Brief Scenes

What is the best book for learning photography?

My ultimate goals are to be able to take photos worth displaying; either at home, the office or online. I want to be able to take quality portraits of friends and family as well as landscapes. When I’m outdoors (hiking, rock-climbing, skiing, or whatever) my photos usually fail to capture the beauty of the environment and just look like your average, very uninteresting snap shot. I’d also like to be successful capturing movement. Either of animals, my friend riding a mountain bike, or water pouring over rocks in a stream.

Well, to get the basics of photography down you really don’t need a book that talks about digital (I’m assuming you work in digital format) photography unless you’re looking more for editing information, how digital cameras work or the like. So, I suggest you check out your local thrift/goodwill/second hand book shops since most have quite a large selection of photography books.
If you do go in and find some, flip through. The suggestions I’ll give may not be in the store but don’t disregard the rest.

John Hedgecoe’s Photography Basics
- I’ve seen this, lots and lots of times. It includes a ton of photographs (captions on all) and information on how to take types (and the specific examples) of photographs.
More Joy of Photography (Revised): 100 Advanced Techniques for More Creative Photographs
- By the Editors of Eastman Kodak Company
- You may want to try and find the previous book (Just the Joy of Photographs.) first since some of the ideas may be over your head (depending on your knowledge level).
101 Essential Tips: Photography
- Simple, simple, simple. It covers everything from the different types of cameras (point and shoot, single use, basic SLR, advance SLR – all film), aperture, focal length, lens options, composition, viewpoints, framing, colour, light, pattern & shape, using flash, photographing people, night time photography and how to present physical prints of your photos. It’s small, compact and great for someone just getting into photography (it was my first photography book).
Prentice-Hall Pocket Encyclopedia: Creative Photography
- Has some great info but, it goes quite in depth in places and if you’re not planning on developing your photos and other film practices most of it might not be relevant.
John Hedgecoe’s 35mm Photography
- Anything John Hedgecoe is almost a set in stone great resource. All of his that I have include great, descriptive, captions to wonderful photos and lots of information.

It’s really all what catches your eye though.
I’m more of a visual person so, when flipping through the books that I have any that included only a few photos and lots of writing I tossed aside. So, keep in mind, probably all the books I’ve chosen include great photos and lots of them.

Landscape Photography – Composition and Framing Tutorial

Composition Digital Field Guide $19.99 The go-with-you guide for creating strong compositions every time you take a photoComposition requires purposeful placement of elements within the frame, including backgrounds, foregrounds, main subjects, and much more. It can take years to acquire strong compositional skills. That’s where Composition Digital Field Guide comes in. Packed with full-color photos, this handy guide teaches you how to …

Panoramic Photography: From Composition and Exposure to Final Exhibition $17.41 It has never been easier to make panoramas–both in terms of the new lightweight equipment and the spectacular quality of the final image output. New vistas concerning this unique way to see the world and express oneself abound in Panoramic Photography: From Composition and Exposure to Final Exhibition. Written by one of the world’s pre-eminent panoramic photographers, the author, Arnaud Frich, pr…

Digital SLR Cameras and Photography For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech)) $16.64 The perennial digital photography bestseller, now updated to cover the hottest topicsDigital SLR Cameras & Photography For Dummies has been a bestseller since it first came into the picture, and this new edition gets you up to (shutter) speed on the latest technologies available. Veteran author David Busch walks you through new camera models from the leading manufacturers, WiFi and GPS options, fu…

Fujifilm Finepix X100 Digital Camera Kit, with 8GB SD Memory Card, Spare NP-95 Lithium-Ion Type Battery, Camera Case, USB 2.0 SD Card Reader $1,201.00 Inspired by the beauty and form of classic cameras from the past, the FinePix X100 combines all the latest technical digital innovations in a beautiful, traditional chassis which oozes class and prestige. Echoing the functional aesthetics of analogue film cameras, the ‘manual’ dials have been carefully positioned to give the photographer easy control over creative shooting. Aperture, shutter speed…