Dog in Flight
Capturing action is a matter of choosing the right shutter speed. You have a lot of options from a sharp subject against a blurred background to a sharp background with a blurred subject, or both blurred, or a sharp subject and a sharp background.
Saibaba Dance Drama
Shooting “events” is both challenging and rewarding. The photographer has very little control over the lighting and the position of the subjects (unlike most other kinds of photography), so you make the most of what happens and improvise. Shooting events will do wonders for your photographic skills, not to mention the eye-catching photos that can be captured.
The Colorado River, Dead Horse Point
You have your photo all planned out long before you click the shutter, but the moment arrives and things don’t work out like you had envisioned them. What do you do? Maybe you should take the photo anyway.
Sunflowers, Colorado
A lot of images fail because they just don’t look sharp. Of course there are times when you want a blurred photo, but most of the time photographers want part of their image (if not most of the image) to look sharp and crisp. The seeds in this sunflower photo are a good example of an image that asks to be sharp.
Colorado Aspen – Last Dollar Road
How big a print can you make from your digital camera and still have good image quality? That’s a common question. I received an e-mail today about camera file size and quality 8×10 inch prints. The question and my answer follow.
Sunset, “The Window”, Chisos Basin, Big Bend National Park.
I prefer cool breezes, mountains, pine-scented air, and cold mountain lakes or streams, so I was totally surprised when I fell in love with Big Bend National Park. Located in the hot, Chihuahuan Desert in southwest Texas, it is the opposite of where I prefer to be, both personally, and photographically – or so I thought. But my first trip to Big Bend changed all of that.
Pink Ladyslipper Orchid Metered Using a Gray Card
A simple $12 accessory will do most of the work of a $300 incident light meter. Hard to believe? Keep reading.
Pt Iroquois Lighthouse, Michigan. © Jim Doty Jr.
UPDATE, NOVEMBER 4: My book is now in stock at Amazon.com. Just in time for holiday gift giving. Use the link below to order. It is available in both paperback and Kindle editions.
My new “how-to” photography book, Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies, will be out in a couple of months. It is part of the new, full-color, Photography for Dummies series, so it is loaded with full color photographs.
Is this book for you? That’s what this post is all about. After reading what follows, you should have a good idea if this book will be helpful to you and your photography. Keep in mind that this book would be an excellent gift for the avid photographer in your life.
In a few words, this book is about taking your photography to the next level. Even if you are a beginner, this book will show you how to take control of both the technical and artistic sides of exposure, setting you free to create eye-catching images. If you are well past the beginner stage, this book will take you through some advanced exposure concepts and techniques that most books don’t cover.
The Mackinac Bridge. Michigan. Photo © Jim Doty Jr.
Can you take nice photos with an iPhone? Yes. Does it have its limits? Of course.
I have been experimenting with the photo capabilities of an iPhone 3G. The files are small, 600×800 pixels, but the image quality can be quite good under certain circumstances. This is a switch for me since I usually take photos with a full frame digital SLR. But I have been having fun with the iPhone and learning what it can and can’t do.
Aspen Grove, Moraine Park, Rocky Mountain National Park. Photo © Jim Doty Jr.
To create this look in the middle of an aspen grove, I used a wide angle lens (at 17mm) and put the camera low to the ground and pointed the lens up. I used a vertical composition to add height and sweep to the image. The blue sky was saturated with a polarizing filter.
Data: Canon 5D, EF 17-40mm lens at 17mm. Shutter: 1/40 second. Aperture: f/11. ISO 100.
Elk, Colorado. Photo © Jim Doty, Jr.
Sometime a photo walks right up to you. I was driving up Old Fall River Road in Rocky Mountain National Park. I turned a corner and a bull elk was walking down the road. I hastily grabbed a camera and lens out of the back seat, quickly set the exposure, and rolled down the window. I snapped several images as he walked by, just four or five feet from where I sat. I panned with the elk so the somewhat slow shutter speed was fast enough to freeze the elk, but not the background.
Data: Canon 5D, Canon EF 24-105mm lens set at 60mm. Aperture: f/9, Shutter: 1/50 second, ISO 400.
Coney Island, New York. Photo © Jim Doty, Jr.
On a warm summer day, Coney Island is a great place to hang out, splash in the surf, play with the grandkids, and take pictures. We did all of the above and more. I wanted to get a stereotypical image of lots of people on the beach. I used a telephoto lens to compress the perspective and a small aperture to increase the depth of field.
Data: Canon 5D. Canon EF 70-300mm DO IS lens at 210mm. Aperture f/16, Shutter 1/125, ISO 100.
Soccer. Photo © Jim Doty Jr.
Two of the keys to a good sport photography are action and intensity. This photo has both. I take a lot of sports photos to come up with a few images like this one. I used a Canon 20D and a Canon EF 100-300 DO USM lens.
Venus and Saturn at Twilight. Photo © Jim Doty Jr.
As I drove back to Seattle from Mt. Rainier National Park, I was watching Venus, the brightest object (except for the the moon) in the western sky this month. Saturn is the dim planet at the upper left. I wanted something to put in the foreground and decided I needed a row of evergreens. I couldn’t take too long since the sky was getting darker and I would begin to hit towns and city lights. This was the best bunch I could find that wasn’t completely obscured by clouds.
