David Cardinal Biography

 

David is an award-winning professional travel and nature photographer, as well as a prolific writer on photography and other technical topics. He is a frequent contributor to , and has been published in Outdoor Photographer, Photoshop User, PC Magazine, London Daily Mail, and many other magazines and websites. He has spoken on digital imaging and on the internet at Stanford, Dartmouth, Google, Electronic Imaging, and at B&H’s OPTIC conference. His clients include the BBC, Asia Development Bank, US Fish and Wildlife, California Fish and Game, National Wildlife Federation, American Prairie Foundation, DxO Labs, Datacolor, Photodex, and Lexar. David is also a Datacolor Expert.  In addition to leading photo tours worldwide, he has shot high school sports professionally for CBS Interactive. He co-authored one of the first books on digital photography with colleague Moose Peterson and has taught workshops for North American Nature Photography Association and Digital Landscape Workshop Series.

David's travel and nature photo tours and safaris include destinations in Africa, Southeast Asia, and throughout North America. His images of creatures in the wild help communicate the importance of our natural heritage and our responsibility to preserve it, while his journalistic efforts span both photography and technology. 

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David leads a limited number of wildlife and nature photo safaris, through

David is the founder of Pro Shooters, which produces the award winning for Windows--software for organizing and managing your digital images--and , the leading information website for serious digital shooters-with over 100,000 unique visitors each month-as well as DigitalPro Shooter, a leading bi-monthly newsletter for digital photographers with over 15,000 readers. David's background also includes many years of technical consulting on topics ranging from digital image management to color digital imaging for both Fortune 500 companies and the US Government. 

You can learn more about David and his photography at , and about DigitalPro at .

Clients Include:

  • Lens Vector, shoot portfolio images, product strategy consulting
  • DxO Labs, technical consulting, writing, and training
  • Datacolor, , Datacolor Expert & blogger, Safari and color webinars
  • Asia Development Bank, Chairman's Greeting Card, 2013
  • National Wildlife Federation (2010, 2014 Calendars)
  • BBC Books / Profile Press (Book cover)
  • WWF Netherlands, (2 A4 spreads, fund-raising and awareness brochure)
  • California State Parks Foundation (Website, Poster & Brochure images)
  • San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory (SFBBO) (Brochure, Marketing &  Website images)
  • Point Reyes Bird Observatory (PRBO, Annual Report Cover)
  • California Department of Fish & Game (Educational & Outreach images)
  • US Fish & Wildlife Service (Educational & Outreach Images, Assignment photography)
  • (Kleiner-Perkins) (Al Gore press event assignment photographer)
  • Sybex (John Wiley & Sons) (Book Cover for Tim Grey's Color Confidence)
  • Peachpit Press (Book Cover for Dan Margulis Professional Photoshop)
  • Pierce Landscaping (Website & Advertising images)
  • (Website & Promotional images)
  • Microsoft & MSN Photo (Digital Imaging Consultant, Digital Imaging Advisory Group member, Contributing Author and Photographer)
  • Silicon Valley Audubon (Brochure cover image, speaker)
  • Sequoia Audubon (speaker)
  • City of Watsonville (Contributing photographer to permanent wetlands wildlife display)
  • City of Palo Alto (Contributing photographer to Lucy Evans Nature Center Educational Exhibits as well as temporary City exhibits downtown)
  • Town of Portola Valley (Website images)
  • Bay Trails project, Association of Bay Area Governments (Trail Map images)
  • American Prairie Foundation (Brochure & Marketing images)
  • Smith Barney (Client Talk on Digital Photography)
  • Lexar Imaging, (Image and Article Contributor)
  • Atalasoft (Digital Imaging Software Design and Development Consulting, )
  • Draper, Inc. ()
  • Bio-Habitats (Endangered Species Consulting firm) (Education/Outreach images)
  • Lensbabies (Site sponsor)
  • Photodex, Site Sponsor and
  • Tour Mandalay, Myanmar (Brochure Images)
  • ESPN Rise, High School Athlete Portrait
  • , Web, Promotional and Yearbook images
  • Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC), United Kingdom Government
  • CBS Interactive (Maxpreps.com sports subsidiary, web site & contract)
  • NANPA (Workshop on Wildlife Photography will be held at the )
  • Sigma Photo, featured images in
  • , In-store Adventure / Safari Display Photographs
  • CBS Interactive / Maxpreps
  • , Wall mural
   

