(Part 2) Best photography equipment & techniques books according to redditors
We found 608 Reddit comments discussing the best photography equipment & techniques books. We ranked the 312 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.
Oh man, I interviewed him at his home a few weeks ago for my friend's art magazine! I was there for hours; he's such a fascinating guy. He has a book of the photos too: http://www.amazon.com/Elgin-Park-Ideal-American-Town/dp/3791345486
Here's a link to his book:
https://www.amazon.com/Elgin-Park-Ideal-American-Town/dp/3791345486
> The surface is completely radiation free
The nuclear testing severely affected scores of people and livestock.
In "American Ground Zero: The Secret Nuclear War", Carole Gallagher researched this area for a decade, speaking with witnesses and survivors of our nuclear testing era. The Atomic Energy Commission considered these citizens "a low-use segment of the population" and performed the testing despite ample evidence it was harming both people and livestock.
Allow me to quote from the Library Journal: "This book is a collection of photographs and oral histories of people whose lives were affected by radioactive fallout--civilians in Morman Utah and other Western states unlucky enough to live "downwind" from U.S. nuclear weapons testing during the 1950s and 1960s. Gallagher, a former New York photographer, spent seven years interviewing and photographing radiation survivors, who included dairy farmers, ranchers, professors, Native Americans, housewives, soldiers, artists, and shepherds. What they had in common were leukemias, brain tumors, birth defects, diabetes, sterility, miscarriages, thyroid cancers, the death of children, medical bills, and funerals--not to mention dirty fallout and dirty politics. Gallagher's photos of these victims without status in this lonely geography are compelling and speak volumes. Highly recommended for all collections."
Grand Teton is a pretty easy park to get around in. There are many pullouts to overlooks on the main roads that kind of circle the area. Just driving and finding those pullouts will get you to all the classic Teton locations.
Check out these books too. The first one is a photo guide that should give you some ideas. The second is Lonely Planet's guide. This is the best book for learning about the area (I've read them all).
https://www.amazon.com/Photographers-Guide-Yellowstone-Tetons-Joseph/dp/0811735559/
https://www.amazon.com/Lonely-Planet-Yellowstone-National-Travel-ebook/dp/B01DZ5M9K0/
You might want to familiarize yourself with the photographers featured in the following books:
No, it's "Gonzo," which is a sort of photo-biography of Thompson's life. It's got hundreds of pictures of him and ones that he took himself, and it's pretty great. If you aren't picky about cover quality, you can get it for very cheap.
I haven't been shooting very much lately, and been having trouble sleeping, so instead I've been spending time working on my website. In particular, I've been trying to make it faster, and I'm preeeetty happy with the results: fully loaded in a smidge over 1 second, speed index 589. Not bad!
On a separate topic, I'm going to Jackson, WY and Grand Teton National Park in mid-March, and I'm not quite sure what to expect, photography-wise. I ordered this Photographer's Guide to the Tetons and I'm thinking about renting a second X-T2 with the 100-400mm lens to bring along with my X-T2 + 16-55. Doubt I'll see any wildlife, but maybe I'll take some sweet telephoto landscapes with the 100-400. Would love to hear y'all's experiences if you've been there at that time of year.
I just looked at the sleeve notes of my CD copy, the photo was taken somewhere from this book.
It's a really beautiful image for an album cover now I look at it.
From Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland:
>The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the "quantity" group: fifty pound of pots rated an "A", forty pounds a "B", and so on. Those being graded on "quality", however, needed to produce only one pot -- albeit a perfect one -- to get an "A". Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the "quantity" group was busily churning out piles of work - and learning from their mistakes -- the "quality" group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.
I like your pictures a lot. You are onto something. I think you have a good eye for photography. Keep shooting like this. Don't get distracted by post-processing your pictures now. You already know what is worth photographing. Your framing is good. Your work is better than most hobbyists after years of gear talk so be careful who you take advice from. The only thing you should be doing at this point is shooting a lot and buy some photography books, not the technical stuff or books about composition. Start with something general like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Great-LIFE-Photographers-Editors/dp/0316097934
<And there is a considerable overlap between van-dwellers and “preppers”—people who fear (or hope) that modern society will fall into ruin>
I have found this to be true as well. I think a lot of people become vandwellers because they are not at all happy with modern society, especially the feeling that one is being "herded" into a typical middle-class lifestyle that is stifling and stultifying, and that is designed and intended to channel wealth to the wealthiest 1% of society. People who are unhappy with "the way the world is" often look for a reasonable explanation for why the world is so screwed up. Once you start looking into it, you start discovering some very disturbing facts.
