Street photography often means somewhat different things to different photographers, but in essence street photography involves wandering the streets and making photographs of daily life as it unfolds before your eyes and camera. 

Street photographers typically react to situations and usually have no specific subject matter in mind as they set out to make photographs. Street photography is very much about life in general and usually don’t involve the concept of visualising photographs in advance of taking them. I use words like ‘typically’ and ‘usually’ as some street photographers may happen upon a scene with a certain play of light and shadow for example, and then stake out that scene until something happens. That something is often some sort of human element in the scene. In fact some people will argue that human presence is a prerequisite in street photography.

What is Street Photography?

Street photography uses the techniques of straight photography in that it shows a pure vision of a scene. It’s therefore up to the photographer to place emphasis on the selection of what elements to include and exclude from the composition – and of course this has to happen in a split second. It is not generally accepted to edit the contents of a street photograph – such as editing out a discarded coke can in Photoshop in post-processing.

What is Street Photography?

Most people will agree that for a street photograph to be successful the scene has to move the photographer in some way. If it moves the photographer – and if the photographer is skilled at capturing the decisive moment – there is a good chance it will also move the viewer.

Effective street photography is about telling a story in a single frame, not simply recording what was there at a particular time and in a specific place.

Photo by Chris JL

The term “the decisive moment” was of course coined by French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson who helped develop street photography as a style or genre.

Cartier-Bresson was an early adopter of the 35mm format and a master of candid photography. You can learn more about Cartier-Bresson in the excellent documentary The Impassioned Eye which is available on DVD. I personally own the DVD and enjoy watching it as a source of inspiration and as a wonderful biography on one of the most influential photographers of the last century.

Street photography generally involves getting close to people – and often within their comfort zones. This means the photographer often becomes part of the scene rather than a distant observer. It also means shooting with wide lenses; usually nothing longer than 50mm. Consequently some street photographers prefer shooting in places like crowded streets in big cities, fairs, carnivals, parades or even on a busy ferry or bus.

Photo by sketchy record

Street Photography Shooting Techniques

How you shoot on the street is of course a matter of personal choice, but some shooting techniques might work better than others.

Here are some tips and tricks on how to shoot successful street photographs:

• Don’t be sneaky and don’t try to hide your cameras.
• If someone objects to having their picture taken, don’t take it.
• If someone turns away as you’re about to photograph, respect their privacy and refrain from shooting.
• Don’t lurk around in the background with a long lens as this will often be interpreted with scepticism and suspicion.
• Participate in the scene rather than be a voyeur.
• For more candid pictures try to blend in with the crowds and be subtle in your camera movements. Don’t constantly put your camera to your eye. Instead relax and put your camera down and just be one of the many people on the street. Then raise your camera when you are one or two seconds away from the shot you want. Click the shutter a couple of times, and then put your camera down again. If you get noticed, smile.
• Embrace the fear and shoot through it. Even more experienced street photographers have fears about being yelled at, chased down the street or worse. While this fear may subside over the years, it will probably never disappear completely. Acknowledge it and make a conscious decision to embrace the fear and shoot through it.
• Travel light. All you need is a camera body and a few lenses and film or memory cards.
• Don’t carry your shiny new high-tech camera bag out on the street. Instead carry your gear in a more casual shoulder bag or messenger-style bag.
• Leave the khaki-50-pockets-photographers-vest at home and wear simple and relaxed clothing. Dress like the people you’re photographing.
• Switch to manual focus, estimate the distance to your subject and pre-set your focus. This way you’re ready to shoot and frame when an interesting moment happens.
• Pre-set your focus and ‘shoot from the hip’. You don’t necessarily have to bring your camera to your eyes to capture a moment.
• Keep shooting ‘through the moment’. You want to capture that decisive split second of a moment, so keep shooting as events unfold.
• Smile, smile, and smile some more. A smile can defuse most negative situations you might find yourself in.

Photo by Joe Holmes

Street photography might not be for everyone, but it is a style of photography that can teach you a lot about composition in photography along with the significance of freezing a moment in time.

