15 Inspiring Photography Books

15 Inspiring Photography Books for Beginners to Find Your Style
Looking for fresh photography ideas? From flat lay to fine art, explore a wide range of types and approaches from top photographers in this book list

If the vacation period has recharged your creativity, and you're ready to start a new photography project, the new season is the perfect time to explore this medium on a deeper level. To stay motivated in the busy months ahead, we suggest setting realistic learning goals and developing your style—and to achieve this it’s inspiring to study the works of professionals and learn about their processes.

Here, we’re diving into 15 of the best books to inspire your photography, covering styles from fine art to flat lay. You’ll find titles written by Domestika teachers, their recommended favorites, and essentials from world-famous photographers. It’s the perfect time to set some resolutions and find fulfillment in the many possibilities of this medium.

1. Things Come Apart 2.0: A Teardown Manual for Modern Living, by Todd McLellan

Best for: flat lay photography

Todd McLellan’s 20-year career mixes the commercial and personal, in this case through flat lay photography. Deconstructed items like cameras and tablets are laid out in intricate detail, followed by essays reflecting on the themes revealed within the imagery.

Flat lay is a popular and timely style, suited to the digital landscape and social media. If you’re interested in creating “exploded” images, you’ll want to check out the teacher who recommended this book, Darren Rowlands (@darrenrowlands), and his flat lay lifestyle photography course.

2. Hybrid Photography, by Danny Bittencourt

Best for: fine art photography and mixed media

Danny (@dannybbittencourt) is a visual poet, writer, and teacher who communicates complex visual ideas through fine art photography. As well as being filled with haunting and delicate imagery, this book is a guide for new photographers who want to examine the philosophy of this artform.

The book invites us to expand our ideas of what photography is, consider our motivations and goals in a project, and work in dialogue with other artforms: think embroidery, inking, cyanotype, and more. You can find more exploration of these ideas in Danny’s course on hybrid photography.

3. Creative Food Photography, by Kimberly Espinel

Best for: food photography and styling

Food photography proves that Mother Nature is the ultimate artist: bringing color and texture to every ingredient. Kimberly Espinel (@kespinel) is a food stylist, photographer, and self-professed foodie who specializes in capturing seasonal, vegan dishes, and teaches a food styling course.

In Creative Food Photography, she reveals how to assemble a mood board, how to start styling food, and how to optimize color and lighting to create mouth-watering imagery that really pops.
4. The Earth from the Air, by Yann Arthus-Bertrand

Best for: aerial and drone photography

Aerial photography is challenging but hugely rewarding, as the perfect plan can lead to truly unimaginable shots! The latest version of this international bestseller contains 100 new images and bonus essays that cover environmental issues.

Despite being so “zoomed out”, using drones and aircraft to produce photographs can help us tell deeply connective stories about humanity and the world we inhabit. If you’re interested in this style, Santiago Arau Pontones (@santiagoarau) will help you get started with drone photography.

5. Humans of New York, by Brandon Stanton

Best for: urban portrait photography

Great photography gets straight to the heart of a story, and in urban portrait photography this means connecting with people through their expressions, and how they present themselves. Humans of New York is now an internationally-famous project that began as a way for photographer Brandon Stanton to create a broad depiction of New York City, and blog about the interesting people he met. This collated volume features four hundred color photos we guarantee you’ll get lost in!

6. In Search of Elsewhere, by Steve McCurry

Best for: travel and portrait photography

Steve McCurry is known for his moving images that combine travel photography and portraiture to paint a picture of the world, and he has produced some of the most striking photos of our time. In Search of Elsewhere includes hundreds of stunning images from throughout his career, depicting people from all over the world and their diverse lifestyles.

Steve McCurry’s work comes recommended by Dan Tom (@dantom), who teaches a course on travel photography with mobile phones at Domestika. So even if you don’t have a DSLR, rest assured you can already start crafting images that tell the story of the places you visit.

