It is happening with increasing frequency and It has happened to a half dozen of my friends in just the last few weeks. The Facebook profile of a real person is faked and personal information is stolen from their friends. It works like this.
Category Archives: General
A Tribute to Bill Cunningham
Bill Cunningham on the streets of NYC. Click for a larger version.
Bill Cunningham is one of my photographic heroes so it was a sad moment when I learned of his passing. My wife and I were driving across the U.S. early this week when she found an article on her iPhone that Bill Cunningham had died. I made a mental note to write a tribute to Bill when we got back home.
The Chinese Lens Rip Off! Part One
After reading a glowing review you order a set of smart phone lenses and you are billed over $100. You get socked with an additional $85 shipping charge (the ad said shipping was free). Then you find out you could have bought the same lenses for less than $10. To add insult to injury you discover the great review was from a fake review site and the quality of the lenses is disappointing. You’ve been ripped off.
Same Guy, Several Different Names, Several Different Ads, Several Different Products – The fake German engineer used in the Chinese lens rip off ads
Screen captures from three different ads.
Same photo, three different names, and three different ads for three different products. Does this make you suspicious?
Update: September 12, 2017. I heard from the REAL Simon Greig. Details below.
How to Create Your Own Photoshop Color Wheel
Photoshop HSB Color Wheel with Hues in 30 Degree Increments.
Mastering color is important to mastering Photoshop, and the HSB color wheel will help. This tutorial will show you how to create your own. The HSB color system is explained in this article which you should read first if you aren’t already familiar with the HSB system..
In Remembrance
Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Washington D.C. Click for a larger version.
Richard Duane Klug (the name just above the rose) was born January 26, 1946. He died in Darlac Province, Vietnam, November 14, 1967 at the age of 21. He is one of over 58,000 American soldiers that died in Vietnam, and one of over 1.1 million American soldiers that have died in all American wars (almost half of them in the Civil War). It is with a profound sense of gratitude that I reflect on the lives of those who “gave the last full measure of devotion” on behalf of their country.
POTD: Reflections
My concept was to photograph a young woman in a stream with reflections of her and the trees in the ripples of the water. I had just the right stream in mind and at this time of year there was just enough water. This isn’t the pose I originally had in mind. More about that later.
“How To” Series: Photoshop’s Color Tools and Systems
Photoshop Screen Capture with Color Picker. Click to see a larger version.
To work with colors in Photoshop it is helpful to understand how Photoshop deals with colors and the relationship between the RGB, HSB, and other color systems. This series is a basic introduction to Photoshop and color.
Tutorial: Using Photoshop’s Color Selection Tools
This tutorial will guide you through the basic color selection tools in Photoshop. Other kinds of image editing software will have a different layout, but similar tools. Before you go through this tutorial, read Learning Photoshop Colors – A Color Picker Tutorial. It covers some Photoshop color information that is basic to understanding this tutorial.
Learning Photoshop Colors – A Color Picker Tutorial
Screen Capture: Color Picker at ColorPicker.com
Using a color picker is a quick and simple way to learn how software (like Photoshop and Photoshop Elements) identifies digital colors with numerical systems. You can follow along in this tutorial. To make this tutorial quick and simple, we will use an online color picker.
A Handy Online Color Picker
There is a convenient online color picker at ColorPicker.com. It is quick and easy to use when you are online and don’t want to take the time to fire up your favorite image editing software.
The Nik Collection Is Now Free!
With excellent reviews, the Nik Collection of seven software plugins is highly desired. Discriminating photographers have been buying individual plugins or paying $499 for the whole set. Google bought the Nik Collection and dropped the price for the full collection to $150. Now you can download the whole collection for free. This is great news for everyone who has been wanting this powerful set of software editing tools but has been putting it off due to the price.
The Best of the Best: Recommendations For The Best Photography Equipment, Software, Books, Magazines, DVDs, Online Photo Labs and More
The best of the best cameras, accessories, photo books and more.
UPDATE: The most recent update and re-posting of this article is here.
I get lots of photo questions and many of them begin with “What is the best . . . .” They usually come from photographers or someone shopping for a photographer.
Here is my list of “best of the best” of articles recommending the best photo gear, software, books, DVDs, calendars, online photo labs, and a whole lot more.
Last posted Dec. 21, 2015. Updated May 12, 2016
Free! The Digital Printing Quick Start Guide from John Paul Caponigro
Screen capture from John Paul Caponigro’s web site.
Get it free while you can! John Paul Caponigro is one of the best of the best. This is your chance to learn from the master. Caponigro de-mystifies the challenges of getting beautiful, high quality prints that match the colors you see on your monitor.
The Movie Film Preservation Guide
Do you have movie film that you don’t know how to care for, protect, and preserve? The Film Preservation Guide is for you. It is a free PDF download. You can thank the National Film Preservation Foundation. As an added bonus, they show old historic films on their web site.
The 3-2-1 Photo Backup Plan
This article has been updated here.
Earlier this week I read about a professional photographer who lost a bunch of photos because they were all on just one external hard drive with no backups. The cost of recovering the photos, if they can be recovered at all, will run between $500 and $5000 depending on the number of photos and the complications involved in the recovery process.
Seven Southern Utah “Parks” in 46 Hours
One Day in Utah.
