Can a world class, National Geographic photographer lose his passion? Yes! How does he get it back?
Best Book on Professional Exposure Techniques
After you’ve mastered all of the basic, intermediate, and advanced exposure skills and techniques, what book should you read next?
Jennifer Blakeley Recommends Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies
Jennifer Blakeley does beautiful newborn photography. Her celebrity client list includes Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green; and Jocelyn Towne and Simon Helberg (Big Bang Theory). She is also the founder of Alphabet Photography. A highly respected and award winning Canadian photographer, she has also worked with the Canadian Olympics Gymnastic Team.
The Best Image Editing Software
Your photos will look their very best if you optimize them with high quality image editing software.
Satellite Communicators: The GPS Messaging Devices That Can Save Your Life
The original DeLorme inReach Two Way Satellite Communicator
You need help. You can barely move. You are far enough from the trail that no one can hear your voice. You have no cell phone signal. What do you do?
Every now and then you hear tragic stories about people who lose their lives simply because they didn’t have a cell phone signal and couldn’t call for help in an unexpected emergency. A $260 – $340 satellite communicator would have saved their lives.
My Hard Drive Crashed (Burned, Drowned)! Where Do I Send It To Get My Data Back?
This laptop burned in a house fire. DriveSavers recovered the data.
So your hard drive crashes or is damaged in some other way. Where should you send it? The choice is important. If you don’t send it to one of the first rate data-recovery services (expensive as they are), a cut rate company could mess up your drive and make it impossible for a first rate company to retrieve your data.
The Best Insurance for Your Photo Gear (and Photography Business)
Granite Ledges and Otter Cliff, Acadia National Park, Maine
Your camera falls down a mountainside and off a cliff. An unexpected wave drenches your valuable photo gear in salt water. Your photo backpack is stolen from your home, motel room, or trunk of your car. To add insult to injury, you learn your homeowner’s insurance will not replace the value of your damaged or stolen gear.
The Best Film and Flatbed Scanners
Plustek Film Scanner, Epson Flatbed Scanner
If you have precious slides, negatives, or prints that you want to scan, you have come to the right place. Choose wisely from the scanners that are available or you could get burned. A scanner that might be just fine for one person will be totally unsuitable for the next person. When it comes to scanners you need to know what you are getting and, just as importantly, what you aren’t getting. That is what this article is all about.
The Best Digital Photo Storage
Five Seagate external drives daisy chained via the USB ports.
Don’t lose your digital photos to disc-rot or a hard drive crash. Choose the best archival storage options. Continue reading
The Best Memory Cards For Digital Cameras
Memory Cards in Think Tank Memory Card Holders
Memory cards are the “film” for your digital camera. Quality is important. You don’t want to have a card failure and lose your important photos. A reliable brand is important.
Wireless Camera Control and Wireless Photo Transfer with CamRanger
My grandson inside using my laptop to control the tripod mounted camera outside.
CamRanger provides wireless image transfer from your camera to your laptop or smartphone. CamRanger also give you wireless control of your camera with your smart phone or laptop.
“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.
Buying a Headlamp for Night Photography: The Essential Feature
Photographers with red headlamps. Field Trip, Sprague Lake, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado
A red headlamp is an essential tool for night photography. Before you rush out and buy one, make sure it has the most essential feature (other than the red LED). Some inexpensive headlamps have this feature and some very expensive ones don’t, so cost is not the issue.
The Best Incident Light Meters
Incident Light Meter, Sekonic L-358
There’s no question that in some complex metering situations, an incident light meter can be quicker, faster, simpler, and more accurate than the meter in your camera. Many incident light meters can also measure light from an electronic flash, a huge bonus when you are using a flash in the manual mode.
Light Modifiers (Softeners) for Speedlites
Umbrella, flash, and flash bracket on a tripod.
Photographers are always looking for ways to soften the light when doing portraits. The light from an accessory flash can be quite harsh so there are a wide range of modifiers to soften the light for more pleasing portraits. Here are my favorites for both on-camera and off-camera flash.
Putting Together a “Studio in a Backpackâ€
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.
Graceland Enactus Fundraiser Reaches Dinner Theater Goal
Ashly Elliott (left) and Daryn Nowlin (right) sing “Here Right Now” from “Ghost the Musical”.
This guest article also appeared in the November 21, 2018 edition of the Lamoni Chronicle.
Favorite Photo, November 24
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.
How To Choose A High Quality Telescope
Meade and Celestron Telescopes
Astronomy is one of my hobbies so I get questions about telescopes. Here is some basic advice with suggestions as to places to go to get the best information.
Favorite Photo, November 23
Family Portrait, Iowa, November 23, 2018.
For this first time in almost two years our children and grandchildren were together in one place, so I did a family portrait this morning. This is my favorite photo for today’s date.
Favorite Photo, November 22
Las Vegas Strip, Nevada. November 22, 1998.
We were on the Las Vegas Strip at night and I wanted a photo of long streaking car lights. I set my tripod up on a pedestrian bridge.
Happy Thanksgiving!
“Freedom from Want” by Norman Rockwell
When I was growing up, we spent many a Thanksgiving and Christmas at Grandpa’s house. Thanksgiving was a much anticipated and happy time. We would often leave home on Wednesday afternoon after dad got home from work. It was a long 7 hour drive to Grandpa’s house in those pre-interstate highway days, so it would be really late by the time we arrived.
Dr. Yim Does a Rare and Epic 27 Hour, 22 Minute Piano Performance
Dr. Yim plays Eric Satie’s “Vexations” a total of 840 times.
In a remarkable feat of human dedication and endurance, Graceland University’s Dr. Chee Weng Yim did a non-stop piano performance that lasted 27 hours and 22 minutes.
Favorite Photo, November 21
“Watch me!” Columbus, Ohio. November 21, 2008.
My favorite photo for November 21 is this cute little pixie.
Favorite Photo, November 20
Elephant Rock, Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada. Friday, Nov 20, 1998.
There is only one photo in my “favorite photos” folder for November 20, but it is one of my all time favorite images.
Favorite Photo, November 19
Rachel, Columbus, Ohio. November 19, 2004.
All of the photos for November 19 in my “favorite photos” folder are from the same photo shoot. It was hard to pick out THE favorite photo for today’s date. I finally went with this B&W image.
Favorite Photo, November 18
Ryan and Andrew, West Point New York. November 18, 2007
Two of our grandsons. One of them is waking up. This is my favorite photo for this date.
Favorite Photo, September 17
Nicole Fry dances to “Dream”
It was my happy privilege this evening to photograph a Variety Show for an article in the local newspaper. The show was put on by the “Enactus” program at Graceland University. This photos from the show is my favorite image for today’s date.
A Great “How To†Flower Photography Book by Tony Sweet
“Pink Cosmos Double” by Tony Sweet
If you want to turn your images of flowers into true artistic expressions, this is the book for you. Fine Art Flower Photography, Creative Techniques and the Art of Observation by Tony Sweet takes you well beyond the typical flower photography guide.
Two Excellent Nature Photography Books by Tony Sweet
Golden Brook. Photo © Tony Sweet
I’ve been reading two excellent nature photography books by Tony Sweet. They are published by Stackpole Books. They choose first class photographers to write an excellent and ongoing series of photography books. I’ve been giving high praise to Stackpole’s photography books for years and I now have two more to add to the list.