Looking for a tripod? Choose wisely. Other than a camera and a good lens, nothing can make a bigger difference in your photography than a good tripod. This is the place to find information, recommended models, and links to more information.
Inexpensive ($9 – $117) Gifts for Photographers
Flash adapter and umbrella for an shoe-mount electronic flash.
There are a lot of practical and inexpensive gifts for photographers. Here is a nice list of items from $9 to $117. To make it easy to track them down, most of these items can be found at my photography store (which is powered by Amazon.com with Amazon’s terrific ordering, shipping, guarantee, and service). Most of the items below are in the Photo Goodies section. Prices are current as of this update (Nov. 20, 2014) but prices do fluctuate.
POTD: Margarita
Margarita
It is all about the eyes, the eyelashes, and the shadows from the eyelashes. The studio flash units had to be set up very precisely to create these shadows.
Tim Grey Recommends Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies
Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies
With 12 books, hundreds of magazine articles, over a dozen instructional videos, and numerous workshops to his credit, digital photography expert Tim Grey really knows his stuff. In one of his eNewsletters, Tim gives this excellent recommendation for Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies:
Mastering Photoshop: Retouching, Part Two
Two essential and challenging Photoshop skills are Masking and Compositing. Fortunately for all of us out in Photoshop land, Katrin Eismann has written a masterful book on developing these skills, Photoshop Masking & Compositing.
Mastering Photoshop: Retouching, Part One
Katrin Eismann is a world class expert on photo retouching. She is one of the best of the best. In 2005 she was inducted into the Photoshop Hall of Fame. Anything she writes should be high on your reading list if you are serious about making the most of your Photoshop skills.
Mastering Photoshop: Advanced Color Correction, Part Two
Everything you need to know about Dan Margulis is in Mastering Photoshop: Advanced Color Correction, Part One. After you have devoured the book I recommend in that article, you will know why you need to get Photoshop LAB Color: The Canyon Conundrum and Other Adventures in the Most Powerful Colorspace.
Mastering Photoshop: Advanced Color Correction, Part One
If you want to master color in Photoshop, Dan Margulis is the best of the best. He is one of the first three persons to be named as a member of the Photoshop Hall of Fame. And the book to get is Professional Photoshop: The Classic Guide to Color Correction (5th Edition). It is well worth finding on the used market (which you can do via my photography store). What Margulis teaches you to do with color is amazing. The before and after images will make your jaw drop.
Mastering Photoshop & Lightroom: Adobe Camera Raw (ACR)
Jeff Schewe and Bruce Fraser on RAW Camera Files
A lot of the quality of your final image will be determined by what you do with your RAW files when you open them in Adobe Camera RAW (ACR) which comes with Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Elements, and Adobe Lightroom.
The Best Books: The “Mastering Photoshop” Series
If you want to master Photoshop, a complete course can be found in the books recommended below. Think of this as a multi-book master class.
Some of the Best All Purpose Photography Books
This is a list of books that were the most helpful to me when I took a serious interest in photography, and I continue to refer to them. These books were written back when film was king, but that makes them all the more valuable to today’s digital photographers. Some digital photography books get so lost in technical information that the heart and soul of photography can get lost. The best film photography books are about light and shadow, subjects, form, texture, line and shape – all of which applies to digital photography.
Lightroom & Photoshop: The Essential Books
Lightroom & Photoshop: The Essentials
If you are serious about digital photography and you use Lightroom and/or Photoshop, these books are “The Essentials”.
The Best Basic Introductions to Elements, Photoshop, and Lightroom
Scott Kelby has written some of the best, most readable introductions to Elements, Lightroom, and Photoshop. If you are new to this software, this is a great place to start. The book for the most recent version of Elements is The Photoshop Elements 13 Book for Digital Photographers. Kelby’s books is also available for Elements 12.
The Best Digital Photography Books
Some of the Best Digital Photography Books
Some well chosen books can make a world of difference in your digital photography. Some of the best books are about the camera side of digital photography, some are about the digital darkroom side, and some are about both. Out of hundreds of books in my photo library, I picked out the best.
The Best Illustrated History of Photography
Photography: The Definitive Visual History by Tom Ang
When I picked this book up off the shelf, I couldn’t put it down, at least not until I put it down on the check out desk and bought it. There have been some very fine illustrated history of photography books that have come and gone, but this is far and away my favorite.
Advanced Photographic Composition: The Best Books
Is composition something that can be taught, or is it innate? Probably a bit of both. It is hard to look at photographs by Frans Lanting, Art Wolfe, Galen Rowell, and Dewitt Jones without coming to the conclusion that they were born with some kind of innate sense of composition. On the the other hand, it is clear that photographers can improve dramatically with the right kind of guidance.