For more resources on street photography you can also check out books like Street Photography Now and Street Photography: From Atget to Cartier-Bresson or you could simply immerse yourself and study the photographs in Henri Cartier-Bresson: Photographer.

Next Step?

Head out on the street and start taking pictures!

If you liked this article, you may also like these:

• Shooting Landscapes – Guest Post by Carolyn Fox
• Chasing Reflections by Eli Reinholdtsen
• How to Photograph Water in Motion

This is a guest post by Carolyn Fox. Carolyn left the corporate world a few years ago and is now pursuing her passion for photography. Carolyn specializes in fine art, event and stock photography as well as event photography. You can see Carolyn’s work here: http://www.foxdenimages.com.

The best time to shoot a landscape is 15-30 minutes before sunrise to 30-60 minutes after and the same time frame at sunset. It’s called the “magic hour”, because that’s when you get the soft, warm light that makes great pictures. Yes, you can take landscape pictures at other times, but it will be more difficult to get the kind of shot you want.

So, now you know that you’ll be getting up before dawn & will always be late for dinner. That’s the life of a landscape shooter, so you’d better get used to it. 

Another rule is to always use a tripod. You’ll see shooters out early in the morning hand-holding their cameras. What they don’t know, however, is that when they look at their photos at 100%, they’ll probably be blurry. 

I know that because I used to think I could hand-hold my camera better than I really can. Once I started looking at my photos at 100%, I realized I was wrong. 

When shooting landscapes, you should always shoot in either manual or aperture priority, so you can control the depth of field. In most cases, you’ll want everything in focus from the foreground to infinity. 

Using f/8 or f/11 will usually accomplish this, depending on where you focus in the scene and on your lens. Each lens has a sweet spot for focus. If you use your lens often enough you’ll discover what this is. Once you do, you’ll start getting better pictures. Normally, the best way to ensure focus of the foreground mid-ground and background is by focusing 1/3 of the way into the scene. If you’re using a good lens and a good tripod the entire scene should be in focus. 

A wide angle lens, such as a 12-24mm is great for shooting landscapes. I personally use a 16-35, which is wide enough for my purposes. Just remember, though, that a 16-35 lens, with a 1.6 factor on a Canon camera becomes a 26-56mm lens. Be sure to keep that in mind when you’re shopping for lenses. If you shoot Nikon the factor is 1.5.

When you’re shooting landscapes, include something interesting  in the foreground to show perspective. A wide angle lens is great for this because you can get close to the subject in the foreground & still have the entire scene in focus. Here is an example:

Yellowstone Landscape by Carolyn Fox

I added the rock to the foreground to show the viewer the expanse of the Yellowstone landscape.

No matter what you’re shooting, remember that a good picture always tells a story.

Carolyn has a Blurb book out titled “Killer Tips for Better Pics” which you can purchase by going to her website which is: http://www.foxdenimages.com

If you liked this article, you may also like these:

• What is Street Photography?
• Chasing Reflections by Eli Reinholdtsen
• How to Photograph Water in Motion

“Pattern of Individuality”

I’m reading the The Genius in All of Us by David Shenk at the moment. In a Q&A about the book David Shenk was asked:

How do we go about finding the genius in all of us? What steps we can take to unlock latent talent?

Shenk replied:

Find the thing you love to do, and work and work and work at it. Don’t be discouraged by failure; realize that high achievers thrive on failure as a motivating mechanism and as instruction guide on how to get better.

I’m researching the creative process at the moment and the above rationale shows up again and again when you dig a little deeper to find out how people got so good at whatever it is they are so good at (think Mozart, Tiger Woods, Ansel Adams and so on). For the most part it’s always a result of practice, practice and more practice. It’s all about putting in the time – not some amazing natural born talent that just unfolds by itself with little effort.

