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Just wondering what photography books that others have come across which have made a positive impact on their photo-taking.

I recently got "Understanding exposure" by Bryan Petersen, via Amazon. It seems to be highly recommended on a lot of forums, so I got it out of interest, not being to source a copy locally to view first. As someone that is new to photography, and keen to improve on the basics, I found it amazingly helpful. It is written in a style which is quite conversational, easy to follow and actually makes sense. I would recommend it to anyone, especially in the same category as me.

Have you had a look at our tutorials? While I'm not going to discourage you from buying good books, the resources available to you through this site are, if I may be so bold, very bloody good.

Apart from the tutorials, the skills of some of our members are at a very high level, and the willingness of those members to share their knowledge is, IMHO, far more valuable than what many books are able to provide.

And there is no substitute for just getting out there, on the streets, with your camera, and shooting. Take note of what you're doing, and how, and then review your images and techniques. Share your images here, and I think you'll be very surprised at how quickly your skills will come along.

Hey Dr Snoopy 2,

The best books I have found and I usually look out for a bargain, such as a $120.00 hard cover book priced down to the $40~$50's from the major book stores. Over the years I have found several. The books I have found usefull for me are on outdoor and indoor lighting.

For me mastering lighting is what it's all about. I find books that show a pic then give the setup drawing, equipment used and some basic exif data are great. As I said I have found several of these. Do they impact my work, they do for sure but over time nothing immediate. Like all good things it takes time.

Hudo

gstark wrote:Have you had a look at our tutorials? While I'm not going to discourage you from buying good books, the resources available to you through this site are, if I may be so bold, very bloody good.


And there is no substitute for just getting out there, on the streets, with your camera, and shooting. Take note of what you're doing, and how, and then review your images and techniques. Share your images here, and I think you'll be very surprised at how quickly your skills will come along.

Sorry, I am new to the site (really enjoying the local content by the way), and am slowly discovering the different forum indexes. I had no idea there were tutorials, I will definitely check it out. I completely agree one learns best by shooting more (rather than just reading), but I think it is useful to have some basics under your belt. I've seen friends just shoot on Auto all the time, and it is no wonder they complain that their pics are no better (often worse) than a P+S compact.

As for sharing images... I'll wait till I get a few more shots under my belt and build up some courage ! Most of my shooting is very casual (of my 2 yr old twins) and under less than ideal lighting & conditions, not that I am making any excuses for the poor shots, but not up to shooting potraits yet, and certainly not travelling much at the moment to get much landscapes ! BTW, can i re-emphasise how impressed I am with this website. Someone from whirlpool mentioned this & I'm glad I checked it out.

drsnoopy2 wrote:Sorry, I am new to the site

Don't apologise.

Have a good look around the front page; there's heaps there for you to assimilate.

That's where you'll find links to those tutorials, and you'll also find our calendar, which currently has an event in Adelaide in a couple of weeks time.

If you can get yourself to that event, you'll get to meet some of our members, be able to have them show you some tricks and techniques, and maybe even get to play with some toys.

And thanx for the kind words. We appreciate it.

Hi Drsnoopy. Good to have another SA member. I will second Gary's thoughts that you can learn so much from the forum, from practicing and the internet. When I first started on here I had no idea what they were talking about when they said "blown highlights" and I thought I would never remember aperture settings. Save yourself some money and do plenty of searches - there are heaps of great articles on the 'net. Also, come to one of the mini-meets where you can try different lenses and learn from others taking at the same time.
Cheers,
Lee

Books are just a starting point reference, but the best thing to learn is not sit at home for hours and try to understand a concept, but go out for just 1 hour to try different things, then hours at home to reflect what you did and what was wrong/right... and repeat

Such things that you dont understand, you can always post up here and ask. I've learned so much myself by just reading and participating at discussions here... the cost? maybe my internet fee and some coffee beans to stay up late?