Recommended Reading

[Saknika]

All right, I need everyone to NOT GOOGLE PHOTOTIQUE.COM. Doing this causes interest and makes for places to park ads at those domains temporarily to try and get revenue. So I want to register the domain, but I can't because it has been googled.

That said, here is why I'm registering the domain.

We won't have a website right off (please see the input thread about the website), but I do want a subdomain under it called books.phototique.com

Why?

Because I want us to build a list of reading we recommend to each other. There can be multiple reviews and ratings on books, and even links to where we can purchase them. I thought about just building a thread here for this, but there are far too many books out there to keep it properly organized and easy to use. So I'm going to set up a subdomain.

All reviews and submissions will be PMed or Emailed to me (since I'm not that awesome of a coder) for review before being posted (to ward off spam) on the site. And this way, when we're looking for a new book, we can see what each other thinks.

So this is going to be put up soon enough (as soon as the domain parking is gone. Thanks GoDaddy for that. ) and then our list will begin.

Let's start it now though with books you would (or would not!) recommend! That way once I do get the domain, I can start the list immediately.

Just fill out this form.

[b]Title:[/b]
[b]Author:[/b]
[b]Where to Purchase:[/b] (one source please, I can find others)
[b]Rating:[/b] (1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest)
[b]Main Topics:[/b] (just a few brief keywords or sentence)
[b]Review:[/b]

[Saknika]

I shall start us off with mine.

Title: The Complete Guide to Light
Author: Mark Cleghorn
Where to Purchase: Borders
Rating: 4/5
Main Topics: A guide to helping understand how to use natural and studio light.
Review: This is a great book if you already have a basic foundation in lighting, and it has a lot of great tips on how to manipulate and use light to your advantage. It doesn't focus evenly on both natural and studio light though, which was a bummer to me. I have to say though, it was really awesome to see some Photoshop tips and the lighting diagrams in it. While it's not for the absolute beginner, it is great for those looking to expand their knowledge and get better at the craft they either hobby in, or would like to do professionally.

[Mirrazh]

Just a question: I'm guessing it's only photo books?

[Saknika]

Haha, yeah, only books that relate to the understanding of photography in some way.

[ScottWood]

Title:The Hot Shoe Diaries
Author:Joe McNally
Where to Purchase:All major book sellers
Rating: 5
Main Topics: Flash and Speedlights
Review: Joe McNally is the master of lighting a subject with small speedlights. While this book centers around the Nikon Creative Light system, that is only because McNally is a Nikon shooter. Everything he teaches is every bit as valuable to the Canon shooter. Beautiful images with notes and instruction on how he created them. This is a can't miss read.

[enigmarose]

Title: The Digital Photography Book (Volume 1)
Author: Scott Kelby
Where to Purchase: All major book retailers
Rating: 5/5
Main Topics: Getting realy sharp photos, Shooting flowers, weddings, landscapes, Sports, People, like a pro.
Taking advantage of digital, Travel & City life shots like a pro.
Review: Scott Kelby has written this book with the novice in mind; he treats everything as if you are with him on a shoot and tells you what to do to get the most out of a scene. There is'nt any technical terminology that baffels you as a novice or advanced user. It is great for point-and-shoot digital camera owners, too. So far I love it; looking forward to Volume 2.

[shp]

Title: Eyewitness Companions - Photography
Author: Tom Ang
Where to Purchase: Books A Million
Rating: I would give it a 4.
Main Topics: A book that would help beginners and even professionals understand more about photography and also take better pictures.
Review: This was an useful book. It explained a lot to me, although I did get confused quite a few times, but it also explained PhotoShop and how to use it for editing photos. The author also took the time to explain what he's done in some of his photographs. It also explained the history of photographs and gave me a sweet idea to try something historical someday. =) I suggest that beginners read this book to help improve their skills some and that professionals can always use this book to revive their memories of certain things. The book also featured some of the world's finest photographers, and this is where I learned about the zone system scale, which is unfortunately not used anymore in digital photography.

[Bambers]

Title: Learning To See Creatively
Author: Bryan Peterson
Where to Purchase: Amazon
Rating: 5
Main Topics: Design, Colour and Composition in Photography
Review: This is a very good book that encourages the photographer to carefully consider composition. It also has very helpful sections about why certain images work - such as the use of thirds, golden sections, S-shaped images, why the use of the right side is more effective than the left, looking for colour before composition etc.

[Bambers]

Title: The Digital Photographer's Guide to Filters
Author: Ross Hoddinott
Where to Purchase: Amazon
Rating: 5
Main Topics: Guide to Hardware and Software filtration
Review: Great book that explains what filters to use and when to use them.
Also explains which filters can be replaced by Photoshop techniques after the picture has been taken.
Covers how to choose a filtration system for your camera, polarisers, graduated filters, ND filters, WB correction, colour graduated, close up filters...
Gives good advice on Photoshop techniques for enhancement of the images using filters.

[prototype]

good suggestions. I have a couple on skin and editing, along with understanding Lightroom that I recommend to everyone who is getting into photography would those apply to this thread?