and printing your photos like a pro. You'll be absolutely amazed at how easy and effective these techniques are–once you know the secrets.
Creative professionals seeking the fastest, easiest, most comprehensive way to learn Adobe Photoshop choose Adobe Photoshop Classroom in a Book (2020 release) from Adobe Press. The 15 project-based lessons show key step-by-step techniques for working in Photoshop, including how to correct, enhance, and distort digital images, create image composites, and prepare images for print and the web.
The fastest, easiest, most comprehensive way to learn. The best-selling series of hands-on software training workbooks, offers what no other book or training program does-an official training series from Adobe, developed with the support of Adobe product experts. Contains 16 lessons that cover the basics and beyond, providing countless tips and techniques to help you become more productive with the program. You can follow the book from start to finish or choose only those lessons that interest you.
Attracted by the image quality, the tactile joy of a finely made camera, and the affordable prices of vintage equipment, photographers around the world are rediscovering the joys of manual photography. This comprehensive guide to shooting film photography covers all the bases, from setting up a camera through film processing. In a convenient format, filled with diagrams, examples, and illustrations, Analog Photography is a portable reference tool for neophytes and experienced photographers alike. With an irresistible package inspired by the aesthetics of vintage user manuals, this is "a great-looking publication and a fantastic place from which to start, or rekindle, a journey into film photography" (Creative Review).
In recent years, film photography has witnessed a significant renaissance-and not just among those who have previously shot with film. Interest in film photography and analog photography has also grown enormously among those who only have experience shooting digitally. In The Film Photography Handbook, 2nd Edition, authors Chris Marquardt and Monika Andrae speak to both types of film photographers as they offer an easy-to-understand, complete resource to shooting film. In this updated and expanded edition, they address today's working climate, including such topics as the hybrid film/digital workflow, the digitization of negatives, and using smartphones for light metering and to assist in film processing.
This book is intended for anyone who is curious about film and analog photography, whether you need a refresher course or are discovering this wonderful format for the first time. You'll learn how easy it is to shoot and process black-and-white film at home, and that just a little special equipment is needed to get into film photography.
Photoshop Elements offers the tools to make quick, simple fixes to photos or to turn your images into completely different pieces of art. Digital imaging pros Barbara Obermeier and Ted Padova walk you step-by-step through the tools that help you take control of this powerful software.
Creative professionals seeking the fastest, easiest, most comprehensive way to learn Adobe InDesign choose Adobe InDesign CC Classroom in a Book (2019 release) from Adobe Press. The 15 project-based step-by-step lessons show users the key techniques for working in InDesign. Designers will build a strong foundation of typographic, color, page layout, and document-construction skills that will enable them to produce a broad range of print and digital publications—from a simple postcard to an interactive Adobe PDF with form fields. The real-world tasks in this comprehensive book are presented in an easy-to-follow, step-by-step format and are designed to train beginning Adobe InDesign users in the program—from fundamental features to powerful layout and output skills.
Creative professionals seeking the fastest, easiest, most comprehensive way to learn Adobe InDesign choose Adobe InDesign Classroom in a Book (2020 release) from Adobe Press. The project-based step-by-step lessons show users the key techniques for working in InDesign. Designers will build a strong foundation of typographic, color, page layout, and document-construction skills that will enable them to produce a broad range of print and digital publications-from a simple postcard to an interactive Adobe PDF with form fields. The real-world tasks in this comprehensive book are presented in easy-to-follow lessons and are designed to train beginning Adobe InDesign users in the program-from fundamental features to powerful layout and output skills.
This entertaining book from beloved National Geographic photographer and Photo Ark founder Joel Sartore shows aspiring photographers how to take great pictures, from framing and F-stops to editing and archiving. Whether you're using your phone or a DSLR camera, you'll learn the fundamentals of photography -and how to put them to work every day.
394A must have! Henry Horenstein may be the world's bestselling photography teacher, with more than 700,000 copies of his photography manuals sold. Now, in this easily digestible book of wisdom, he distills a career's worth of instruction into one hundred memorable pieces of advice.
Photography has never been a bigger part of our lives. But how do you transform everyday snapshots into enduring images -- or merely upgrade your Instagram game? With images illustrating the impact of each tip, and with examples drawn from iconic artists, Horenstein shows casual and expert photographers alike how to take the best photographs on every device--from a DSLR to an iPhone.
Dogs and photography have gone hand in paw almost since the medium was invented and our passion remains undiminished, with pictures of adorable, bright-eyed dogs all over the internet. The photographs in this book offer an alternative to all the fluff. They approach the dog as a dignified, intelligent and noble being, and they consider our relationship with man's best friend for the extraordinary thing it really is. Elegant, beautiful, surprising, sometimes comical, full of drama and heart, these images show the world's best-loved animal in a remarkable new light.
