Best Photography Books [Top 10] [2024 Update]

What’s the Best Photography Handbook? In this overview, you will find our best recommendations when it comes to photography books. Here you will find recommendations for both beginners and advanced users. Read along…

Top 10 best photography books

More and more people have found a new hobby in photography. Whether you have an SLR camera or a digital compact camera: you naturally want to take the most beautiful photos. With our top 10 of the best photography books you will learn to photograph like a pro. We have collected practical introductions to photography, tips and tricks for specific subjects within photography as well as books full of iconic works by top photographers. We also thought of the advanced photographer when compiling this top 10.

We start our recommendations with the top 10 best books about Photography of all time. This list has been updated this year, including all the recent titles.

Best Photography Books	Author
The Art of Photography: An Approach to Personal Expression	Bruce Barnbaum
Read This If You Want to Take Great Photographs of People	Henry Carroll
On Photography	Susan Sontag
Tony Northrup’s DSLR Book : How to Create Stunning Digital Photography	Anthony Justin Northrup
Extraordinary Everyday Photography: Awaken Your Vision to Create Stunning Images Wherever You	Brenda Tharp and Jed Manwaring
Digital Photography Complete Course: Learn Everything You Need to Know in 20 Weeks	David D. Taylor, Paul Lowe, Paul Sanders (Landscape photographer), Tracy Hallett
Learning to See Creatively	Bryan Peterson
Photography: The Definitive Visual History	Tom Ang
The Photographer’s Guide to Posing: Techniques to Flatter Everyone	Lindsay Adler
Masters of Street Photography	Henri Cartier-Bresson

The updated top 10 list: the best books about photography

Digital Photography Complete Course: Learn Everything You Need to Know in 20 Weeks

If you like taking digital photographs, but would like to take it to the next level, then we suggest taking only 20 weeks to perfect your digital photography skills. This book will do the trick.

Photographers on Photography: How the Masters See, Think, and Shoot (History of Photography, Pocket Guide, Art History)

‘Photographers on Photography’ is a great guide on how people look at the line of work they are in when they get the chance to observe someone else’s product. This book might have a positive effect on how you look at the quality of your photographs.

Light on the Landscape: Photographs and Lessons from a Life in Photography

Every photographer knows: it is all about lights. In ‘Light on the Landscape’ author William Neill takes you on a journey with him. Read his stories and watch his landscape pictures in this book.

The Digital Photography Book: The step-by-step secrets for how to make your photos look like the pros’!

This is the second book on digital photography on this top ten list, and we like this one, because it guides you step by step. Professional photographers use several tricks to get the result they want. Want to know what tricks? You can find that out in this book.

50 Keys To Better Photography! (On Target Photo Training Book 23)

Dan Eitreim shows you about the 50 elements that make a difference when taking photographs. From the technical aspects of your camera to how to capture a story, and from how to use your flash and adding filters.

National Geographic Photo Basics: The Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Great Photography

We love National Geographic books, and this one is on the basics of photography. Learn what can make you into a great photographer, and start at the very beginning, whether you have a digital camera or using your smartphone right now.

Photography: The Definitive Visual History

A picture says more than a thousand words… That is, if the picture is taken right. You will learn how to look for the perfect photograph in Tom Ang’s book, called ‘Photography’. In this book he focuses on the history of photography and some of the world’s greatest photographers.

Photographs from the Edge: A Master Photographer’s Insights on Capturing an Extraordinary World

If you want to take photographs that involve some kind of risk, then we suggest you read Art Wolfe’s personal description of how he experienced taking some of his nature photographs and what he had to withstand to be able to take them.

The Photographer’s Guide to Posing: Techniques to Flatter Everyone

What makes one pose natural and the other one just a little too much? Lindsay Adler explains what to look for when creating a pose and what techniques always work when photographing people.

Mary Ellen Mark on the Portrait and the Moment: The Photography Workshop Series 

Mary Ellen Mark was a well-known photographer, mainly because of her emotional pictures. This is the fourth book in ‘The Photography Workshop Series’, and it focuses on how to truly capture the moment.