7. Diane Arbus: An Aperture Monograph, compiled by Marvin Israel and Doon Arbus

Best for: portrait photography

Another creator of world-famous images is Diane Arbus, and this collection of 80 of her photos has become an essential for any new photographer to study. Her portrait photography is intensely private, grasping at the inner lives of subjects on the margins of society and those who might once have been seen as an “other”.

Photographer and teacher Elaine Li recommends Arbus’ work in her course on urban travel photography for Instagram, where she points out the need for us to “authentically document and represent all kinds of people."

8. Accidentally Wes Anderson, by Wally Koval

Best for: travel and architectural photography

Accidentally Wes Anderson began as an online community and became a book officially authorized by Anderson himself. As you’d expect, these images have a vivid, not-quite-real feeling. Perhaps a building is a little too symmetrical, or strangely-shaped—and of course, you’ll find plenty of pastel hues.

This recommendation comes from Weekend Creative (@weekendcreative), masters of the pop-pastel product photography aesthetic that Instagram loves! Learn more about their influences and methods of capturing products for social media in their course.

9. Context and Narrative in Photography, by Maria Short, Sri-Kartini Leet, Elisavet Kalpaxi

Best for: narrative photography

This practical guide will get you working hands-on with narrative photography techniques. Because the truth is, even the simplest photographs must tell a story in order to have impact. The book provides famous examples and in-depth explorations of composition and content to ensure your finished piece demands attention.

If you want to learn more about narrative photography and creating a photo series, check Dara Scully's online course (@darascully).

10. Beaches, by Gray Malin

Best for: aerial photography

Finally, we have a definite coffee table candidate in the form of Beaches. Known for his photographs of the Hollywood elite, Malin here combines aerial photography with color pops by shooting from a helicopter at various locations around the world, focused mainly on the Americas and Europe. As well as joyful escapism, this book provides insight into how simply constructed images can give a sense of scale.

11. Nature and Its Symbols by Lucia Impelluso

Recommended for: still life photography

This work is a guide that explains the meaning of symbols that many artists include in their works. It includes chapters on plants, flowers, fruits, terrestrial, aerial, and aquatic animals. But also, on mythical creatures like centaurs and dragons. In this book, you will find paintings accompanied by texts that analyze the representations that artists make of nature.

12. A Closer Look: Still Life by Erika Langmuir

Recommended for: still life photography

Photographer Daniela Constantini recommends a list of very interesting books in her course "Photography of Still Life in Chiaroscuro." Among them is "A Closer Look: Still Life," where the author analyzes the fascination that still life paintings provoke in the art world and what sets them apart from other categories of painting. It is a study through the works of artists such as Caravaggio, Velázquez, Cézanne, or Picasso.

13. Food Styling for Photographers: A Guide to Creating Your Own Appetizing Art by Linda Bellingham and Jean Ann Bybee

Recommended for: food photography

This book comes highly recommended in the course "Techniques of Advertising Food Photography" by Alfonso Acedo, a photographer and food stylist. It is a valuable resource for professionals in food photography who admire the great food stylist Linda Bellingham or are yet to discover her work. Flipping through the pages of this book will feel like you are journeying alongside Linda herself. But that's not all; you will also uncover very useful tips for producing quality food photography through the perspective of the food photographer Jean Ann Bybee.

14. The Taste of an Image. High-Quality Food Photography by Nichole S. Young

Recommended for: food photography

Alfonso Acedo also recommends this publication by the renowned photographer Nichole S. Young. This book is filled with practical tips and professional tricks for creating excellent food photography and allowing the viewer to savor the ingredients with just a glance at the photograph.

15. Plate to Pixel: Digital Food Photography & Styling by Helene Dujardin

Recommended for: food photography

This book could be considered as the first photography course for anyone looking to learn about food photography. Also recommended by Alfonso Acebo, it unveils the techniques and tips to make food look so enticing in photographs that you'll want to eat it. It provides visual techniques to evoke the taste and aroma of food through extraordinary photography.
Source

Latest

Article

15 Inspiring Photography Books