Any good Photography books for a student?

[James_EG]

Hi, I will be starting my A-Level Photography course this September and I would like to get a few books to help me during the course, I will be shooting digital and film (with film probably more B&W), so I need a good range of books. I've looked at a couple like 'Light, Science and Magic: An Introduction to Photographic Lighting' and 'Ansel Adams: The Negative' (Although the set of three, The Camera, The Negative and The Print might be a bit excessive). So what others would you recommend? I would also be interested in magazines if you know of any good ones.

Any help much appreciated!

James

 

[manicmike]

The search function will show you a ton of suggestions, but off the top of my head anything written by Scott Kelby would be good. Or anything by Bryan Peterson.

 

[Derrel]

I still love the John Hedgecoe books....lots of illustrations and diagrams, discussions of how to find light, how to create light, how to position yourself and the camera in relation to the light. All of his books follow the same basic format: sections that break things down very easily, and which have a bit of theory clearly explained, then tips and photos that SHOW how to approach the various types of situations. These are not the simple, modern "cookbooks" that are so prevalent in digital photo books published these days. Hedgecoe's books aim to help the reader understand the how, and the why behind longstanding photographic situations, like how to use a wide-angle lens for portraiture; how to shoot against the light; how to simplify a scene by choosing viewpoint; how to look for photos on rainy days; how to shoot in the fog. In contrast to many modern cookbooks whihc might have 100 photos, a typical Hedgecoe book will have I am estimating,between 800 to 900 illustrations.

 

[James_EG]

Thanks very much for your replies! Much appreciated. I'll do a few searches and also look up all of the authors that you've mentioned.

James