If photography is your thing, researching and getting inspiration can jumpstart your mastery of the art form or help you start up your photography business. Instead of wandering through bookshelves wondering where to begin, take a look at our choices for best photography books for all stages of your mastery and career.

The sections are divided by interest and experience, allowing you to focus on one specific niche or create an all-encompassing knowledge base for a variety of subjects. And since imitation is a sincere form of flattery, there are even inspirational coffee table books from some of photography’s greats. These are the best photography books.

Total Beginner In Photography? Try These

When you first start with your camera, it can be intimidating. With so many different terms, methods, and even just camera setting basics, it’s hard to know where to start. The best photography books give beginners a good overview of what it takes to be a good photographer and publish your own books someday.

Read this if You Want to Take Good Photographs — Henry Carrol

This jargon-free introduction to photography takes the wisdom and advice of 50 different photographers, such as Henri Cartier–Bresson, to provide a one-stop-shop for everything photo related. It splits into five different sections and seeks to inspire through images and accessible text.

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Tony Northrup’s DSLR Book: How to Create Stunning Digital Photography 

In addition to being an Amazon bestseller, this photography book provides a multi-media experience and access to training groups with purchase. It’s perfect for beginners who are serious about sky-rocketing their mastery and career.

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Complete Guide to Photography – John Hedgecoe

If you need a step by step approach, this classic tome from John Hedgecoe provides you with a practical and straightforward approach to mastering your camera and photography principles. It’s comprehensive but suitable for beginners.

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Better Photo Basics: The Absolute Beginner’s Guide to Taking Photos Like a Pro By Jim Miotke 

This guide is designed for absolute beginners and uses Miotke’s techniques gleaned from teaching at one of the most popular online photography schools. It gets you started no matter what camera set up you have.

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DSLR Photography for Beginners: Take 10 Times Better Pictures in 48 Hours or Less By Brian Black 

This photography book makes big claims and delivers with a thoughtful and distilled approach to photography. The newest 2020 ebook is a full-color release, giving you the same affordable price as the original paperback while ensuring quality content.

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Photoshop for Photographers: Training for Photographers to Master Digital Photography and Photo Editing By John Slavio 

Photography isn’t just about your camera or your eye. Modern photography also requires a mastery of photoshop. This photography book gives you the overview and everything you need to know to master this facet of your job or art.

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The Digital Photography Book Box Set By Scott Kelby 

Kelby breaks down the confusing aspects of photography in this book series. It’s an all in one reference for different photography types, tips and tricks, and mastering everything you need to take professional photographs.

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50 Photo Projects Ideas to Kickstart Your Photography By Lee Frost 

If you’ve read what you can and you’re ready to get out there, this photography book can help jumpstart your idea bank with fun projects. It’s designed to take you out of your comfort zone and allow you to practice those skills you’ve been learning about.

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Looking To Hone Your Skills? Learn With The Best!

The best photography books help you learn about and master a specific niche of photography. Whether it’s composition, film, or digital — or even the psychology behind photography — these books have you covered.

The Art of Photography / The Art of Photography 2nd edition: A Personal Approach to Artistic Expression By Bruce Barnbaum

This great photography book received an update from when it was first published but continues to include hundreds of photo examples with beginner, intermediate, and advanced techniques for every photographer. It’s one of the best options you can buy after investing in a good beginner text.

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Photography: The Definitive Visual History

This text provides you with the historical context of photography and its techniques, suitable for every photographer. Grounding yourself in the history of photography is a beautiful way to see everything in a new light.

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Film Is Not Dead By Jonathon Canlas 

Digital isn’t the only game in town. Famed film photographer Canlas inspires and teaches a new generation of film photographers how to maneuver and why the medium isn’t dead yet. It’s an accessible and straightforward text about his aspects of photography.

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Black and White Photography: A Basic Manual By Henry Horenstein

If your specialty is black and white photography, or you’re interested in adding this dramatic skill, the lessons in this photography book are vital. You’ll learn composition and using light and shadow to create photographs that stand the test of time.

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The Moment It Clicks: Photography Secrets From One Of The World’s Top Shooters By Joe McNally

This blend of a coffee table and an instruction book is designed to elevate your practice and the way you think about photography. It’s an exciting look at what it takes to be one of the top photographers in the world.

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Night Photography & Light Painting: Finding Your Way in the Dark By Lance Keimig

Night and low light conditions require special tricks to photograph. Learn everything you need to know about mastering light without much in this book. You’ll gain a better understanding of how your camera “sees” light and what to do to take night photography to the next level.

