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Recommended Reading
Below, you will find a list of books
I recommend for photographers of various skill levels. The following symbols
indicate the recommended skill levels:
 Basic 
Intermediate  Advanced
Books on Technique
The following books are written to
teach the techniques of photography. This list is in no particular order
except the first two books, which I highly recommend first for anyone needing
to learn or improve on the fundamentals.
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The
Nature Photographer's Complete Guide to Professional Field Techniques
by John Shaw |
Deemed
by many photographers as the number one essential reference for beginning
and intermediate nature photographers. |
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Learning
to See Creatively
by Bryan Peterson |
Absolutely
my favorite book on photographic composition and creativity. |
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The
Sierra Club Guide to 35mm Landscape Photography
by Tim Fitzharris |
Excellent
book covering the basics techniques. Also introduces selling your
images. Great use of before and after photos. |
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John
Shaw's Landscape Photography
by John Shaw |
An
excellent book for landscape photographers, especially the chapter covering
the detailed aspects of being on location. |
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The
Professional Photographer's Guide to Shooting and Selling Nature &
Wildlife Photos
by Jim Zuckerman |
A
practical book on how to take marketable photo's and ways to market them. |
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Mountain
Light: In Search of the Dynamic Landscape
by Galen Rowell |
A
highly recommended book for those working in adventure, travel, or mountain
photography. |
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The
Art of Photographing Nature
by Art Wolfe and Martha Hill |
Illustrates
useful techniques often illustrating them with before and after photos.
Each image includes detailed comments by both the photographer and a photo
buyer, giving you two extremely useful points of view. |
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Photography
Outdoors: A Field Guide for Travel & Adventure Photographers
by Mark Gardner & Art Wolfe |
Focused
on outdoor, travel, and adventure photography, this book is compact enough
to take with you in the field as a handy reference. |
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Galen
Rowell's Vision: The Art of Adventure Photography
by Galen Rowell |
Approximately
60 photography-related topics or adventures are covered. Topics are based
on articles from Galen's Outdoor Photographer magazine columns. |
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John
Shaw's Closeups in Nature
by John Shaw |
Probably
the best resource for learning the fascinating world of closeup photography. |
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John
Shaw's Business of Nature Photography
by John Shaw |
Details
the realistic business aspects of Nature Photography and how to break into
the field. |
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Mountain Photography
by David Higgs |
Techniques
useful for backcountry explorers, especially climbers. |
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Adventure Travel
Photography
by Nevada Wier |
The
best book I've read specific to travel photography. Excellent coverage
of photographing people and their culture. |
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Beyond
the Basics: Innovative Techniques for Nature Photography
by George Lepp |
Covers
several specialized techniques in full detail, including high-magnification
in the field, multiple TTL flash, butterflies, creative flower techniques,
projected flash, birds at the nest, wide-angle landscapes, and more. Includes
useful illustrations of camera setups used to make these specialized images. |
Picture Books To Learn
From
After reading several books on technique,
I find it a nice break to look at, and learn from, those nice big coffee
table picture books. As you look through them, try to figure out how each
of the superb images were made. Observe the compositional elements and
lighting. Try to figure out what lens focal length, shutter speed, aperture,
filters, etc. were used.
In addition to these books, I highly
recommend that you study picture books specific to the area in which you
live. These can be a great source of local photography locations for you
to try out yourself. Challenge yourself to take similar, but better versions
of the pictures you see in these books. Don't simply try to replicate the
photo in the book. Try to apply your own personal vision to the subject.
Some of these books are expensive so
you might want to try the library first. Here are some of my favorites.
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Eye
to Eye
by Frans Lanting |
A
superb book of wildlife images by a real wildlife master. Some "on the
scene" info is given in the appendix. |
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Nature's Place
by Rod Planck |
Beautiful
nature images. Technical information is given. |
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National
Parks of America
Photography by David Muench; text
by Stewart Udall and James Udall |
A
collection of images from the landscape master covering all of the US National
Parks, Monuments, and Seashores. My version came with a handy CD-ROM to
the Parks including mini-guides to each of them. |
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Portraits
of Earth
by Freeman Patterson |
An
excellent collection of color images with extensive discussion of the thought
processes and philosophy behind them. Some technical information is given. |
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National
Geographic: The Photographs
by National Geographic |
OK.
This one's not really nature related. But some of the truly great images
of our time and a book worth careful study. |
Other Handy References
Your reading library should also include
various hiking guides, city guides, and natural history field guides covering
the birds, mammals, flowers, plants, insects, trees, sea creatures, and
habitats specific to your region. The Audubon
Society makes excellent field guides. You can use these for learning
about, locating and identifying subjects.
Photography related magazines are also
an excellent source for learning technique. For a selection of magazines
that you can subscribe to on-line through Barnes
& Noble at good discounts, click here.
Finally, I highly recommend the purchase
of one of the more expansive camera manuals for the camera body you own
from Magic Lantern
(newer equipment) or
Hove
Foto Books (older equipment). These manuals are often much more complete and useful
than the manual that comes with your camera. Find these books at better
photo shops or order on-line at Barnes
& Noble.
Happy Reading
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