As regards photography Shenk touches on a very important point in his reply to the above question when he says “don’t be discouraged by failure”. In order to make creative images we have to give ourselves permission to fail, to come back with images that might not be worthy showing anyone. It’s part of the creative process, it’s part of finding out what works and what doesn’t work.

Freeman Patterson’s famous words “36 satisfactory exposures on a roll means a photographer is not trying anything new” are good to keep in mind when you go out there to make creative pictures.

For more ideas and inspiration on how you can be more creative with your digital camera join the new FREE 5-day e-course available from Photography 24/7. You can sign-up to join in the sidebar above right.

If you liked this article, you may also like these:

• At Home: “Light Sculpture”
• At Home: “Untitled”
• At Home: “Strands of Hair”

Today I want to share a great YouTube video of Lester Hayes, a photographer who specialized in abstract photography. In many ways Hayes was a pioneer in abstract photography.

It seems ridiculous that no one had taken abstract pictures with a camera.

Hayes, who was nearly 100 years old at the time of the interview, talks about his technique and experience with the first Kodak Instamatic camera with which he used to create his abstract works.

I know nothing about photography. I had a talent for it. I didn’t know why it worked. I know what it did for me.

There’s a lot to take away from this interview (which will also make you laugh a couple of times) and if nothing else certainly just the joy of viewing some of Hayes’ excellent photographs. I hit the ‘pause’ button several times and just enjoyed looking at the photographs included in this presentation (admittedly I’m big fan of abstract photography).

Kudos to Anthony Mournian for sharing this video with us all.

Make yourself a good cup of coffee and take a seven minute coffee break. You deserve it!

Everything is beautiful if you take a photograph of it from a proper angle under the proper lighting conditions.

If you liked this article, you may also like these:

• Steve McCurry Talks About the “Afghan Girl” and Shows Outtakes
• Photoshop CS5 for Photographers Now Available at Lynda.com
• Unique Digital Photography Tutorials

I’m finding it hard to go for a walk nowadays without bringing a camera along. I’m very fortunate that my wife is quite accepting of this, probably because this is how it’s been for some years now. It’ s just the way it is today.

The other day we went for a little walk around the block, and I brought along the beautiful Polaroid SX-70 loaded with Polaroid 600 film (you’ll need to cut off a few plastic knobs and to put a neutral density filter in front of the film cassette to use this film with the SX-70).

I’m still getting to know the camera better, both in terms of handling but also the exposure. No histograms on the back of the Polaroid SX-70, and each click of the shutter is about $2.00, so ideally you want to get it right every time!

I decided to photograph fences in the neighborhood which resulted in a mini series which I thought I would share here just to mix things up a little bit.

“Graceful”

“Honest”

“Confused”

“Organic”

“Elegant”

It’s a lot of fun shooting with the Polaroid SX-70. Sure, you’ll get some looks from people as they see the camera or hear the Polaroid film ejecting from the bottom of the camera but people think it’s fun and are just curious.

However Polaroid cameras and film is not that rare. There’re a lot of creative photographers using the Polaroid camera and film as their creative tool of choice. If you’re interested in Polaroid photographs I can highly recommend these two books for inspiration:

The Polaroid Book

Andre Kertesz – The Polaroids

If you liked this article, you may also like these:

• Is The Impossible Project Shrouding a Mediocre Product in Clever Marketing?
• The Impossible Project Reveals New Monochrome Instant Film For Polaroid Cameras
• How To Do Polaroid Emulsion Lifts

It’s been too long since I took some time out for photography – even just 20 minutes to make new images. In fact it’s been more than four weeks since I made my little Lensbaby Sees Red, Infrared series. That is way too long, but work has had me bogged down!

I start getting agitated when I go for too long without creating new images. Who said anything about an addiction?

The other day I had a good exchange of e-mails with a photography friend from the blogoshere –  Trond Haugerud – who is in similar situation as me (and many other people I’m sure).

We are trying to juggle work, young children, partners, social lives and photography all while surfing around the internet as well! Oh yeah, and Trond is squeezing in a phd as well.