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Guide To Travel Photography By Lonely Planet

Lonely Planet’s book teaches photographers what they need to know to photograph during travel and capture the bigger story through an image. It offers comprehensive exercises and the photos people have come to know and love from the Lonely Planet organization.

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Studio Anywhere: A Photographer’s Guide to Shooting in Unconventional Locations 

You don’t need a studio to create excellent portraits. This practical guide makes the entire world your studio, opening up the possibilities, and ensuring you get the image you want no matter what.

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Extraordinary Everyday Photography 

This textbook helps you develop and hone your photographic eye, going beyond the typical photography and practicing the extraordinary. You’ll learn the principles of compelling photography and be able to craft something remarkable.

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Camera: A History of Photography from Daguerreotype to Digital – Todd Gustavson 

This book goes over the history of the photograph from the beginning to the very end. You’ll learn the history of photography from its humble beginnings to the fast-paced world of photography today.

Understanding a Photograph by John Berger 

Berger asks us to look at photographs and go beyond the image to see culture, history, and context. This valuable photography book shows how to tell a story with photographs and how to frame your images to capture a story others will want to see.

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Why People Photograph: Selected Essays and Reviews by Robert Adams 

Rather than a photography instruction guide, this illuminating series of essays provides insight into the reasons we bother to photograph. A photographer himself, Adams touches on a variety of subjects, people, and concepts to reveal the beauty of this human art form.

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Need Pointers For Composing? Level Up Your Technique With These.  

For specific techniques in photography and help to compose and frame, these technical books give you the chance to learn and practice those vital skills. Use these best photography books to get started.

Bryan Peterson’s Exposure Solutions

This focused photography book provides the answers to 28 of the most common issues surrounding photography exposure. It offers clear workarounds and solutions, so you never miss the shot. It’s a transformative and easy to digest book.

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Mastering Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO, and Exposure – Al Judge

Head back to the basics with this straightforward photography book covering all your camera’s functions including shutter speed and aperture. These four things help smooth out typical image issues and help you overcome some of the mistakes newbies make with photography.

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The Visual Toolbox – Picture Perfect Practice

This photography book focuses on what Valenzuela says are the three most essential elements of great photography — pose, locations, and execution. You’ll get techniques to overcome some common issues and uplevel their skills.

Picture Perfect Posing By Roberto Valenzuela

Valenzuela offers up his tips for getting a shot even when a subject isn’t the best at posing. It’s approachable and breaks down the elements of natural posing for photographers who are getting into portraits.

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The Photographer’s Eye Remastered — Michael Freeman

This uncompromising look at the principles of photography, ensuring beginning to advanced photographers have a complete overview of the craft. The new version includes brand new digital reproductions of example photographs designed to highlight principles.

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Understanding Exposure

This reference book provides the fundamentals of photography, including simple principles of light, understanding exposure, and aperture. It will show you how to measure the environment around you to understand how to ensure that your photographs turn out beautifully every time. 

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The Headshot: The Secrets to Creating Amazing Headshot Portraits

With more people than ever needing headshots, this photography book helps aspiring headshot photographers or anyone else interested in the process. It gives general tips and everything that a photographer needs to ensure quality and interesting photographs.

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Photography Q&A: Real Questions. Real Answers. (Voices That Matter) by Zach Arias

This is a wonderful, real-life question and answer session from a respected photographer. In this book, he answers 100 questions sourced from the public about photography, providing us all with an inside look at the profession.

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Understanding Flash Photography: How to Shoot Great Photographs Using Electronic Flash By Bryan Peterson

This simple yet informative book instructions photographers on all the basics of flash photography. Flash can quickly cause a photographer to ruin a photograph, but this book helps straighten out when to use the flash and when it doesn’t.

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On-Camera Flash Techniques for Digital Wedding and Portrait Photography

Photographers wishing to pursue wedding photography will be glad to have this simple book designed to illuminate principles of wedding photography. You’ll learn what you need to know about flash techniques and other fundamentals to jumpstart your wedding career.

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The Photographer’s Eye – Complete Digital Photography – Ian Farrell

This book offers a comprehensive overview of photography designed to help make it clear and straightforward. It provides a foundation for everything you need to know about the principles of working in the digital format.

LIFE Guide to Digital Photography – Joe McNally 

LIFE magazine pioneered the principles of photography, and in this guide, a renowned photographer outlines everything you need to know to work in modern photography. You’ll learn a new way of approaching it with the streamlined principles of modern digital.

