Photography bookshelf
Originally uploaded by Jane Dallaway

As part of my preparation for an "Introduction to Digital Photography" talk I'm doing at Madgex next week I thought I'd take a look at my bookshelf of Photography books and see which I'd recommend to others. This is my list of books, ordered according to where they are on my shelf, the most recently looked at are at the top of this list as that's where the new ones or recently read ones end up:

• On Photography by Susan Sontag - bought after recommendation from the Creative Digital Photography course. I haven't read it yet.
• Ways of Seeing by John Berger, as with On Photography - bought after recommendation from the Creative Digital Photography course. I haven't read this one yet either
• Icons of Photography: The 20th Century - a good collection of 20th century photographers with sample photos and biography
• The Photographer's eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos by Michael Freeman - bought after recommendation by Chris Orwig at Flash on the Beach, a really excellent book that I haven't spent as much time reading as I'd like
• Image Makers, Image Takers: The Essential Guide to Photography by Those in the Know by Anne-Celine Jaeger, as with The Photographer's eye, bought after recommendation by Chris Orwig at Flash on the Beach. Similar to the Icons of Photography lots of history
• Portraits by Fergus Greer - a beautiful book with lots of back stories
• Examples : The Making of 40 Photographs by Ansel Adams - how the master did it - a great backstory into how the selected photographs were produced
• Night and low-light techniques for digital photography by Peter Cope - I love low-light photography
• The Digital Photography book by Scott Kelby - an excellent book full of recipes of how to take a different style of photo
• The Digital Photography book Volume 2: The Step-by-Step Secrets for How to Make Your Photos Look Like the Pros! by Scott Kelby - just as good as the first one
• The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers by Martin Evening - a book explaining Lightroom (version 1) in great detail
• Photos that changed the world by Peter Stepan - an excellent, excellent book with lots of examples of photographs that made a difference
• The Complete Guide to Night and Low-Light Photography by Lee Frost - covering low-light photography across film as well as digital
• Viewpoints from "Outdoor Photography" - some of the best photographs from the Viewpoints section of Outdoor Photography magazine
• The Camera Phone Book: Secrets to Making Better Picture by Aimee Baldridge - a great small book of photography from the camera phone perspective - I reviewed this some time ago
• Techniques for Black and White Photography: Creativity and Design by Roger Fremier - a lovely book talking through different techiques for making excellent black and white photographs
• Understanding exposure by Bryan Peterson - a great, not too technical, guide to exposure
• Lonely Planet Travel Photography: A Guide to Taking Better Pictures - a good all round guide to photography, focusing on making travel photos look stunning
• Photos That Sell: The Art of Successful Freelance Photography by Lee Frost - ideas on how to make money from photography - not something I've perfected yet

So, quite a wide selection of books, some I've read (multiple times), some I haven't got around to reading yet. Probably my top recommendation is "The Photographer's eye".