Anyway, we arrived at the conclusion that we were both trying to do all the things we did before we had kids. We agreed that it was time to look at how we could prioritize things better in order to get photography back on top of the list of things to do regularly.

Photography is important stuff. No one wants an agitated husband or wife running around the house pulling out their hair, do they!?

Impermanence #01

Today I found a large fig leaf on the concrete ground just outside our warehouse and office. It was an unusual place to find a huge fig leaf as we are located on the upper level of a large business complex where no trees grow nearby. It must have blown up there after the stormy night we had in Sydney last night.

The leaf was incredibly beautiful. Stunning colours, an almost leather-like texture, attractive lines and intricate veins.

Well, it was beautiful to my eyes, some might have not even glanced at it. Some might have found it ugly. Others might have thought it less than perfect. But it was love at first sight for me.

I picked the leaf up and took it with me inside. Instinctively I knew I would want to photograph it later. It would be a photograph of impermanence.

Impermanence #02

The term impermanence is often also interchanged with the term wabi-sabi.

Wabi-sabi represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience. The phrase comes from the two words wabi and sabi. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is “imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete”.

This is a very intriguing concept and if you want to study the idea of wabi-sabi in more details I recommend that you pick up Leonard Koren’s book Wabi-Sabi: for Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers. It’s an excellent read.

Impermanence #03

The Canadian photographer Richard Martin has also writen an excellent article on the topic of wabi-sabi in the Canadian photography magazine Photo Life relatively recently, and he also displays some excellent Wabi-sabi images in his Metal Works gallery on his website.

Another photography friend from the blogoshere – Scott Crane – also displays some incredibly beautiful and creative wabi-sabi images on his photoblog The Oswegan which is well worth a visit.

Impermanence #04

Anyway, back to the leaf story.

I barely greeted Myriam and Laura as I walked in the door just past six o’clock. Thanks to daylight savings I still had a good 30 minutes of reasonably bright light although the light was already starting to fade. I was determined to satisfy my urge and make some photographs, plus it was overcast and therefore a perfect day to make some leaf studies.

I grabbed my relatively new Canon 5DMKII which has seen much too little use since I got it in exchange for my Hasseblad XPAN II. I fitted my 100mm macro lens on it, got the tripod (which was dusty!) and stepped out on the balcony and got into it straight away.

Impermanence #05

I entered the beautiful world of macro photography for about 20 minutes, and though quite a short time, it was enough of a burst to at at least quench the immediate thirst. But when you are really thirsty and have a glass of water, you feel like a second glass shortly after the first one! Note to self: make more time to make images.

Impermanence #06

As you can see above I have made several different images of just the one leaf. In total I made 16 images and six of them are included with this rambling.

There is little doubt that investing even just a little bit of time in your subject is one of the easiest ways to become more creative. Look deeper and you shall find.

I hope these images have inspired you to look for impermanence and photograph it. Find some beauty in the imperfect.

As any photographer I enjoy feedback. I aspire to make an interactive website. So please feel free to chime in with a comment. What do you think about the concept of impermanence. Do you look for subjects that might be less than perfect seen with ‘traditional’ eyes? Do you have a favourite among the six images displayed above? I’d love to hear from you.

If you liked this article, you may also like these:

• 15 Fine Flickr Examples of Abstract Photography
• A Few Wise Words
• August Snaps 31 August

Yesterday I picked up my Lensbaby macro lens kit at the post office (along with a telephoto kit and a set of creative apertures) and today I had an opportunity to make a few images with it.

Oh boy, am I going to have a lot of fun with the two macro lenses that come in this kit? You bet!

So how does it work? Well, it’s super easy.

Obviously first of all you need to have a Lensbaby if you don’t have one already. Choose between the Muse, Control Freak or the Composer.

I have both the Muse and the Composer but I much prefer the Composer which is also the latest lens the creative people at Lensbaby have put on the market.

