One of the best books I can recommend is Michael Freeman's "[The Photographer's Eye: Composition and Design for Better Digital Photos][1]". This is an excellent book that covers all aspects of artistic photography, in all areas. Its a must-have book for our type (I am a software engineer, and also struggled with the artistic side of things.) Another excellent book by Michael Freeman is "[Perfect Exposure: The professional guide to capturing perfect digital photographs][2]". This book is a bit of a blend between fully understanding how to use the technical tools and concepts of photography, and how to achieve artistic photographs using that knowledge. Not quite as artistically centric as his other book, but still an excellent read. I do landscape, nature, and wildlife photography, so most of my books are related to that area of photography. Here are some other great books that I found that have helped me learn the artistic side of things: - "[Developing Vision and Style: A Landscape Photography Masterclass][3]" by Joe Cornish, Charlie Wait, and David Ward - Excellent resource of other photographers work. One of the best ways to learn the artistic side of photography is observe the artistic photographs of other great photographers. - Alain Briot's "[Mastering Landscape Photography: The Luminous Landscape Essays][4]" - Alain Briot has been a long-time contributor to the Luminous Landscape web site - This book is a more thorough compilation of his works on that site. - David Noton's "[Waiting for the Light][5]" - Another excellent book for landscape photographers, this one explains how to find and use natural light When it comes to other types of photography, I don't have a whole lot to offer. I've perused some books on portrait and wedding photography, however I don't own any and couldn't offer much. Architectural photography seems to be an area that is fairly lacking in books. There do seem to be some great books from individual architectural photographers that showcase their works, and observing other photographers work is a great way to learn, but it is limited. Another field I have started to delve into is astrophotography. There do seem to be a few books and resources in that area: - [Digital SLR Astrophotography][6] - [A Beginner's Guide to DSLR Astrophotography][7] - [Long Exposure Astrophotography][8] - [Catching the Light][9] [1]: http://www.amazon.com/Photographers-Eye-Composition-Design-Digital/dp/0240809343 [2]: http://www.amazon.com/Michael-Freemans-Perfect-Exposure-Professionals/dp/0240811712 [3]: http://www.amazon.com/Developing-Vision-Style-Photography-Masterclass/dp/1902538498 [4]: http://www.amazon.com/Mastering-Landscape-Photography-Luminous-Essays/dp/1933952067 [5]: http://www.amazon.com/Photography-Essentials-Waiting-Light-David/dp/0715328190 [6]: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0521700817/?tag=stackoverfl08-20 [7]: http://www.astropix.com/BGDA/ORDER.HTM [8]: http://www.naturescapes.net/docs/index.php/category-technical/145-long-exposure-astrophotography [9]: http://www.astropix.com/