Read This If You Want to Take Great Photographs

The book is organized into five short sections: composition, exposure, light, lenses and seeing. Each spread pairs a single idea, such as the rule of thirds, leading lines, shutter speed or aperture, with a photograph by a great photographer, from classic landscapes to street photography, along with a short, lively explanation of what makes the image work and how to try the technique yourself.

Carroll's tone is warm and encouraging, sometimes cheeky, and he never assumes prior knowledge. He explains technical settings only as far as they help you make pictures, and he spends as much time on looking as on equipment. The result is a book you can read in an evening and then carry in a camera bag. More experienced photographers will find little that is new, and readers who want detailed technical instruction will need a fuller manual.

As an introduction, though, it is one of the best and most inspiring available, and it introduces readers to great photography along the way. Its small size makes it easy to slip into a bag. About 128 pages in the Laurence King paperback.