For those who may be interested - when I have been overseas, I always visit the major art galleries for my books (gallery catalogues of hanging imagesamong others) and/or other sources of help.

Old Masters - among others - have been around for hundreds of years and their principles that apply to painting - re compositions - apply to a cam compposition as well.

You are so fortunate to have those sources available on how to do a composition. I just bought a catalogue of the haning images and sculpture in the Gallery in Dublin this past June and have found it a very useful addition.

Also, for those interested, a site that I use for study purposes is
www.abcgallery.com
By clicking on the letter at the top of the page, (the first letter of the artist's last name) I can then open any thumbnail of any image and study any part I want to learn how to put an image together with the cam.

Another link I found useful on art composition is
http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/milkmaid.htm
By moving the mouse over the image that is open, it gives an idea what the artist did to put his composition together and why he did it. By going to the previous or next image link in the box on the left, you can do any image in his collection this way.

These are just suggestions only.

For Elements I like Scott Kelby ''the photoshop elements 5 book for digital photographers.'' The book for 5 is not out yet but is on its way.

I find Photoshop Elements 3 The Missing Manual" by Barbara Brundage to be very useful, even thouh I stopped using Elements 3 a long while ago. The basic information is equally applicable to most versions of Photoshop.

Duncan

I have two that I find full of excellent info.... The First is John Shaw's Closeups In Nature. It is for Macro and Closeup photograpphy primarily, but covers very important general technique, and camera settings for DOF, Exposure, Shutter Speed and the relationship they all have with one another in determining, how, when, and why......
The other is Mikkel Aaland's book for Post Processing Titled: Photoshop CS2 RAW. It covers everything (or most of it) in a very logical and reasonably easy way to understand the basics and how to use the bells and whistles which are usually needed to take a good photo and make it phenominal.... I am still studying ;) ;).....Alex

Two mags that I wouldnt be without are, practical photography and digital photo. They are sister mags (whatever that means) and are out monthly. The advice both for digital and film is second to none. Another boon is that on some markets you can pick up last months mag for a quid. Bargain.
Dean.

A book that is for painters - but has a large amount of things to look for when using a cam - is
AN INTRODUCTION TO ART TECHNIQUES

Authors - RAY SMITH, MICHAEL WRIGHT, JAMES HORTON
It is put out by - DK ART SCHOOL IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE ROYAL ACCADEMYOF ARTS
ISBN 0-7894-5151-4

This book covers everything, teexture, tone, colour matching, besides equipment. I especially like the areas on texture, tone, perspective composition as they are the same for cam use as for paintig.

Norm D

For portrature I can Highly recommend Digital Portrait Photography and Lighting by Catherine Jamieson & Sean McCormick. It is mainly all about technique & Lighting and is easy to follow. It also has some basic editing tips.

Fiona

I've found that for general photography 'tips' books and technique, Michael Freeman is a very good author.....
as for photoshop...I rely from tips off the mother-in-law! (believe it or not)

I received a copy of "The Art of Photographing Nature" By Hill and Wolfe. Wonderful book. Thanks for the recommendation.

Understanding Exposure by Bryan Peterson. The only book I own on Photography. Everything explained clearly and concisely, no need for any other books.