iPhone photo
I took a photo from the same location with my iPhone and a 400mm lens on my Canon 7D2 DSLR. This is the iPhone photo above.
iPhone vs 400mm Lens
Category Archives: Photographs
Upper Tahquamenon Falls
Upper Tahquamenon Falls, Michigan. February 25, 2006.
A winter storm was on the way to Northern Michigan so I hopped in the car February 24, for the long drive from Columbus Ohio to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. My plan was to beat the storm to St. Ignace. I didn’t quite make it. It was snowing like crazy north of Gaylord, and crossing the Mackinac Bridge was not fun. But I made it safely to St. Ignace.
Sami with Rose Petals
Sami with rose petals. February 23, 2007.
It was nine days after Valentine’s Day and I had a photo shoot scheduled. Most of the dozen Valentine’s Day roses were done and had been thrown away, but a few were still looking good.
Snowy Owl
Snowy Owl, February 21, 2016.
I found an online report that there were numerous Snowy Owl sightings in northern Michigan thanks to lots of snow and cold weather. I made spur of the moment to leave Ohio and drive to Michigan. I am so glad I did. It was 10 years ago today.
Lyn Marie, Day 3
Lyn Marie, Columbus Ohio. Windchill 8 degrees.
Lyn wanted to go out and play in the snow, so she put on another of the many outfits she brought with her from St. Louis. She opted for clothes that look a bit distressed. The windchill was 8°F so she got very cold.
Lyn Marie, Day 2
Lyn Marie, Columbus Ohio. February 19, 2008.
Lyn came all the way from St. Louis to work with me. The windchill for the outside photo was 4.5 degrees, making it my third coldest portrait shoot ever. Lyn is a cold hardy model
Lyn Marie, Day 1
Lyn Marie, Columbus Ohio. February 18, 2008
The message went something like this: “If I drive from St. Louis Missouri to Columbus Ohio, can we spend a few days working together?” I said yes and she came to Columbus. We created these images 18 years ago today, February 18, 2008.
Beth in the Snow
Beth playing her violin in the snow.
February 12 is a red letter day! It started when Beth and I did a photo shoot in a snow storm in January 2020. We had so much fun we wanted to do it again. I was working in my office six years ago today and I looked out the window. Big, beautiful snowflakes were falling. I said to myself, “This would be a great day for another photo shoot in the snow.”
Second Coldest Portrait Shoot
Selina, Downtown Columbus Ohio. January 29, 2010, 5:57 pm. Windchill 4°F.
It was 16 years ago this evening. The windchill when I took this photo was 4°F. We scheduled this photo shoot weeks ahead of time and we knew it would be cold in January, but not THIS bone chillingly cold. I contacted her before she left home and asked if she wanted to re-schedule, but she wanted to go ahead with the shoot despite the forecast and she drove up from Kentucky. By the end of our shoot (photo below) the windchill was 3°F. This is my second coldest portrait shoot ever.
Your Camera Loves “Middle Gray” – And Why That is Important
Sarah, Professional Fitness Trainer
Your camera is in love with middle gray. The quicker you learn how to deal with this infatuation, the better your photos will look, including all of your color photos.
How to Use Your Camera’s Exposure Compensation Scale
Dawn at Sprague Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park
The exposure compensation scale on your camera is one of the keys to mastering exposures, getting better images, and ending up with professional quality colors. This means taking your camera off of full auto mode and taking control of your own exposures.
How To Series: Snowy Owl Photography
Snowy Owl looking for prey.
If there are cold enough temperatures and plenty of snow cover on the ground, the northern United States has a winter invasion of Snowy Owls. These are magnificent creatures and well worth your photographic time and attention. This series is filled with tips on how to find and photograph snowy owls.
Metering Evening Winter Scenes
Snow Hummocks, Merced River
Just like metering daytime winter scenes, the key to metering evening winter scenes is knowing what to meter and deciding how much exposure compensation to use.
January 10, 2022, 4:47 PM and 5:01 PM
Sunset, Corn Field, Lamoni Iowa. 4:47 PM.
Four years ago this afternoon my wife sent me on a quick errand to the grocery store. As I got close to the store I looked at the sun. I ended up laying down in a corn field instead.
Metering People in the Snow
Kristina in the Snow
The white snow in a winter scene can and often does fool a camera meter into underexposing a portrait, so here are the steps to take to get the right exposure. I throw in a few portrait suggestions too.
Rating Photos On The Road
Adobe Bridge, partial screen capture. Click to see a larger version.
For a project I am working on, I opened my “favorite photos” folder with Adobe Bridge to look for my favorite portraits created in Michigan. I did a search for “Michigan” + “portraits” and in less than a second Bridge showed me all of my favorite portraits taken in Michigan. This is a partial screen capture of some the results. (Bridge found a total of 154 favorite portraits taken in Michigan.) As I looked at the stars under the portraits of Anoush, it gave me an idea that became this article. My camera can rate photos with one to five stars. when I download the photos and open them in Bridge I see those star ratings. Sometimes that can be very important.
First Trip to Yosemite
Sunset Light on El Capitan
We spent most of the Christmas holiday in the Bay Area visiting family. When we left the Bay Area the morning of December 30, 1990, we decided to make a side trip to Yosemite before making the long drive home.
Kristin – Favorite Photo for December 29
Kristin, December 29, 2014.
