Learn Photography Mo' Betta: Ten (+) Recommended Books (and a Poster)

Ted Orland's Photographic Truths poster, 2000s version. (I have an original
print of the photograph hanging in my downstairs half bath.)

• Bill Jay and David Hurn, On Being a Photographer. The ultimate explanation of why photography is not about photography, this is the first book a student or beginning or intermediate photographer should read—because it might impart to them the idea that subject can come first, and it might get them to question the standard or conventional ideas about what photographs should look like. Short, and not perfectly argued, but both courageous and essential. For further reading, LensWork #83 consists of the best of Bill Jay's Lenswork column, "Endnotes."

• Bryan Peterson, Understanding Exposure, Fourth Edition: How to Shoot Great Photographs with Any Camera. Not only is exposure the basis for most classic photographing "systems" such as the Zone System, not only is correct and creative exposure the very fundament and foundation of good photographic technique, but knowledge of exposure is often lacking among photographers today because cameras have become so automatic and correction in post is so readily at hand. Do not be lulled! Well-controlled exposure is still necessary if you want pictures that look their best. This title (the fourth edition linked above is due next Spring; the third edition is available now) is one of the great bestsellers of photographic technique, and appropriately so. Even if you think you already know this stuff well enough, it might not be a bad idea to brush up on your basics.

• Richard Benson, The Printed Picture. A highly enjoyable and profusely illustrated guided tour of the technology of photographic printing from one of the master printmakers of the age. Benson, himself a master of many processes and a no-nonsense lecturer, teaches at Yale.

• Joe McNally, The Moment It Clicks. Joe McNally's lively and engaging account of what it's like to be Joe McNally was part of a mini-avalanche of "How I Do It" books, the list of which includes Gregory Heisler's 50 Portraits, the compendious Road to Seeing by Dan Winter, Annie Leibovitz at Work, Steve McCurry's Untold: The Stories Behind the Photographs, and numerous others. The Moment It Clicks was the one that best clicked with readers.

• Kirk Tuck, Minimalist Lighting. You don't necessarily need to do lighting, but it helps to know a little about it, and it helps to know some basic techniques. This perennially popular title will walk you through basic concepts and is also a great instruction manual for getting started.

• [As a pair] Michael L. Carlebach, The Origins of Photojournalism in America and American Photojournalism Comes of Age. A great window into photography's tumultuous development through the lens of its historically most important use. Engagingly readable and painlessly informative. I keep recommending these, and each time I do, a small number of lucky people actually read them. At least now they're very cheap, because they're only available used. Trust me, I've read a lot of photo history, and these books are special. They should be reprinted—or at least formatted for Kindle.

• Rather than recommend a book like Scott Kelby's The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC Book for Digital Photographers and the small library of books like it that you'd need in order to master the ins and outs of digital technique, I think I'll just recommend a subscription to Lynda.com. Lynda.com, if you don't know it, is a video tutorial site that covers all sorts of software—and not only photography-related. Helpfully divided into easily digestible chunks, each course covers everything you need to get up to speed. For those already in the know, there are often shorter courses that clue you in to changes when newer versions come out. View one a day and you'll soon have gotten more than your money's worth.

• [As a pair] Jeff Schewe, The Digital Negative, and Ansel Adams: The Negative. (Search Abebooks or eBay for a nice used hardcover copy of the latter.) The Negative is the best of Adams's technical books. Like a clear mountain pool, it's both deep and clear. It can be read with great profit even by photographers who will only ever use a camera with a sensor in it. I suggest reading it one-after-the-other with Jeff Schewe's excellent The Digital Negative, which was in part inspired by Ansel's book and was newly refreshed just this past September. Of course then you will want Jeff's The Digital Print, and Ansel's The Print...but I'm cheating on my ten!

• David Bayles and Ted Orland, Art & Fear: Observations On the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking. One of the oddities of artmaking is that, at an elemental level, it takes real courage. You're looking at places in yourself that many human beings aren't comfortable confronting, and putting forward something so deeply personal that fear can prevent you from working freely. David and Ted "unpack" the problems of overcoming the impediments that our feelings put in our way.

• John Szarkowski, Looking at Photographs: 100 Pictures from the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art. I suppose at age 58 this is unlikely ever to be displaced as my personal Tao Te Ching of photography (much more appropriate than saying "personal Bible of photography," as both LaP and the Chinese classic are brief and a bit inscrutable). On the other hand, there can't be many TOP readers who still don't have this book unless they are recalcitrant and obstreperous and pigheadedly refuse to see reason. So you probably already have it. The late John Szarkowski (with me he pronounced it "shar-kov-ski") was one of the best writers on photography in the history of the medium, and LaP is his masterpiece.

• Have I reached ten yet? Finally, recently updated for the twenty-teens, Ted Orland's ultra-classic Photographic Truths poster. (Illustrated above.) Ted used to be Ansel's assistant, and is a fine writer and a creative brain, and he has an impish, wise and breezy attitude. He is the soul of "lighten up." Sample: "When your friends finally realize that you are a True Artist, committed to making sensitive and meaningful images, they will ask you to photograph their wedding." Let Ted's cheery aphorisms lighten your outlook a bit, and perhaps you'll be the better for it.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2015 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.

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(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Rodger Kingston: "Of all the books you mention here, John Szarkowski's Looking at Photographs is certainly one of my all-time favorites. In my copy I've noted that I acquired it in November 1973 (the year it was published as well as the year I was married). At some point along the way John inscribed it to me. In addition to 100 photographs, the book contains 100 short essays that are some of the best writing on photography that I know of. I think my favorite is the one on Carleton E. Watkins, in which, after writing about the photographer, he compares Watkins' photograph of a strawberry tree to a Japanese flag. Did I mention that Szarkowski had a wry, lively sense of humor?"

