Most helpful photography book you have ever read

[fletch]

Originally Posted by kencaleno

You can tell who has read Peterson's book, because they all mention the "Exposure Triangle". Actually a fourth element can effect exposure and that is what digital photography is all about-White Balance! Until you understand White Balance,you will never understand Digital photography-Read Tom Ang to be enlightened. regards, ken

I thought the fourth element was light (or the first if you are being really pedantic!) now I find out there are five. Its a bleeding pentagon! Whoaa.

[candleman]

hahhaha.. you guys are hilarious.

..Ken, i dont see how WB effects the expousure triangle... it does effect colour cast tho'
IMHO they are totally different topics.

POSSIBLY ( a pedantic approach)
a lower Kelvin number may add a darker "look" because its colder,
but its an illusion of darkness not an actual difference in light recorded by the sensor.

i'd be glad to lend an ear to an explaination tho'

[Sixpak]

Originally Posted by kencaleno

You can tell who has read Peterson's book, because they all mention the "Exposure Triangle". Actually a fourth element can effect exposure and that is what digital photography is all about-White Balance! Until you understand White Balance,you will never understand Digital photography-Read Tom Ang to be enlightened. regards, ken

Hmmm.... I understand your point Ken, however getting the white balance correct in camera is probably not considered as critical as the other three elements. My reason for thinking this is that WB affects color, and not actual exposure. It can have negative effects when shooting jpg due to camera processing but when shooting raw all data is retained to set whatever WB you prefer.

If you shoot an incorrectly exposed photo, then you might be able to recover some data, but it will never have the data necessary if you had shot a correctly exposed photo in the first place.

P.S. Not trying to start any sort of argument here... just kinda showing my thought process... still very much a newbie. I definitely agree with reading Some Tom Ang!

[fletch]

I'm gonna start another thread about how WB does/doesn't affect exposure so as we don't hijack this lovely tread about books!

Edit: Here it is - http://digital-photography-school.co...209#post502209

On with the books.

[milosh]

Originally Posted by inkista

Exactly. The genius of the book is that it explains the exposure triangle in a nice, simple, ramping-up way that's terrific for folks who are first-timers to the exposure triangle. To most oldtimer photogs, the triangle is such second nature, that they'll (with the best of intentions) forcefeed/firehose a poor newbie quickly in a god-it's-so-simple manner that's not just highly confusing but also ever-so-slightly off-putting. Peterson doesn't insult his audience and he doesn't talk down. And he doesn't go off on misleading and potentially confusing tangents like, say, Ken Rockwell's sense of humor (or attempts at humor, depending on your tastes) leads him into making. For me, personally, Kelby's humor is similarly distracting and an annoyance. If I'm seriously trying to learn something, I just want the information--if I want humor, I'll read Terry Pratchett.

I agree with you on everything, and yeah, I think Understanding exposure is great just for that, explaining the basics to the newbies.

Originally Posted by inkista

As you say, If you already know the exposure triangle, you don't need Understanding Exposure. But you could find his Learning to See Creatively equally good at explaining the basics of composition if you don't know them. These are basic beginner texts, not advanced ones. But that's what makes them so valuable--very few photography books bother to start from ground zero.

Also agree with you. But I love Learning to see Creativaly because it got me so inspired after reading it.

I also read one of the Kelby's books on PS and didn't like it at all (I can't remember the name). It was a kind of book that tells you: To achieve this effect, click here and here..

What was (and still is) very helpfull for me when it comes to Photoshop are Ron Bigelow's tutorials on his website: http://www.ronbigelow.com/articles/articles.htm

Everything is explained from the begining, and I think there's lots of stuff even for the advanced PS users.

[Gaba-gal]

Last book I've read is Capturing the Light: an inspirational and instructional guide to landscape photography by Peter Watson.

I loved the book, he doesnt really write in dept about technical aspects (except maybe about some filters) but Ive learned a lot about composition and light just from his explanations with every photo eg why he waited for certain light conditions and what could have made photo better or not.

Lately Ive been reading books about photographers, photography history, and photography art. In the past I concentrated a lot on books about photoshop and technical stuff, but found the more I read about this, the more I am getting too critical about my work and tend to keep trying to "fix" it with the latest "craze" Ive been reading about.
Now I do the minimal in CS3 and concentrate more on getting the photo right first time, and I can see that at last my photography is beginning to improve.

[FoG]

I have two I use the Kodak guide to Digital photography and a nother chep one the digital photography handbook not by Scott Kelby someone else and I am looking to get his boxed set

[ChristopherCoy]

Originally Posted by eth3rton

Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. A must read for anyone new to photography. Of course thats my opinion.

I am SO going get this book ASAP! I was just reading a bit on Amazon, it looks great. Thanks for the referral!

[AgBeard]

Originally Posted by Chip

A very helpful book about design and composition is The Photographer's Eye by M Freeman. It's a book primarily about how a good photo is composed - it's not a technical "how to" book.

Another vote for this excellent book on composition

[pinkchimney15]

Originally Posted by kencaleno

You can tell who has read Peterson's book, because they all mention the "Exposure Triangle". Actually a fourth element can effect exposure and that is what digital photography is all about-White Balance! Until you understand White Balance,you will never understand Digital photography-Read Tom Ang to be enlightened. regards, ken

Sir,

While I am no expert on the matter, I believe that your suggestions (or lack there of) are more counter productive than helpful. Correct me if I am wrong but isn't the name of this site Digital Photography School? I come here for suggestions and tips from everyone and it seems that all you do, to use a technical term, is poo-poo everything anything someone says. I believe it is that kind of attitude and reception that keeps beginners from gaining any traction in their quest for knowledge.

I am not trying to start a debate or argument but it needed to be said. I am sure as an experienced photographer you have something to contribute.

BTW, I love all of the books listed above by all of our fellow DPS members.