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.”
Fireweed, Brainard Lake, Colorado
Sometimes you head out with one photographic plan in mind and need to switch to another. As Dewitt Jones often puts it: Â “If you go out to shoot waterfalls and Nature (God) is giving you clouds that day, shoot clouds!”
Sunrise at Dead Horse Point
For landscape photographers, the “one sunrise per day” limit can be a real challenge, especially when you have several excellent locations to choose from. The same goes for the “one sunset per day” limit. Sunrise and sunset usually have the best light of the day. Photography would be so much easier if we had a couple of sunrises and sunsets per day.
Wedding photography mixes several of the challenges of portrait photography, street photography, news photography, and event photography, all in a fast moving, anything can happen, “no second chances to get it right” environment. It is one of the most challenging kinds of photography I know of.
I recently had the following online conversation with a friend who is an experienced photographer (which explains why I didn’t answer some of these questions in more detail).
Petrified Dunes, Zion National Park.
Zion National Park is well know for its towering sandstone cliffs, but it has other treasures for the photographer willing to look, like these petrified dunes.
Photo Trip Log
A photo trip log is a good way to refresh your memory. It comes in very handy when you want to find a photo location again if your photos aren’t GPS tagged, and a photo log is very useful when a photo editor wants the details on one of your photos. This photo is of two pages out of a total of four pages of notes I made on April 25, 2011.
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.
Jennifer Blakeley does beautiful newborn photography. Her celebrity client list includes Megan Fox and Brian Austin Green; Vanessa and Donald Trump Jr.; and Jocelyn Towne and Simon Helberg (Big Bang Theory). She is also the founder of Alphabet Photography. A highly respected and award winning Canadian photographer, she has also worked with the Canadian Olympics Gymnastic Team.
20×30 inch Cougar Print
I admit it, I am hooked on big prints. You are looking at a 20×30 inch print (or technically, you are looking at a digital photograph of a 20×30 print). Big prints look great hanging on a wall (or held by one of your favorite models).
Park Avenue at Twilight, Arches National Park, Utah.
Don’t put your camera away after sunset. There are lots of photographic possibilities as the sky deepens into evening twilight.
The bride helps the ring bearer with his boutonniere.
Half the fun of photographing a wedding is capturing candid moments. This is the bride helping the ring bearer with his buttone . . . . his boutonai . . . . his flower!
Piano Reflection Portrait
This portrait is from a spontaneous photo shoot. I had three great subjects (sisters), perfect light, and a baby grand piano to work with, and I almost always have a camera and one or more lenses with me.
Magpie Meets Canon 100-400mm Lens
Update April 2: Yesterday was April Fool’s Day. I’m not selling my Canon gear (blame the idea on Art Morris, the world class bird photographer). My apologies to the people who wrote and wanted to buy my Canon gear. The Canon history in between the first and last paragraphs is accurate and I really did buy my first autofocus lens long before I bought my first autofocus body.
I have been so impressed with the latest Nikon cameras (which have edged out Canon in the technology race) that I’ve decided to switch to Nikon gear. It was a hard decision.
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If you love photography. If creating images has crept into your heart and soul. And especially if you have been around long enough to work in the chemical darkroom. Watch this!
Before and After
Mixed lighting (lighting with different color temperatures) can be a real color nightmare, especially if you are shooting JPEG files. Shooting RAW files and processing them with Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) is one of the best solutions to the problem. ACR comes with recent versions of Photoshop Elements and Photoshop.
Sometimes getting the right color balance is easy with the right camera settings. When I opened this image in Adobe Camera Raw (ACR) I didn’t need to change a thing. After the bride’s portrait, this was a relief.
Moment of Birth
There are very few moments on earth that match the birth of a baby. Such wonder, awe, and love. It was a privileged to be asked by the parents to be there and photograph the big event.
Footprint
Baby’s first footprint. The story behind this delivery room photo shoot (lighting, metering, color temperature issues, RAW file conversion) is here.
Baby Boy, A Few Minutes Old.
I had the happy privilege of being asked to photograph the birth of a baby boy. The mother found some of my photos on the internet, she was impressed with my work, and sent me an email asking if I was interested in photographing the delivery of her son. Of course I was!
Sunstar Over Turnagain Arm, Alaska
If I had submitted this photo to the 2012 National Geographic photo contest it would have been disqualified. Why? It hasn’t been digitally altered in any way. And the “sunstar” isn’t the problem.
