A Collection of Must Read Books!

I rarely buy the amount of books that I did in the past.  When you are first learning about a specific subject matter, everything you read is new and fresh information.  But once you get past the basics you start coming across the same content over and over again in just different styles of writing.  The same can be true with information on the internet. It then becomes harder and harder to find new and fresh information on the subject matter that you are seeking.

Over several years I have stumble upon a handful of AMAZING books, that after skimming through them at the book store I decided that they where worth the purchase.  Below are ADVANCED books on the several topics. Keep in mind these are NOT your “basic” knowledge books but more of in-depth, rich stuff, that will give you expert information on the topic at hand.

Business

The Four Hour Work Week aka 4hww

All time favorite book in the last 5 years! This was probably the first book I had bought retail in about 5 years, I was browsing the book store looking for something to read to kill some time before a meeting and the title really caught my eye. Within the first 2 chapters I was blown away and took it to the front desk for checkout. A lot of the stuff in the book really resonated with me and I felt like this is exactly how I think. The biggest thing that I got from the book is the 80/20 principle, of getting rid of the 80% of things in your life that are eating up your time and energy that you aren’t really getting much enjoyment from. Whether it is personal or business it is a good process. Then maximizing the 20% that is giving you what you want. Most of the book is revolved around being productive and finding pitfalls of areas when you think you are being productive but are actually just wasting time.

4 Hour Work Week > Buy on Amazon

Photography

Best Business Practices for Photographers
Photography Business

I came across this book about a year ago, but decided to revisit it and really soak up all the great information that it has to offer. If you want to make it as a commercial photographer or product photographer this is a must read. The whole book is packed with great information, but the best part I found in this last read was the section of “The Art of Doing Nothing”. Basically it explains you need to stick to your guns on your worth/pricing. After all you are running a business, you don’t go to Best Buy and try and negotiate the price of that high definition flat screen. If you did they would think you were crazy and probably laugh in your face.

The author is John Harrington, a high end commercial photographer. There are tons of real world examples he pulls from his experience, with amazing tips and even documents he scanned to give you a visual example. Everything from contracts, equipment, Cost of doing business calculations and terms and licensing.

Best Business Practices for Photographers > Buy on Amazon

ASMP Professional Business Practices in Photography

I got this book for free a few years ago when I joined ASMP. It is very informative with alot of different types of photography businesses out there. Giving you information on a huge range of topics, from adding meta data to your files, to copyright laws and how to implement copyright as a photographer. And alot of real world photography business examples and writers.

ASMP Professional Business Practices in Photography > Buy on Amazon

Photoshop

Professional Photoshop: The Classic Guide to Color Correction

The ultimate print production Photoshop book! There are tons and tons of Photoshop books out there and most of them show you the same type of things. It is very hard to find a Photoshop book that pertains to the industry of print production. Most of the books out there are geared toward photographers that do their own printing from their own desktop printer. And pretty much none of these books even use the word CMYK. If you are in real world print production, and dealing with a 4 color press, RGB just doesn’t cut it! This book is super thick, and is super technical, and tells you everything you need to know about CMYK and the best methods of conversions for going to press. You can’t call yourself a Photoshop expert unless you have read this book.

Professional Photoshop: The Classic Guide to Color Correction >Buy on Amazon

Skin: The Complete Guide to Digitally Lighting, Photographing, and Retouching Faces and Bodies

Skin tone is a big deal when dealing with digital images, and is probably the most tricky correction you can do inside of Photoshop. This book gives you the whole walk through process from start to finish. It also has a great deal of information about looking at numbers for correct skin tones. Which if you are looking at RGB or even CMYK values when you are doing color correction then this book will give you all the number ranges for proper skin tones.

Skin: The Complete Guide to Digitally Lighting, Photographing, and Retouching Faces and Bodies > Buy on Amazon

Online Video Training

Lynda.com

(now linkedin learning RIP Lynda, you sell out)

And let’s not forget Lynda.com. The best online training for any software you can think of! Tens, of thousands of hours of video training you can fry your brain on, all for about the price of one software tanning book. If you are serious about learning or even brushing up on your skills for any program you can think of, then this is your site.