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
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. . . .
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.
Freedom from Want – Painting © Norman Rockwell
The first reviews of my book are showing up at Amazon.com. You can read them below. You can also follow the link at the end of this article to see the reviews at Amazon.
You are minding your own business at the food court of the local mall when some random person (with a beautiful voice) stands up and begins singing the “Hallelujah Chorus”. Then another singer. Then two more. Then four more. Soon you are surrounded by over 100 voices.
If you want to master Photoshop, a complete course can be found in the books in the posts below.
FOUNDATIONS
Begin with one or two of the basic to intermediate books in the next post. After that, jump into the list of advanced books in the posts below.
ADVANCED SKILLS AND TECHNIQUES
Your image processing begins with how you process your RAW files with Adobe Camera Raw (ACR). One of your best guides is Bruce Fraser and co-author Jeff Schewe. What you do with your RAW files determines how much or how little you can do with the file later on in Photoshop. You maximize your possibilities later on by making the right choices in ACR. Make the wrong choices, and you have limited what you can do later on.
What do you do if you aren’t ready for the advanced books I recommend in the MASTERING PHOTOSHOP series? Look at the books below. Why did I lump Photoshop together with digital photography? Because many of the basic to intermediate books cover both.
Two essential and challenging Photoshop skills are Masking and Compositing. Fortunately for all of us out in Photoshop land, Katrin Eismann has written a masterful book on developing these skills, Photoshop Masking & Compositing
You will learn about selection tools and techniques, how to use masks and layers, advanced selection techniques for difficult subjects like human hair, and how to do flawless composites.
Katrin Eismann is a world class expert on photo retouching. She is one of the best of the best. In 2005 she was inducted into the Photoshop Hall of Fame. Anything she writes should be high on your reading list if you are serious about making the most of your Photoshop skills.
Adobe Photoshop Restoration & Retouching (3rd Edition)
Everything you need to know about Dan Margulis is in Advanced Color Correction, Part One.
After you have devoured the book I recommend in that article, you will know why you need to get Photoshop LAB Color: The Canyon Conundrum and Other Adventures in the Most Powerful Colorspace
If you want to master color in Photoshop, Dan Margulis is the best of the best. He is one of the first three persons to be named as a member of the Photoshop Hall of Fame. And the book to get is Professional Photoshop: The Classic Guide to Color Correction (5th Edition)
If you aren’t shooting RAW files with your digital camera (as opposed to jpeg files), you should think about the advantages of shooting in RAW. Read the article RAW vs JPEG Camera Files at my photography web site.
A lot of the quality of your final image will be determined by what you do with your RAW files when you open them in Adobe Camera RAW (ACR).
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.
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?
It’s the time of year that people think about making prints for family and friends, and more and more people send their files off to an online digital photo lab to have those prints made. So which are the best labs, and what can you do to get the best results? That’s what this article is all about. This article is revised and significantly enlarged from the version posted a year ago.
My short answer: Use Mpix and Shutterfly for prints of all sizes, plus a host of specialty items. Use EZPrints for panoramas. Why these three labs? Keep reading. For maximum color accuracy, convert the files to the sRGB color space before sending them to the lab, and turn auto enhance off at the online photo lab. Stick with the 300 pixel per inch guidelines. More about color space and auto enhance and resizing files later on in this article. First, let’s look at some online labs.
My book is now in stock at Amazon.com. For more info on the content of the book, see the Sept 26 post just below.
To order, go here.
Pt Iroquois Lighthouse, Michigan. © Jim Doty Jr.
UPDATE, NOVEMBER 4: My book is now in stock at Amazon.com. Just in time for holiday gift giving. Use the link below to order. It is available in both paperback and Kindle editions.
My new “how-to” photography book, Digital Photography Exposure for Dummies, will be out in a couple of months. It is part of the new, full-color, Photography for Dummies series, so it is loaded with full color photographs.
Is this book for you? That’s what this post is all about. After reading what follows, you should have a good idea if this book will be helpful to you and your photography. Keep in mind that this book would be an excellent gift for the avid photographer in your life.
In a few words, this book is about taking your photography to the next level. Even if you are a beginner, this book will show you how to take control of both the technical and artistic sides of exposure, setting you free to create eye-catching images. If you are well past the beginner stage, this book will take you through some advanced exposure concepts and techniques that most books don’t cover.
Jim Doty.com
Sometime early in the morning of July 11, 2010, my Web site at JimDoty.com rolled past 3 million page views. I never imagined that would happen when I launched the site 10 years ago.
My thanks to all of you who visit any of my sites. I hope you enjoy what you read and see, and that you find it helpful to you in your own photographic explorations.
It all started when a diver near Aruba lost his Nikon Coolpix camera that was inside an underwater housing. It turned up several months later on a Florida beach, 1100 miles from where it was lost. The camera was just fine so a Coast Guard investigator used the photos on the camera to try and track down the camera’s owner.
