In Remembrance

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Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Washington D.C.

Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Washington D.C. Click for a larger version.

Richard Duane Klug (the name just above the rose) was born January 26, 1946. He died in Darlac Province, Vietnam, November 14, 1967 at the age of 21. He is one of over 58,000 American soldiers that died in Vietnam, and one of over 1.1 million American soldiers that have died in all American wars (almost half of them in the Civil War). It is with a profound sense of gratitude that I reflect on the lives of those who “gave the last full measure of devotion” on behalf of their country.

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Tutorial: Using Photoshop’s Color Selection Tools

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This tutorial will guide you through the basic color selection tools in Photoshop. Other kinds of image editing software will have a different layout, but similar tools. Before you go through this tutorial, read Learning Photoshop Colors – A Color Picker Tutorial. It covers some Photoshop color information that is basic to understanding this tutorial.

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The Nik Collection Is Now Free!

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With excellent reviews, the Nik Collection of seven software plugins is highly desired. Discriminating photographers have been buying individual plugins or paying $499 for the whole set. Google bought the Nik Collection and dropped the price for the full collection to $150. Now you can download the whole collection for free. This is great news for everyone who has been wanting this powerful set of software editing tools but has been putting it off due to the price.

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The Best “How To” Nature Photography Books

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Nature photography books

Some of my favorite nature photography books.

Want to be a better nature photographer? Read anything by John Shaw, Galen Rowell, Art Wolfe, Freeman Patterson, Tim Fitzharris, George Lepp, Larry West, Arthur Morris, Allen Rokach, John Netherton, Leonard Lee Rue III, Brenda Tharp, Tony Sweet, and the Stackpole (publisher) nature series.

Now for some specific suggestions as to the “best of the best” books to look for. These are my favorites out of hundreds of photography books in my library. Continue reading →

The Best of the Best: Recommendations For The Best Photography Equipment, Software, Books, Magazines, DVDs, Online Photo Labs and More

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The best of the best cameras, accessories, photo books and more.

The best of the best cameras, accessories, photo books and more.

UPDATE: The most recent update and re-posting of this article is here.

I get lots of photo questions and many of them begin with “What is the best . . . .” They usually come from photographers or someone shopping for a photographer.

Here is my list of “best of the best” of articles recommending the best photo gear, software, books, DVDs, calendars, online photo labs, and a whole lot more.

Last posted Dec. 21, 2015. Updated May 12, 2016

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The 3-2-1 Photo Backup Plan

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This article has been updated here.

Earlier this week I read about a professional photographer who lost a bunch of photos because they were all on just one external hard drive with no backups. The cost of recovering the photos, if they can be recovered at all, will run between $500 and $5000 depending on the number of photos and the complications involved in the recovery process.

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Seven Southern Utah “Parks” in 46 Hours

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One day in Utah

One Day in Utah.

When I left home headed for Northern California I had no intentions of being in Southern Utah. By the time I reached Denver, snow in the forecast for N. Utah, Nevada, and the mountain passes in N. California made a detour much more appealing than fighting snow on I-80, especially since I have never been to the spectacular parks and monuments in Southern Utah.

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Unexpected Gifts: California Poppies!

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California Poppies. Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge

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.

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John Muir’s Birthday

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John Muir, Royal Arches, and Washington Column, Yosemite Valley

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.

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2016 Michigan Nature Photography Workshops

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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.

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POTD: Rain Drops and Power Tower

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Power Tower in the Rain. Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

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.

Nature Photography Workshop – OSU, Mansfield Ohio Campus

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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.

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“How To” Series: Astrophotography with the iOptron SkyTracker

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Camera and telephoto lens mounted on an iOptron Sky Tracker and iOptron ball head.

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.

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How To Get Critical Focus in “Live View” Mode with a Magnified Image

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Tripod mpounted camera in live view mode.

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.

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First Night: Testing an iOptron SkyTracker, Part Two

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Orion Nebula and Nebula NGC 1977

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

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