Venus and Saturn are moving towards each other and will be less than 1 degree apart on the evening of June 30.
Data: Canon 5D, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L lens at 105mm. ISO: 100. Aperture: f/5.6. Shutter: 4 seconds.
Storm clouds over Mt. Rainier. Photo © Jim Doty Jr
This photo was taken at 9:05 pm local time, 19 minutes after the sunlit photo two posts down.
After the last sunlight faded from Mt. Rainier, the mountain no longer looked interesting in the flat light. So I took photos of the light on the clouds in the sky (one post down). Later on I looked back at Mt. Rainier and I liked the dark, layered look of the storm clouds that were moving down over the mountain.
Data: Canon 5D, Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L lens at 84mm. ISO: 100. Aperture: f/8. Shutter: 1/8 second.
Yellow Lady’s Slipper Orchid. Michigan’s U.P. Photo © Jim Doty Jr.
Several years ago, another photographer told me there are a lot of Yellow Lady’s Slippers in early June along U.S. 2 in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. This year is the first time I’ve had a chance to be up there in early June and photograph them. Just drive drive west from the Mackinac Bridge on highway 2 and watch along the side of the road. It was raining steadily when I took this photo. I had a large umbrella to protect my camera gear and keep the rain from moving the orchid. I got wet.
Lake Michigan Sunset. Photo © Jim Doty Jr.
It rained all the way along the drive from Detroit to Mackinaw City in northern Michigan. Chances for a nice sunset looked slim.
It was overcast in Mackinaw City just before sunset, but the sky began to lighten in the west. The clouds thinned a bit and the sun peaked through momentarily and disappeared. Things began to happen and a drab sky turned into a nice sunset. A good thing. I rained all the next day.
“It ain’t over ’til it’s over.” Don’t give up on a sunset, even if chances look slim.
“Seasonal Road”, Hiawatha National Forest. Photo © Jim Doty, Jr.
When you see “Seasonal Road” on a sign in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, what it really means is “You are on your own.” Seasonal roads are not maintained. They are usually passable in a 2-wheel drive vehicle from late spring through late fall if they aren’t too wet and you are careful not to get high centered. In a typical Michigan winter with several feet of snow on the ground, they are snow mobile only. These roads are usually used by hikers, hunters, snow mobilers and the occasional photographer.
The Mackinac Bridge at Dawn. Photo © Jim Doty, Jr.
Early morning light from the north side of the bridge looking southeast. From the north side of the bridge, exit I-75 at US 2 and go west. Turn south on the road to the Father Marquette Memorial and go past the memorial to the bridge viewing area.
Turning Leaves. Photo © Jim Doty Jr.
After shooting a somewhat lackluster sunrise from the north shore of Lake Michigan, I looked down at my feet. The dew covered leaves were varying shades of green, orange and red. I picked out a nice cluster with a pleasing background and dropped my tripod legs to get my camera about a foot off the ground.
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Upper Tahquamenon Falls, Michigan. Photo © Jim Doty, Jr.
My two favorite places to film fall color are Colorado and Michigan. Colorado aspens turn gold and Michigan maples turn red. The color show in Colorado is beginning to wind down. Due to an unfortnate mix of weather conditions, the color show in Colorado was not as stunning as it usually is, but reports indicate there were some pockets of fine color (check out Todd Caudle’s photos on this thread). Unfortunately, I didn’t get to check this out for myself.
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Lark. Photo © Jim Doty, Jr.
One of my favorite photos from a recent portrait session. It was sunny outside so we used the nice soft light provided by the overhang on my front porch. Children are wonderful!
Data: Canon 5D. Canon EF 24-105mm lens at 84mm. Aperture: f/5.6. Shutter: 1/40 second. ISO 400.
Kati. Photo © Jim Doty, Jr.
This photo was taken as part of the shoot for Kati’s senior pictures.
Upper Tahquamenon Falls, Tahquamenon Gorge, and the ice and snow covered Tahquamenon River. Michigan U.P. Photo copyright © Jim Doty, Jr.
Upper Tahquamenon Falls in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (U.P.i) s a great place to take pictures. At 200 feet wide, with a 50 foot drop, and a flow of up to 50,000 gallons of water per second, Upper Tahquamenon Falls is one of the largest falls east of the Mississippi. The falls are west of Paradise, Michigan on M-123 in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. More information, along with another photo, is here.
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Asian Festival – Columbus, Ohio. Photo copyright (c) Jim Doty, Jr.
The Path, West Lake Nature Preserve. Portage, Michigan. Photo copyright (c) Jim Doty, Jr.
Michigan has some of the most splendid fall color in the country. Maple trees turn orange, red, and crimson, and fill the hillsides with glorious color.
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House Fire. Photo copyright © Jim Doty, Jr.
It was cloudy and raining when I took this photo so I set my camera at ISO 400 to give me a small enough aperture for enough depth of field plus a shutter speed fast enough to keep from blurring the fire.
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A bull elk struts his stuff, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.
Photo copyright (c) Jim Doty, Jr.
If you go to Rocky Mountain National Park during the fall rut, you are almost guaranteed to see large herds of elk. The rut begins in early September and ends in mid-October. The last week or two of September through the first week in October is a good time to go to see both elk at their best and fall color.
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