Great Egret. Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge, Fremont, California.
When I posted this photo on one of my Facebook pages, a friend posted this comment:
“I LOVE this egret photo!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Look at the right wing trailing in the water. How DO you capture these?!”
That is an excellent question.
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.
California Poppies. Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge
After a week of clouds and rain, our last morning in Fremont California was the only morning that started out bright and sunny. I needed to pack for our flight home but I made one last quick trip to the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. It is one of my favorite places to go early in the morning when we are visiting family in the Bay Area.
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.
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.
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).
California Poppies (Eschscholzia californica), the California State flower.
It is poppy season in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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.
Power towers and power lines.
Power towers and power lines at the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. iPhone photo processed in the phone with the Snapseed and PS Express apps.
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.
CAPTURING NATURE’S WONDERS
Photography Workshop – OSU – Mansfield Ohio
May 7, 2016 – 9:00 am to 9:00 pm
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UPDATE: THIS WORKSHOP IS NOW BOOKED FULL. This workshop also booked full last year well in advance of the workshop. I will be doing a one day workshop in Grand Rapids Michigan May 14, 2016, and other workshops throughout the year. All of my workshops are linked at JimDoty.com.
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I am excited. My nature photography workshop in Ohio is next month.
Come spend a fun, exciting, action-packed day 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 apply their tips and techniques to create your own eye-popping images.
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.
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
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.
Dew on aspen leaves, moss; evergreen needles, and evergreen cone.
The same photographic area can give you several very different kinds of images in different kinds of light. The morning light had turned cloudy in Rocky Mountain National Park so Bob, my brother-in-law, and I were in the forest doing small scale landscapes and closeups of little forest details.
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 snow owls.
Snowy Owl
What is a Snowy Owl expedition really like? This article is your chance to find out. Join me for a two day photo safari! I give you tips and photo suggestions along the way, and you get to see how I prepare, plan, and adapt on a photo trip.
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.
Lyn Marie, Ohio
It is difficult enough to create a beautiful nude image under normal circumstances, much less in the cold and snow. You need to bring some significant skills and experience to the task.
Ashley in silver metallic body paint.
Ashley and I were doing a photo shoot in the studio with silver body paint and we decided to go outside, despite the cold, winter weather. Isn’t this what everybody does on Valentine’s Day?
Wat Buddharatanaram, Buddhist Temple, Keller Texas
The fastest way to check location accuracy your camera’s GPS information is to take a photo at a known location that you can pinpoint on a map.
Posted Jan. 28, 2016. Updated Jan. 30, 2017.
Dawn at Sprague Lake with GPS metadata. Click to see a larger version.
Should you join the growing number of photographers who “geotag” their photos (add GPS data). How do you do it? Are there times you shouldn’t?
“Mountain in Colorado”
What is the name of this mountain? Photo editors want to know. They like caption information. If you have a distinctive mountain in your photo, “Mountain in Colorado” won’t cut it with your friendly neighborhood photo editor. Here’s how to identify that mountain in Google Earth (and how to get GPS coordinates into Google Earth).
Posted Jan. 26, 2016. Updated Feb. 3, 2017.
Selina, Downtown Columbus Ohio
You would think a windchill of 4° Fahrenheit (-16°C) would be too cold for a photo shoot, but not with some models. We booked this January shoot weeks in advance so we knew it would be cold, but we had no idea how cold until the day arrived. Here’s the story behind this image and how to work with a model when it is so cold.
Last Light on El Capitan, Yosemite National Park
In addition to all of the usual photographic challenges, winter provides some extra complications, especially in terms of metering. So I began my series of articles on winter photography. I just finished revising and updating the series. I also revised some related articles and added new ones. They are all linked below. They will help you meet the unique challenges of winter photography. So read the articles, get out there, have fun, and create some stunning images!
This series is updated every year in January. The January 2017 update is here.
Denali Sunrise from Reflection Pond
The Sunny f16 rule is really useful on bright sunny days in the spring, summer, and fall, but you can’t rely on it on snowy winter days. It will often lead you astray. There are much more accurate ways to meter in the winter.
Cascade, Barry, and Coxe Glaciers, Prince William Sound, Alaska
Exposure compensation is one of the most important keys to good exposures, great images, and the best colors your digital camera is capable of producing. Knowing your camera’s snow exposure latitude is one of the keys to using exposure compensation in a winter scene. It is different for every camera model. You won’t find it in your camera’s manual but it is easy to determine with a simple test.
Bryce Canyon After An Overnight Snowstorm
Cold and snow can cause a lot of damage to your camera gear. Something as simple as shooting outside and taking your camera inside can cause hidden damage that won’t show up until days or weeks later. The simple steps in this article could save you hundreds of dollars in repair bills.
Twilight, Rocky Mountain National Park. Sirius, Canis Major, Orion, Taurus, the Hyades star cluster, and the Pleiades star cluster are all visible in the fading light. Click for a larger version.
You can photograph the night sky year around, but winter brings an added bonus: SNOW! When you don’t have the benefit of moonlight, most of the year you get a black, silhouetted skyline. In winter you have the possibility of including the highly reflective snow. For many photographers winter is their favorite time of year to photograph the night sky.
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.