Photography & Photoshop Books

I’ve enjoyed playing around with photography since college, but only recently started getting serious about developing skills to create professional looking photographs. I have interest in a broad spectrum, from landscape to tabletop to studio portraits to buildings to abstracts and even want at some point to get good at spectacular automotive photography. I’m starting with some thorough book reading and will add in some hands-on seminars later this year.

Here are the books I highly recommend:

• There are tons of Photoshop books out there. One of my favorits is [1] How to Cheat in Photoshop CS4: The art of creating photorealistic montages by Steve Caplin. Want to know how to do the cool stuff? This book explains it. Change color and/or pattern, body parts, textures/surfaces, realisim, etc, plus light/shade, selection, and other technques. A great reference. Includes a DVD with video tutorials & 300 high res images.
• When I went to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art they had a special exhibit on Ansel Adams work. Now, there is no greater master of photography composition. Books featuring Ansel’s work abound, so I was particularly pleased to find two books in the SFMOMA store on how Ansel composed and processed his work. One is by Ansel Adams himself, [2] Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs where Ansel. The second book, [3] The Ansel Adams Guide: Basic Techniques of Photography - Book 1 (Ansel Adams’s Guide to the Basic Techniques of Photography) by John P. Schaefer, which includes quotes and comments by Ansel and goes into great detail on the darkroom techniques Ansel used. Granted, I won’t ever have a darkroom, but the post-production techniques have parallels in Photoshop (”burning in” areas of the film, for instance) so it is still useful.
• One of the skills I wanted to develop as a photographer was to look at a scene and envision how to compose it in a compelling way, including exposure, camera angle, lighting, balance, etc. The two books I read by Freeman Patterson proved excellent resources to develop just those skills. Both are kind of a combination of a textbook and a course in that Freeman suggests exercises to develop certain skills. [4] Photography and the Art of Seeing: A Visual Perception Workshop for Film and Digital Photography puts more emphasis on visual perception and [5] Photographing the World Around You: A Visual Design Workshop for Film and Digital Photography is more on visual design. I highly recommend both books, or any book that Freeman writes for that matter. He’s that good. These books have transformed how I look at a scene and how I compose the image …just what the doctor ordered.
• [6] The Digital Photography Book, Vol 2 by Scott Kelby is an absolutely excellent reference in getting off the ground with photography. Scott takes very concise approach to a wide variety of how-to topics, with tongue-in-cheek humor sprinkled in. He avoids technical language and when suggesting products gives three budget level suggestions. I didn’t buy [7] Vol 1, but apparently Vol 2 builds on Vol 1. However, looking at the index pages on Amazon, what I wanted was more in Vol 2. There is also a [8] Vol 3 which was released August, 2009.
• [9] Real World Camera Raw with Adobe Photoshop CS4 by Bruce Fraser and Jeff Schewe. This book is like a college course in Camera Raw; a somewhat heavy but highly informative read. Highly recommended for anyone that really wants to get the most out of shooting raw instead of just using Camera Raw as an intermediate step to get pictues into Photoshop. I recently started shooting nearly exclusively in camera raw and it is easier to work with than I thought it would be, along with definitely giving the photographer more flexibility to adjust images. The colors come out more saturated too. If I take untouched raw and jpg, the jpg is a little lighter, giving up saturation of color for a brighter image (using a Canon 20D). Granted, you do need software to process it, but if you have been playing around with photography at all you probably already have it, whether it was software that came with the camera, Photoshop, or ACDSee (which, buy the way, is still my favorite image viewing software).
• One other subject I wanted to get figured out is color management, from camera to computer to printer. I’ve found what I think are two of the better books on the market. [10] Color Management for Photographers: Hands on Techniques for Photoshop Users by Andrew Rodney and [11] Principles of Color Design by Wucius Wong. These books I have yet to delve into and expect to take a fair amount of time to really understand this process, but I can’t wait to get started.