My personal favorite was the realization that during the Cold War, the U.S. government set off 139 NUCLEAR WEAPONS above ground (a total of 330+ altogether) at the Nevada Test Site. The radioactive fallout from those weapons blew all over the United States, clear to New York City, but especially contaminated Utah and Arizona. This resulted in horrific cancer rates, tumors, birth defects, and all manner of early deaths for people and animals in those states in the 1950's and '60s. Thousands of sheep died in Utah, and the sheep herders developed cancer. Horrible. My wife and her family are "Downwinders", and lived east of the Hanford Nuclear Research Facility in Hanford, Washington. (The prevailing winds blow eastwards.) This is where they developed the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan in WWII. Thirteen people on her parents' block died of cancer. My mother-in-law died of non-Hodgkins lymphoma.
reference: American Ground Zero: The Secret Nuclear War by Carole Gallagher, Random House, New York, 1993.
https://www.amazon.com/American-Ground-Zero-Secret-Nuclear/dp/0262071460
https://www.amazon.com/Day-We-Bombed-Utah-Americas/dp/B000P1J1T0/ref=pd_sim_14_1?_encoding=UTF8&amp;pd_rd_i=B000P1J1T0&amp;pd_rd_r=BC2YND7101ETRA7MQAW1&amp;pd_rd_w=yXCec&amp;pd_rd_wg=XixQV&amp;psc=1&amp;refRID=BC2YND7101ETRA7MQAW1
Another one is the secret CIA program in the 1960's, MK-ULTRA. It's too involved to go into here, but one of MK-ULTRA's test subjects was Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, whose mental illness was exacerbated by his experiences in the CIA testing during his college years at Harvard, if not entirely responsible for it. The CIA did some horrific things back then, and probably still does.
reference: Harvard and the Unabomber: The Education of an American Terrorist by Alston Chase.
https://www.amazon.com/Harvard-Unabomber-Education-American-Terrorist/dp/0393020029
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_MKUltra
People don't want to know the truth, and I don't blame them. The truth is horrifying.
Gonzo is a word used sometimes in reference to the muppets, but, amongst adult company, is much more commonly used in reference to cult personality and writing sensation Hunter S. Thomson, who described his style of drugged out immersion reportage as 'Gonzo Journalism.'
The image on the front of the book is the 'gonzo fist,' a two-thumbed, four-fingered, peyote-grasping badge he used as a symbol during a run for sheriff, but has since come to represent his career as a whole.
That specific book is probably this one.
Hope that helps!
Straight Life by Art Pepper is the best I've read.
Space Is The Place and Bright Moments and Beneath The Underdog also interesting.
On the other hand, Ben Watson is an idiot.
Went to buy this on amazon. Became sad.
Give this book a go.
You have to take the free Zion Shuttle to get to the Observation Point trailhead at Weeping Rock (7th stop on the shuttle). You have no choice - no cars allowed in the main canyon unless you're staying at the lodge. Springdale also has a free shuttle that gets you around the main street and drops you off where you can get to the Zion Shuttle.
Edit: You can rent bikes and bike to the trailhead. You have to be considerate to the shuttles though. They have to stop until you get off the road.
Lots of places for photo spots but tricky lighting at times. I'd look to see if your library has some books like Photographing Zion or Photographing the Southwest for ideas.
I'd recommend Making Faces or Face Forward.
I've seen both several times over and I can vouch for both. Nachtwey captures you in a way that most war photographers don't - he really sucks you in.
I think that anybody who liked War Photographer may enjoy the Tim Hetherington / Sebastian Junger documentary Restrepo (should still be on netflix). There's also Junger's docu after Hetherington's death, Which Way is the Front Line From Here?, which is about Tim Hetherington himself, and Tim's book of work from the Korengal, Infidel.
So I scale my makeup up or down depending on my character. A more rough and tumble type guy obviously doesn't get as much as a bishonen or female. Remember to always start your makeup routine with a freshly washed face and an application of moisturizer appropriate for your skin type.
