Over the course of this pandemic and isolation, I have bought a few eBooks, looking to upskill myself, ready for when I can venture out again. I found, overall, most were good to great. Informative, lots of tips and secrets divulged. Easy to checkout and download, tick, tick. And conversely, one, quite disappointing with basic content that I could pick up with just as easily with an internet search.

Price

Overall, the price of eBooks is something that really bugs me. Yes, the author has a lot of time putting it together. But after it’s ready, that’s it. Upload it, advertise it, sit back and wait for sales. No more work is required, and it keeps (hopefully) bringing in money month after month for years, with no more work required. Money for jam. So why are they priced equal to or dearer than print books when they don’t have the overheads? There are no printing or distribution costs. No commission or markup to retailers. Yet the price doesn’t reflect this.

Buyer beware

I read voraciously on my iPad. Mostly fiction, with some photography related ebooks. The fiction books are always $10 to $20 cheaper than ‘textbooks’, so not a big investment. However, textbooks are usually a lot dearer. So I try to be selective with them. A boring or badly written fiction book at $15 or less is easier to stomach than a photography ebook where I learned nothing but paid $35 – $40. And I really wished for a money-back guarantee with the last one I bought. Some do give it – some don’t.

Reviews

Be aware; these are my opinions only. You may feel completely different about the books. I also purchased all these books – none are paid reviews.

Landscape Photography: On Location

by Thomas Heaton

$6.58 on Amazon

One of my favourite eBooks. I have been following Thomas via his YouTube channel for ages, so I jumped at the book when I found it.

It contains loads of useful, well explained technical information for all skill levels. While it’s not a ‘how-to’ manual, it contains many tips, pointers, and inspiration. And for the price, you can’t go wrong.

Photographing Fabulous Flowers

By Leanne Cleaveley

$19 from Photzy

This book is well written, filled to the brim with loads of helpful tips and hints on getting the perfect shot. Leanne covers everything from settings to composition to editing and printing. The book also comes with a bonus checklist plus a flower waterdrop tutorial. If you’re not satisfied, it’s also backed by a 365-day money-back guarantee. No money-back is needed on this one. If you are into flower photography, this one is definitely for you.

For the Love of Food

By Julie Powell

$25 from Julie Powell Photography

This is a great little eBook.

Seventeen pages covering composition, lighting, hints, and tips on backgrounds and props.

If you are getting into food photography and looking for where to start, you will be on the right path.

No money-back guarantee (not that I want one), but for the price, definitely value for money.

Captiviting Color

by Mitchell Kanashkevich

$19 from Digital Photography School

This was one of the first eBooks I purchased on photography, and it made a huge difference to how I “see” images. It aims to teach you how to understand and use colour. This, in turn, influences your viewer’s attention to the image and use colour and subjects for maximum impact.

Includes six practical exercises to help you implement what you have learned. Comes with a 60-day money-back guarantee.

The Creative Photography Cookbook

by Dina Belenko

$39 Available from Expert Photography

In a word. Awesome. This book has to be the bee’s knees for creative food photography. Dina Belenko is the queen of ‘conceptual still like photography’ with 44k followers on Instagram.

Her book covers composition, props, setups, techniques. 31 projects with loads of pictures, giving you step-by-step directions from props to setup to editing on creating your own amazing images.

Includes bonus ‘recipe’ sheets. One of the more expensive books, but it’s 374 pages big! It also comes with a 90-day money-back guarantee.

Miniature Worlds

by David Gilliver

£20 from Davids website

I had to hit one turkey sooner or later on the law of averages.

David is a fabulous photographer from Glasgow, Scotland, renowned for light painting and miniatures. He has been featured in many newspapers for his small world figures and has over 2.5k followers on Instagram. The book is roughly the same price as Dina Belenko’s but 1/6th size.

However, his book of ’52 pages’ sounded great. He said his book “is packed full of advice and detailed information on camera gear & settings. Additionally it included information on where to source the figurines and props. He claimed to have “not held anything back and have shared everything that I have learned over the past 20+ years”.

I agonised over this book for a week or more. I really wanted it. But there was no money-back guarantee. In the end, because I had never asked for my money back before, I bit the bullet and bought it. And so wished I had saved myself the $37 Au. We didn’t get information on how to do these figures till page 13. The first 12 pages are fluff. The next seven pages contain images and descriptions. Nothing you couldn’t work out yourself by looking at them on his Instagram page.

The following pages cover camera settings and props, then more images and tip gems such as “check battery is charged, and sd card is in camera”. He may have held nothing back, but what he gave was nothing I hadn’t already learned by google searching others. In fact, I learned more from a free tutorial on the Adobe Create page.

Moral to the story

Above all, don’t buy if they don’t offer a money-back guarantee. Of all the books I have bought, those with the guarantee were worth it, and I was a satisfied customer. I guess I know why David’s book didn’t come with one.

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