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The Landscape Photography Workshop – Mark Bauer

If you plan to work in landscape photography, this book will guide you in the principles of setting up those fantastic shots that make covers and posters. These landmarks are ready for you to take action and the perfect picture. Uplevel for great photography skills.

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The Photographer’s Mind – Michael Freeman

This option is a deep dive into what makes a great photograph. It goes beyond simple tips and tricks to help you capture a story, build a frame, or take a once in a lifetime shot by viewing the subject through a photographer’s mind.

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Creative Black and White – Harold Davis

For more lessons on crafting the perfect monochrome photograph, this book features the wisdom of a famed photographer. It’s designed to teach you how to create stunning black and white principles by looking at your subject — both light and shadow — from a different perspective.

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The Photographer’s Guide to Posing: Techniques to Flatter Everyone by Lindsay Adler

This beautiful book takes all bodies into consideration in posing. It teaches you to take spectacular photos of your subject, working with their natural beauty and grace even when they don’t know how to pose. It could easily make you everyone’s favorite photographer.

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The Negative by Ansel Adams

Ansel Adams is one of the world’s premier nature photographers, and this book goes over exactly what makes those photos so beloved. It teaches film photographers how to approach film and ensures that it’s clear with gorgeous images.

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The Dramatic Portrait: The Art of Crafting Light and Shadow by Chris Knight 

This excellent book tells you how to create not just portraits, but ones that dance and sing with drama. These images play with light and shadow, creating a subject that tells the intimate story of the person in the image. These are not your everyday portraits.

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Got 99 Problems and Light is Definitely One? Solve it Here.

Lighting is a fundamental principle that can quickly go wrong. Avoid losing your best shot with the best photography books providing clear breakdowns of the principles of light. 

Speedliter’s Handbook – Syl Arena 

This option focuses specifically on the Canon Speedlight. You’ll learn how to gain the most from your Speedlighter and never miss an action shot again. It’s easily digestible and highly accessible.

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The Hot Shoe Diaries – Joe McNally 

Another classic from a great photographer, this book takes you behind the scenes of a real photographer and his beloved flash. It offers tips and stories and an up-close look at how to use light like a professional.

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Light Science & Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting by Fil Hunter, Steven Biver and Paul Fuqua 

This comprehensive book is more than just quick tips. It goes deep into the theory of light in photography, highlighting everything you need to take truly great photos. It’s a bright and incisive look at everything you need to know.

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Lighting for Digital Photography 

This lighting guide is all about digital. It introduces you to the way light behaves for a digital photograph and teaches you how to look at your subjects through the lens while considering the light you have.

Master Lighting Guide for Portrait Photographers 

Understanding light is a vital part of taking dramatic and highly professional portraits. You’ll be able to master the tricks of light to your advantage with this comprehensive book dedicated to the world of portraits.

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Sketching Light — Joe McNally

Another from one of the best, this book covers everything from small flashes to big ones through his years of experience. The book is designed to build comprehensive skills, no matter what type of photography you do or where you are in your expertise level.

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Shooting in Sh*tty Light: The Top Ten Worst Photography Lighting Situations and How to Conquer Them 

Nothing ruins a portrait more than a terrible lighting situation. This book takes the top ten worst ones and provides simple solutions to overcome them and still take one of the best photos each time. 

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Light and Lighting by Michael Freeman 

Freeman dives deep into the usage of light as well as how to overcome significant challenges. This book gives you everything you need to capture light at its best and make adjustments when it’s at its worst.

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Edit Like A Pro With These Books 

Editing is a huge part of being the best modern photographer, so allow our selection of editing books to lead the way. These are one of the best photography books for post-processing instruction.

Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers —Martin Evening

Professional photographer Martin Evening shows you the basics of Adobe Photoshop, the editing software for serious photographers and hobbyists alike. It’s clear, comprehensive, and designed to unlock the best of everything Adobe has to offer. Readers also get a companion website with updates and the latest news on post-processing.

Adobe Photoshop CC Classroom in a Photography Book 

This project-based photoshop book uses a series of hands-on learning experiences to guide students gently through the basics and advanced features of Photoshop CC. You’ll learn the basics through one of the best real-life examples and be able to implement these techniques in your own photos post processing.

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The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Classic CC Book – Scott Kelby 

Another excellent Photoshop tutorial, this book received a massive update to accommodate all the ways classic Photoshop has changed. This one features everything you need to know to make necessary edits all the way up to professional changes that will wow your audience.