When I left home headed for Northern California I had no intentions of being in Southern Utah. By the time I reached Denver, snow in the forecast for N. Utah, Nevada, and the mountain passes in N. California made a detour much more appealing than fighting snow on I-80, especially since I have never been to the spectacular parks and monuments in Southern Utah.
John Muir’s Birthday
John Muir, Yosemite Valley
Today is John Muir’s birthday. Born in Scotland April 21,1838, he was still a boy when his family came to America. He loved the outdoors and his life and writings had a profound influence on some of my favorite photographers, and even more important, on millions of people who love the natural outdoors. He loved Yosemite and his activism helped preserve Yosemite Valley which is now part of Yosemite National Park.
California Ground Squirrel: How to Use Your Car as a Blind
California Ground Squirrel. Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge
To most wildlife, humans on foot look like predators. Cars do not. Staying in your car and driving through a photo rich environment is the start of great plan, but there are some other things you need to do for this plan to work.
2016 Michigan Nature Photography Workshops
CAPTURING NATURE’S WONDERS – Photograph Workshops
Grand Rapids Michigan – May 14, 2016
Lake Charlevoix Michigan – August 19-21, 2016
I am excited about my nature photography workshops in Michigan this year. My one day workshop near Grand Rapids will be May 14 and I will be doing a weekend workshop in Northern Michigan on Lake Charlevoix August 19-21.
Come spend a fun, exciting, action-packed day or weekend learning how to take your photography to the next level. In the intensive classroom explorations you will learn the steps that make the difference between ordinary snapshots and extraordinary images. Minutes later you will be practicing those steps with your own camera. Learn the secrets of the pros and how to apply their tips and techniques to create your own eye-popping images.
My Images of Kristina at KJofficial.com
Photograph by Jim Doty Photography
Kristina Jimenez is a model/actress working in L.A. She has a new web site and my photo is featured on her home page (screen capture above).
Weather and Wildlife: Shorebirds in San Francisco Bay
Shorebirds in flight. Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge.
Weather can have a lot to do with finding wildlife. After several days of rain and very few shorebirds to be seen, the rain stopped, the weather began to clear and the San Francisco Bay exploded with shorebirds.
POTD: Rain Drops and Power Tower
Power Tower in the Rain. Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge.
My mission was to photograph wild birds at the wildlife refuge in Fremont California. That was not going to happen. I had rain. So I made the most of it shooting a power tower through the rain drops on the windshield. I chose to focus on the rain drops rather than the tower. iPhone photo.
How to Photograph a Model Walking and Jumping
Photo by Melissa Rodwell
There is more to photographing a model walking and jumping than simply having a model walk and jump while you click the shutter. There are some do’s and don’ts.
“How To” Series: Astrophotography with the iOptron SkyTracker
Camera and 70-200 telephoto lens mounted on an iOptron SkyTracker and iOptron ball head.
You would love to take beautiful, long exposures of the night sky, but even with a 24mm wide angle lens the stars start to streak with exposures longer than 20 seconds. And with a 300mm lens the stars start to steak after just 2 seconds. Not that long ago it would cost you well over $1,000 to buy the equipment that would follow the stars and allow you to take longer exposures.
Posted March 21, 2016. Updated November 25, 2018.
How To Get Critical Focus in “Live View” Mode with a Magnified Image
Tripod mounted camera in live view mode. The image is visible on the LCD along with the RGB histogram.
“Live View” mode is a huge boon to digital photographers and magnified focus is one of the reasons why. Focusing this way is more accurate than the camera’s autofocus modes, at least with non-moving subjects, and you will have sharper images. Landscape photography is the usual time to use this technique but sometimes it works for wildlife.
First Night: Testing an iOptron SkyTracker, Part Two
Orion Nebula and Nebula NGC 1977. Three minute exposure with a 300mm lens and camera mounted on an iOptron SkyTracker. This is cropped from a larger image.
After a one minute exposure using the iOptron SkyTracker (see the photo in part one), I tried a 3 minute exposure with the same 300mm lens to create the image above (which is cropped from a larger image which you can see below). The Orion Nebula (M42 and M43) shows up quite well and you can even see some of the nebulosity of NGC 1977 just above the Orion Nebula around the 5th magnitude stars Orionis 42 and 45. The iOptron StarTracker is an impressive piece of equipment.
Posted March 17, 2016. Updated Dec. 5, 2017
First Night: Testing an iOptron Sky Tracker, Part One
Orion’s belt, sword and the Orion Nebula in the middle of the sword. 300mm focal length lens and camera mounted on an iOptron Sky Tracker.
Using a tripod, camera, and lens you already own, am iOptron Sky Tracker allows you to take photos that would be impossible with just a camera and tripod. This is a first look at my first night using an iOptron Sky Tracker and ball head. Details will follow later.
Posted March 11, 2016. Updated Dec. 5, 2017.
iOptron SkyTracker and Ball Head
iOptron SkyTracker in black. Older version.
iOptron’s SkyTracker has a become a very popular way to do astrophotography on a budget using your own camera and lenses. The SkyTracker tracks the motion of the earth so you don’t get star trails in your long photos of the night sky.
Posted March 8, 2016. Updated Dec. 5, 2017.
iOptron Polar Scope Alignment with a Simple Chart
The iOptron SkyTracker has become a very popular way to do long exposures of the night sky for people on a budget who want to use their own camera and lenses. If you have an iOptron Polar Scope and you want to align it with Polaris without using a smart phone app, Michael Covington has created two charts that will make that simple.