Many photographers say Light: Science and Magic is THE best book on photographic lighting – and I agree with them. If you intend to be seriously involved in photography, this book should be on your required reading list.
Some of the Best All Purpose Photography Books
Some of my favorite all purpose photography books.
Out of hundreds of books in my photography library, these are my favorite all purpose photography books. This is a list of the books that were the most helpful to me when I took a serious interest in photography, and I continue to refer to them. These books were written back when film was king, but that makes them all the more valuable to today’s digital photographers. Some digital photography books get so bogged down in digital technical information that the heart and soul of photography can get lost. The best film photography books are about the heart and soul of photography. They are light and shadow, subjects, form, texture, line and shape, and visual impact – all of which applies to digital photography.
The Best Panorama Gear: Living in Panorama Heaven
Tripod Recommendations: The Best of the Best
Looking for a tripod? Choose wisely. Other than a camera and a good lens, nothing can make a bigger difference in your photography than a good tripod. This is the place to find information, recommended models, and links to more information.
The Best Closeup Photography Equipment
Forget-Me-Nots, Thorne-Swift Nature Preserve, Michigan
There are several ways to do closeup photography. Closeup filters, extension tubes, and macro lenses are the most commonly used options. The best gear for you depends on your preferences, how you want to work, the subjects you are after, how much stuff you want to carry, and how much you want to spend. I cover your best options.
How to Choose the Best iPhone Lenses
iPhone photography has become a huge thing. According to Flickr, the millions of Flickr users take more pictures with an iPhone (47%) than any other camera. A lot of iPhone photographers are looking for add on lenses for their phone, and that may include you. So which lenses are the best?
Inexpensive Gifts (Starting at $8) for Photographers
Flash adapter and umbrella for a shoe-mount electronic flash.
There are a lot of practical and inexpensive (more or less) gifts for photographers. Here is a nice list of items starting at $8. To make it easy to track them down, these items are individuality linked plus most of these items can be found in the Misc Goodies section of my photography store which has direct links to Amazon.com. Prices are current as of the date of this post, but prices do fluctuate. Some items can be temporarily unavailable. These items are not listed in order of price.
My Favorite Online Camera Stores
My favorite camera stores are B&H Photo, Adorama, KEH Camera, and Amazon. I will tell you why I like them, and why you should be wary of so many other online camera stores.
The Best Digital Cameras for 2023 (including prior years)
Canon EOS R5
The holiday season is here and I am getting the usual questions about which digital cameras I recommend. In every price range there are some cameras that are better designed than others. How do you find them? That is what this article is all about.
Adobe Bridge: Finding an Original Photo
Sunset, Lake Michigan
It started with a text message from my brother John that included this sunset photo. He found it somewhere on one of my websites. He was asking technical questions about the original photo that I could not answer without finding the original photo and checking the size in MB and dimensions in pixels. I knew at first glance that this is a sunset photo of Lake Michigan that was taken at Thorne Swift Nature Preserve which is not far from Harbor Springs Michigan. I was leading a photo workshop field trip when I created this image. It was taken several years ago but I had no idea what year or the specific date. But that was simple to figure out. Using Adobe Bridge it would take only a few seconds.
Graceland University Yellowjackets Volleyball, October 31, 2023
Allison Long (12) with a block for a Graceland point.
Camera Gear for Trunk or Treat
Camera gear for Trunk or Treat.
This is the gear I will be taking to photograph Trunk or Treat, a big annual event in Lamoni Iowa. The camera with a 24-105mm lens will be hanging around my neck. The camera with the 70-300mm lens will be hanging from my right shoulder. Two memory card wallets, one for each camera will be in my jacket pocket. The spare camera battery, which will fit either camera, will also be in my jacket pocket.
A Guide to One of My Favorite Colorado Photo Spots
Bear Lake, Longs Peak and the Keyboard of the Winds.
This is one of my favorite photo spots in Rocky Mountain National Park. Longs Peak and the Keyboard of the Winds are in the background, Bear Lake in the mid-ground, and aspen leaves and boulders in the foreground. Here’s how to get to that spot.
Fall Color Photography Guide to Marshall Pass and O’Haver Lake, Colorado
Marshall Pass is a beautiful fall color drive in southern Colorado, and still pretty much a secret. It does not turn up on most lists of the most beautiful fall color drives in Colorado. It is a beautiful drive with a lot of fall color photo opportunities.
