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Langford's Basic Photography

This book covers all types of photography and I found it especially useful in helping me get to grip with "old fashioned" film photography - but if you are only interested in digital photography there are perhaps more suitable books available.

This book will give you a good grounding in the basics of photography, is easy to read and is packed with useful advice and information. There are several editions of this book and can be picked up quite cheaply at charity book shops

As sold by Amazon.co.uk - Langford's Basic Photography: The guide for serious photographers

Basic Critical Theory for Photographers

This is an interesting book looking at the theory of photography - the book consists of a series of photographic articles & essays written by famous photographer which are summarized by the author. This book is aimed at students studying at A-level and degree level and contains potential projects to attempt.

Interestingly this book places photography firmly in the context of art with discussions about literature, poetry and individual photographs. This book provided an introduction into many of the original books which are still in print - together with its comprehensive index

As sold by Amazon.co.uk - Basic Critical Theory for Photographers

Master Lighting Guide for Portrait Photographers

As a comparative beginner to studio lighting this book proved very useful and enabled me to produce some good portraits. This book is well laid out and uses simple jargon free language - it lists and describes the equipment you might use and how best to position it

Although the book is quite slim it contains plenty of images and diagrams to recreate many particular styles of lighting

Well worth reading and fits into my camera bag nicely!

As sold by Amazon.co.uk - Master Lighting Guide for Portrait Photographers

Art and Design in Photoshop

Steve Caplin's book is a must buy if you are interested in taking your basic photoshop skills to a higher level.

The book comes with a DVD and all the files needed to complete the tutorials - the tutorials are easy to follow and are written in simple jargon free language. I've tried most of the tutorials using my own photos and following his techniques have able to produce some work I'm proud of.

The chapter on the Typography is particularly useful for design students with its do's and don'ts.

As sold by Amazon.co.uk - Art and Design in Photoshop

How to Cheat in Photoshop CS3: The Art of Creating Photorealistic Montages

Another Steve Caplin book - Steve Caplin's is an acknowledged expert in montage creation and his work is used extensively by many news publications including The Times and Guardian Newspapers

How to Cheat covers the fundamentals required and a variety of montage techniques to create composites for various media - its simple and easy to follow but does require some basic understanding of photoshop's tools and techniques

This version has been updated to CS4 but is backwardly compatible for earlier versions.

As sold by Amazon.co.uk - How to Cheat in Photoshop CS4: The art of creating photorealistic montages

Adobe Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers

This book is not perfect - e.g. the attempts at humour throughout the book are annoying but its still worth reading. The books strength is that shows various techniques simply and quickly and is great if you're in a rush.

Many of the techniques I use everyday came from this book e.g. Gradient Maps, Camera Raw, Black & White and have later taught to students. In summary a good addition to your book case if you can ignore the puerile humour.

As sold by Amazon.co.uk - Adobe Photoshop CS3 Book for Digital Photographers (Voices That Matter)

Creative Photoshop CS3: Digital Illustration and Art Techniques

This book is perhaps more suitable for artists, illustrators or graphic designers rather than photographers as many of the tutorials produce some pretty wild creations/composites.

Personally I found it useful to follow the very detailed tutorials with a CD to back them up with video content and image files. This book requires some decent photoshop skills but its worth the purchase - I don't classify my self as a graphic type but even I found some useful techniques.

As sold by Amazon.co.uk (updated version) - Creative Photoshop CS4: Digital Illustration and Art Techniques

Photoshop Restoration and Retouching

This book requires a basic understanding of photoshop and is perhaps in need of a small update to reflect Photoshop CS4. The book however contains a wealth of information and is written by acknowledged expert who has released a number of books, training articles and dvd's.

Whether you're a professional, or a student keen to increase your skills, this book is great reading although it is a bit pricey but I feel well worth it. The partner book to this is Photoshop Masking & Composting. The book doesn't come with a dvd but the tutorial files are accessible via the books web site.

As sold by Amazon.co.uk - Photoshop Restoration and Retouching (Voices That Matter)

Photoshop Masking Compositing

Katrin Eismann as noted above is a highly experienced Photoshop user who in books offers readers the ability to develop new skills in a very easy to understand way. With the retouching chapters she passes on some of the tips and tricks as used by professional retouchers who work to create the polished look of glossy magazine shoots. A great buy.

The explanations of how to use the selection tools is fantastic as is perhaps more importantly when to use each tool. Having read the book it helped me to finally master how to use the pen tool which has proved very useful to me in so many projects since

As sold by Amazon.co.uk - Photoshop Masking Compositing (Voices That Matter)

Photoshop CS3 Restoration and Retouching Bible

This book does exactly what it says on the 'tin' and covers all the basic aspects of retouching. This book is as it title suggests is for retouchers and doesn't cover any creative techniques just how to repair images and correct image distortions.

There is an accompanying web site with tutorial files which is always handy and following the tutorials I was able to successfully repair the images I attempted. My only concern with this book is its actual strength as my first book's spine quickly broke but my second copy from Amazon has lasted ok.

As sold by Amazon.co.uk - Photoshop CS3 Restoration and Retouching Bible

Commercial Photoshop Retouching: In the Studio

This is a book I recommend because it covers areas that no other book covers in detail- e.g. printing images on different media from newsprint to packaging, enlargement issues from very poor quality images (this is a problem I encounter all the time!)and how to build realistic shadows

Some of the tutorials can be difficult to follow given that the book works with CS2 so it could do with a update but these areas ar covered in other of my books.

If you are interested in becoming a commercial retoucher then this book is definitely worth a purchase.

As sold by Amazon.co.uk - Commercial Photoshop Retouching: In the Studio

Digital Restoration From Start to Finish

This is the book I consult most when dealing with complicated restorations - in particular how to get the most from a scan. This thick book takes an in depth look at image restoration and how to restore images as a business - the most important part of this I feel is what good plug-ins there are available to make your life that little bit easier!

This book isn't for the novice and an understanding of Photoshop tools and options is required. This book also builds on some of the techniques shown in the books above and is written in nicely flowing step by step style - well worth buying.

As sold by Amazon.co.uk - Digital Restoration From Start to Finish: How to repair old and damaged photographs