The macro kit itself comes with two lenses: +4 and +10. The macro lenses simply screw on to the front of the Lensbaby. The +4 lens focuses to 6 to 13″ (15 to 33cm) and the +10 lens focuses to 3 to 6″ (7.6 to 15cm). You can also stack the two lenses and focus as close as 2 to 3″ (5 to 8cm).

As with any macro lens these two macro lenses open up a whole new world of amazing image possibilites.

Today I put my Lensbaby Composer on my Canon 20D which I have had converted to a dedicated infrared camera a few months ago. The good folks over at LifePixel did the conversion for me. I can highly recommend them, they are quick, easy and professional to deal with.

I’m yet to experiment a lot more with infrared photography, but I really like the effect you can achieve with a dedicate infrared camera. You can see some examples of black and white infrared images in my posts Infrared Black and White and More Infrared Black and White.

In the case of these images I didn’t convert them to black and white as I really liked the rich red brown tones that emerged as I messed around with the images in Lightroom. 

What do you think? If you have made any infrared images I’d love to see them. Just share a link in the comments to this post.

P.S. You guessed it. The edge effect was created using OnOne Software’s PhotoFrame plug-in for Photoshop. Use the coupon code 24SEVEN at check-out to receive an immediate 20% discount.

If you liked this article, you may also like these:

• One Sunday – Three Different Lensbaby Infrareds
• The Tree
• Catching Up After an Unwelcome Break

Today I took the SX-70 out for an afternoon walk to do a few more test shots. However at more than US$2.00 per shot (and that’s even with the more economical Polaroid 600 film!) I was a little stingy with my exposures and only took four pictures.

“Tree”

As with one of the images in yesterday’s post this is another shot of a tree against the sky and again there is something funny happening to the colour across the sky.

“Palm Frond”

In this shot I used the ‘Lighten/Darken’ exposure control and darkened the exposure with about one stop as I was shooting a fairly dark green, so I figured the camera would try to overexpose the scene without the correction applied. I really like how the colour has come out ‘Polaroid like’.

“Orange Flower”

In this third shot I decided to try my hand at a motion exposure with the SX-70. Here I set the exposure control to darken with about two and half stops to make sure I got a good long exposure time. I simply moved the camera in circular motions around the orange flower. I would have liked a little bit more of a hint of definition, but I still like the image and the placement of the flower within the frame. The colours also work quite nicely together. This is probably my personal favourite of the four test shots from today.

“Palm Frond Impression”

In the final shot I re-visited the Palm Frond and made another motion exposure. There is a little of that hint of definition that I was missing in the orange flower shot and I quite like how this image turned out as well.

I must say I’m really falling in love with the Polaroid SX-70. I absolutely love the design of this camera, although if you are considering getting one of these prepare yourself that it takes a little while to get comfortable shooting with it. It’s quite ackward to handle the camera at first as it is so different from the cameras we are used to today, but after a while you start to figure out how to hold it and where to place your fingers, so you don’t prevent the Polaroid picture from ejecting from the front of the camera!

All of the images above are scanned using the Epson Perfection V700 scanner and I have made no post processing adjustments to any of the images at all.

You can check out the V700 scanner and the latest prices at B&H Photo, Adorama or Amazon.com. It looks like there are some really good discounts on this scanner at the moment and it was already quite reasonably priced scanner in the first instance. It’s the only film scanner I have left – and intend to keep – after I sold my dedicated Minolta film scanner a few months ago. The V700 scans 35mm, medium format and large format with excellent results.

I hope you have enjoyed the Polaroid test shots above and yesterday.

Now I will spend some time thinking about what type of subjects I would like to shoot with this camera. Ultimately I would like to create a co-herent and significant body of work with the SX-70.

If you liked this article, you may also like these:

• Is The Impossible Project Shrouding a Mediocre Product in Clever Marketing?
• The Impossible Project Reveals New Monochrome Instant Film For Polaroid Cameras
• How To Do Polaroid Emulsion Lifts

In this post I wrote about the amazing Polaroid SX-70. While I have carried the SX-70 with me quite a bit in the past couple of weeks, it was only recently that I managed to do a few test shots with it and I thought I would just share the results here.

