I have a confession to make... I usually don't read all of the books I buy - at least very rarely do I read them cover to cover. But I have one right now that I am pouring over every word, even the captions of every photo.

This is the fourth edition of Martin Edge's The Underwater Photographer.

So far, I've found the book to be very well written (with only a few iffy areas, but they could possibly be from the fact that it is written in British English). I am a slow reader, I always have been, so it is taking me a while to get through this book. However, this book is not a lightweight easy flip through book with a very flush 516 pages.

The book goes deeply into every aspect of underwater photography, starting out with the photography basics that I'm well acquainted with, through the equipment, and then into the specifics of lighting, composition, etc, etc, etc. One nice aspect is that Martin covers both SLR as well as compact shooting.

I think the book has given me plenty to think about while on my upcoming dive trip where I'll have two underwater cameras with me, and hopefully I'll come back with a couple great shots. I'm debating taking it with me as I feel it might be a nice reference for while I'm on the trip, and I'm sure there are some sections I want to reread at least once more before the trip.

There are also a few other books that I've been flipping through as well...

Hopefully something I come back with will be as nice as some of the shots in the book on the left, which is an absolutely beautiful coffee table photo book, and the two on the right is one of the books Anya got me for Christmas (and so was the Underwater Photographer book!), so I'll be using them to help identify what we do manage to get photos of.

I promise to do a post soon regarding the stack of new equipment I had to order to be able to take the 7D into the water, so stay tuned! But for now, I'm going back to watching this 7-0 Penguin game!

- Bill