Business & Personal Growth Books 

Here are some of the resources I’ve found valuable in my life’s journey. Enjoy …

1. [12] Mozart’s Brain and the Fighter Pilot: Unleashing Your Brain’s Potential by Richard Restak, MD. Good book on understanding your brain, how it works, and what can keep it healthy.
2. [13] Emotional Intelligence at Work: A Professional Guideby Dalip Singh. This book put into words what were some of my personal growth objectives. I’m not one for a lot of research detail, so I skimmed some sections, but overall found this a valuable book.
3. [14] Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords: How to Access 100 Million People in 10 Minutes by Perry Marshall & Bryan Todd. This book is totally beyond excellent. It is packed full of information and one of the most useful and practical books I’ve every picked up. If you are considering Google AdWords, it is a must read. Written by leading experts in the field, not by wannabes like so many books. 
4. Learn about your unique brain. If you have the opportunity to attend one of [15] Arlene Taylor’s seminars, it can change your life, both professionally and personally. Learn your innate giftedness, the type of activities that are easy for your brain “lead,” and appreciate why it takes all types to make the world go round. By the way, I have a male, introverted, double right right brain with a frontal-right lead. [16] Click here for snippets of presentations by Arlene.
5. The Power of Optimismby Alan Loy McGinnis. This book, nearly 20 years old, is a great reference to practical optimism. Not Pollyanna approach, nor a get-anything-you-can-envision book, you see how a positive mindset gets you through difficult situations while keeping your practical realism.
6. [17] The Dip: A Little Book That Teaches You When to Quit (and When to Stick) by Seth Godin. What to quit, what to stick with, and how to plan when to quit. How to work through that dip that occurs after the start of something but before you hit big success. A fabulous book you can read in one sitting. It will make you think - a good thing!  
7. [18] The Art of the Start: The Time-Tested, Battle-Hardened Guide for Anyone Starting Anything by Guy Kawasaki, “The time-tested, battle-hardened guide for anyone starting anything.”  Indeed!  A must read as far as I’m concerned, even if you are not trying to “start” anything more than a project for your employer. 
8. The Secret. Ok, this is a DVD, but it is a fabulouspresentation of how your mind creates whatever you want. Also available by streaming video. Yes, I know it has been hyped by Oprah, maligned by Newsweek (who’s author completely missed the point), and even I admit that it is an incomplete reference on how to get what you want out of life, but when I listen to the DVD, I find it focuses my mind and energy on where I’ve chosen to take my life, raises my mood level, and in general is a great summarization of my perspective on how the Universe functions. In my books, that is a good thing.  A very good thing.  [19] TheSecret.tv
9. Another DVD that will expand your consciousness: [20] What the Bleep Do We Know?
10. [21] Guaranteed Success by Percy Miller (Master P). A great book that hammers home the never ever ever give up concept. Ok, I got an advance copy, but you can now purchase one at Amazon.
11. [22] Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealthby T. Harv Eker. If you’ve had trouble getting results by “doing” what the rich do and trying to replicate that, then this may be your book. To be rich, you not only have to do what the rich do, you have to think as the rich think. This books helps you examine how you think.
12. [23] The Passion Test: The Effortless Path to Discovering Your Destinyby Janet & Chris Attwood. Simple and powerful access to discovering your passions. Their latest book is [24] The Passion Test: The Effortless Path to Discovering Your Life Purpose
13. [25] The Power of Focus: What the Worlds Greatest Achievers Know about The Secret of Financial Freedom and Successby Canfield, Hansen, & Hewitt. The title says it all.
14. [26] Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinkingby Malcolm Gladwell. The accuracy of experienced quick decision making - and the associated dangers.
15. [27] Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap… and Others Don’t by Jim Collins. Arguably my all-time favorite business book. Part of what makes this book so outstanding is the research team and years of analysis. A must-read.
16. [28] The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven Pressfield. Addresses those mind-blocks that get in the way of accomplishing what you want.
17. [29] A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future by Daniel H. Pink. Covers society’s movement from the Information Age to the Conceptual Age, from the left brain to the right brain.
18. [30] Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Timeby Keith Ferrazzi, a book title that attracted me because, as a born introvert, I, well, frankly like to eat alone. This book is more than just the title would imply, covering goal setting (”A goal is a dream with a deadline”) and how to succeed in business and life in general. This book collaborates my belief that the more you give, the more wonderful things come back to you; that the more generous you are, the bigger the pie is for everyone.
19. Check out the [31] Rich Dad books. All of these books are excellent financial education.
20. The book that started my journey back in the 1980’s is [32] The Road Less Traveled, by Scott Peck. What a great trip it has been.

Note: Both lists are in the reverse of the order I read the books, with the latest read always put at the top.