Book Reviews

Understanding Close-up Photography: Creative Close Encounters with or without a Macro Lens

Good overall coverage of macro and close-up photography, covering techniques and gear typically used for such. Covers critical concepts like aperture and depth of field in depth, as well as offering tips and suggestions for home macro-studio setups.

If you are interested in learning more about macro or close up photography, this book is definitely worth a look and offers some good example photographs.

Understanding Exposure

This is a fairly comprehensive book, and almost a must-read for any new photographer. Even relatively experienced photographers may pick up a useful tip or two.

This book covers all the basics, including defining exposure, the effects of changing your aperture or shutter speed, and how to expose for different lighting conditions. It then goes on to touch on using filters, HDR, and even flash photography.

Understanding Photography Field Guide

This is probably the best, and definitely the best value book from Bryan Peterson. The Understanding Photography Field Guide gives a fairly comprehensive overview of a wide number of subjects for both the newbie, and the amateur looking to improve their photography. Topics covered include Digital Basics, Exposure (Shutter Speed, Aperture and ISO), Learning to See, The Importance of Light, Close Up Photography, Photographing People, Unconventional Techniques and Useful Tools (which covers select gear like Tripods).

This volume draws heavily from his other popular books, and includes pretty much all the important information from them in a more compact and concise form. If you are going to buy one Peterson book, this is it.

Understanding Shutter Speed: Creative Action and Low-Light Photography Beyond 1/125 Second

While Peterson's 'Understanding Exposure' is generally considered one of the best books of all time on photographic exposure, we found "Understanding Shutter Speed" fell a little short. While the book does contain some useful information, we also felt there was excessive padding and a few too many over-generalizations, when what we hoped for was more in-depth coverage.

If your a Peterson fan you may still enjoy this book, but it doesn't compare to his excellent "Understanding Exposure".

Light: Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting

If you are interested in flash or studio photography, this book is your bible. Covers how to light assorted different, and often challenging subjects (glass bottles, shiny metal etc) as well as people and other objects. Detailed drawings, example photos and in-depth explanations are given throughout. This is by a margin the best book on lighting we've come across.

Digital Nature Photography

Packed with information and insight, the BetterPhoto Guide to Digital Nature Photography was a pleasant surprise. Unlike a lot of photography books, the first chapter hits hard and fast with the single most important topic for any photographer looking to up their game: Light. This is followed by informative chapters on Composition, Digital Exposure, Landscapes, Macro Photography, and last but not least, Wildlife.

Packed with beautiful imagery, this is one of the best photography books I’ve read, period. If you are interested in nature photography, this book should be very high on your list.

The Hot Shoe Diaries: Big Light from Small Flashes

A good photograph tells a story. In this book a great photographer tells the story behind the photographs, in this case pictures taken using small flashguns.

Beautifully illustrated, the book is also a very engaging read, and goes into some detail about how the shot was actually made, and provides some basic descriptions of the gear used.

Also makes a great coffee table book. Highly recommended, especially if you are interested in flash photography.

The Moment It Clicks: Photography secrets from one of the world's top shooters

A good photograph tells a story. Just like in McNally's hot shoe diaries, in this book a great photographer tells the story behind the photographs, including insights into how the photograph was made.

Beautifully illustrated, the book is also a very engaging read, and goes into some detail about how the shot was actually made. It also provides some basic descriptions of the gear used. Covers general topics including lighting and composure.

Also makes a great coffee table book. Highly recommended.

Digital Nature and Landscape Photography

While some of descriptions of equipment and software may be a little dated already (the book was published in 2007 when 6mp DSLR’s and 150gb external drives were the norm), the vast majority of this book is still very relevant. Digital Nature and Landscape Photography does a very good job of describing the basics (equipment, workflow, software etc.), while also covering photography essentials (exposure, composition), general field craft, and even touching on avenues to sell your work. The books strongest asset is the rich photography itself.

The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos

An interesting book tackling a critical subject often ignored by photographers: composition. It does cover the topic very well with some great example photographs. However we found the book a very dry and technical read, much like a college text book.

The Digital Photography Book

Great book for the beginner, offering tips and advice covering basic gear, how to take sharp photos, how to shoot flowers, basic wedding photography, as well as shooting landscapes, sports, people and travel photography. The book also offers general advice for photography pitfalls to avoid, and how to make best use of digital cameras. The book ends with a "how to print like a pro" chapter, followed with a "photo recipes" section detailing how to get specific shots.

The book is formatted with a picture on most pages, with a paragraph or two under the picture offering the advice, sometimes followed by specific gear recommendations. Because of the huge number of photographic topics covered, The Digital Photography Book doesn't go into detail or give explanations, instead if offers high level, more generic advice. As such, it is a great resource for new photographers, and even someone with years of photographic experience could pick up a tip or three. However if you are looking for in-depth topic coverage or to gain a deeper understanding of photographic processes, this isn't the book for you.

The Digital Photography Book, Vol 2

Following on from the popular The Digital Photography Book, volume 2 continues with the same basic format of typically a picture per page, with a paragraph or two below offering advice, often accompanies by gear recommendations.

As in the first book, a huge range of topics is covered, making this book an amazing resource for a beginner. If however you are seeking a deeper understanding of photography, it's lacking in-depth explanations and descriptions.

Topics covered include new topics like using flash guns, building a studio, shooting portraits, macro, as well as expanding on topics from the first book including photographing landscapes, weddings and travel.

The book ends with several pages of more general advice, followed by more "photo recipes" - basically brief descriptions of "how to get a shot like this".

Digital Photo Madness

Aimed primarily at beginners with cameras with scene modes (lower end DSLR’s and Point & Shoot Cameras), this book offers some useful tips and tricks to actually improve your photography, but focuses just as much on wacky effects you can create using Adobe products. As the title implies, if you want your zoo or safari pictures to include a zebra with purple, green and yellow stripes (page 122), or you want a photo of an ostrich wearing a blue wig (page 123), then this is the book for you.

National Audubon Society Guide to Landscape Photography

Beautifully illustrated book covering all aspects of landscape photography, from outfitting (both yourself and your gear bag), to composition and even shooting locations. Offers a wealth of information to even the most seasoned photographers, highly recommended.

National Audubon Society Guide to Nature Photography: Digital Edition

Another beautifully illustrated book covering all aspects of nature photography, covering gear, techniques (both cameras and dealing with wildlife), basic composition, using light, and Macro. Offers a wealth of information to even the most seasoned photographers, highly recommended.