How to Shoot With and Protect Your Camera Gear in Hot Weather
It has been a really hot summer so I am posting this again as a “save your camera gear” reminder. Camera gear has a temperature and humidity rating. A top of the line Canon camera body has a limit of 115°F and 85% or less humidity. A black camera on a hot day can easily exceed that limit. Less expensive cameras of any brand have lower limits so it is important to protect your gear.
“Jim Cathey Comes Home” Pulitzer Prize Winning Photo and Article
Jim Cathey Comes Home
This evocative, Pulitzer Prize winning photo by Todd Heisler has been widely shared on the internet. Jim Sheeler’s deeply moving story that accompanies the photo (a Pulitzer Prize winning article) isn’t nearly so widely known. His article follows. Heisler and Sheeler both worked for the Rocky Mountain News at the time.
Adobe Bridge Basics: How to Do a Keyword Search
Single Keyword searches with Adobe Bridge are fast and simple. Open your master folder of photos (see Adventures with Adobe Bridge for suggestions on how to create this folder). All of the keywords for all of the photos in your folder will show up on a list at the left. Scroll down the list until you come to the keyword you want to use in your search. For this example I chose the keyword “portrait”. Click the box in front of the word portrait and in less than a second all of your portraits will show up. You can see some of them in the above screen capture. The process is the same for any other keyword you want to look for, be it elk, moose, sunsets, or Elvis sightings.
Adobe Bridge Basics: How to Batch Keyword Photos
This is the third article in a “how to” series. In the prior article in this series we ended up with a folder of renamed photos that need to be keyworded. They are still all selected as you can see by the blue borders. This article will show you how to batch keyword these photos.
Adobe Bridge Basics: How to Batch Rename Photos
In the last article we ended up with several folders with photos that need to be renamed. This is the folder for July 24, 2023. I will take you through the simple steps to batch rename these photos.
Adobe Bridge Basics: How To Download Photos into Folders By Date
I was downloading, renaming, and keywording photos today so I did some screen captures to create this series of three tutorials on how to use Adobe Bridge. If you find Bridge intimidating, this series is for you. When you click on Bridge to open it, this is what the workspace looks like. There is more about why you should use Adobe Bridge in Adventures with Adobe Bridge. FYI, Adobe Bridge is a free download.
Mama Killdeer
I captured this image in a church parking lot in rural southern Iowa. Two years ago she laid her eggs in the same parking lot and successfully hatched her eggs a few weeks later. This summer she did it again.
Sharpening an Asian Festival Image: Photoshop vs Topaz
I have been using Topaz Sharpen AI and I am impressed. It has rescued some old photos that were previously unusable. This photo is an example. I tried Photoshop but I could not successfully fix this photo. I have other photos of this dancer that are sharp, but I like this particular moment in the dance.
One Photographer and Eleven Outdoor/Travel Writers Pick the Best National Parks for Summer
Zion National Park, Utah
Summer is the most popular time to visit the national parks. With so many to choose from, where should you go? Which national parks will provide the best photographic opportunities in the summer?
Bald Eagle in the Nest
Just a few miles from my home there is an eagle’s nest, so I have been driving by there for several weeks, waiting for something to happen at the nest. It finally has. There is a bald eagle in the nest! As you can see I was being watched.
Continue readingPhotos That Move Me
Today is a terrible anniversary. On April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh’s truck bomb exploded outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 men, women, and children.
Continue readingPortraits of Beth
A selection of our favorite Images. At the links below you can see a thumbnail of all of the photos from the photo shoot, and learn about the process of picking favorites.
Choosing Favorites from a Photo Shoot
As is my custom at the end of photo shoot, I handed my camera to Beth and asked her to pick our her favorites. She turned the thumb dial on the back of the camera to go through the photos and she read the four digit file numbers of her favorites, I wrote them down. If she said something like “I especially like this one!” I put down a star by that file number.
Bald Eagle in Flight
A friend tipped me off to the location of a bald eagle nest just a few miles from my home on a country road, so 2 or 3 times a week I drive by. Usually I don’t see an eagle but on this trip I got lucky.
How Far Was I From This Burning Building?
How far was I from this burning building that I photographed last night for the local newspaper? My initial guesstimate was between 300 and 400 yards. The actual distance was 356 yards, more or less. How I did I figure that out?
Portraits: Patterned Cloth As A Backdrop
I was in a fabric store looking for lightweight (thin), white cloth with a pattern that I could use as a backdrop. My plan was to put a studio light behind the cloth and shoot through the cloth at my subject. The light would wrap around my subject. I had to experiment with the output of the studio light to get the look that I wanted. I was pleased with the final result.