Test Shot #01

In Test Shot #01 above I was shooting straight into the sun and just focused on the fence. I was interested to see how the camera would handle the exposure (I made no exposure corrections with the ‘Lighten/Darken’ control). It resulted in an image with flare and some of that slightly nostalgic Polaroid colour.

Test Shot #02

In Test Shot #02 I was on my way home from a walk with the family when there was an amazing sunset at the end of one of the local streets. The sun was sitting behind a soft layer of cloud which resulted in a beautiful glow and also enabled you to look straight at the sun without damaging your eyes (always be very careful looking straight at the sun and never do so through the viewfinder of your camera). Of course there is no zoom on the Polaroid SX-70, so the big fireball of a sun that we could so clearly see with our eyes became a small dot on the horizon in the image. However it still cast its glow throughout the picture and the final exposure transformed all other elements into a silhouette.

Test Shot #03

Test Shot #03 was shot near home too and here I was mostly interested to see how the red and blue colours would come out. I was somewhat surprised about the flare or light leak in the top of the image as I wasn’t really shooting into the sun even though I was shooting up into the sky. The sun was slightly behind me and to the left, but obviously it must have been near enough to cause the flare or light leak. This might also have affected the colour of the sky which is different from left to right. However it is of course this unpredictability which is a large part of the charm shooting with the Polaroid SX-70.

All of the images above were shot on the Polaroid 600 film.

If you’re interested in the Polaroid SX-70 I might be putting one up for sale on Ebay soon. I have two of the SX-70s as I placed multiple bids on Ebay on different cameras and ended up winning two of them. One of them came to me from the USA and the other one I found locally here in Australia. Both of the cameras are in very good condition, but I will still be test shooting with both of them and make sure they both function as they should. Therefore it might also be another couple of weeks before I make of them available for sale.

If you want to be notified by email when one is available for sale, you can join the Photography 24/7 mailing list by filling in the form below. Joining the mailing list will also provide you with other interesting, periodical updates from Photography 24/7 – and don’t worry, privacy is extremely important to me, so your email address will not be shared with anyone else!

If you liked this article, you may also like these:

• Is The Impossible Project Shrouding a Mediocre Product in Clever Marketing?
• The Impossible Project Reveals New Monochrome Instant Film For Polaroid Cameras
• How To Do Polaroid Emulsion Lifts

Bruce Gilden is a member of Magnum Photos and a noted street photographer, known for his work in New York City.

In this video clip we watch him hunting for characters on the streets of New York City. If you ever had fear of approaching people on the street, then this is one – very direct – technique you may (or may not) want to consider.

If you want to find out more about classic street photography and in particular the old masters of this genre of photography you may be interested in Street Photography: From Atget to Cartier-Bresson.

If you liked this article, you may also like these:

• Going Back in Time in a Modern Way
• The Life of a Photograph
• Steve McCurry Talks About the “Afghan Girl” and Shows Outtakes

Photo books is a big part of living a photographic life, certainly they are a big part of mine.

They are a great source of inspiration and I think a lot can be learned simply through the study of great photographs.

Photography books come in a variety of genres but typically fall into one of three main categories:

• Technical advice and how-to
• Creative inspiration
• Historical reference

My personal book case is full of photography books which I have aquired over several years. I continue to buy many (far too many if you ask my wife) new photo books every year.

When I was a beginning photographer I purchased mostly technical photo books whereas today I buy mostly books about the creative process of photography as well as photo books of historical reference.

