Star Trails, Rocky Mountain National Park
Interested in getting into astrophotography? The simple stuff is simple to do (like the photo above). The hard stuff is hard and complicated to do if you want eye popping photos like you see in Astronomy and Sky and Telescope magazines. Here’s my advice.
Golden Brook. Photo © Tony Sweet
I’ve been reading two excellent nature photography books by Tony Sweet. They are published by Stackpole Books. They choose first class photographers who have written an excellent and ongoing series of photography books. I’ve been giving high praise to Stackpole’s photography books for years and I now have two more to add to the list.
Wildlife Location Guides
The first step to photographing wildlife is finding wildlife. In the case of common wildlife, that’s easy. If you are looking for squirrels you may not need to look any farther than your own back yard. But if you want to photograph something a little more exotic, like Chachalacas or Green Jays, you need to know where to look for them (the southern tip of Texas).
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, and the Stackpole (publisher) nature series.
Here are some specific books to look for.
Is composition something that can be taught, or is it innate? Probably a bit of both. It is hard to look at photographs by Frans Lanting, Art Wolfe, Galen Rowell, and Dewitt Jones without coming to the conclusion that they were born with some kind of magic sense of composition. On the the other hand, it is clear that photographers can improve dramatically with the right kind of guidance.
This is a list of books that I found the most helpful when I took a serious interest in photography. These books were written back when film was king, but that makes them all the more valuable to today’s digital photographers. Some digital photography books get so lost in technical information that the heart and soul of photography can get lost. The best film photography books are about light and shadow, subjects, form, texture, line and shape – all of which applies to digital photography. Some of these books are out of print but well worth finding on the used book market.
Many photographers would say Light: Science and Magic is THE best book on photographic lighting – and I agree with them. If you intend to be seriously involved in photography, this book should be on your required reading list.
Short List:
SanDisk
Lexar
Memory cards are the “film” for your digital camera. You don’t want to have a card failure and lose your photos. A reliable brand is important.
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:
Incident Light Meter. Photo © Jim Doty Jr.
There’s no question that in some complex metering situations, an incident light meter can be quicker, faster, simpler, and more accurate than the meter in your camera. Many incident light meters can also measure light from an electronic flash, a huge bonus when you are using a flash in the manual mode.
Double Bubble Level
Why waste time fixing crooked horizons when a simple accessory will put an end to the problem. Read the complete information article here.
Save money and buy a Manfrotto Double Bubble Level from Amazon.com (and get free shipping), or you can order it at my photography store which is powered by Amazon. Same price, same free shipping, same great service, same guarantee..
CAmera, nodal slide, and panning clamp
If you are using an Arca-Swiss compatible quick release system, which I highly recommend, two simple pieces of easy-to-carry equipment can put you in panorama heaven. Get the full story here.
Link
The best of the best photography gear, books, accessories, and online photo labs:Â a series of articles.
AlienBees Studio Lights
For the best combination of quality and price, it is hard to beat AlienBees studio lights. I’ve been using AlienBees in my studio (and on location) for 6 years, and like so many other photographers, I’ve been singing their praises. It would be hard to find the same quality for less money.
Arca-Swiss compatible “L-bracket” and tripod head
Mounting a camera onto the screw on top of a tripod head is time consuming. Doing it in the dark when your hands are cold is annoying. Once the camera is mounted, if you flop the camera over to the side to take a vertical photo, the camera tries to rotate on the screw. To provide a solution, all kinds of “quick release systems” have been created. Some of them work quite well, some not so well. Most systems have a weakness of one kind or another.
Ball Head with Clamp, Really Right Stuff BH-3
The short list.
3-Way Tripod heads:
Manfrotto 056 3D Junior Head (replaces 3025)
Manfrotto 3025
Manfrotto 115 3D Super Junior Head (replaces 3028)
Manfrotto 410 Junior Geared Head
Ball Heads:
Slik Pro Ballhead 800
Kirk Enterprises BH-3
Kirk Enterprises BH-1
Really Right Stuff BH-40
Really Right Stuff BH-55
Umbrella, flash, and flash bracket on a tripod.
Photographers are always looking for ways to soften the light when doing portraits. The light from an accessory flash can be quite harsh so there are a wide range of modifiers to soften the light for more pleasing portraits. Here are my three favorites.
Looking for a tripod? Choose wisely. Other than a camera and a good lens, nothing can make a bigger difference in your photography than a good tripod. This is the place to find information, recommended models, and links to more information.
It is best to buy your tripod legs and tripod head separately. The best brands are interchangeable so you can match the legs you want with the tripod head that you want, even if they are from different companies.
Is it a great deal? Or is it a rip-off? You are searching online for a good price and you come across a terrific deal. Are you about to get burned? There are ways you can tell.
Gorillapod
There are a lot of practical and inexpensive gifts for photographers. Here is a nice list in order of approximate cost from $4 to $80. All of these items can be found at my photography store (powered by Amazon.com with Amazon’s terrific ordering, shipping, guarantee, and service). Most of the items below are in the Photo Goodies section. Prices do fluctuate so the prices below are approximate.
Adobe Elements 11, Lightroom 4, and Photoshop CS6
Your photos will look their best if you optimize them with some good image editing software.
Short list:
Adobe Photoshop Elements 11 or 10
Adobe Photoshop CS6 or CS5
Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 or 3
The lab you choose and the kind of file you send to your lab can make a big difference in the quality of print you get back. How do you pick a good online photo lab? How do you get the best results from your lab? What color space should you use for your digital files and how do you convert your files to the right color space? How big a print can you make from your digital files?
Just a few of the many beautiful calendars in my photography store.
Inspiration is one of the keys to better photography, and beautiful calendar images are a great source of inspiration for the whole year. This is the place to be if you are looking for beautiful calendars for yourself (or for the photographer in your life). I picked an extensive selection of beautiful calendars for my photography store (which is powered by Amazon.com).
Remembering all of those who have served and are serving in the Armed Forces of the United States of America.
Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies
Looking for a great gift for someone who loves photography? Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies is a great gift for anyone who wants to improve their photography. Several ratings and review highlights follow below. Details about the book’s contents are in this article and you can order it at a discount at Amazon.com.
OSU’s Stone Lab Photo Workshop, 2012
Next year’s nature photography workshop on Lake Erie’s Gibraltar Island will be August 9-11, 2013. Mark your calendar now. Join us next summer at OSU’s Stone Laboratory for a fun, action packed, informative, and inspirational weekend! Some preliminary information is on this page at JimDoty.com. The Stone Lab site has not been updated with next year’s information.
They are different, and the iPhone 5 camera is definitely faster, but is the image quality better? That may depend on how you like your low light images to look. Do you prefer sharp and noisy, or a smoother with image detailed blurred? Read this review.
Last Light on Mount Rundle
This is a lesson in patience. Most photographers missed this sunset. I was on location four separate evenings hoping to capture stunning sunset light on Mount Rundle. It only happened once. It also helps to know where to be, when, and how to meter in high contrast lighting situations.
Landscape and Nature Photography by Jim Doty
Update, October 5: The workshop will be from 1:00 – 5:00 pm, one hour longer than originally planned.
I will be doing a photography workshop October 6, 2012 from 1:00 – 4:00 pm in Calgary, Alberta Canada. Thanks to the sponsoring organization, there is no charge for this workshop!
Point Iroquois Lighthouse, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula
Fall color will soon be 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
Bill Biggart’s final photograph. He was killed when the second World Trade tower collapsed on top of him. He was 53 years old.