Chinese Lens Ad on Facebook
Don’t waste your money!
The short story: You can buy this same exact lens on Amazon for $10 – $15, or on eBay for $3 – $4. Don’t pay the $37.99 price in the ad. The lens quality is lousy. Lots of people have been ripped off by some of the companies selling these overpriced lenses.
Sarah, Downtown Columbus Ohio. December 13, 2006.
In my “favorite photos” folder, all of my favorite photos for December 13 are from photo shoots with Sarah and Lela Rae, two of my favorite models to work with.
The River Walk, San Antonio Texas. December 12, 1992.
The River Walk in San Antonio is a great place to be most any time of year, and certainly at Christmas. You can tell this is a long exposure from the blurred boat. This is my favorite photo for December 12.
Children with Santa, Worthington Ohio. December 11, 2006.
We were at a mall in Worthington Ohio, and children were visiting with Santa. Such a great looking Santa and happy children. This is a quintessential Christmas moment. I asked the mother of these two children for permission to post this photo on my web sites.
Tracks in the Snow, Columbus Ohio. December 10, 2017.
I went out one morning after a light dusting of snow and found these tracks. This is my favorite photo for December 10.
Cougar, Wildlife Prairie Park, Illinois, December 9, 1995.
My favorite photo for today’s date happens to be one of my all time favorite images. The intensity in the face makes this photo. It was a bitter cold morning with a windchill of -40 degrees. I was in my heaviest winter clothes and I still got chilly in the brisk wind..
The Graceland University orchestra and choir, Lamoni Iowa. December 7, 2018.
It was my happy privilege to photograph “Christmas at the Shaw” at Graceland University. This photo of part of the orchestra and choir, along with the director is my favorite photo for December 7.
Anoush Anou, Columbus Ohio. December 6, 2016.
This is my favorite photo for December 6. I was working with Anoush Anou, a professional model from New Zealand who has relocated to Ohio.
Graham Parsons and the Go Rounds. The Strutt. Kalamazoo Michigan. Dec 4, 2009.
I was in Kalamazoo for a fashion show followed by a series of local bands in concert. This photo of Graham Parson and the Go Rounds ended up being my favorite photo of the evening, and one of only two favorite photos for this date in my “favorite photos” folder.
Terran, Iowa. December 1, 2018.
Our grandson Terran at three weeks old. My favorite photo for December 1.
Cadence, Columbus, Ohio. November 30, 2007.
This photo has special memories for me, which is why it is my favorite photo for today’s date. It is one of my all time favorite portraits.
I have a collage of nature and landscape images headlining the home page at JimDoty.com. It gives the impression I am primarily a nature photographer. I decided I also needed a portrait collage that would say “Yes! I do portraits!” This is what I came up with. Each one of these images has a story.
“Daybreaker” © Erik Johannson
This remarkable conceptual image was created by Erik Johannson. “Daybreaker” is the person in Sweden who controls the switch that changes night to day.
Bryce Canyon
Winter provides some wonderful photo opportunities in our national parks. So if you haven’t gone into hibernation for the winter, here are the best national parks to go photograph this winter, grouped by state from the west to the east. There are a few bonus locations thrown in too. At the end I give you my “best of the best” list.
Family portrait, Ohio. November 28, 2014.
Yep, my favorite photo for today’s date is another family portrait, taken four years ago. It is the time of year families get together and do pictures.
Sarah Ellis, Window Blind Shadows, Columbus, Ohio. November 27, 2007
This is my favorite photo for November 27. Sara Ellis and I were working together to create images for our portfolios. This is not only one of my favorite images from our photo session, it is one of my all time favorite portraits. The light and shadows were created by sunlight shining through a window blind.
I finally found an excellent series of photography lessons on video to complement my book, Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies, and it is by Joel Sartore, a world class photographer for National Geographic. He does stunning photography in amazing situations all around the world. You can see some of his work in the galleries at his web site.
My Favorite Photography Magazines
There are a lot of photography magazines out there but some are clearly better, more accurate, more useful, and with better images. The magazines that follow are, from my point of view, the best of the best photo magazines.