I get many of my photo books from Amazon.com which is a great website because they have such a ’deep’ database of photo book titles.  As I was browsing their website today I suddenly got curious about the best-selling photo books on the site, so I did a little bit of research and here is the result – the top 10 best-selling photography books as of July 2009 are as follows:

#01 Understanding Exposure

#01: ‘Understanding Exposure’ by Bryan Peterson is the only book on the list that I personally own. Indeed it was also one of the very first photo books I ever purchased. It is a great ‘all-rounder’ which I can recommend to both beginners as well as more serious amateur photographers. Editorial note: If you already shoot perfectly focused, accurately exposed images but want to be more creative with a camera, this is the book to consult. More than seventy techniques, both popular and less-familiar approaches, are covered in detail, including advanced exposure, bounced flash and candlelight, infrared, multiple images, soft-focus effects, unusual vantage points, zooming, and other carefully chosen ways to enhance photographs. [Click the image above to view more details].

#02 The Digital Photography Book

#02: ‘The Digital Photography Book’ by Scott Kelby looks like a hot how-to-book and the fact that Scott Kelby appears several times on this top 10 list certainly must count for something. While I have to admit that I do not own any books by Scott Kelby, I can see why this book looks very attractive if you are a beginning digital photographer today. A book well worth a closer look if you are new to digital photography. Editorial note: This is not a book of theory – it is not full of confusing jargon and detailed concepts: this is a book of which button to push, which setting to use, when to use them, and nearly two hundred of the most closely guarded photographic “tricks of the trade” to get you shooting dramatically better-looking, sharper, more colorful, more professional-looking photos with your digital camera every time you press the shutter button. [Click the image above to view more details]. 

#03 The Hot Shoe Diaries

#03: ‘The Hot Shoe Diaries’ by Joe McNally looks like a very interesting title that I will seriously consider to add to my book shelf in the near future. If you want to learn about light - artificial lighting in particular - Joe McNally is definitely a ‘go to’ person and in this book he shows us What he uses…and Why and When he uses it. Editorial note: Joe brings you behind the scenes to candidly share his lighting solutions for a ton of great images. Using Nikon Speedlights, Joe lets you in on his uncensored thought process – often funny, sometimes serious, always fascinating – to demonstrate how he makes his pictures with these small flashes. Whether he’s photographing a gymnast on the Great Wall, an alligator in a swamp, or a fire truck careening through Times Square, Joe uses these flashes to create great light that makes his pictures sing. [Click the image above to view more details].

#04 The Photographer's Eye

#04: ‘The Photographer’s Eye’ by Michael Freeman has enjoyed a lot of good customer reviews and for good reason. It looks like an excellent title on the topic of visual design and composition. I was particualr surprised to read this review by Jeff Wignall: “Let me start by saying that even though I write photo books for a living I don’t know Michael Freeman and have never communicated with him. That said, this is easily the best composition and design book that you’ll find – and that goes for professionals as well as hobbyists. This is the first book, in fact, that I can recall that covers these topics with such depth and clarity of thought.” Editorial note: Beautifully presented with genrous and helpful color illustrations, this book is a very affordable addition to the library of the serious photographer. [Click the image above to view more details].

#05 Scott Kelby's Digital Photography Boxed Set

#05: ‘Scott Kelby’s Digitial Photography Boxed Set’ by Scott Kelby gives you a lot of bang for your buck as a boxed set. While I have to admit that I do not own any books by Scott Kelby, I can see why this boxed set looks very attractive if you are a beginning digital photographer today. This boxed set is definitely worth considering if you are new to digital photography. Editorial note: With over 400 of the most closely guarded photographic “tricks of the trade” this boxed set – consisting of The Digital Photography Book, volume 1 and The Digital Photography Book, volume 2 – is the ultimate resource for anyone who wants to shoot dramatically better-looking, sharper, more colorful, more professional-looking photos every time. [Click the image above to view more details].

#06 The Adobe Photoshop CS4 Book for Digital Photographers

#06: ‘The Adobe Photoshop CS4 Book for Digital Photographers’ by Scott Kelby is the current hot-selling Photoshop book from an author that knows Photoshop extremely well. Scott is the Editor and Publisher of Photoshop User magazine, President of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals, Training Director for the Adobe Photoshop Seminar Tour, and one of the leading seminar instructors in the US today. Editorial note: With over 400 of the most closely guarded photographic “tricks of the trade” this boxed set – consisting of The Digital Photography Book, volume 1 and The Digital Photography Book, volume 2 – is the ultimate resource for anyone who wants to shoot dramatically better-looking, sharper, more colorful, more professional-looking photos every time. [Click the image above to view more details].

