Shooting new year's fireworks in cold weather

While it's not as cold in most of the northern hemisphere as it is in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska and Longyearbyen, Svalbard, it still can be frigid enough to affect your new year's fireworks photography.

To photograph new year's fireworks in icy weather, photographers must combine good cold weather practices, night photography techniques, and the specific exposure requirements necessary to capture fireworks images. If you don't have a DSLR, don't think you can't make great fireworks images. With intelligent use, quality digital point and shoot cameras can make these photos too.

New Years Day: Time to reset the copyright notice in your camera

January 1^st is just a couple of days away. Consider this article a reminder to reset the copyright notice in your camera to reflect the new year, so your 2015 images will have the correct information.

Most digital cameras today, can automatically insert your copyright notice into the metadata of every image you make as they are stored.

Each of my cameras will be reset on the upcoming new year's day morning to insert “Copyright © 2015 NSL Photography, All Rights Reserved” into every image I make.

If you don't insert your copyright notice in your images, to protect them, I suggest you consider doing it, starting today.

I'm often asked the question when I run workshops, or anytime I'm with enthusiasts and we're talking photography, “You're a pro, so I understand why you place your copyright on your photos, but why should I worry about it? I'm not selling my photographs, nor using them in my work.”

It's a great question.

Ned's ten favorite smartphone travel apps for 2014

I've tested thousands of travel apps, some of which I've purchased myself, including general travel apps, and specific ones for airlines, trains, rental cars, etc., as well as for cities, countries, and travel destinations, such as national parks and historic sights.

Here are my top ten favorite general travel apps for 2014. I use all these apps personally in travel planning, and/or while away.

10. White Noise — ($1.99: iOS, Android Windows 8) Too much noise coming from outside your room, or even inside it, possibly from another room, a dripping faucet, or a roommate? White Noise can rescue you. The “white noise” it makes can help most travelers get to and stay asleep by blocking distractions. I use the built-in “air conditioner” sound. White Noise also has a built-in clock display which shows through the night, and you can setup alarms to wake you as needed.

New feature for the NSL "Travel" Photography Blog

This blog has carried articles about important general photography issues, photography and the law, specifics of travel photography, the works of great photographers, using smartphones in photography, the digital darkroom, issues of government and photography, equipment, as well as general photography and travel photography advice.

Missing among these articles for travel photographers has been articles about travel itself.

Sometimes a pure travel article is just the right one for a travel photography blog. Travel photographers have the same needs and issues that any traveler has, so including articles in this blog about travel generally, which can help travel photographers with their personal needs while on the go, or while planning their journeys makes sense.

Starting this month the NSL Travel Photography Blog will include articles about general travel which will hopefully help photographers know more about the issues affecting their journeys, assist photographers in travel planning, and help photographers while on the go to help make their treks more enjoyable and productive.

Photographing trains...Stay off the Tracks!!!

Lately, I've heard from many travel photographers, amateurs and professions alike, looking to make images of railroads, their yards, tracks, passenger and freight cars, and locomotives.

Making photographs while on train tracks and in train yards is very dangerous and there is much cause to stay off railroad property, and their tracks:

• It's illegal to be on or very near to railroad tracks for photography without the permission of the railroad which owns and/or uses the tracks. (Many railroads share tracks with other railroads. You need at least the permission of the tracks' owner.)

Nature photographers' clothing and gear color really matter!

Birds typically have sharper vision, and significantly superior color vision than humans. Birds can see certain light frequencies, including ultraviolet, which are invisible to most humans.

Their superior eyesight can diminish the nature photographers’ ability to get closet to birds, desirable to help photographers make sharp, detailed images of these beautiful feathered animals.

Nature photography has five keys for success I call “Wildlife Photography's Five P's”: Preparation, Practice, Patience, Persistence, Propaedeutics.”™ This article concentrates on “propaedeutics,” learning connected with any art or science. The more we learn about wildlife as photographers the more successful we can be making wildlife images.

Learning about avian eye physiology helps bird photographers understand how bird’s superior vision affects the photographers’ ability to make great images of birds, thus aiding them in maximizing their bird photo opportunities.

It's US Independence Day: Time to celebrate and photograph spectacular fireworks

Today, in the United States we'll celebrate our nation's birth. In Philadelphia, America’s birthplace and it's first capital, that means the annual “Philly 4th of July Jam and Grand Finale Fireworks” held at the foot of the Philadelphia Museum of Art tonight, where more than a half million Philadelphians and visitors will enjoy one of the country's best Independence Day concerts. This year it will star The Roots, Ed Sheeran, Nicki Minaj, Jennifer Hudson, Aloe Blacc, Ariana Grande and Vicci Martinez performing live, with actor and comedian Marlon Wayans serving as host, followed by one of the largest, most spectacular fireworks displays in the nation.

I'll be there. If you're there too, look for me south of the Art Museum.

This year I'm going to continue experimenting while photographing the fireworks. I'm going to use a variety of neutral density filters to enable me to use longer exposures, and capture more fireworks' bursts in my images. I'll be experimenting with neutral density filters which add 1, 2, or 3 f/stops to my exposure. I'll explain below what that means in terms of shutter times.

National Nature Photography Day at the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge

Sunday, June 15th is the ninth annual National Nature Photography Day. This day was designated by the North America Nature Photographers Association to promote the enjoyment of nature photography, and explain how photographs have been used to advance the cause of conservation and protect plants, wildlife, and landscapes locally and worldwide.

Many National Wildlife Refuges across the US will be celebrating this day with family programs.

I think it's especially auspicious that National Nature Photography Day is on Father's Day in the US. This is a great opportunity for fathers and their children to enjoy a day walking in the wild and making nature photographs together. Going out into a national or state park, wildlife preserve or wildlife refuge to experience nature “in the raw” can be a wonderful family activity at any time, but on Sunday's special day, it seems like a perfect time for dads (or moms) to introduce and build their children's interests in the outdoors, wildlife, the natural world, and photography.

I was invited by the US Fish and Wildlife Service's John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge to run a special National Nature Photography Day program at the Heinz Refuge. The program is free for all to attend.

C&A moving Calumet Photographic forward, though not without bumps

As reported last week, New Jersey based photography retailer, C&A Marketing Inc, which purchased some of Calumet Photographic's assets and debt, opened the Oak Brook Calumet Photographic store last Sunday, May 11^th.

The opening was generally well received with customers noting many of the old Oak Brook staff had been rehired by C&A to run the store.

Customers reported to me that the store had Pocket Wizard, Sekonic, Gitzo, Manfrotto, Calumet, Quantum, Nikon, Canon, as part of a large variety of name brand products, in the store for the opening. Some customers said they were disappointed that many higher end products, for sale mainly to professionals and enthusiasts, were not in stock, such as Nikon professional bodies and lenses.