Kodak the Art of Digital Photography: Digital Photo Design: How to Compose Winning Pictures

I spent an hour browsing through the photography books at my local bookstore before selecting this one for my girlfriend, a beginning photographer. There are books on technique (f-stop, aperture, metering), but I wanted a book that would guide her into understanding what makes a good picture. In that regard, this book is the analog of E.B. White's Elements of Style. That book guides the reader on what to include and, more importantly, what to leave out of sentences, much in the way this book tells the photographer what to put in the frame and what to exclude. I think that the included pictures are there not to impress but to illustrate the points of the well-written prose. The book also includes good practices of photographers --like taking notes on the back of prints so that later you can remember how you took the picture and thereby learn from your earlier experiences. The author closes the book with an essay on why, in the world of Flickr and so many great photographers, each of us should still take pictures. It turns out my girlfriend thinks it's a good book too. So in summary, I'd say it's a good book for beginners or people (like me) who forgot some of the basics they may have learned long ago. I chose this book over the others on composition because it is well written, has good examples, and it stays focused.

I am not a photographer but while browsing through this book at the library I was impressed right away by the terrific compositions. Decided to order the book and am really impressed with it. My paintings have already improved by following his compositions.