Christmas at Easton, Columbus, Ohio. Photo © Jim Doty, Jr.

One of the great things about digital photography is that it has made panoramic photography much easier. . .

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Photos on this site (as well as my other blogs) actually live in my albums at ImageEvent.com. When you view one of my posts, the photos are pulled off of ImageEvent’s servers. They are running v-e-r-y slow today (which is unusual). That is why images are slow to show up here, or don’t appear at all.

February 18 at 11:59 pm (MST) is the National Park Service (NPS) deadline to comment on proposed changes to NPS polices that protect our National Parks. It will only take you a couple of minutes to send an online form letter, or a little longer to write your own.

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From the Coalition of National Park Service Retirees web site, February 16, 2006

Why should you be concerned about the proposed changes to the “2001 Management Policies” of the National Park Service (NPS) ? Because the The Coalition of National Park Service Retirees is concerned.

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From the National Council of Churches home page, February 16, 2006

You have until February 18 to do your part to save our National Parks. It will take you less than two minutes of your time if you use the form letter at the link below.

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Grocery store, February 14, late in the afternoon. Photo © Jim Doty, Jr.

Ah! Valentine’s Day. I was at a local grocery store about an hour ago and the flower section was packed with men and women doing some last minute shopping. The card section was packed too and the card shelves looked like a tornado had gone through.

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Grizzly Bear Man, Tommy Treadlow

Grizzly Bear Man is an off-the-wall parody of the movie Grizzly Man. The parody is an 18MB download and you will need QuickTime installed on your computer to watch it (a free download for Windows or Mac). Featuring “Tommy Treadlow,” much of the parody will only make sense if you’ve seen the original movie. This is definitely a low budget production with a “limited” cast.

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The message began like this:
“Help! My Canon 540EZ flash doesn’t work on my new digital SLR.”

That’s right. To my great disappointment, I discovered that myself. Canon “EZ” series flash units that were made for film cameras don’t work at all or with very limited functions on the digital SLR bodies. You need one of the “EX” series flash units. Two good current models are the Canon 430EX and the Canon 580EX (see the links that follow).

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“Grizzly Man” Timothy Treadwell

The award winning documentary film Grizzly Man is showing on the Discovery Channel this weekend. If you like nature, Alaska, bears, nature photography, or human behavior that is beyond the edge, you will probably enjoy this movie. Director Werner Herzog’s movie provides a fair, sensitive, non-sensationalized account that is worthy of the awards it has won at the Sundance Festival 2005 and from the L.A. Film Critics.

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Three new articles on how to set up the Canon 5D camera:
Canon 5D Menu Settings
Canon 5D Custom Functions
Canon 5D Top Deck Controls

Ansel Adams, 1960, by Nancy Newhall

“Art is both love and friendship and understanding: the desire to give. It is not charity, which is the giving of things. It is more than kindness, which is the giving of self. It is both the taking and giving of beauty, the turning out to the light of the inner folds of the awareness of the spirit.” – Ansel Adams

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In the saddest photo news of the last week, Konica-Minolta announced their departure from the camera and photo business.

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Martin Luther King Jr.

The text below is from the end of King’s “I have a dream” speech August 28, 1963, one of the most significant and powerful speeches of the 20th century. Links to the full speech and an audio file are below.

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Logitech MX1000 Laser Cordless Mouse

Christmas came early when I was given a Logitech MX1000 mouse.

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Merry Christmas to each one of you! May the coming year bring us closer to “Peace on Earth” (Luke 2:8-14) for all of God’s children in every place and of every race.

2006 Nature Calendar Preview

You can order the calendar (and see a larger preview) by going to Lulu.com/Jim Doty.

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Santa’s Helpers at Changes. Photo (c) Jim Doty, Jr.

I go to Changes to get my hair cut, not to take pictures. When I arrived today, several of the staff were dressed up like Santa’s Helpers. They wanted a picture of themselves but none of them thought to bring a camera. They asked me if I had a camera with me (I usually do), so I took a few quick photos.

Short List: Arca-Swiss

The Arca-Swiss quick release system is arguably the best quick release system and certainly the most universal among professional photographers. The system is simple and you can start for less than $80 and use almost any tripod head you now own.

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Short List: SanDisk and Lexar

There are other good brands but these two are very popular with working pros due to their high reliability. Be sure you get the right kind of card for your camera (CompactFlash, Smart Media, etc.).

Don’t lose your digital photos to disc rot or a hard drive crash. Choose the best archival options.

Short CD List:
MAM-A Gold Archive
Delkin eFilm Archival Gold
MAM-A Silver Archive
Verbatim DataLifePlus (with Super AZO dyes)
Taiyo Yuden

Short DVD List:
MAM-A Gold Archive
MAM-A Silver Archive

Short List of External Hard Drives:
Maxtor
Seagate

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If you haven’t read the first part of this article, it is here.

The test calendar I put together and ordered last Saturday arrived in the mail today. In a word, the calendar looks really good! I also think a 7 day turn around time is pretty good.

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Your photos will look their best if you optimize them with some good image editing software.

Short list:
Photoshop Elements 3
Adobe Photoshop CS/CS2

For editing your photos, it is hard to beat Elements and Photoshop, both from Adobe.

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Next to your camera and lens(es), a tripod is probably your most valuable photographic accessory. It makes all kinds of photography possible that can’t be done with a handheld camera.

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It’s that time of year. “What kind of camera, lens, software . . . . . do you recommend.” The questions come all year long, the pace just picks up a lot this time of year. This is the first of a series of articles based on emails I have writen. Film and digital, P&S and SLR, my highly opinionated suggestions follow.

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Drew in the Dragon Slide. Photo copyright (c) Jim Doty, Jr.

What to do with all of your digital photos! Have you thought about making your own calendar?

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This is the most remarkable Christmas light display by a home owner that I have ever seen. It is computer synchronized to the music and the most spectacular part is at the end. You will need a broadband connection and Windows Media Player. Go here or here or here.

Merry Christmas!

It would be nice to have a magic digital eraser to remove unwanted objects from photographs. Just click on the object and it is gone.

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Clifton Mill Ohio. Photo copyright (c) Jim Doty, Jr.

Clifton Mill, built in 1802, is one of the largest powered grist mills still in existence.

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PC World has posted their list of the 100 Best Products of 2005. You can also look at the best products by category.

DVDs are replacing videotapes. DVD Recorders are replacing VCRs which will probably go the way of the 8-track. Some DVD Recorders will record TV shows to a hard drive and allow you to edit out the commercials before you record to a DVD. You can slo record your videotapes to DVD with a DVD Recorder. If you are worried about your treasured videotapes wearing out or deteriorating over time, now is the time to convert them to DVDs.

Prices are going down and quality is going up. So how do you pick a good unit? A list of good review sites is here. The same site also has its own reviews.