Learning to work with light is an important milestone in every photographer's career, and the ability to craft light to fit your vision for an image is a skill that cannot be overrated. Most often, that crafting of light is spoken of in terms of the quality and quantity of light. But there is an important, third component of light that heavily influences the final look of the image: the color of light. In Chroma: A Photographer's Guide to Lighting with Color, photographer Nick Fancher helps you elevate your game when it comes to introducing the bold, creative, and intentional use of color into your work.
Creative professionals seeking the fastest, easiest, most comprehensive way to learn Adobe Photoshop choose Adobe Photoshop CC Classroom in a Book (2019 release) from Adobe Press. The 15 project-based lessons show key step-by-step techniques for working in Photoshop, including how to correct, enhance, and distort digital images, create image composites, and prepare images for print and the web.
With more manufacturers than ever before producing macro lenses and accessories, and digital technology offering fresh creative possibilities, there has never been a more exciting time to explore this macro world with your camera. This book explains the basics of equipment, focusing, exposure and magnification ratios alongside such topics as lighting for effect, employing color as a compositional device and using depth of field creatively.The author explores digital techniques such as focus stacking and the use of smartphone apps both to compose shots on a camera via WiFi connection and to trigger cameras when shooting at high speed. With subjects ranging from classic close-ups such as plants and insects to micrographics and abstracts, plus showcases of the greatest exponents of close-up, this is a complete manual for achieving creative and professional results.
Veteran photographer and instructor Bryan Peterson is best known for his arresting imagery using bold, graphic color and composition. Here he explores his signature use of color in photography for the first time, showing readers his process for creating striking images that pop off the page. He addresses how to shoot in any type of light, and looks at color families and how they can work together to make compelling images in commercial and art photography. He also helps readers understand exposure, flash, and other stumbling blocks that beginning and experienced photographers encounter when capturing images, showing how to get the most out of any composition. With its down-to-earth voice and casual teaching style, Understanding Color in Photography is a workshop in a book, helping any photographer take their images to the next level.
DSLR Photography for Beginners: Take 10 Times Better Pictures in 48 Hours or Less! Best Way to Learn Digital Photography, Master Your DSLR Camera & Improve Your Digital SLR Photography Skills
When photographing people, you can have a great composition, perfect light, and the right camera settings, but if your subject doesn’t look right―if the pose is off―the shot will not be a keeper. Posing is truly a crucial skill that photographers need to have in order to create great photographs. If you’re looking to improve your ability to pose your subjects―whether they’re men, women, couples, or groups―best-selling author and photographer Lindsay Adler’s The Photographer’s Guide to Posing: Techniques to Flatter Everyone is the perfect resource for you.
In the first half of The Photographer’s Guide to Posing, Lindsay discusses how the camera sees, and thus how camera angle, lens choice, and perspective all affect the appearance of your subject. Lindsay then covers the five most important things that ruin a pose―such as placement of the hands, and your subject’s expression and posture. If you can look out for and avoid these five things, your skills (and your images) will quickly improve. Next, Lindsay dives into “posing essentials,” outlining her approach to start with a “base pose,” then build on that to create endless posing opportunities. She also discusses posing the face―with specific sections dedicated to the chin, jaw, eyes, and forehead―as well as posing hands.
In the second half of the book, Lindsay dedicates entire chapters to posing specific subject matter: women, men, couples, curvy women, families and small groups, and large groups. In each chapter, Lindsay addresses that subject matter’s specific challenges, provides five “go-to poses” you can always use, and covers how to train the eye to determine the best pose for your subject(s). In the final chapter of the book, Lindsay brings it all together as she teaches you how to analyze a pose so that you can create endless posing opportunities and continuously improve your work
Without light, there is no photograph. As almost every photographer knows, the word "photograph" has its roots in two Greek words that, together, mean "drawing with light." But what is less commonly acknowledged and understood is the role that shadow plays in creating striking, expressive imagery, especially in portraiture. It is through deft, nuanced use of both light and shadow that you can move beyond shooting simply ordinary, competent headshots into the realm of creating dramatic portraiture that can so powerfully convey a subject's inner essence, communicate a personal narrative, and express your photographic vision.
In Studio Anywhere 2: Hard Light, photographer and author Nick Fancher builds on the success of his previous book (Studio Anywhere: A Photographer's Guide to Shooting in Unconventional Locations) as he continues to offer candid, practical, and valuable lessons on how to create successful and fresh photographs armed with only minimal gear, a resourceful mind, and a creative spirit. The heart and soul of Studio Anywhere 2: Hard Light resemble its predecessor, but this time Nick focuses his approach on hard light, demonstrating how to use it in innovative and flattering ways, working with subjects ranging from products to people.
