Update: My 2015 Photography Workshops Are Filling Up Fast

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Colorado Photography Workshop

Colorado Photography Workshop

My photography workshops for 2015 are filling up fast. Announced just two weeks ago, there are already 8 people signed up for the Colorado workshop in September. There are only two openings left. If you want to come to this workshop, contact the registrar ASAP before it fills up (link below).

The workshop in August at Lake Charlevoix near Boyne City, Michigan was announced just 3 days ago and there are already 4 people coming. Just 6 openings left. If this workshop is the one for you, contact the registrar soon (link below).

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World Wildlife Day

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Pika, Rock Cut, Trail Ridge Road, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

Pika storing up food for the winter. Rock Cut, Trail Ridge Road, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

Today is World Wildlife Day. Various species of wildlife are in danger around the world. You can make a difference. Donate to the organization of your choice.

If you don’t have a favorite organization to donate to, take a look at this article on the Top 10 Wildlife Conservation Organizations. The first two on the list happen to be my favorites.

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Photography Workshops in Michigan

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Photography Workshops in Michigan

Photography Workshops in Michigan

“Capturing Nature’s Wonders”
Photography Workshops in Michigan with Jim Doty, Jr.

I am pleased to announce we are adding a new weekend workshop in Northern Michigan this year. It will be August 14-16, 2015 at Park of the Pines on beautiful Lake Charlevoix near Boyne City, Michigan. I will also be doing a one day workshop May 16, 2015 near Grand Rapids, Michigan.

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Testing Your Camera’s Snow Exposure Latitude

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Cascade, Barry, and Coxe Glaciers

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.

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Remembering Leonard Nimoy, The Photographer

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Leonard Nimoy

Leonard Nimoy

We all knew Leonard Nimoy as an actor, but in the art world he was also known as an accomplished photographer. He will be missed.

His best known photography exhibition, “Shekhina”, has been highly praised (links below). The exhibit has also been controversial due to the nude imagery so be advised before you click the link to read further down the page.

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“iPhone Episode” of Modern Family

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The filming of Modern Family with iPhones and other Apple devices.

The filming of Modern Family with iPhones and other Apple devices.

Tonight’s episode (February 25, 2015) of Modern Family was filmed almost entirely using Apple devices. The news media are calling it the “iPhone Episode”. It was bound to happen sooner or later. An entire episode of House M.D. (season 6 finale, “Help Me”) was filmed with a Canon 5D Mark II DSLR. Parts of dozens of movies (link below) have been filmed with DSLRs. Sooner or later someone was going to film a TV episode with a smart phone.

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Photography Workshop: Colorado

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Nature Photography Collage

Nature Photography Collage

Photography Workshop
“CAPTURING NATURE’S WONDERS”
with Jim Doty, Jr.

September 25-27, 2015 – Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado.

Update, Feb. 28, 2015: We now have 8 people coming to the Colorado workshop. If you want one of the 2 remaining spots, contact the registrar ASAP (contact info at the first link).

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Metering Nighttime Winter Scenes

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Twilight, Rocky Mountain National Park.

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! Instead of the black, silhouetted skyline you get most of the year, in winter you have the possibility of including the highly reflective snow. That is why for many photographers winter is their favorite time of year to photograph the night sky.

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Metering Wildlife in the Snow, Part Two

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Cougar

Cougar

Most wildlife are medium to dark in tone, making them a challenge to meter properly in the bright, white tones of winter. If you trust your camera’s auto exposure modes, the odds are good you won’t get the best exposure. If you switch over to manual exposure and make the right decisions, you can get great exposures and better quality photos (more about that later).

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Metering Wildlife in the Snow, Part One

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Elk in the Snow, Rocky Mountain National Park

Elk in the Snow, Horseshoe Park, Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado

Metering dark toned wildlife in the snow is a major exposure challenge. It is usually best to avoid large “burned out” areas (washed out, featureless white) in a nature or landscape photograph, but with properly exposed snow, the wildlife can be so dark as to lose all texture. On other hand, metering for the wildlife can burn out the snow.

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Metering Daytime Winter Scenes

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Mount Hunter from a Bush Plane. Denali National Park. Alaska.

Mount Hunter from a Bush Plane. Denali National Park. Alaska.

Metering for scenes with a lot of snow can be tricky since the bright snow fools the camera meter. I see a lot of winter photos with gray snow, which means the camera meter did exactly what it was designed to do and the camera owner didn’t know how to use exposure compensation. The solution is quite simple provided you know what to do.

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Cold Weather Portraits

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Kristin

Kristin

When it is cold and breezy with the windchill in the 20s, do you stay inside by a warm fire? Of course not, not if you are a photographer. You go outside and do portraits. As long as you dress warmly in layers, you will be just fine.

Photo Data: Canon 5D Mark III. Canon EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens at 35 mm. 1/1000 sec,  f/8,  ISO 400.

Thomas Jefferson Memorial: Taking Pictures From A Moving Car

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Thomas Jefferson Memorial

Thomas Jefferson Memorial photographed from a moving car.

I don’t usually recommend taking pictures from a moving car, but we were coming up to the Jefferson Memorial and I liked the light and the rippled reflection in the water. In the busy DC traffic, asking the driver to stop the car in the street was a recipe for disaster (and there was no place to pull over).  I had to grab this shot on the fly which, from a fast moving car, is harder than you might think.

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Getting Started with High Dynamic Range (HDR) Photography

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Sunset, Gibraltar Island. Combined images.

Sunrise, Gibraltar Island. HDR Image.

Compared to the human eye, digital cameras have a very limited dynamic range. Your digital camera simply can’t capture the range of tones from light to dark that your eyes can see. That is why HDR photography has become so popular with so many photographers, and absolutely essential for some commercial photographers.

Update, November 19, 2017: A revised version of this article is here.

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How Long Will Your Photo Lab Prints Last?

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Estimated Print Life from Wilhelm Imaging Research

Estimated Print Life from Wilhelm Imaging Research

Would you rather pay $3 – $4 for an above average to poor quality 8×10 inch print that will fade in 18 years, 9 years or less, or would you prefer paying $2.00 for a very high quality 8×10 print that will last 50 years?  People pay more money for prints with a short life expectancy all the time. Why? Because they don’t have the right information, and they may have no idea that prints have such widely different life spans.

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Best Digital Cameras of 2014 (Including 2010 – 2013)

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Canon 5DMark III camera. Canon EF 17-40 mm f/4 lens. Really Right Stuiff L-Bracket.

The holiday season is here and I am getting the usual questions about which digital cameras I recommend. The camera lists below will point you to the highest rated models. There is also some information and advice on choosing a camera. The lists will be updated throughout the holiday season as new, highly rated cameras become available.

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