And now something for book readers. No, not steamy stories of photographers and models, but learning about photography along with some camera guides 🙂 This post is an on-going reference list. While ebooks are not particularly ideal (yet?) for pure photography books, they can be quite handy for the many instructional books in the world of camera and photography, such as how-to, tutorials, camera-specific guides, Photoshop and post-processing, essays (we need more of these to inspire people in a world full of cameraphones), and the like.
The Kindle Unlimited (KU) subscription service is like a Netflix of eBooks. You pay a monthly fee and get to read participating ebooks for free. No contracts, you can cancel at any time for any reason. And you can restart later. There is a limit of ten ebooks checked out at any time, but you can exchange them as often as you like. In other words, no limit on how many ebooks you can read, but you can only have ten checked out at any time (similar to some brick and mortar library systems). You start with a free 30 day trial, and if you don’t cancel within the 30 initial days, you get charged $10 every 30 days thereafter (unless you cancel).
Kindle Unlimited ebooks can be read on any device that offers the Kindle reading app, including Android smartphones and tablets, iPads and iPhones, Windows Phone, Web Browsers using the Kindle Cloud Web Reading App, Desktop computer Kindle apps, Chromebook Off-Line Reading, and of course Amazon’s own Kindle e-ink ebook readers and Kindle Fire tablets. The ability to read on tablets and computers is important for instructional books because you need color, bigger screens, and the ability to quickly zoom in and out.
Sometimes camera and photography instructional books can be hit or miss with what one is looking for, so this is a risk-free way to check things out without being “stuck” with a book that is not useful to you.
Please note there are over 13,000 ebooks listed in the Kindle Unlimited Photography category, this blog-post is only a tiny fraction!
Latest Post Update: October 9, 2014 at 2:12pm ET – added Special Subjects, Composition, and Lighting sections – more ebooks will be added – if you have any favorites or found any hidden gems please let us know using the contact form so we can add them to the list… Books and categories are mostly in random order with review rating and size sometimes factoring in… Needless to say, I have not read all these books below!
Photography Essays
A Bridge from Darkness to Light: Thirteen Young Photographers Explore Their Afghanistan by Bill Wright
Photography Tips and Tutorials
Lonely Planet’s Best Ever Photography Tips by various at Lonely Planet
Art of a Small Camera by GS Tyler
Photography Masterclass by Desmond Downs (217 pages)
Mastering Digital Photography by Jason Youn (145 pages)
Foundations of Photography by Dave McLelland (164 pages)
The Art of Digital Photography Book #2 by Al Judge
Photography: NOW! by William Wyatt (62 pages)
Photography Basics by Vanessa Pagan (36 pages)
Control Viewers! Make Your Color Photography “POP!” (75 pages) by Dan Eitreim
Photography Special Subjects
Seeing in the Dark: A Guide to Night Photography by Jon Beard (151 pages)
Street Photography: A Concise Guide by Anne Darling (96 pages)
Essential Colour Management: What every photographer needs to know by Robin Whalley (130 pages)
Essential Posing Secrets by Dan Eitrem (91 pages)
How to Shoot Weddings Like a Pro by Dan Eitrem (65 pages)
Composition
Mastering the Art of Photography Composition: Learn Tips and Tricks for Better Creative Photos for Beginners and Intermediate Photographers by Stephen Hockmann (122 pages)
Master the Art of Photographic Composition: How to Create Truly Artistic Photographs in 30 Simple Steps by Anne Darling (100 pages)
Photo Composition Mastery by Dan Eitreim
DSLR & Camera Guides
Nikon D5200 for Dummies by Julie Adair King
Nikon D3200 for Dummies by Julie Adair King
Understanding S Mode on a Nikon DSLR – take control of Shutter Speed by BoNo Novosad (205 pages)
A guide to using the Magic Lantern Firmware on Canon DSLRs by Bryan Uhri (140 pages)
Canon EOS Rebel T3i / 600D For Dummies by Julie Adair King