#07 The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers

#07: ‘The Adobe Lightroom 2 Book for Digital Photographers’ by Scott Kelby gets you set up and familiar with all aspects of Lightroom. Scott Kelby walks you through the basics of Lightroom use, leading you to a brilliantly devised and super efficient digital photography workflow that dramatically improves productivity and allows you to spend less time processing photos and more time shooting them. Editorial note: If you are one of those people who learns best by actually doing the projects yourself; who learns best without all the complicated technical explanations and confusing jargon, and if you really want to start using Lightroom today to unlock the productivity secrets of “The new digital photography workflow,” – there is no faster, more “straight-to-the-point” or more fun way to learn than this groundbreaking new book, and you are absolutely going to love it!. [Click the image above to view more details].

#08 The Digital Photography Book, Volume 2

#08: ‘The Digital Photography Book, Volume 2′ by Scott Kelby is the second volume of this popular how-to-book . In Volume 2, Scott Kelby adds entirely new chapters packed with plain English tips on using flash, shooting close up photography, travel photography, shooting people, and even how to build a studio from scratch, where he demystifies the process so anyone can start taking pro-quality portraits today! Plus, he has got full chapters on his most requested topics, including loads of tips for landscape photographers, wedding photographers, and there’s an entire chapter devoted to sharing some of the pros secrets for making your photos look more professional, no matter what you are shooting. Editorial note: Each page covers a single concept on how to make your photography better. [Click the image above to view more details].

#09 The Photoshop Elements 7 Book for Digital Photographers

#09: ‘The Photoshop Elements 7 Book for Digital Photographers‘ by Scott Kelby & Matt Kloskowski is not a book I can make too many personal comments to as I have never used Photoshop Elements. If you are serious about your photography and processing your images, then I would recommend the full version of Photoshop. Editorial note: This book breaks new ground by doing something for digital photographers that’s never been done before – it cuts through the bull and shows you exactly “how to do it.” It’s not a bunch of theory; it does not challenge you to come up with your own settings or figure things out on your own. Instead, it does something that virtually no other Elements book has ever done – it tells you flat-out which settings to use, when to use them, and why. [Click the image above to view more details].

#10 Within The Frame

#10: ‘Within the Frame’ by David DuChemin deserves to be placed higher on the list, not only because it is a non-Scott Kelby book, but also because it focuses less on techiniques and more on vision. Subtitled The Journey of Photographic Vision it is heavily skewed towards anyone interested in travel photography (or photographing while on holiday), covering topics such as Storytelling, People, Places and Culture. The book is full of unique, captivating and creatively inspiring images. I would recommend anyone interested in the mentioned topics to take a long hard look at this book. Editorial note: Both instructional and inspirational, Within the Frame helps you on your photographic journey to make better images of the places and people you love, whether they are around the world or in your own backyard. [Click the image above to view more details].

Conclusion: When I did my reseach for this top 10 best-selling photo books list I was a little bit disappointed to discover that the list is almost exclusively made up of techical advice and how-to books, let alone that one (clearly talented) author is so clearly dominating the list. Personally I would have liked to see a lot more diversity of titles and authors on the list. In my personal view #01, #03, #04 and #10 look like the most  inspiring books on the list, but I would certainly not discourage beginning photographers from considering some of Scott Kelby’s excellent, no-nonsense how-to books.

From time to time I will be reviewing individual photo books from my personal book shelf here and rest assured that for the most part these will largely fall into the two other categories; creatively inspiring photo books and photo books of historical reference.

I hope you enjoyed the list.

If you liked this article, you may also like these:

• New Digital Photography Book Releases
• The Magic of Black and White
• The Top Five Best Books on Composition in Photography