Kenneth Tanaka: "Some good choices there, Mike.

"My own list would meander outside the boundaries of photography and into the realms of modern (i.e. 1900+) art and design history for grounding and sources for visual and conceptual inspiration.

"But as I'm pressed for time at the moment that list will have to wait. Still, since you highlighted Bryan Petersen's Exposure book (how does he find the time to take a picture?) I do want to offer that Petersen's Learning to See Creatively is an excellent exposition on expanding your photographic vision. There are many such books but Petersen's lively and inviting style makes his messages easy to grasp immediately.

"Even better is The Photographer's Mind by the equally popular photo author Michael Freeman. This is also an engaging, but much deeper look at the visual, cultural, and psychological aspects of managing photographic space. Even if you've been using a camera for 50 years I can virtually guarantee that you'll find something very interesting and perhaps even immediately useful in Freeman's book. It's inexpensive. Just get it.

"(Both titles are also available on Kindle.)

"Gotta go!"

Comments

[Wayne]

OK, I bought LaP...I even used your link.

I feel better now.

[Roger Botting]

I would have to agree on some of your books.
Any Ansel Adams book is good reading, especially the later books. Even the biographies of him.
Joe McNally's various books are great although they get repetitive after reading a couple.
Scott Kelby books are great how to books. He breaks down the how to into very clear sequences. Just ignore the very bad jokes.
And John Szarkowski's books ARE the history of great photography. A must read for any real photographer. Although he does miss several important yet overlooked photographer. Henry Mortenson is an example.
And you left out David Vestal' books on the darkroom, probably two of the best ever done.

[Tom Duffy]

It would be great if you could post a copy of the original poster (film related). It was much funnier as I recall and a bit nastier, e.g., "The Sound of Music is to music as Popular Photography is to photography."

[Guy Toner]

"And in further news, I've found TOP's Book of the Year for 2015."
Please let us in on your selection.
The tension's getting to me. Not to mention it's getting late for overseas orders to arrive for Christmas.

[toto]

"1/60 at f/8 is the correct exposure for all photographs."

Maybe not for all photographs, but you can get a proper exposure for most photographs at 1/60 f/8 by adjusting the ISO (though it could get noisy at high ISOs.) And if the ISO cannot go low enough, there are always ND filters. This does not take into consideration things like motion blur and depth of field.

[raizans]

Has anyone ever written a book on "Project Management for Photographers"? I think people would find that extremely useful.

[MikeR]

"recalcitrant and obstreperous and pigheadedly refuse to see reason"

Well, that fits me, but that's not the reason. Chalk it up to just plain old ignorance of its existence. I need to check my wife's collection. When we married, a substantial collection of photography books came with the deal.

And of course it's pronounced shar-KOV-ski (gotta get the accent on the right syllable). Just the way it's spelled. Try this one: Władysław Szczepaniak. I've forgotten most Polish I learned as a kid, but even then, that "szcz" combination always got me literally spitting the name.

[Hugh Smith]

Ya know, Mike. Just about the time we start licking our fingers from the finger food you present to us, you come up with an entire buffet! Sheeze! Here's to a few million more.
Mi dos pesos.

[Mike R]

updating my earlier "recalcitrant and obstreperous and pigheadedly refuse to see reason" message:

Aha! My wife did have the Szarkowski book, second printing. I know we have several Ansel Adams, and a couple others. Too many books to remember.

And thanks for helping me to flesh out my Christmas wish list.

[Tom]

Greg Heisler's book is a real joy. It's superbly produced with a separate pull out appendix so that you don't have to keep flipping pages to get more information on the picture. It was my Christmas present to myself a couple of years ago and I enjoyed every page. Annie Leibowitz's book was a revelation. I don't personally care for her recent work but came away from this book with a high regard for her as a a 'proper' photographer. I'd recommend either book but if I had to choose one I'd get the Heisler.

[David Dyer-Bennet]

Tech, not art: Light -- Science & Magic (Fuqua and Hunter; I think more recent editions may have a third author). An actual textbook, rather than a cookbook as so many lighting books I have seen are.

All the Adams Basic Photo Series of course. But also Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs, where he tells us, so far as memory allows, what ran through is head as he made 40 of his photos.

[Tom]

As David has mentioned textbooks rather than cookbooks, I have to add a mention for Matters of Light and Depth by Ross Lowell. Lots of text, not many pictures but if you want to truly gain a practical understanding of how to light a scene that you can apply in any situation, this is your book.

[Colin]

Hello Mike, this post has finally prompted me to recommend John Berger's Understanding A Photograph. I must confess to having read only half of it so far (in the summer, since when I haven't found the time to concentrate properly, will do one day), but have found it to be a remarkably insightful, stimulating and challenging set of essays on the essence of photography.

[Bob]

John Shaw's book, Nature Photography Field Guide, clicked for me for learning the nuts and bolts of exposure, and the use of different focal lengths and apertures. David Ward's book, Landscape Beyond, is a good read on the squishier aspects of a photograph. He's after simplicity, mystery and beauty. If you like ugly stuff, this book won't work for you. I don't like ugly stuff. But while I appreciate beauty and the other things, I just have a little brain that gets easily overwhelmed. I can remember simplicity, beauty and mystery, whereas 32 simple steps to glorious photography doesn't seem to stick for me. I can remember about three things.

Three other things I can remember are Light, Color and Gesture, which is the title of one of two relatively new books by Jay Maisel. The other being It's Not About the F-stop. Maybe they're both more inspirational than procedural, but they have some good examples of what it looks like when you get the light, or the gesture, or the color right. Or all three, as he of often does.