Publications and Awards Include:


Exhibits, Shows & selected talks include:


  • Odyssey speaker series, Internet: Blessing or Curse, March, 2015
  • Dartmouth iLEAD, Showdown in Silicon Valley, Guest Lecture, August, 2013
  • Stanford Center for Image Engineering (SCIEN) 
  • B&H Event Space, "Becoming a better travel and vacation photographer" May, 2015
  • B&H Event Space, "Creating Award-winning Images," October, 2012 & 2013
  • B&H Photo Tour, Bronx Zoo, June, 2012 & May, 2013
  • FotoClave 2011, October, 2011, Session on Travel Photography Ethics
  • Princeton Club of Northern California, Mastering Digital Photography, February, 2011
  • , Panel on HDR Image Capture & Tonemapping
  • Talk & Slideshow, Photographing the Temples & People of Southeast Asia, , January, 2009, and Bears Of Alaska, October, 2010
  • BBC Wildlife Contest 2007 & 2008, 3 finalist, 17 semi-finalist images
  • NANPA Expressions 2007, 2008, 2011, featured images
  • One artist show, Atherton Library, Atherton, 2007
  • , Google Education Talk, Google Corporation, Mt. View, 2007
  • , Committee for Green Foothills, 2006
  • One artist show, Seipp Gallery, Palo Alto, 2006
  • Alviso Centeniel at The Works Gallery, San Jose
  • Photos on permanent display at Palo Alto Baylands
  • Photos on permanent display at Watsonville Wetlands
  • Photos on display for Earth Day, Palo Alto Civic Center
  • Guest Photographer, Innaugural Digital Landscape Workshop Series, Moab, Utah
  • NANPA 2007, 2011 among Showcase Award winners
  • One artist Show Allegro Framing & Art Gallery (April, 2007)
  • Talk and Slideshow: Birds of the Bay Area, Bay Area Bird Photographers
  • Talk and Slideshow: , Bay Area Bird Photographers
  • Talk and Slideshow: , Bay Area Bird Photographers
  • Guest Photographer, DLWS Yosemite
  • Talk and Slideshow: Birds & Bears of the Cook Inlet, Bay Area Bird Photographers & Sequoia Audubon
  • Cambodia & Burma, Sequoia Audubon and Bay Area Bird Photographers
  • Photographing on Safari,
  • Group co-Lead & Photo Instructor, , Botswana & Namibia, 2005 to Present
  • Group co-Lead & Photo Instructor, Africa Photo Adventures and
  • Sulawesi, Wildlife & Culture, Bay Area Bird Photographers
  • Group Leader & Photo Instructor, Southeast Asia Safaris featuring Cambodia, Myanmar (Burma), Laos and Thailand, 2005 to Present
  • Group Leader & Photo Instructor, Alaska Grizzly Bear & Horned and Tufted Puffin Photo Safaris, 2000 to Present
  • Group Leader & Photo Instructor, Birds of the Bay Area
  • Group Leader & Photo Instructor, Monterey Bay Mammals & Birds
  • Group Leader & Photo Instructor, Michigan Fall Color Workshops
  • Princeton Club of Northern California, Southeast Asia Travel Safari Talk, September, 2008, Digital Photography Talk, February, 2011
  • Introduction to Digital Photography, Smith-Barney Private Client Group, 2008
  • Introduction to Bird Photography, City of Palo Alto Adult Education
  • Secrets of Wildlife Photography, Bay Area Bird Photoraphers, April, 2010
  • Allegro Gallery, Portola Valley, California, One Artist Show -- The American West, December, 2010
  • Learning Wildlife Photography, NANPA Summit Workshop, March 9, 2011
     
  • , from 2011 to present
Links to Selected PC Magazine Articles online

, March 2009 and May 2009 Issue

, December, 2008

, October, 2008

, June and July 2008

, April 2008

, March, 2008

, February, 2008

, October, 2007

, June, 2007

November, 2005
... or Google Maps. David Cardinal is a professional photographer and software author. Visit his site, www.proshooters.com. Make your ...

, March, 2005
We turned to two of our frequent contributors, David Cardinal and Galen Fott, to show you how it's done. David, a ...

 
Product Guides > Article - 2005-03-16 - Ben Gottesman
Ben Gottesman Expert: David Cardinal Image Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS Arches Park in Utah has many spectacular photo opportunities ...