1st let's briefly cover the "why" for those unaware of the benefits. Sorry OP if you find this patronizing. Skip ahead to the next paragraph if you already know why makeup is suggested for guys in cosplay. In your costume, I'm sure you want to make a good impression in the hall and in pictures. Makeup will help with this because it will:
All these factors means the makeup type, amount, and technique required is pretty variable from person to person, costume to costume, even convention to convention.
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I would say that bare minimum is a matte loose powder (I use Maybelline Shine Free) and a brown eye liner (any basic pencil that glides on works but I use Sonia Kashuk gel liner). Make sure these are applied to a clean, moisturized face. These 2 products will take care of the top two bullet points above. Powder will knock down the shine and allow you to control it as it pops up during the day. Brown eye liner will bring out your eyes without being as dramatic and obvious as black eyeliner. The eyeliner can also double as a brow pencil but I use a brow specific pencil most of the time for natural colors.
Suggested tools for these products? The loose powder will come with a puff that you can use to apply. I would suggest a Fan Brush or Powder Brush to knock off any extra powder that gets deposited. For the pencil, you should only need a sharpener; some even come with one. I just have a cheap 2-hole metal sharpener I picked up at an art store. If you want to use the pencil on your eyebrow, a spoolie brush will help even out the distribution of product. If you chose the gel liner, it will probably come with a 3-inch long angled detail brush. It works but I found the bristles very stiff and the handle too short to get my hand out of the way so I can see what I'm doing in the mirror. I picked up a longer handled synthetic fiber angle brush to replace it and have been quite happy. Only other tool I can suggest is cotton swabs to slightly smudge the edges of your eyeliner to make it more natural looking.
Before I get too far, an important concept for you starting out is that you want products that have a matte finish. If they don't, you'll get flash reflection in pictures with and look lighter (you know when you see to pictures of women where their face looks 4 shades lighter than their neck and body, that's flash reflecting back at the camera). Shiny/reflective properties in make up is not always apparent when buying or even applying. Steer clear of products with names like luminous, dewy, illuminating, radiant, or brightening. Other words that are tricky descriptors but more of a crap shoot are color correcting or satin, maybe some others that I can't think of right now. Powders, both loose and pressed, are notoriously tricky about this. Eyeshadow is very difficult to find in matte.
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The next step up from bare minimum is concealer and foundation to provide coverage and color correction. If you just have a few blemishes you want to cover, a simple combination of concealer on those few spots and powder may be all you want or need. If your powder has a bit of color as the one I linked above does, it will even provide a bit of coverage. There are multiple types of foundation and many hybrids in-between and will probably take a few tries to find the one you like in terms of coverage, color, weight, and finish which all tend to be quite variable, even within brands. In order of less coverage to more we have powder foundation, powder to liquid, liquid, and cream. I really like liquid because it tends to be buildable, that is; you can put on a layer, let it set and dry, then add another layer if you need more coverage. While I use primarily budget or drugstore bands for my makeup, I to get spendy with my foundation and don't regret it one bit. I use MAC Studio Fix and will likely buy more when I run out. I have a couple of different shades that I use to change my complexion to go with blonde wigs. I'm naturally black haired so blonde, white, or pink takes some work. It will take some playing around to figure out what you need for a specific costume but I use the loose powder in light and medium to help me adjust lighter or darker from the two shades of foundation I have. Beard shadow also falls into color correction. Most beard shadow is bluish in tone. Reach back to your middle school art class color theory and remember that orange is blue's complementary color. For our use, putting one on top of the other has a cancelling effect. I sparingly use a matte orange lipstick like NYX butter in Hot Tamale before I put on my foundation in areas where the shadow is really bad. I much prefer taking down beard shadow with a close shave but that's because my beard shadow isn't that bad and my double-edge razor gets much closer than an expensive ass 5-blade monster.
Tools for foundation and concealer. I dot on the foundation with my fingers and spread with a foundation brush. The brush can leave streaks so a blender sponge can help diminish them. Just pounce up and down with light pressure before it sets. Don't press and drag. Your powder application will take care of the rest. Do not apply your liquid foundation with a sponge unless you want to waste foundation. It's a sponge. You'll end up with more foundation in the sponge than on your face. If you buy your concealer in a stick, it's probably all you need but mine is in a pot and I like applying it with a synthetic bristle brush for exactness and blending out the edges. I have a lot of moles on my nose and this helps me get it on each and every one.