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Real World Image Sharpening with Adobe Photoshop, Camera Raw, and Lightroom – Bruce Fraser 

Those of you who work in Lightroom or Camera Raw, this tome gives you everything you need to know about the various editing tools and what to do for professional-level photographs. These provide excellent hands-on instruction using real photographs and up-to-date techniques.

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More Interested In Theory? Explore What Photography Means 

The theory of photography is an essential factor in learning how to set up shots, view subjects the way professionals do and finding the right image story. Look to these photography books for instruction.

Photography Theory By James Elkins

This collection of thoughts and essays from the best art historians explores what makes a photograph a photograph. It answers questions and seeks to place photography in the larger picture of humanity, art, and culture. It will open your eyes to the possibilities photographs hold.

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The Decisive Moment By Henri Cartier-Bresson 

This famous photographer outlines what it means to take a picture embellished with a cover designed by Matisse. It’s a gorgeous and beautiful homage to one of the best photographers and features a collection of some of his most famous works. It’s challenging to find a more renowned collection than this.

Beauty In Photography By Robert Adams

These eight essays on photography showcase the joy and intrigue of images, allowing us to see them from the point of view of those who’ve dedicated their lives to the art. It’s enlightening, and a must-have for anyone interested in photography theory as a whole. It’s one of the best for theory.

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Ways of Seeing By John Berger – Visual Thinking by Rudolf Arnheim 

This psychological examination of art and perception is a must for anyone looking to explore the concept of images from a neurological standpoint. It’s designed to take a more scientific approach and has been updated to understand the most recent advances in psychology.

Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography by Roland Barthes 

Roland Barthe’s reflections provide a backdrop for photography amidst other art forms. It includes commentary on famous artists, images, and what it means to create a photographic image. It’s one of the most essential books on theory, and a must-have for any photography student, professional, or hobbyist.

Trying To Make A Living? Study The Business

Business books of photography are a must if you want to make a living with your photography. Whether you’re an artist or a commercial photographer, wedding, or portraits, you’ll benefit from knowing how to get clients and get your name out there.

Guerilla Marketing — Jay Conrad Levinson

While not explicitly focused on photography, this marketing book gives you the rundown of how to start up a business on a shoestring budget. It’s full of low-cost ways to get your name out there and understand how to build and maintain an audience, all ready to buy your products.

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The Photographer’s MBA – Sal Cincotta

This business book is specifically for photography business hopefuls. It’s full of tips and tricks for running a successful photography business from your very first camera purchase and beyond. It will lead you through everything you need to know about the business side so that you’re confident and ready.

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Start a Successful Photography Business in 34 Days — Amanda Stock

This book provides a step by step pathway to getting a photography business up and running in just over a month. It gives you insight into how to start right from the very first photograph and scale business until you’re able to support yourself adequately.

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Fast Track Photographer

Fast Track Photographer is a new way of thinking about the photography business. It features everything you’ll need to get started, plus tips for how to scale and grow, so you aren’t just one of the pack. You’ll have everything you need to get a reliable business up and running with as few obstacles as possible.

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Best Business Practices for Photographers (Third Edition) by John Harrington 

Wedding photographers rejoice. This step by step book teaches you how to build a thriving wedding photography business using your wits and your talent. You’ll learn not just the photography side but the business side and help your wedding photography hustle build to a sustainable pitch.

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Photography Business Secrets 

This book by the founder of Photo Mint gives you the tips and tricks professionals use to build a sustainable photography business right from the start. You’ll learn marketing, pricing, boundaries, and policies that will protect you and keep your clients coming back for more.

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Hashtag Authentic — Sara Tasker

This book starts with the fundamentals of building a brand on social media giant Instagram and shows you how to jumpstart a photography career using the platform as your base. It’s full of ways you can leverage the power of social media to sustain your business and make your dream career come alive.

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Capture Your Style: Transform Your Instagram Photos, Showcase Your Life, and Build the Ultimate Platform

Another Instagram classic, this book tells you how to find your niche and style on Instagram so that you can build your platform from the ground up. You’ll learn how to stand out and build an audience that’s ready to buy. It’s a step by step guide to the best photography platform on the market.

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What They Didn’t Teach You In Photo School By Demetrius Fordham 

This book focuses on the skills you need to transition from photography school to a professional career faster and more efficiently. It helps you gain footing in the competitive world of professional photography. Illustrated with real-world photo examples and building on the success of the author, this book helps you dig deeper into the business.