Understanding Tv mode on a Canon DSLR – take control of shutter speed by BoNo Novosad (203 pages)
The Panasonic GH4 Menu System Simplified by David Thorpe
The Panasonic GH3 Menu System Simplified by David Thorpe
The Panasonic GX7 Menu System Simplified by David Thorpe
The Panasonic GM1 Menu System Simplified by David Thorpe
Panasonic LX7 real world usage guide by Reed George (30 pages)
The Panasonic Lumix LX5: How to Achieve Exceptional Image Quality by Robin Whalley (125 pages)
Panasonic FZ1000 Impression in Japanese
Pentax 645Z Pro Shot in Japanese
Understanding Digital Cameras by Al Judge (48 pages)
DSLR Photography Courses
Digital SLR Photography All-in-One For Dummies by Robert Correll (672 pages)
DSLR Survival Guide by Blake Rudis (248 pages)
Boost your Photography – learn your DSLR by Katie McEnaney (126 pages)
Beginner’s Digital SLR Crash Course by Deep Cove Publishing (67 pages)
DSLR Crash Course by William Wyatt (96 pages)
DSLR Photography for Beginners by Brian Black (113 pages)
DSLR Photography for Beginners by Mark Flynn (63 pages)
Beginner’s Guide to DSLR Photography by Vincent Miles (69 pages)
DSLR Photography for Beginners by James Alan Driver (80 pages)
Understanding DSLR Lenses by Al Judge (36 pages)
DSLR Manual Photography Explained by Aaron Chase
The DSLR Artist by Jeff Stefan (79 pages)
Lighting
How to Set Up Photography Lighting for a Home Studio by Amber Richards (65 pages)
Master Photo Lighting – Hard Light (69 pages)
Stunning Portrait Photography – Posing and Lighting (108 pages)
Photo Backdrop Secrets – DIY (73 pages)
Exposure
Understanding Exposure by Barbara Steinhoff Schneider (33 pages)
Mastering Camera Aperture… How to Control Depth of Field by Stephen Hockman (31 pages)
Mastering Aperture, Shutter Speed, ISO and Exposure by Al Judge (70 pages)
Understanding Aperture & f-Stops: An Illustrated Guidebook by Al Judge (32 pages)
Mastering Exposure: An Illustrated Guide Book by Al Judge
Master Photo Aperture by Dan Eitreim (60 pages)
Master Photo Shutter Speed by Dan Eitreim (57 pages)
Film and 20th Century Cameras
Collector’s Guide to Instant Cameras by Michael J. Posner
Guide to the 1980’s Disc Camera: Descriptions, Variations, Valuations by Therese Donnelly
Kodak
Is This Something George Eastman Would have Done?: The Decline and Fall of Eastman Kodak Company by Paul Snyder
Out of Focus: The story of how Kodak lost its direction by John Larish
Leica Fan Club
The Leica Pursuit by Irving Freed
Lightroom
The Complete Photographer’s Guide to Lightroom 5 by Tim Martin
Photographer’s Guide to Lightroom 5: Develop Module by Tim Martin
Lightroom 5 Made Easy by Dave Kelly
Photographer’s Guide to Lightroom 5: Everything Else by Tim Martin
Photographer’s Guide to Lightroom 5: Library Module by Tim Martin
Professional Portraits using LR5 by Jim Richards (72 pages)
there’s also some books on Lightroom 4
Photoshop
Photoshop CS6 by Tom Bishop
Essential Photoshop: how to use 9 essential tools by Robin Whalley
Photoshop CS6: How to use the toolbar by Tom Bishop (89 pages)
Photoshop Creative 101 by King Symonette
Other Digital Imaging Software
Dramatic Black & White Photography Using Nik Silver Efex Pro 2 by Robin Whalley (144 pages)
Nik Color Efex Pro: How to transform your photography by Robin Whalley (298 pages)
Nik Sharpener Pro 3: How to achieve razor sharp images by Robin Whalley (156 pages)
How to Avoid and Remove Image Noise with Nik Dfine 2 by Robin Whalley (114 pages)
NIK Filters: Sudden Service by Richard Baker
GIMP Essentials #2: Layer Masks by Alex Standiford
GIMP Essentials #1: All About Layers by Alex Standiford
Exploring HDR with Photoshop, PhotoMatrix and Topaz Adjust by Blake Rudis
Viveza: The Secret to Creating Breathtaking Photography by Robin Whalley (82 pages)
Mobile and Smartphone Photography
100 Instagram Tips, Tricks and Secrets by Andrew Macarthy
Smartphone-Fotografie – Das Praxisbuch (German language) by Martin Jakubowski
Selfies
How to Take the Best Selfies by Sarah Sloboda
SELFIE SECRETS: Self Confidence With Digital Photography Tips (Posing, Selfie Photos, Instagram) by Brenda Foster (37 pages)
Fiction with Camera & Photography themes
The Kodak Troll by Joanne Magnus, short horror story