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So here we are at contouring. You'll probably notice foundation with medium to high coverage really takes some of the depth out of your face. It looks a little weird but can be easily corrected with a matte bronzer or dark concealer to add in shadows. Use the bronzer or concealer to add re-emphasize shadows in the hollows of your cheeks, under your jawline, under your brow bone, etc. Start with your own face shape and then expand your horizons. You are essentially forcing the perception of shadows and depth. Play around with locations, shapes, angles to match your character. Your character have a round face while you have a long rectangular one? Try adding shadow at your hairline and peak of your chin to shorten your face. Get a very light concealer and you can do even more by forcing the appearance of highlights and bringing things forward. This is a good pallet for detail contouring and eyeshadow when you're ready to try that. The eye shadows can be used anywhere on your face for contouring.
Tools: For bronzer, an angled blush brush will get you some nice blend patterns and lines. Cream concealers go on nicely with a synthetic brush or cheap wedge sponges. All said and done, I suggest getting one of the brush kits from Coastal Scents, ELF, or Sonia Kushak. /r/Makeupaddiction tends to like the budget Eco Tools as well.
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My typical order:
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Some resources:
Goss
Petrilude
Kevyn Aucoin Face Forward
Whew, I think this is my longest post ever. Hopefully it says what I think it does as I wrote it off and on through out the day and am to tired to proof it.
EDIT: thought I should also specify that I'm a guy cosplayer and regularly use makeup in cosplay. This info is what I've collected through my 7 years of cosplay.
I'm a hobbyist photog and a digital marketer by trade since 2003.
You're correct that the website is just a business card, and its ability to draw and convert customers for you really depends on how well you've defined your market. If you're targeting something high-level and non-regional, it will be very hard to find traction. If your niche is local and specific, you can probably find success, but that will be driven by hustle and building relationships.
> i'm not a fucking blog in the first place and i'm not going to pad my website with transparently bullshit text to generate sales.
That's one way to think of blogging and content marketing, I suppose.
But there are many businesses that use blogs/CM as ways to bring value to customers and non-customers, or to contribute back to the community they're a part of. And those are the blogs that actually drive revenue, because that's how customers stay informed of what you're doing, and how potential customers see that you are worth looking into.
For micro stock, it doesn't matter nearly that much, someone has a defined need for a certain type of picture, so they find that picture and their need is met.
But when it comes to selling prints to consumers, you are as much a part of the product as the actual picture - and maybe more, when it comes to selling prints. Most fine art print buyers are buying on wants and emotional fulfillment, not on a defined need. That's why successful fine art photogs build email lists, tell stories about the photos in their prints, offer limited editions, etc. The blogging/content/email marketing is about making the consumer feel special and a part of something worth belonging to. The keywording and tagging doesn't do that - it just helps with discovery in the first place.
>I have tried so many ways to google specifically "photography marketing specialists" and that apparently is not a job that even exists.
I've thought many times about starting just such a business, since I know marketing and photography, and there are definitely opportunities for success when merging them. But I don't think there's enough volume in fine art, nor enough margin dollars to actually support an industry of people who provide marketing services to photographers.
The places where photography marketing works are on the platform side (SmugMug, zenfolio, etc) which can scale, not on the photography services side (lead gen, branding, etc).
>What do you guys do? Does ANYONE know what the fuck they're doing in this field or are they all bullshitters?
Almost all successful photography marketing is pure hustle from the photographers themselves, or a small team that works for them. And most of that successful photography marketing is not about selling photography, but about selling ebooks, tutorials, PS actions, etc.
There are some good resources out there. This book from Alain Briot is a bit dated, but I own it and think it's pretty solid. I've also got this Zack Arias book that has some ideas on building a photography business.
The people who are winning in selling prints are not winning online, they're winning in relationships with real people: interior designers, hotel purchasing folks, people who just moved into town, etc. They are getting their marketing in front of people in their target markets who have the ability ($$$) and the willingness to buy their art/photos.
It does help. I wasn't the biggest fan of Sun Ra until I read [John Szwed's biography] (http://www.amazon.com/Space-Is-The-Place-Lives/dp/0306808552). That allowed me to get to know more about him and some of his music that I may never have gotten to. I'm still not an avid fan, but I've got a handful of his records that I dig.