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The Photographer’s Guide to Marketing and Self-Promotion By Maria Piscopo 

The fourth edition of the book contains excellent material for everything you need to know about the marketing side of photography. Since you’ll spend more of your time marketing than you will shooting, this tells you how to do that effectively to help build your dream business.

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No Plastic Sleeves: Portfolio and Self-Promotion Guides for Photographers and Designers By Larry Volk and Danielle Currier 

Get rid of those old fashioned portfolios and build a collection that sells your skills. This book helps you use the power of digital to create unbeatable portfolios and uses real examples of online portfolios and use cases to illustrate. You’ll gain an incredible understanding of the power of the right portfolio.

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Understanding the Business of Entertainment: The Legal and Business Essentials All Filmmakers Should Know By Gregory Bernstein 

While photography isn’t exactly filmmaking, the industries are inextricably related. This book helps you get your business compliant legally and enables an understanding of the legal side to protecting your work and your business. It’s a must for a thriving, safe business.

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All Marketers Are Liars by Seth Godin 

Seth Godin is a master of marketing books, and although this isn’t specifically for photographers, it’s a must. You’ll learn the power of storytelling as a marketing tactic, helping you connect with your clients, and building a brand that people want to follow. Learn from the best of the best.

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Still A Student? Get All The Fundamentals With Your Books About Photography

Textbooks about photography are an essential way to ensure that you gain a fundamental understanding of your discipline. Put these books for photography in your arsenal and get started on the right foot.

Langford’s Basic Photography by Michael Langford 

This introductory textbook is a vital part of learning your camera, the craft, and the skills you’ll need to take incredible images. It’s designed with the student in mind and contains exercises that will help you start your career, hobby, or art in the right direction.

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On Photography by Susan Sontag 

The brilliant essayist Susan Sontag uses the power of philosophy to illuminate photography as seen by photographers. As one of her photography books, it helps create meaning and understanding of the human need to document and photography surroundings and people and provides insight into the world of photographic art.

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The Visual Toolbox: 60 Lessons for Stronger Photographs by David duChemin 

This step by step guide helps students go beyond the everyday photography books to create brilliant works of art in just a few lessons. You’ll learn how to hone your skills through micro-chapters that focus on action rather than theory. It’s a practical approach to mastering your camera and composition.

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Stuck In A Rut? Break Out With These Books On Creativity

The act of creativity takes practice, but what do you do when you’re out of ideas? You pull out one of these photography books from other photographers and get to work.

Learning to See Creatively, Third Edition

This rewritten and revised version of the classic text shows you how to develop the skill of creativity. You don’t need a genius talent to become a successful photographer. You simply need to learn how to see beyond what everyone else does, practicing the skill along the way. Use this text to break out of the mold.

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The Essence of Photography: Seeing and Creativity by Bruce Barnbaum

This classic book teaches you to define your own understanding of creativity and style as photographers. You’ll go through exercises and examples to find your own way through the creative expression of taking images and learn to see the world not just through creative eyes, but your own unique sense of it.

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Dress Up Your Coffee Table And Gain Inspiration — The Best Coffee Table Books

When you need inspiration, coffee table books on photography know photography best and can help keep you in the creative mindset and allow for some serious eye candy when you’re relaxing on your couch. Take a look at these options from famous photographers.

In the National Parks By Ansel Adams 

Ansel Adams is a master of light and shadow, and this coffee table book puts his gorgeous landscapes right in front of you. It’s a beautiful and stunning retrospective on his work with the national parks, photographs that made him a household name — one of his most exciting photography books.

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Annie Leibovitz: Portraits 2005-2016 

Famed and sometimes controversial portrait photographer Annie Leibovitz uses her storytelling lens to create compelling and exciting photographs of models, celebrities, and famous figures of our time in her photography books. She’s a must-follow for anyone aspiring to tell stories with portraits that go beyond the basic best books collections.

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Annie Leibovitz at Work – Destinations of a Lifetime By National Geographic

This book showcases Leibovitz’s work with destinations and travel, providing a deep insight into her talent and creative eye. If you thought she only did portraits, let one of her best books enlighten you to her true talents and varying gifts with National Geographic.

National Geographic Image Collection – National Geographic

The National Geographic image collection provides a collection of photographs taken for one of the world’s premier research institutions and publisher of photography books. It’s a gorgeous and touching view of some of the magazine’s most memorable images and leads you to worlds beyond what you know.

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National Geographic Rarely Seen: Photographs of the Extraordinary

Another classic, this from their collection of best books focuses on images of things that most humans will never get the chance to see in their lifetimes. It features the hard work of photographers in the right place at the right time for months just to get that one perfect shot.

