Recommended Reading - silvercanvas.com


	People keep asking me about good books to read when learning photography. I learned most of my technique from practical experience and experimentation. Particularly the latter. I still think this is the best way to learn. But this said here are a few books that have been helpful or that I think are good and worth looking at. Silvercanvas are in association with amazon.com to bring you this page. You can buy any book directly through them by clicking on the images or the links. I rate each book out of 5 stars... the more the better.
	Burlesque and the Art of the Teese by Dita Von Teese ****+++++!!!!! Well this has to be the book of the year... or century? Over an inch thick it's crammed full of some of the best photos of Dita Von Teese - the acclaimed Queen of Burlesque! There are even some of my photos in this book so you have to buy it just for that reason! :) But pictures aside the text is witty and interesting and covers the origins of Burlesque along with anecdotes and observations. Then flip the book over and Fetish gets the same treatment. Two books in one and masses and masses of photos. I still can't get over how cheap the book is compared to what you get. Amazing value for money. Go buy it - you won't be sorry! Buy it directly from amazon.com* or amazon.co.uk
	Hollywood Portraits - Classic Shots and How to Take Them by Roger Hicks and Christopher Nisperos. ***** In my opinion you need a feel for the subject to take this kind of photography - but that said this book contains quite a bit of information and ideas. Not only this but you get masses of wonderful portraits from the 1930's and 40's by the likes of Clarence Sinclair Bull, George Hurrell and others. If you like the classic Black and White Hollywood look or working with tungsten lighting you will find useful information here about how to take these kinds of shots. Each classic portrait is analysed with diagrams showing how the look was achieved. Although it may not go into enough detail for someone just starting out, I found it interesting and useful.
	Basic Photography and Advanced Photography - by Michael Langford ***** Remember being back at school and having all those dry text books with masses of information and not very many pictures? Well my original, now aging copies of these essential reference books were used like that. I really took my first steps after studying these books. These books are really good reference and theory books. Basic Photography will take you from knowing nothing to having a pretty good, even excellent (if you pay attention and work hard) grasp of how it all works from a scientific point of view. Packed full of basic information. You can dip into these or read them cover to cover (probably more like STUDY them). Advanced photography is NOT for the feint hearted and you probably shouldn't attempt it until you have grasped the Basic volume. Advanced covers esoteric subjects like calculating reciprocity failure and other somewhat obscure but occasionally useful topics. I think these books would suit someone who is serious about wanting to know all the details of how photography works. Some may argue you don't need this to take good pictures and that's probably true. But my belief is knowing the guts of a process gives you more power to manipulate it. These books will give you that if you can cope with the hard work required to gain maximum benefit from them (i.e. they need to be STUDIED and UNDERSTOOD - not just glossed over). These books are NOT for those who prefer to leave their camera on AUTOMATIC all the time!
	Glamour Shots (Pro-Lighting Series) Beauty Shots (Pro-Lighting Series) New Glamour (Pro-Lighting Series) by various authors **** These pro-lighting books are similar to each other in that like the Hollywood Portraits book they show photographs with complete lighting layouts and instructions as to how to recreate the look. If you want to create pictures with a mainstream commercial feel these books are great for teaching you that look. If you want to do something more adventurous they form a very good basis to start from. It's easy to have intentions to be radical and different - but everyone needs to start somewhere and start by learning the basic rules - these books will show you those in a nicely illustrated and diagramatical way. For those who are just starting out there are useful glossaries of photographic terminology and so on. If you don't know what a soft box, snoot, or an inky dinky is these books tell you - with pics!

More recommendations will follow soon...