Lighting is going to be pretty important. Prep-work really helps out. Talk to them before, and see if they can get you some examples of what effect they are looking for. There are often pretty good tutorials online that can allow you to replicate almost any shot.
The key as Tyler5280 said, is that you have to make your models comfortable, its helpful that they are already your friends, but don't rely on that to make it natural. Often the best looking shot is not the most comfortable.
Now as for actual technique, experiment! Make it clear that you've never done this before, and you welcome all suggestions. Don't use really wide angles unless you want distortion, but otherwise go for it. I personally use a 50mm f1.8 for most portraiture, and its a pretty good combo. Since you have a 18-55 zoom, your f-stop will not go that low. One thing that might help, don't shoot on the same line as your subject. If shooting the face, shoot from slightly below, and slightly from an angle. Take a look at most head shots, you'll see what I mean.
Phew, this is a long one.
I've included a link for the guide that I personally recomend. It's a bit outdated on equipment, but the technique and composition won't ever go out of date. Its $4, and worth many times that amount. I'd buy it used, since who cares if it's a little beat up. There is a chapter on every type of photo you'll ever try to take, and a fair bit on set up and preparation for any shot.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0679742042/ref=dp_olp_used?ie=UTF8&amp;condition=used
A lot of people in Nevada and Utah received medially significant doses. If you expose enough people, some will contract cancers they otherwise wouldn't have.
https://www.amazon.com/American-Ground-Zero-Secret-Nuclear/dp/0262071460/
I love Utah, and it's a photographer's dream. In case you're interested, here are some more of my photos from parks and hikes in Utah.
I recommend Photographing the Southwest. The series of books is very helpful for finding photo opportunities.
I can warmly recomend this book OP.
http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Photoshop-Restoration-Retouching-Edition/dp/0321316274
Also could you post the raw high dpi scan, I'd love to take a crack at it.
It looks like it might be this book.
Edit: or one of the other Peter Beard compilations.
Let's see, there was Understanding Exposure, which is especially helpful for people who have only ever shot digital b/c it explains so much of the basic functions of the camera that most people take per granted and can improve your pictures dramatically, another one of Peterson's books, Learning to See Creatively is also really good, I also like The Photographer's Eye. Another really good book if you're into B&W is Black & White: Photographic Printing Workshop, which was written for using enlargers in a darkroom but can equally be used with basic Photoshop technique, shows how to convert blah pictures into really amazing imagery using basic dodging and burning techniques. I'll post some examples of his later when I get home.
Not sure where you get that from.
Peter Beard - Photography - 706 pages - $52
Darren Almond - Photography - 400 pages - $54
Universe: Images from the Hubble Telescope - Photography - 355 pages - $67
According to the booklet, the original photo it's from Mark Gabor's 1972 Photography book "The Pin Up: A Modest History".
I really think it's a hoax, but it would be really cool if she was.
I tend to recommend Bryan Peterson's Learning to See Creatively more than his Understanding Exposure as a beginner text. Learning composition, to me, is more important than exposure-think at the beginning. Both are terrific.
The only drawbacks with Understanding Exposure, is, at least in the earlier editions, he's still based more in film-think than digital think and tells you to do things like use f/22 all the time, without considering diffraction limits; or describing ISO in film sensitivity terms, not sensor amplification terms.
Also, avoid his flash book like the plague. I'd recommend Syl Arena's Lighting for Digital Photography and Neil van Niekerk's Direction and Quality of Light instead for learning flash.
Ah, yes, I remember reading about a similar process in my Darkroom Handbook (I think it was in that) in the early '90s.
You could use your enlarger to expose an image onto the sort of Polaroid paper used in medium format camera backs, and then peel away the paper, and then use a silk-screen roller to transfer the dyes onto canvas or paper.
The results looked really good, but I never got around to trying it out myself.
his other book "Face Forward" is also good. Amazon as a few of the pages in preview https://www.amazon.com/reader/0316287059/ref=rdr_sb_li_sims_1&amp;state=01111
http://www.amazon.com/Direction-Quality-Light-Portrait-Photography-ebook/dp/B00C4GRGQY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1412024128&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=neil+van+niekerk
http://www.amazon.com/-Camera-Techniques-Digital-Portrait-Photography/dp/1584282584/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1412024128&amp;sr=8-3&amp;keywords=neil+van+niekerk
http://www.amazon.com/Off-Camera-Flash-Techniques-Digital-Photographers-ebook/dp/B0051B67H8/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1412024128&amp;sr=8-4&amp;keywords=neil+van+niekerk
Here is the mobile version of your link
The one that I have, which is also incredible, is The Great LIFE Photographers.
