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

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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.

It’s the time of year that the number of photo questions I receive increases dramatically. Most of them have to do with the upcoming holiday season and gift giving questions: “What should I get for . . . .”

So once again I am revising my list of articles recommending the best photo gear, books, DVDs, software, calendars, online photo labs, and a whole lot more. As I rewrite each article I will update the links below. You can check the date at the top of each article. This is the most recent update to the list (Nov. 10, 2014).

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POTD: Sneffels Range by Moonlight

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Mt. Sneffels and the Sneffels Range by Moonlight.

Mt. Sneffels and the Sneffels Range by Moonlight.

This image was taken a little after midnight by the light of the moon. With a long enough exposure, you can use moonlight to make night look like day (except for the stars streaking across the sky). I didn’t want to go quite that light, but I did want the moonlight to light up the landscape.

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POTD: Double Arch at Night

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Double Arch at Night, Arches National Park

Double Arch at Night, Arches National Park. Click for a larger version.

Bob, my brother-in-law, and I were in the Double Arch/”Windows” area at Arches National Park. As we made our way down the trail we saw two red lights in the distance. It was our guess it was the red lights on the back of two cameras, glowing in the darkness during long time exposures.

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A Nurse Working in Seven Countries? Seriously?

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Like so many other graphics on Facebook, this one does not get high marks for factual accuracy. But what really intrigues me as a photographer are the happy “Danish” faces, especially the nurse that works in at least 7 countries. Tracking the photos down was my fun project for the day. Thanks to Google’s reverse image search it didn’t take long.

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Lost Memory Card Found in Colorado: Who are these people?

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Photos on Lost Memory Card

Photos on Lost Memory Card

Memory Card Found in Colorado: Who are these people?

This weekend I found a camera memory card in Rocky Mountain National Park that has hundreds of photos, including several precious family photos. I would like to get the card back to the original owner of the camera that took these photos. For privacy’s sake, I blurred the faces of the children in these two photos but the family/families will recognize them by the event and the truck.

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Contrast in the Photography of Ansel Adams

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Ansel Adams, "Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico"

Ansel Adams, “Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico”

Contrast is a matter of personal taste. A classic illustration of this is the way Ansel Adams interpreted his negatives when he made prints, and how that changed over time. Adams often said “The negative is similar to a musician’s score, and the print to the performance of that score.”

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Ansel Adams At His Best

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Book Search at Amazon.com

Book Search at Amazon.com

I walked into Half Price Books and found Ansel Adams: 400 Photographs. The book itself is a real treasure. 400 hundred photos, one per page, with reproduction values as good as you are likely to find anywhere. The hardcover book, new, was selling for  $19.95. That sounded like a great price to me.

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Nature Photography Workshop in Colorado

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Images of Colorado.

Images of Colorado. Photo information below. Click to see a larger version.

I am very excited about my nature photography workshop this coming weekend in Estes Park Colorado and Rocky Mountain National Park.

Saturday Workshop and Evening Field Trip – Sep 27

The Saturday workshop is a fast paced, fun filled, action packed day, combining intensive classroom explorations with several “go out and shoot” moments to practice the techniques you are learning. The Saturday workshop includes an evening field trip in Rocky Mountain National Park. The Saturday workshop and field trip are limited to 12 participants to allow for plenty of interaction.

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Nature Photography Workshop – OSU Mansfield – October 18, 2014

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OSU Mansfield Nature Photography Workshop

OSU Mansfield Nature Photography Workshop

CAPTURING NATURE’S WONDERS
Photography Workshop – OSU – Mansfield Ohio
October 18, 2014 – 9:00 am to 9:00 pm

I am excited. My next nature photography workshop in Ohio is in just four weeks!

Come spend a fun and exciting day learning how to take your nature photography to the next level. You’ll receive “real time” instruction in the field, as well as intensive classroom sessions. In the classroom you will learn the simple steps that make the difference between ordinary snapshots and extraordinary images. Minutes later you will be practicing those steps. You will go home knowing how to create jaw-dropping images!

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Authenticity in Civil War Photography

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Civil War Days, Lamoni, Iowa

Civil War Days, Lamoni, Iowa

Civil War reenactors go to great efforts to make sure their clothes and equipment are authentic to the era. So if you want your reenactment images to look authentic it is important that you pay attention to the background. Any large farm equipment, civilian clothes (including cargo shorts), small digital cameras, buildings, and paved streets need to be authentic to the 1860s. And of course if you want a really authentic look, convert your image to black & white.

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