Photoshop Masking and Compositing (2nd edition)
Two essential and challenging Photoshop skills are Masking and Compositing. Fortunately for all of us out in Photoshop land, Katrin Eismann (along with Sean Duggan and James Porto) have written a masterful book on developing these skills, Photoshop Masking & Compositing (2nd edition).
Adobe Photoshop Restoration and Retouching (4th edition)
Katrin Eismann is a world class expert on photo retouching. She is one of the best of the best. In 2005 she was inducted into the Photoshop Hall of Fame. Anything she writes should be high on your reading list if you are serious about making the most of your Photoshop skills.
If you want to master color in Photoshop, Dan Margulis is the best of the best. He is one of the first three persons to be named as a member of the Photoshop Hall of Fame. And the book to get is Professional Photoshop 6: The Classic Guide to Color Correction. It is well worth finding on the used market (which you can do via my photography store). What Margulis teaches you to do with color is amazing. The before and after images will make your jaw drop.
The Digital Negative, 2nd edition
If you shoot RAW camera files (and you should), this essential book should be at the top of your list. It is far and away the best of the best. You will be amazed at what you can get out of your RAW files. Your images will thank you.
A lot of the quality of your final image will be determined by what you do with your RAW files when you open them in Adobe Camera RAW (ACR) which comes with Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Photoshop Elements, and Adobe Lightroom.
Ansel Adams: Half Dome, Merced River, Winter. © Ansel Adams Publishing rights Trust
I have no idea when I was first entranced by the photos of Ansel Adams. There is a wonderful, luminous quality to his work. Small wonder he is America’s best known landscape photographer. Collections of his work would make a worthy addition to any photographer’s library. This is also the time of year that Ansel Adams calendars pop up like snowstorms.
Orion’s Belt and Sword Scabbard and the Orion Nebula
There is a whole world of things to photograph after the sun goes down. Cityscapes at twilight and after dark. Landscapes in the late evening light. Thunderstorms. Fireworks. And then of course, there is astrophotography. The simple stuff is simple to do (once you have learned how to do them) and all you need are a camera, lens, and tripod. For some astrophotography you will need specialized but not very expensive equipment like the $300 sky tracker used for the photo above. The challenging stuff is hard, complicated, and expensive to do if you want the kind of eye popping photos that you see in Astronomy and Sky and Telescope magazines (you should subscribe to one or the other or both if this is your thing). No matter what you want to do, the books below will get you started. And if you just like to look at the night sky, I recommend some books for that too.
Terran, Iowa. November 26, 2016.
My grandson Terran was sitting at the dining room table. Nice and warm late afternoon sunlight was streaming in a window and every once in a while his face was in the light. I liked the light and grabbed a camera. Every time the light looked nice on his face I clicked the shutter. At one point he turned his face toward the light to say something to someone. Click. This is my favorite photo for November 26.
Some of my favorite photo location guides.
“If you want to be a better photographer stand in front of more interesting stuff!” – Jim Richardson, National Geographic photographer.
A good scenic location guide can save you from wasting hours of precious time searching for the best spots at a new location. The best scenic locations guides are written by and for photographers. Photographers are much more in tune with what other photographers want to photograph. And for each location, photographers will tell you the best season of the year and the best time of day to get the best images. Some will give you additional photography advice for each location.
Pika
If creating stunning wildlife images was easy, everyone would be doing it. Fortunately for all of us, some of the very best wildlife photographers have shared their secrets in some excellent books that will dramatically improve your wildlife photography.
Wildlife Photography Guides
The first step to photographing wildlife is finding wildlife and one of the best ways to find wildlife is to look at wildlife location books. They will save you hours of frustration by sending you to the best locations to find wildlife.
Portable “studio in a backpack” set up and ready to go.
If I am visiting family and friends and traveling by car, I usually bring my “studio in a backpack”. I never know when I might be asked to do some portraits and having some studio gear along helps create better images (especially when natural light is not a very good option). If you want to do portraits on the road (or even at home), these items are very useful. You can order these items from Amazon via the link at the end of this article.
Jared, Portage, Michigan. November 24, 2001.
My favorite photo for today’s date is a portrait I did of our son Jared from several years ago. This is one of my favorite family portraits. Our children claim they have some of the most photographically documented childhoods on the planet, so as adults they are a bit camera shy. But every once in a while they will take time for a portrait.