This is from the book 'Where Children Sleep' http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/1905712162/bookbrain
No problem!
I'd really recommend the book. It's a good one.
http://www.amazon.com/Wim-Wenders-Places-Strange-English/dp/3775735135
Check out his films if you haven't already.
I've read the 'holy trinity' (The Camera, The Negative, The Print) but I've found that I like Way Beyond Monochrome (second edition) much more. It's more modern and covers why multigrade papers are so awesome, Ansel only covers this slightly in The Print while WBM covers in in detail.
Also, for printing in general, Larry Bartlett's B&W photographic printing workshop is the best piece I've ever written. The technical side of things is covered better in other books (and here it's only covered in a few pages in the introduction chapter), but this book is a description on how a master printer approaches and prints several tricky images, as well as more normal images. I've read it several times and will most likely read it several times again.
The technical bits are easy, however. Better read photography books, for portraiture I really like the work of Inta Ruka (People I know is...magic) and Gregory Heisler (50 portraits).
I taught a beginners photo course for undergrads for a few years. The advanced book the university used was "Photography" by London, Upton, & Stone. That book, as I recall, was amazing with everything you could imagine, even down to common darkroom issues - so it's not all digital. Awesome stuff. Link to Amazon below... I think I have a copy in my stash, somewhere.
https://www.amazon.com/Photography-12th-Barbara-London/dp/0134482026/
This might not be the answer you are looking for, but I think this is the answer you need the most. The answers to your questions are really fundamental for photography, especially in comparison with your equipment list. I would highly recommend you rent this college-level photography book to learn the basics with aperture, shutter speed, and flash.
https://www.amazon.com/Photography-12th-Barbara-London/dp/0134482026/ref=sr_1_1?crid=57ER9Z8TX1UA&keywords=photography+london+stone+upton&qid=1568649761&sprefix=Photography+London+Ston%2Caps%2C153&sr=8-1
Take your camera out and play with the settings while you read about how any why they altar the image. You will grow leaps and bounds!
To get you through your photoshoot:
I strongly recommend https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/ amazing free resource that gets the science right.
For books I recommend https://smile.amazon.com/dp/0134482026/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_PQAzCb3SB1EWQ
For getting better I recommend finding a group to critique with, even better if it's in person, and shooting regularly.
Processing-wise:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Darkroom-Handbook-Michael-Langford/dp/0852231881
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ilford-Monochrome-Darkroom-Practice-Processing/dp/0240513681
I have this: http://www.amazon.com/Photographers-Handbook-Third-Revised/dp/0679742042
It's not very useful with things like exposure, and surprisingly it completely glosses over a few important things like the zone system or even really how to deal with exposure, but it's a good general-purpose reference manual for almost everything related to film photography.
My favorite PS book is Adobe Photoshop Restoration and Retouching by Katrin Eisman. It's not CC specific. I read an older edition about 12 years ago when I had PS 7. After upgrading from CS4 to CC, I bought Adobe Photoshop CC for Photographers by Martin Evening, but I've only spent a few minutes in it to understand some new features.
I've read Infidel, War, and seen Restrepo. I read the story today on BBC, though I couldn't quite place where I heard that name before.
This title just made feel physically sick. RIP Tim Hetherington.
This is where I'd start. I still keep my copy on my nightstand and go back to it constantly.
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https://www.amazon.com/Photographers-Handbook-Third-Revised/dp/0679742042
Biographies and autobiographies are the way to go, I think – there's simply too much to write a book about everyone at once, not to mention the story of jazz is really the sum of intersecting individual journeys and solos, not some kind of burgeoning volksgeist. I recommend Miles and Space is the Place
You should know about the rainbow that appears at Yellowstone Falls, viewed from Artist Point, around 9:30-9:45 AM, daily.
There's a whole book called Photographers Guide to Yellowstone and the Tetons that you can buy.
As for wildlife, your best bet is probably to ask the rangers what areas are hot at the time you are there.
I'd grab a cheap used copy of The Darkroom Handbook by Michael Langford, it has a section on darkroom design from basic to professional.