Study your own photography, not the masters.
The masters won’t help you tweak your style.
Take the above photo for example. I like the bubble exploding against the crushed blacks. This is just an okay photo, but next time I’ll know to simplify the scene. I’d like to have less background clutter which can easily be done by pointing my camera to the right. I also want to be closer to the explosion. There is a lot of potential here.
So how can looking at a photo book improve this? I don’t think it can. Only we know the strengths and weaknesses of our photos and only we know the specifics of any neighborhood we frequent. This is the power we possess. Recognizing patterns and improving the scene through this recognition. Some things are in our control.
Chris Athanasiadis 