Books
If you go into any bookstore, you’ll find an overwhelming selection of photography books. These are the ones that I own and love, and reread on a regular basis.
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Understanding Exposure is the bible of exposure. I’m teaching kindergarten here, while he’s giving a graduate seminar complete with stunning examples and clear explanations. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to get an in-depth understanding of exposure. |
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Learning to See Creativelyis another Bryan Peterson book, this time on composition. This book has done more to improve my skill as a photographer than anything I’ve ever read. I’ve learned to look at the world in an entirely different way, and to hunt the image that isn’t obvious. I can’t say enough good about this book. |
Products
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Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens Also known as the nifty fifty, this lens is inexpensive and a great bang for the buck. |
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Canon RC1 Wireless Remote This little gizmo is wonderful if you have a Rebel-class dSLR– it’s the best thing ever for taking pictures without touching the camera. |
Equipment Rental
BorrowLenses is a fabulous place to rent camera gear. They have a great selection of equipment, and my dealings with them have been excellent. If you’re in the San Francisco bay area, they have a few different places where you can pick up and drop off your rental equipment.
Websites
Copper Hill Images sells excellent products for cleaning your camera and its components. They also have an excellent, detailed tutorial on sensor cleaning.
Strobist is an excellent resource for learning about off-camera lighting and lighting techniques.
Flickr is the site that I use for hosting and sharing images. A basic account is free, and a fully-featured one is only a few dollars a year. Image hosting at Flickr is pretty simple.
LensRentals is an excellent resource for renting lenses in order to try them out, or when you just need a special lens for a little while. I’ve had excellent service from them.
dpreview does excellent in-depth reviews of digital cameras. Their side-by-side comparison tool is great if you want to look at the differences between different cameras.
Stop Shooting Auto! 
Hi, Patti! The very best general basic photography books I’ve ever come across are _Photography_ by Londone, Upton, Stone, et. al., and _Digital Photography_ by Katrin Eismann, Sean Duggan, and Tim Grey.
Very well written post however, I would recommend that you turn the No Follow off in your comment section.
Keep up the good work.
Hmmm… what was the name of that website that reviewed camera equipment? Thought I’d find it here.
dpreview.com — I just added it.
Good morning…
How about these books, I found them really good, Have you read them?:
“Within the Frame” by Duchemin, “The Photographer´s Eye” by Freeman and “The Art and Business of Photo Editing: Selecting and Evaluating Images for Publication” by Sheperd.
Been reading everything I can get my hands on lately – so far – you’re the BEST!! Up until reading your work, I flt the more I read the dumber I got! Thanks for helping!
No, no getting dumber! You’re smarter than your camera. :-)