The Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776

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Thomas Jefferson by Rembrandt Peale, 1800Thomas Jefferson by Rembrandt Peale, 1800

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

From the Declaration of Independence, signed July 4, 1776. Written by Thomas Jefferson (1762-1826). 3rd US President (1801-09).

More images (including Thomas Jefferson’s original draft and George Washington’s personal copy) and the complete text follows the break.

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Digital Cameras and the “Field of View” Crop

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Caribou, image circle, sensor sizes

Caribou, image circle, sensor sizes

What is a “field of view” crop on a digital camera? What difference does it make if your  camera is full frame, or has a field of view crop? It makes a BIG difference, so I just updated my illustrated article on the digital field of view crop. It will help you understand how to work with your lenses and how to chose lenses that will work best with your camera (and a warning about lenses that won’t work with, or could even damage some cameras).

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National Geographic’s Kurt Mutchler at OSU

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National Geographic's Kurt Mutchler, Executive Editor, Photography

National Geographic’s Kurt Mutchler, Executive Editor, Photography

OK, admit it. If you are serious about your photography, you would like to see one of your photos in National Geographic. Sadly, the odds of that are about as good as they are for starting in an NBA basketball game. So the next best thing is to meet one of National Geographic’s photo editors. That dream came true for me last week.

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Fountain Kiss, Bicentennial Park

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Fountain Kiss, Bicentennial Park

Fountain Kiss, Bicentennial Park

I was working on my last photo of the day for the “Picture Today, Inspire Tomorrow” project on May 15 at ADAY.org (more info here). When I planned my day, I wanted to end up at the fountain at the new Bicentennial Park in Columbus, Ohio. It is a great place to take pictures. As I visualized the image ahead of time, children would be playing at the fountain, creating blurry silhouettes.  I already have a “children in the fountain” photo in my files, but all photos had to be taken on May 15.

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Best Books: Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey

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Balanced Rock, Arches National Park

Balanced Rock, Arches National Park

If you are heading for Arches and Canyonlands National Parks (and you should if you are a photographer), I highly recommend you read Desert Solitaire by Edward Abbey before you go. No other book will give you quite the feel that Abbey does for what this harsh and unforgiving land was like more than a half century ago before it became more accessible to the average tourist.

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Pinterest, Photographers, and Copyright Law

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I read an on interesting article on Pinterest and copyright law at DDK Portraits. Copyright issues are or should be an ongoing concern for photographers and other visual artists. The author is both a photographer and an attorney which provides an interesting perspective. You can read the article here.

Tomorrow is the Day! Take Pictures!

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Hands on the Keyboard

Hands on the Keyboard

Tomorrow, May 15, is “Picture Today, Inspire Tomorrow” day. It is the day to take pictures of your daily life and be part of an international photo day. This is kind of like the “Day in the Life” books, except anyone can participate, it is international, and it is non-commercial. All photos must be taken on May 15 between 12:01 am and 11:59 pm local time.

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All 271 Book Photos

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All book photos. Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies.

All of the photos in Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies.

The digital contact sheet above has all 271 photos in Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies. Curious about the statistical breakdown of the photos, I gathered them all together and went through them one by one to make note of the location, the type of photo (portrait, landscape, etc), camera used (film or digital), and the year each photo was taken.  Obviously, the photos reflect the content of the book. You would expect to see wildlife photos in a chapter on wildlife photography. But I thought the photos might say something about my general photographic preferences as well.

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Finding Wildlife: Location Guides

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Wildlife Location Guides

It’s spring and photographers are thinking about places to go and subjects to photograph. If you are thinking about photographing wildlife this year, the first is finding wildlife. In the case of common wildlife, that’s easy. You can find squirrels in your own back yard and ducks at a pond in your local park. But if you want to photograph something a little more exotic, like Chachalacas or Green Jays, you need to know where to look for them (the southern tip of Texas).

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Better Portraits: Focus On the Eyes

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Window Light Portrait

Window Light Portrait

Do you want to create better portraits? One of the simplest and best ways is to focus on the eyes. Countless photos lose their dramatic impact because the eyes are blurry. Of course their are times that you might be creating an artsy, unusual image where the eyes are deliberately blurred, but 99 times out of 100 the eyes should be sharp.

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The New Canon 5D Mark III

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Canon EOS 5D Mark III

Canon EOS 5D Mark III

The Canon EOS 5D Mark III isn’t just an upgrade to the 5D Mark II, it’s a big jump forward in quality and technology.  It combines some of the best features from the Canon 7D and the new, top of the line Canon 1D X.  It’s been a long time since the 5D Mark II came out in 2008, and if you have been waiting for the upgrade, the wait has been worth it. You can pre-order the 5D Mark III using the link at the end of this article.

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Amazon offers a $3.00 savings coupon for Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies

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UPDATE: The $3.00 off coupon from Amazon is no longer available.

Amazon’s discount price on Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies is usually $9 – $10 less than the price at your local brick and mortar bookstore, but Amazon is now offering a coupon for an additional $3.00 off their usual their discount price, saving you $12 – $13. The last time Amazon did this the coupon offer didn’t last very long, so now is the time to take advantage of this special offer. When you get to Amazon . . .

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Lens Apertures and Depth of Field

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Trumpet, f/4

Trumpet, f/4

One of the wonders of exposure is that dozens of aperture, shutter speed, and ISO combinations can provide exactly the same exposure (the overall lightness or darkness of an image), but very different artistic “looks”.  Experienced photographers know which exposure combination to choose to get the image they want.  Inexperienced photographers who leave the camera on program mode are turning all of the artistic decisions over to a computer chip.

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POTD: “The Strip”, Las Vegas

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The Strip, Las Vegas.

“The Strip”, Las Vegas

With long shutter speeds, you can capture the passage of time in a way that your “instant snapshot eyes” can’t.  Your eyes and brain are capturing a rapid series of individual images and turning them into motion, while a still camera can capture one very long image. You can create images with a camera that your unaided eyes can’t create.

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Portraits: A Change in Perspective

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Portrait from a Different Perspective

When shooting portraits, turning the face upside down to change the usual perspective can give the face a dramatic new look.  We are used to seeing people right side up with the eyes higher in the photo than the nose, lips and chin. Putting the eyes at the bottom of the photo changes the look of the face. Most people are surprised at the difference in how they look when photographed from this angle.

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