Question
I am a relatively new photographer. I have no problem understanding the technical side of photography (I am an engineer by trade), but I do struggle with the more 'artistic' side of photography (composition, symmetry, choice of color/B&W...)
Can anyone suggest any reading material (either online or books) that could help improve my artistic side?
Answer
One of the best books I can recommend is Michael Freeman's famous book:
This book is a rare gem, in that it does a pretty superb job of covering all the critical artistic topics of photography in a generally agnostic way. Michael Freeman is a talented photographer, and his communication of compositional aspects of photography is second to none. You may not learn everything about the artistic side of a specific kind of photography from this book, but you'll definitely learn the general basics that can be applied to most forms of photography.
Two other books by Michael Freeman should also find their way into your collection:
- Michael Freeman's Perfect Exposure: The Professional's Guide to Capturing Perfect Digital Photographs
- The Photographer's Mind: Creative Thinking for Better Digital Photos
These three books comprise my favorites out of my entire collection, and have been the most useful (and most used) over the two or so years I've been doing photography. They do not get into the specifics of any specific field of photography, so if you are looking for detailed information information about a single field, you will have to look deeper. I generally do landscape photography, and I can offer some superb books for that field that can help you expand your artistic horizons beyond the fundamentals covered in Freeman's books. For other fields, like portraiture, architectural photography, street, etc., others can hopefully help you find what you need.
I do landscape, nature, and wildlife photography, so most of my books are related to that area of photography. Here are some other great books that I found that have helped me learn the artistic side of things:
- "Developing Vision and Style: A Landscape Photography Masterclass" by Joe Cornish, Charlie Wait, and David Ward — An excellent resource of other photographers' work. One of the best ways to learn the artistic side of photography is observe the artistic photographs of other great photographers.
- Alain Briot's "Mastering Landscape Photography: The Luminous Landscape Essays" — Alain Briot has been a long-time contributor to the Luminous Landscape web site. This book is a more-thorough compilation of his works on that site.
- David Noton's "Waiting for the Light" — Another excellent book for landscape photographers, this one explains how to find and use natural light.
When it comes to other types of photography, I don't have a whole lot to offer. I've perused some books on portrait and wedding photography, however I don't own any and couldn't offer much. Architectural photography seems to be an area that is fairly lacking in books. There do seem to be some great books from individual architectural photographers that showcase their works, and observing other photographers work is a great way to learn, but it is limited. Another field I have started to delve into is astrophotography. There do seem to be a few books and resources in that area:
- Digital SLR Astrophotography
- A Beginner's Guide to DSLR Astrophotography
- Long Exposure Astrophotography
- Catching the Light
Most of the books I have learned from are for landscape and wildlife/bird photography, so I am not certain how useful they will be for you. I think the compositional concepts are very sound, and apply to more than just nature photography, however.
- The Photographers Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos
- Fantastic book on composition from a general perspective...definitely a must have if you need to learn more about composition
- Waiting for the Light
- Excellent book for landscape photographers, has some good tips on composition, but mostly about natural lighting, how and when to find it, etc.
- Mastering Landscape Photography: The Luminous Landscape Essays
- Another excellent book that has some great examples of composition with visual examples
- 100 Ways to Take Better Nature and Wildlife Photographs
- Mostly wildlife, however the compositional tips are superb
- Developing Vision and Style
- Not so much a book explicitly about composition, however it has a ton of example nature & landscape photographs from visionary photographers that make excellent material to review and learn from...some truly fantastic stuff. All photographs, their location, and the gear used to capture them is detailed in the back of the book. Each set of photographs from each interviewed photographer includes their sense of vision and style, which can be helpful.
- Working the Light: A Photography Masterclass
- Good examples of quality composition, again, all landscape
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