Photographic Composition: The Essential Book
The Art of Photograph, Art Wolfe and Rob Sheppard.
Art Wolfe is a world class photographer, and it shows in The Art of the Photograph. There are a lot of books on photographic composition (I own several, and I’ve looked through a lot more in various libraries), but this is far and away the best introduction to photographic composition I have come across. If you aren’t an experienced professional photographer, this book is an absolute must read. (I am assuming professionals already know this stuff.)
Excellent “How To Photograph People” Books
More photos are taken of people than any other photograph subject. Anyone can take snapshots. If you want to take more memorable and eye-catching photos, here are some excellent books to help you do just that.
Great “How To” Flower Photography Book by Tony Sweet
“Pink Cosmos Double” by Tony Sweet
If you want to turn your images of flowers into true artistic expressions, this is the book for you. Fine Art Flower Photography, Creative Techniques and the Art of Observation by Tony Sweet takes you well beyond the typical flower photography guide.
The Best “How To” Nature Photography Books
Some of my favorite nature photography books.
Want to be a better nature photographer? Read anything by John Shaw, Galen Rowell, Art Wolfe, Freeman Patterson, Tim Fitzharris, George Lepp, Larry West, Arthur Morris, Allen Rokach, John Netherton, Leonard Lee Rue III, Brenda Tharp, Tony Sweet, and the Stackpole (publisher) nature series. Now for some of the “best of the best” books to look for. These are my favorites out of hundreds of photography books in my library. Continue reading
My Favorite Introduction to Landscape Photography
Joseph Lange, How To Photograph Landscapes
I was packing the car for a 10 day trip to Iowa, and I picked out a few essential photography books to take with me. My plan was to revisit them in preparation for one of my upcoming nature photography workshops. When I unpacked in Iowa, Joseph Lange’s How to Photograph Landscapes was missing. Oh No!
Nature Photography Books: The Three Essentials
Nature Photography Books
A good photography book can put you well ahead of the game, and three essential nature photography books (plus maybe a few others) can save you years of time learning things the hard way.
The Best Image Editing Software
Adobe Photoshop Elements 13, Adobe Photoshop CC, and Lightroom 5
Your photos will look their best if you optimize them with some good image editing software.
Short list:
Adobe Photoshop Elements 13, 12, or 11*
Adobe Photoshop CC or CS6*
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC, 6, 5 or 4*
* See the section below on Adobe’s new process version.
The Best Astronomy and Astrophotography Books
Star Trails, Rocky Mountain National Park
Interested in getting into astrophotography? The simple stuff is simple to do (like the photo above). The hard stuff is hard and complicated to do if you want eye popping photos like you see in Astronomy and Sky and Telescope magazines. Here’s my advice. And if you just like to look at the night sky, I recommend some books for that too.
How To Find Wildlife, The Best Books
Wildlife Location Guides
The first step to photographing wildlife is finding wildlife. In the case of common wildlife, that’s easy. If you are looking for squirrels you may not need to look any farther than your own back yard. But if you want to photograph something a little more exotic, like Chachalacas or Green Jays, you need to know where to look for them (the southern tip of Texas).
Jim Brandenburg: Chased by the Light
Can a world class, National Geographic photographer lose his passion? Yes! How does he get it back?
Two Excellent Nature Photography Books by Tony Sweet
Golden Brook. Photo © Tony Sweet
I’ve been reading two excellent nature photography books by Tony Sweet. They are published by Stackpole Books. They choose first class photographers who have written an excellent and ongoing series of photography books. I’ve been giving high praise to Stackpole’s photography books for years and I now have two more to add to the list.
Best Book on Professional Exposure Techniques
I have no idea how Michael Freeman can be a well traveled, international photographer and still find time to write so many terrific photography books. But somehow he manages to do both. I suspect he never sleeps. I imagine him creating images and writing books 24 hours a day, stopping only to eat once or twice a week!!
POTD: Vermilion Lakes Reflection
Vermilion Lakes, Banff National Park
Vermilion Lakes (a string of three side by side lakes) just outside of the town of Banff, Alberta is a great landscape location. On this particular day the light was beautiful. Evergreens are usually quite dark in a photograph but the low side-lit angle of the sunlight was trans-illuminating the evergreens so they glowed a bright green. The lightly dimpled lake was just calm enough to give me a nice, slightly blurred reflection.
Great Set of DVDs: Joel Sartore’s Fundamentals of Photography
Joel Sartore, Fundamentals of Photography. 24 lessons on 4 DVDs.
I finally found an excellent series of photography lessons on video to complement my book, Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies, and it is by Joel Sartore, a first class photographer who does a lot of work for National Geographic. He does stunning photography in amazing situations all over the world. You can see some of his work in the galleries at his web site.