 
Product Guides > Article - 2005-03-16 - Ben Gottesman
Ben Gottesman Expert: David Cardinal Image Editor: Microsoft Digital Image Pro 10 Halloween shots are guaranteed to be colorful, but ...

 
Expert Help > Article - 2004-08-17
... David Cardinal is a professional photographer and software author. He publishes the Web site nikondigital.org as an information ...

 
Expert Help > Article - 2004-12-22
... Continue to get to know your camera's capabilities and settings. For more, read " Know Your Camera ". David Cardinal is a professional nature photographer. ...

 
Product Guides > Article - 2005-03-16 - Ben Gottesman
Ben Gottesman Expert: David Cardinal Image Editor: Adobe Photoshop Elements 3 Pro-sports images are typified by close-ups of action ...

 June, 2005
... David Cardinal is a professional photographer and software author. He publishes the Web site www.nikondigital.org (an information ...

, October, 2005
... Click here to see the slideshow: DARPA Grand Challenge Preview. David Cardinal is a professional photographer and software author. ...

 
Product Guides > Article - 2006-05-31 - Cade Metz
... When wildlife photographer David Cardinal isn't writing articles on digital photography for PC Magazine, he's leading photo safaris to all corners of the world ...

, May, 2004
... David Cardinal is a professional photographer and software author. He publishes the Web site www.nikondigital.org (an information ...

August, 2002 
... David Cardinal is a professional wildlife photographer, author, and software developer. He is co-author of The D1 Generation (Moose ...

, March, 2005
Ben Gottesman with Expert: David Cardinal Image Editor: Paint Shop Pro 9 Like many sunrises, this one, taken through a temple archway ...

, March, 2007 
... it out to use it in your camera. — David Cardinal, freelance writer. With Vista's ReadyBoost, you can use any high-performance ...

, March 2007 
... You can also manage which add-ons are enabled, in Tools | Manage Add-ons, after you've started IE7. — David Cardinal, freelance writer. ...

, March, 2007
... David Cardinal, freelance writer. Vista's new Photo Gallery is powerful and flexible, but out of the box, it works with JPEG and TIFF images only. ...

, PC Magazine, Thailand


Articles online about David Cardinal

PDN / Rangefinder, March, 2016.

, Imaging Resource, February, 2016.

, B&H Photo Blog, by Chris Gampat, June 14, 2012.

PC Magazine feature on , April 16, 2012.

, The Almanac, April 4, 2007

ECM Blog, April 2008

, The Almanac, April 25, 2007

, Palo Alto Weekly, March, 2006

, The Almanac, June 29, 2005

, The Almanac, October 4, 2006

, California State Parks Parklands Magazine, August 8, 2003

Other Affiliations:

Cardinal Photo is an affiliate of Amazon, Zazzle, Think Tank Photo, Blurb, Photodex, HDRSoft, SmugMug, and B&H Photo

David is a member of PPA, NAPP, the ACM and NANPA. Cardinal Photo is a Corporate member of .

Giving Back: David and his wife Lorrie Duval believe in giving back to the community, and have donated their time and art work to a variety of charitable organizations including: California State Park Foundation, East Palo Alto Tennis & Tutoring (EPATT), The Maze Cup, Blues and Barbeque, Castilleja School, National Wildlife Federation, Children in the Wilderness Trust, Portola Valley School District, Town of Portola Valley, Atherton Library, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, and others.

David graduated from with a degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 1981, concentrating in digital imaging and algorithms, and was awarded the Joseph Clifton Elgin prize for contribution to the Engineering School. After stints at Amdahl Computer and nearly a decade at in a variety of positions including director of their consulting and sales support organizations and General Manager of their Applications Division, he founded FirstFloor Software in 1992, which merged with Calico Commerce where he was CTO until founding Cardinal Photo (Pro Shooters LLC) in 2000, where he is the principal owner along with his wife Lorrie Duval.

David's images are available from:

A limited number of David's Stock images are available from:

  • (very limited selection)
  • (images provided for specific projects)
  • (TSS Photo, images of Namibia)
  • CATERS news agency in the UK

David's high school sports images are available from CBS Interactive subsidiary,

Selected wildlife and travel images are available for printing or making gifts through our

If you don't see what you need there, please contact us via email using stock [at] cardinalphoto.com

You can also find David & Cardinal Photo on , and .

[Image Credit: Portrait photo by Robert Cardinal]