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.
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. 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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, Photo Location 1
When I am traveling with my highly trained photographic assistant it is his job to remove National Park Service trash barrels when they are in the way, cut down trees that spoil my view, run out into the meadow and scare off the cow elk that are in front of the bull elk I want to photograph, rip boards off of old barns that don’t look quite distressed enough, pull on the whiskers of a sleeping cougar to wake it up, and cut down utility lines that are obstructing a clear view of my subject. But he wasn’t with me on this trip due to sitting in jail over a minor incident in Yosemite. So I had a challenge on my hands that I had to solve myself.
Snowy Owl, Photo Location 1
A simple change of background can turn a disappointing wildlife photo into a great one. Professional wildlife photographers think about backgrounds all the time and do everything they can to improve the background. Less experienced wildlife photographers are so excited to find an interesting creature that they give the background precious little thought.
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.
Wildlife Photography Guides
The first step to photographing wildlife is finding wildlife and one of the best ways to find wildlife is to look at wildlife location books. They will save you hours of frustration by sending you to the best locations to find wildlife.
Ansel Adams
Ansel Adams was born February 20, 1902. He is “the” icon of American landscape photography. Trained as a concert pianist, his love of photography and time spent in Yosemite National Park led him to a career change.
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.
I am excited to announce my nature photography workshops for 2016. They are all listed and linked at JimDoty.com. These are action packed, fun filled workshops that are crammed full of practical photography tips and information that will give a big boost to your photography. Just read what photographers say about the workshops.
Photo by James Turrell
Your Monday dose of photographic inspiration from The Breed. More here.
Photos by Melissa Rodwell from the photo shoot featured in the video below.
Unlike the last video which emphasizes the work that goes on before the actual photo shoot, this video is mostly about what goes on during the shoot.
Tear sheet from Harper’s Bazaar Arabia. Photo by Melissa Rodwell from the photo shoot featured in the video below.
The common perception of a fashion shot on location is beautiful models in fabulous locations, but that is not the whole story, and maybe not entirely the real story as you will see in this video.
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