Part I: Girl with a Pearl Earring - The Photograph

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Photograph on right © Rick Sammon. All rights reserved.
One of my favorite paintings is, "Girl with a Pearl Earring" by the Dutch master Johannes Vermeer. The painting has been referred to as, "The Mona Lisa of the North." Hey, I like it even better than the Mona Lisa.

One of my favorite movies is "Girl with a Pearl Earring," starring Scarlett Johansson.

Both the painting and the movie inspired today's shoot. I wanted to recreate the lighting and look and feel of the portrait with my digital camera and bit of Photoshop work. I made the portrait in my office – I don't have a studio.

I'm kinda jammed right now, but tomorrow or the next day I will show you some behind-the-scenes shots from the shoot. I'll also share the tech info on the making of the "Girl with a Pearl Earring - The Photograph."

Okay, a quick tip: I used the Portrait Smooth effect in Topaz Adjust to smooth out the model's skin. For more on Topaz Adjust, click here.

Stay tuned.

For now, try this type of "self assignment" at home.  After all, it's Sunday, a day off for many folks. Find a painting that you admire, see the light, note the props, and try to make a photograph that looks like the painting.

Another idea is to find a photograph that you like and . . . :-)

I teach stuff like this on some of my workshops and at my seminars. Join the fun!

Explore the light,
Rick

P.S. If you like photographing people, you might like my book, Face to Face:



Ready, Steady - Shoot

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Check out this fun video. Educational, too!

Juan Pons and I shot these segments during the making of our DVD on the how to shoot HD videos with the Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 7D (due out early next year).

We have fun in the videos, but we give some serious HD video - and sound – shooting tips!

Yes, the "backin' up" effect was inspired by the Gregory bothers popular video, "The Backin' Up" song on YouTube.

Explore the light,

Rick

P.S. Click here to see the DSLR video gear I use and recommend.

DVD in the Making - Day IV: Shooting HD Videos with the Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 7D

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Juan Pons and I are almost done shooting our DVD on how to make great HD videos with the Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 7D.

We've been here in Croton-on-Hudson, NY for four days, shooting non-stop from dawn to dusk. Included in the DVD will be clips from Juan's travels and my travels to: Laos, Maui, California, Texas, Yellowstone, North Carolina and New York.

Stay tuned!

Explore the light,
Rick

P.S. The all-important segment on sound is about 20 minutes.

DVD in the Making: Shooting HD Videos with the Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 7D

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Juan Pons and I just wrapped up day one of our shoot for our upcoming DVD: Canon DSLR Video Master Class. We'll be sharing our best tips, tricks and techniques for shooting HD videos with the Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 7D.

Here's a behind-the-scenes look at our lighting set up for the intro segment: The Westcott Spider TD5 light kit positioned for shadowless lighting.

Westcott's Dave Piazza is coming here to Croton with more cool lighting accessories on Thursday to shoot a segment on lighting for video - indoors and out.

Quick tip on lighting: The larger the light, the softer the light; the closer the light, the softer the light.

Click here to see our world famous (ha ha) Christmas cheetah movie. Just an example of the kind of super-sharp videos we'll be showing in our DVD. Yes! We will have more action in our other vidoes :-)

Explore the light,
Rick

Quick Digital Imaging Tip 34/101: Focus Carefully

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This is tip #34 of 101 digital imaging tips I plan to post here over the next few months. Stay tuned.

Today's tip: Focus Carefully

Just because you have an auto focus camera, even if it has a 45 auto focus point system, that does not mean that the camera always knows where to focus.


Use the AF focus points in your camera carefully and make sure that the most important part of the scene is in focus.


When it comes to a person (or an animal) the main focus point is usually the eyes.


Don’t overlook the importance of the Focus Lock feature on your camera, which lets you lock in the focus on a particular part of the scene, after which you can recompose the scene and take the picture. Setting individual focus points can be advantageous, too.


Careful focus is especially important when photographing people (and animals) with telephoto lenses set at wide apertures and when there are foreground elements in the scene - as illustrated by this photograph I took of a Huli Wigman in Papua New Guinea.


Explore the light,

Rick

P.S. The catch light in the man's eyes were created by our guide holding a reflector. When possible and appropriate, I try to add catch light to a subject's eyes. You can also add catch light with a flash, or by having the subject look toward the direction of light.