Kristin wanted to know if we could squeeze in a photo shoot while she was home for the holidays. “Of course”, I said. December 29 was the day that worked for both of us. We went to downtown Columbus Ohio to create images. Thanks to the sunshine and the clothes she chose to wear, you would never guess the windchill was 26° during our shoot. We were texting Christmas greetings to each other and I reminded her how cold it was for this photo shoot. She didn’t realize it was that cold. She was caught up in the memory of the photo shoot.
Lamoni Schools Winter Band Concert
Lamoni Schools Jazz Band. December 11, 2025.
Under the direction of Mackenzie Stotts, the Lamoni bands put on a fun and varied winter band concert with a mix of traditional music and holiday favorites. Lamoni has four bands that played in this order: the High School Jazz Band, the 5th and 6th grade band, the 7th grade band, and the 8th – 12th grade band. Each of the bands played several numbers with classics like “Winter Wonderland”, TV special music, like “You’re A Mean One Mister Grinch”, and music from “The Polar Express”. A delightful surprise was “Carol of the Boombuckets” featuring boombuckets and boomwhackers. Boomwhackers look like swimming pool noodles, but they are made of plastic and cut to length to make different pitches as you swing them to hit the floor. It was a happy evening for the big and appreciative crowd at the Shaw Auditorium.
Ohio, December 18
Autumn leaves, Columbus Ohio. December 17, 2016.
Nine years ago today I was out walking our dog when I found this pile of leaves with some ice pellets. Unless I am surprised in the days to come by some unexpected fall color, this is the end of my “fall color series” for this year.
I have a folder with my favorite fall color trees and leaves arranged by date (without regard to the year). Back in September I got the idea of posting my favorite fall color photos arranged by date. I began this series September 23 with a photo of aspen trees and the Maroon Bells in Colorado. December 17 is currently the photo with fall color. Some time in the future I may have to plan a trip to look for fall color somewhere farther south.
Ohio, December 15
Autumn Leaves, Columbus Ohio. December 15, 2015.
My fall color series continues. In Ohio, Autumn was working overtime to create fall colors. These maple leaves were in our yard. I was surprised there were colorful leaves so late in the fall.
International Mountain Day
Spanish Peaks and La Veta Colorado. March 8, 1993.
Yesterday, December 11, was International Mountain Day, and I missed it. I didn’t even know there is such a day. I love mountains!
Face to Face at -40 Degrees
Cougar, Wildlife Prairie Park, December 9, 1995.
It was 30 years ago today and I was face to face with a cougar. The windchill was -40° Fahrenheit at Wildlife Prairie Park. It was bone chillingly cold, even with Sorel Pac boots, thermal underwear, layers of clothes, and a winter parka. I had to take a break every hour or two to warm up. But it was worth it.
Ohio, December 9
Frost on Autumn Leaves, Columbus Ohio. December 9, 2016.
It was a frosty morning and our dog Sunny and I went out for a walk. It was my good fortune to find these colorful autumn leaves. Autumn was not done yet in Ohio.
Living Art Studios Dance Recital
Tap 1 Class, “Like It’s Christmas”, Dance Recital, Living Art Studios
“Twas the Night Before Christmas” Dance Recital
As the parking lot filled up and people swarmed into the Shaw Center Auditorium, it was clear once again that this is one of the most popular events of the year. It was a visual and musical feast as 55 dancers from the classes at Living Art Studios, along with the Graceland Gadets, provided 16 dance numbers that told a story. Narrators between the dance numbers wove it all together by telling a fanciful story of “Twas the Night Before Christmas” right here in Lamoni. An incredible amount of work by the dancers and the dance instructors goes into this production, plus the people that work on the music, lighting, sound, costumes in a riot of Christmas colors, plus the crew helping out backstage. It is one of the best nights of the year!
Dance Recital: Create a Lot of Images and Choose the Very Best
Screen Capture of Adobe Bridge. Click the image to see a larger version.
As a photo editor said long ago, “Take lots of photos and send me the very best.”
The “Living Art Studios” dance recital was Saturday night. It is one of the biggest events of the year in our little town. Yesterday I sent a small selection of images from the recital to the local newspaper which is published weekly on Thursday. I usually send 6 to 10 images and they usually publish from 3 to 6 and on really slow news week they post even more. Today I am taking one last look at all the dance images for any additional favorites for this event. Here in this screen capture from Adobe Bridge are the first 20 shutter clicks (one RAW and one JPEG image for each click) with one of my cameras.
Andromeda Galaxy and its Satellite Galaxies
For me, December is not only the month for Christmas Season photos and portraits, on reasonably pleasant December nights with no wind it is the time of year to photograph the night sky. Winter has better night sky “seeing” than the other three seasons. Cold air holds less moisture to there is more visual clarity of the night sky. Unfortunately, where many of us live winter is also very cold so I do most of my winter night sky photography in December since it is usually more tolerable.
Dancer
Dance Recital, Living Art Studios
I was taking pictures this afternoon of the dress rehearsal for a dance recital this evening. This is one of my favorite images from the rehearsal. More photos at a later date.
Ohio, December 3
Burning Bush, Ohio, December 3, 2017.
Eight years ago the burning bush in our front yard in Columbus Ohio was going all out to show off fall colors and keep Autumn around as long as possible.
Iowa, November 25
Fall colors on the Lamoni Trail, November, 25, 2016.
We were walking the Lamoni Trail and spotted these colorful leaves and berries.