Photos were posted on several Web sites and someone recognized the photos and the owner was located.
During the 1100 mile journey, the strap on the camera housing got tangled with a sea turtle. In the thrashing about, the video was turned on and the sea turtle unwittingly recorded 5 minutes of video.
The whole story is here, photos from the camera are here, and the video is here.
If the story link goes away, you can read it after the break.
Spyware programs, also known as “scumware”, are the parasites of the computer world. Spyware is undetected by most virus protection software. Spyware can end up on your computer simply by clicking on a link, opening an email, or you can get it from one of those annoying popup ads while you are browsing. A number of downloadable programs such as Comet Cursor come complete with spyware.
Continue reading
The Mackinac Bridge. Michigan. Photo © Jim Doty Jr.
Can you take nice photos with an iPhone? Yes. Does it have its limits? Of course.
I have been experimenting with the photo capabilities of an iPhone 3G. The files are small, 600×800 pixels, but the image quality can be quite good under certain circumstances. This is a switch for me since I usually take photos with a full frame digital SLR. But I have been having fun with the iPhone and learning what it can and can’t do.
Martin Luther King Jr.
Today is Martin Luther King Day in the United States. Martin Luther King, Jr. was born January 15, 1929. He was a Baptist minister and a prominent civil rights advocate. King was the youngest person to receive a Nobel Peace Prize when it awarded to him in 1964. He was assassinated April 4, 1968 in Memphis, Tennessee.
One of his most famous speeches was delivered at the Lincoln Memorial August 28, 1963. Often referred to as the “I have a dream” speech, it is one of the most significant and powerful speeches of the 20th century. A portion of the speech follows. Links to the full speech and an audio file are at the end of this post.
U.S. Gas Price Heat Map - January 18, 2010
Some photographers do a lot of traveling, and finding the best gas prices is important.
Driving across the country, I have learned which states have better gas prices. If I am headed east on I-70 in eastern Missouri, I always buy gas before I cross the Mississippi River into Illinois where the prices are much higher. I don’t by gas again until I get to Indiana.
Sunlit Portrait with Fill Flash. Photo © Jim Doty Jr.
Today’s question is brought to you by Powdermilk Biscuits.
Wait – wrong show. My apologies to Prairie Home Companion. (The delightful movie was on TV recently.)
Today’s Q&A is for all of you that learned to use Guide Numbers and manual flash exposure. If you are a little rusty in that department, or if you were weaned on TTL flash, you can brush up on how to use the guide number (GN) for your flash to determine a manual flash exposure by reading the Flash Basics article at my photography web site. If you are a little rusty with f-stops and exposure, go here.
Now for the Q&A:
Sunstar Over Turnagain Arm, Alaska. Photo © Jim Doty Jr.
May the wonder and joy of the season be yours.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Rule of Thumb:Â When buying photographic equipment, check the price at B&H Photo, Adorama Camera, and Amazon.com (all three are linked and recommended at my main photography site). If an item is selling for significantly less than at these three companies, something is downright suspicious.
A friend of mine is looking for a Canon 7D. Prices from reputable dealers are generally in the $1700 price range. He found it at SkyPoint Digital for $879, an apparent savings of over $800. I told him that a price that low raises all kinds of red flags for me. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. I might believe someone can sell the 7D for $1600 (and it would probably be gray market), but not $879.
Each new version of Photoshop has new and wonderful tools, but each version requires more and more computing horsepower. If you are buying a computer today, what do you need to run Photoshop?
How do you pick a good online photo lab, and how do you get the best results from your lab?
It is almost Christmas (or any other time of year), you want some prints or cards made from your digital files, and you are thinking about sending them to an online photo lab. With so many labs out there, which lab do you use? And how do you get the best results from your lab?
My short answer: Use Mpix and Shutterfly for prints of all sizes, plus a host of specialty items. Use EZPrints for panoramas. Why these three labs? Keep reading. For maximum color accuracy, convert the files to the sRGB color space before sending them to the lab, and turn auto enhance off at the online photo lab. More about that later.
You can’t go far wrong buying a recent model Digital SLR. They are all good cameras and most of them are great cameras.
Over the last twelve months, the following DSLRs received a “Highly Recommended” rating from DP Review, their highest rating (with sensor size in megapixles – mp):
Canon EOS 5D Mark II, 21 mp
Canon EOS 7D, 18 mp
Canon Digital Rebel T1i, 15.1 mp
Nikon D3X, 24.5 mp
Nikon D300S, 12.3 megapixels
Nikon D5000, 12.3 mp
Olympus E-620, 12.3 mp
Olympus E-30, 12.3 mp
Panasonic Lumix DMC-GH1, 12.1 mp
Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1, 12.1 mp
Pentax K-7, 14.6 mp
