If you're into photojournalism - or want to get a foot in the door, then this book may provide some inspiration.

Photojournalism, The Professionals' Approach is packed with pictures, both well-known and obscure, complete with explanations, hints and tips.

Each page of the paperback raises questions for the reader - the photojournalist - on composition, publication and the ethics of their work.

It was written by Professor Kenneth Kobré, who directs photojournalism at San Francisco State University.

This has the result of the book being very America-centric - but, as they say, all life is there.

And we can learn something from our cousins across the Atlantic.

From the very beginning, the author explains where to find news, how to treat the events unfolding in front of your lens, and who can help you get better results. There's advice on "turning pro", for those who haven't already, advice on developing a portfolio and on how to freelance, and a neat chapter on the industry's history.

Each picture in this lavishly illustrated volume comes with a helpful annotation on who took it and where, and goes on to describe how it was taken, almost as a private aside to the main text, like a friendly mentor who has your best interests at heart.

Where to find news, general news, covering the issues, portraits, features, sport and the photo story are all covered in depth. The first few chapters explain the value of contacts, using press officers, reacting to tip-offs and making the most of your opportunities.

The handbook then brings into play more of the set-piece side of being a news photographer. It explains how to borrow techniques from advertising photographers to illustrate stories based on issues and abstract ideas - or stories which evaluate the news.

There is a series of individual case studies which draw on the experiences of leading photojournalists to explain to the reader how working professionals handle such day-to-day challenges.

Selling your pictures and ideas is also important, and the book also gives advice on the more technical side of the business, such as editing the pictures you take, according to the customer and the readers you're targeting. It tackles the differences between using black and whit or colour images, and ideas such as cropping for impact.

Your kit is an important factor in how you work - and Photojournalism covers the essentials, as well as describing differing needs and personal taste.

There's also a sobering chapter near the end, entitles Ethics. This contains pictures which some readers might find worrying, such as suicides as they happen, bodies being zipped into body bags and grieving families.

But the chapter's subtitle Doing the Right Thing lays the foundations for a responsible and grown-up discussion on how far a photojournalist should go, on taste grounds. Covering tragedy and grief has to be balanced with intrusion, news values and respecting privacy, and this chapter certainly makes you think about your profession.

Photojournalism, The Professionals' Approach, by Kenneth Kobré, is published in paperback by Focal Press (ISBN 0240806107) at £39.95.

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