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Humans of New York By Brandon Stanton 

Brandon Stanton created something entirely new with his photo series and used photography to tell universal stories of humankind. This coffee table book is the original series for New York and one of the best books that helps us understand the people living and working in New York City.

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Underwater Dogs By Seth Casteel 

Photography isn’t all serious. Casteel uses a simple underwater lens to capture man’s best friend doing what it does best — living life to the fullest and this should belong in your stack of photography books. These humorous and touching photographs of dogs underwater capture the goofy and lovable sense of dogs and help us connect deeply to our canine world.

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The Negative — Ansel Adams

This second book in his collection shows us the power of working through film and unleashes some of Adams’ most iconic photos. It’s an inspiration, power, and testimony all in one.

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Vivian Maier: Street Photographer 

Vivian Maier lived life in obscurity, taking hundreds of thousands of photographs of people and action. This book is one of many photography books that displays her gorgeous work and sensitivity with her subjects, something rarely found in photographers. It’s a work of art.

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Vivian Maier: A Photographer Found 

This book outlines the work of Maier, a photographer discovered by a local historian. You’ll learn how she did what she did and catch glimpses of a world that only Maier and her subjects knew with beautiful clarity.

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Vivian Maier: The Color Work by Colin Westerbeck 

Maier is most known for her black and white photographs, but her colorwork is also something that should be displayed. This collection features the best of her colorwork, with her pioneering work seeing the world through the lens of creative color placement. It’s Maier as you’ve never seen her.

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Magnum Contact Sheets by Kristen Lubben

This series focuses on the work of Magnum photographers through the use of contact sheets. It’s an up-close look at the creative process and what goes into capturing and showcasing iconic images. It’s art, process, and behind the scenes all at once. 

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Examples: The Making of 40 Photographs – Ansel Adams 

This isn’t just one of many coffee table books about images. It uses 40 images along with in-depth explorations from Adams himself about the background and process of each one. You get an intimate look at what it means to really look around and see things with impact.

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Diane Arbus: An Aperture Monograph 

This book showcases the world of Diane Arbus, a portrait photographer well-known mid-century. It shows some of her most famous work as well as images that rarely see the inside of a museum or exhibit, outlining her range of talent in film.

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Sports Illustrated Swimsuit

For exciting portrait photography, Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit editions fly off the shelves every year. This collection provides the best of the best images of this iconic yearly adventure, showcasing both past and present images and some of the most famous ones of all time.

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Sebastião Salgado: GENESIS

This photographer produced iconic images in both short and long term projects, traveling around the world to photograph some of the most compelling subjects — things disappearing, lifestyles vanishing, and the mysterious world of nature. This large print tome is a vital part of his career and one of his first photography books.

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Street Photography Now 

Thought-provoking essays and provocative images abound in this book about the mysterious world of street photography. It’s a showcase and a deep dive exploration all in one.

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Gregory Heisler: 50 Portraits – Bystander: A History of Street Photography 

This is Heisler’s first-ever showcase and uses 50 carefully selected photographs to showcase his talent and his uncompromising eye. You’ll see his famous subjects from a new lens and understand what it takes to be a portrait master, so add this to your photography books.

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Decade – Aemmon McCabe 

This comprehensive overview of one single decade provides images that showcase what influenced us and shaped our surroundings. It’s a deeply introspective look at the last ten years and could offer history lessons for years to come.

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The Americans – Robert Frank 

This collection focuses on what makes America a country. It’s retrospective and exploration with gorgeous photographs taken of the ordinary world of the United States from a famous photographer’s lens.

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The Platinum Anniversary Collection: 70 Years of Extraordinary Photography – LIFE

LIFE’s nearly unbeatable as far as the best photography coffee table books go. These photographs showcase 70 years of history, with the company exploring the world around us. 

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Our World Now 4 (Fourth Edition): Reuters

Reuters reports on news from around the world, and this collection features photographs from the world around us in gorgeous definition. It’s a must for photojournalists everywhere.

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Looking at Photographs: 100 Pictures from the Collection of The Museum of Modern Art by John Szarkowski 

The Museum of Modern Art showcases thousands of images, and this best photography book chooses 100 striking examples. It’s a clue into what it takes to show work in one of the most famous museums of all time.

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Don’t Forget Your Camera Manual!

The manual that comes with your camera is an invaluable resource designed for you to learn your machine inside and out along with photography books. This is your chance to get started the right way with the tool that can transform your career and your life. Don’t leave this one out in your search for the best photography books.

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