The Chalice of Life
This morning I was sitting in a waiting room with not much to do when I became interested in the play of light through a wall made with glass blocks. I decided to have a little fun with my iPhone and some apps.
This remarkable video was filmed by a GoPro camera on the back of an eagle in flight. GoPro cameras have become the “go to” cameras for exciting, high definition action video.
Autumn, Tahquamenon Falls, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
Fall color is sweeping the country. To make the most of it, you want to be at the right place at the right time. With some help from the internet, I will help you find the best fall color locations and arrive at the peak of the season.
Autumn Leaves, Banff National Park (modified image)
I take pictures with my iPhone just for fun. And that includes altering the photos, like the one above, with some of my favorite iPhone apps.
Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies
With 12 books, hundreds of magazine articles, over a dozen instructional videos, and numerous workshops to his credit, digital photography expert Tim Grey really knows his stuff. In one of his eNewsletters, Tim gives this excellent recommendation for Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies:
Martin Luther King Jr.
50 years ago today on August 28, 1963 at the Lincolm Memorial, Martin Luther King delivered one of his most famous and stirring speeches, known as “I have a dream”. A portion of it follows. Links to the full speech and an audio file are at the end of this post.
Exif Viewer, GPS Photo Location Data
Your smartphone is designed to geotag the locations of your photos and store it in the photo’s “metadata”. Many other cameras do the same thing. This means if you take pictures of your family and post them online, anyone (including some very unsavory characters) can pull up a map of where the photo was taken. Is there really a danger? Yes. Burglars and kidnappers are already using online photos to track potential victims. Law enforcement offices are warning that sexual predators can do the same thing. See the articles and videos linked below. What can you do to protect your family? Keep reading.
Originally posted August 13, 2013. Revised and updated January 28, 2015. Updated again Dec. 17, 2016.
Sunrise, Gibraltar Island. OSU photo workshop.
This sunrise photo was taken at last year’s outdoor photography workshop hosted by OSU’s Stone Laboratory on Gibraltar Island. The workshop this year starts tomorrow.
Twilight, OSU Stone Lab Photo Workshop
Jeremy Bruskotter and I will spend this weekend with a group of eager and excited photographers. It is OSU’s annual outdoor photography workshop at Stone Laboratory on Gibraltar Island.
Nature Photography by Jim Doty, Jr.
OSU’s Prestigious Stone Lab is hosting the workshop “Capturing the Wonder of the Outdoors”. This is your chance to take your nature, landscape, and wildlife photography to the next level. This is an intensive weekend that combines class sessions with hands-on field trips. Join us August 9-11 on Ohio State University’s scenic Gibraltar Island near Put-in-Bay, Ohio. There is still time to register.
Kristina
A backlit, window light portrait can be challenging to meter, but the photographic possibilities are definitely worth it.
Backyard Portrait
Sunlight is usually too harsh for portraits so I try to avoid full sun on the face when shooting outside. My usual choices are to shoot in the shade or put the sun behind my subject (as in the case of this photo).
United States at Night
The Strip, Las Vegas with Fireworks
You can point your camera at the sky in auto exposure and autofocus modes and fire away whenever you see a burst of fireworks, but for the best quality photos, it helps to know a few tricks of the trade. It’s easy when you know what to do.
Thomas 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.â€
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.
Banff, Alberta
Happy Canada Day to all of my Canadian friends!
Nature photography by Jim Doty, Jr.
OSU’s Prestigious Stone Lab is hosting the workshop “Capturing the Wonder of the Outdoors” This is your chance to take your nature, landscape, and wildlife photography to the next level. This is an intensive weekend that combines class sessions with hands-on field trips. Join us August 9-11 on Ohio State University’s scenic Gibraltar Island near Put-in-Bay, Ohio.
Window Light Portrait
One of my grandsons was sitting next to me in my office looking intently at photos on my computer monitor. The moment was too good to miss so I grabbed a camera.
Photographer Using an ExpoDisc
There are a lot of advantages to using an incident light meter, and you can read about them in this article. But they are expensive. What if you don’t to buy an incident light meter? There are several less expensive alternatives, and one of them is to use an ExpoDisc.
California Poppies
I have never entered a photo contest before, but I responded to a request to enter the May photo contest at Midwest Photo Exchange (MPEX). The theme was “Spring” so I submitted an early April photo of California Poppies. Photographers from all across the United States entered photos. Winners were announced June 3 and I won the “People’s Choice” award for the photo that was voted for the most by other photographers and visitors to the site. This is a first for me and I am thrilled!
Incident Light Meter, Gossen Luna-Pro F
In a lot of photographic situations an incident light meter is faster, simpler to use, and more accurate than a reflected light meter. This article will compare the two and tell you how to use an incident light meter.
Bull Elk Bugling, Moraine Park, Rocky Mountain National Park.
What do you meter when your subject has multiple tones? You could let your camera meter the whole scene and hope that gives you a good exposure, but that isn’t very precise and it won’t always give you the best exposure. It certainly wouldn’t give you a good exposure for this photo of a very dark bull elk at sunset.
This is a list of articles that will take you to the best photography books in a variety of categories. Trying out ideas from the best “how to” photography books is a great way to become a better photographer. Out of hundreds of books in my photography library, these are my favorites.
Metering Tools
In auto exposure modes, your camera meter is perfectly designed to give you “average” exposures in average situations, but it can’t give you the “ideal” exposure for subjects of all colors and tones in every situation. If you want to get the best possible exposure, you have to take the camera off “autopilot” and control the metering yourself.
According to Steve Wilhite it is pronounced “JIF” with a soft g (he should know, he invented it), so it sounds like the peanut butter brand. That was his five word message, presented as an animated GIF, when he received a Lifetime Achievement Award (at this years Webby Awards) for inventing the GIF file format in 1987.
4 Million Page Views
As of May 16, 2013, JimDoty.com had 4 million page views. I don’t check my site stats very often so I just figured this out today. So I am having a celebration today and a print sale for the next 10 days.
Canon 50mm lens set to an aperture of f/2.
If you want to speak your camera’s language and make it do it’s tricks for you, you need to understand the language of exposure.
Bryce Canyon at Sunrise
Why is exposure so important? Because taking control of the technical side of exposure is essential to empowering your creative vision. In the words of National Geographic photographer, Dewitt Jones, “Regardless of where you are in your photography; beginner, advanced amateur, or professional; vision without technique is blind. No matter how beautiful the conception, a good image will not manifest without good technique.”