In 79 AD, the city of Pompeii in the south of Italy was destroyed, buried beneath volcanic ash when Mount Vesuvius erupted. At the time of its destruction, the population of Pompeii was estimated at 11,000 people. After the eruption, the city was lost for about 1,500 years until its rediscovery in the late 16th century. The objects that lay beneath the city had been preserved for centuries due to the lack of air and moisture. During the excavation, plaster was used to fill the voids in the compacted layers of ash that once held human bodies, enabling archaeologists to see the exact position a person was in at the moment of death. The original casts are kept in an archive within the Pompeii site and because of their sacredness and fragility, it is prohibited to move them to other locations. Second generation copies of the casts have since been made, and are loaned out to museums for exhibitions, both locally and internationally, but no individuals are allowed to borrow them. With the support of the Ambassador of Japan in Rome, the authority of Pompeii graciously made an exception, and granted permission for Kenro Izu to remove a selection of the copied casts in order to create photographic compositions at the Pompeii sites. In addition, the Pompeii authority has permitted Izu to photograph the original human casts in the archive building as 'portraits' of the people of ancient Pompeii. For the work of Requiem, Kenro Izu created an imaginary scene of sometime after 'the day', when lives were extinguished by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, but among the scattered dead, plants have started to grow once again. This huge volcanic eruption, almost two millennia ago, is as if a nuclear explosion were to happen today. This thought makes one fearful of such a possibility taking place, anytime now, to us. Requiem is limited to 500 numbered copies, each including a 5x7 inch original print that has been signed by the artist.
In Let the Sun Beheaded Be, Gregory Halpern focuses on the Caribbean archipelago of Guadeloupe, an overseas region of France with a complicated and violent colonial past. The work resonates with Halpern's characteristic attention to the ways the details of a landscape and the people who inhabit it often reveal the undercurrents of local histories and experiences. Let the Sun Beheaded Be offers a visually striking depiction of place-as it has been worked on by the forces of nature, people, and events-as well as a thoughtful engagement with the complexities of photographing in foreign lands as an interloper. A text by curator and editor Clément Chéroux grapples with Guadeloupe's colonial past in relation to the French Revolution, Surrealism, and the Martinican poet Aimé Césaire, whose writing inspired the title of the book and much of the imagery itself. A conversation between Halpern and photographer and critic Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa delves into Halpern's process, personal history, and the politics of representation.
Let the Sun Beheaded Be was produced as part of Immersion, a program of the Fondation d'entreprise Hermès, in partnership with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Fondation Henri Cartier-Bresson.
Copublished by Aperture and Fondation d'entreprise Hermès
Ernst Haas's color works reveal the photographer's remarkable genius and remind us on every page why we love New York. When Haas moved from Vienna to New York City in 1951, he left behind a war-torn continent and a career producing black-and-white images. For Haas, the new medium of color photography was the only way to capture a city pulsing with energy and humanity. These images demonstrate Haas's tremendous virtuosity and confidence with Kodachrome film and the technical challenges of color printing. Unparalleled in their depth and richness of color, brimming with lyricism and dramatic tension, these images reveal a photographer at the height of his career.
In 1916, Inez Milholland Boissevain (1886-1916) embarked on a grueling campaign across the Western United States on behalf of the National Woman's Party appealing for women's suffrage ahead of the 1916 presidential election. Standing Together, by fine artist Jeanine Michna-Bales (born 1971), retraces Milholland's journey. The 30-year-old suffragist delivered some 50 speeches to standing-room-only crowds in eight states in 21 days: Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Utah, Nevada and California.
It's been a strange year, let's stay in touch! screams Erik Kessels and Thomas Sauvin's book-slash-art project, Talk Soon (Atelier Editions), the free associative, photographic dialogue between the two artists, translated into a tearaway postcard flip book.
If you know Donna, she lives her art. She is angry. She is empathic. She is loving. She is committed. This book, Holy, is an encapsulation of her anger; a compendium of her empathy; a 176-page vessel of her love; a lifetime of her commitment.
A photographic journey into another scale, when travel in the real world was limited. John Håkansson has depicted tree stumps from a low perspective and shown them having grown into mountains.
Since the start of the Covid-19 Pandemic, Dougie Wallace has been out photographing on the streets of London, capturing the changing moods of the city and its population.
Steve Gross & Susan Daley have been photographing these buildings for many years on our travels in examination of the changing American landscape and to document for their aesthetic & cultural value
As one of the key figures of contemporary photography in Turkey and known for his projects in different concepts on Istanbul, Timurtaş Onan offers us a retrospective selection of his works between 2000-2020 in his new book 'Istanbul: A City of Strange and Curious Moments'
To watch, to see everything, to watch the world staying at its center. To be like God. [...] But this center has no place in a traditional geography: it is the endless, wild, mysterious Big Data electronic prairies. And this is an opportunity for everyone, through the medium of screens: getting to violate (and of letting the others violate) the intimate vestibule of space and time, with a look.
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