Make Eye Contact

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Just an idea for your next portrait photography session: work on making eye contact with your subject - work on making a connection with the subject.


Try this technique with animal photography, too.

Explore the light,
Rick

My Light It! App Is Loaded with Lighting Tips

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Looking for some basic lighting tips? Check out my best-selling app, Rick Sammon's Light It!

If you don't want to read this long blog post, click here see the intro movie (posted on SmugMug) - which includes a mini-lesson on lighting :-)

Click here to order the app. It's only $4.99!

My Light It! app, introduced in August 2010, is designed to help you make (not just take) professional-quality digital SLR people pictures – without spending a small fortune on professional lighting accessories. It's ideal for photographers who want to learn about shooting with an accessory flash and basic lighting accessories. Some of my favorite photo philosophies are included, too.


The 1.5 hour training app (packed with 1.5 GB of info) includes both video lessons and before/after photographs. At 1.5 GB you want to download Light It! from your home computer and then transfer it to your iPad. 


Yes! Light It! is large and will take some time to download. Maybe download before going to bed.

I took the illustrative photographs with a range of Canon digital SLR cameras – from entry-level to top-of-the-line models. While watching the video lessons, you’ll learn how pros photograph people indoors and outdoors, in bright light and in low light, at home and on location, and even in a studio. In looking at the photographs in Light It! you’ll see the effects of my recommended techniques.

In the easy-to-follow and fun video lessons I’ll show you how to use reflectors, diffusers, a flash, flash accessories, basic strobe kits, basic hot-light kits and more. I also cover camera settings, as well as some of my photo philosophies. Although I often refer to specific cameras, the basic camera settings can be applied to any digital SLR - and even some compact cameras.


Two of the videos in Light It! – Top 21 People Photography Tips and Top Ten Digital Photography Tips – feature some of my favorite digital SLR pictures from around the world, accompanied with how-to tips, of course!

Light It! is a basic, or starter, app about lighting. However, as you will see, pros use many of these techniques and accessories to get great shots. 

The movies for Light It!, shot by Emmy-award winner David Leveen, are divided into five sections:

Basics: 33 Minutes
Outdoors: 15 Minutes
In Your Home: 16 Minutes
On-Location: 12 Minutes
Studio Shooting: 23 Minutes


Hey! I told you Light It! is loaded with lighting info!

The total viewing time is about 1.5 hours.What’s more, I have included more than 100 end-result pictures in the app to illustrate the techniques I discuss in the lessons. So in effect, Light It! is like taking a private lesson with me – but only at your own pace.


To see all my apps, click here.

I hope you enjoy Light It! Let me know by shooting me an email.

Explore the Light – and explore the joy of lightingpeople photography.

Best,
Rick 
P.S. To learning lighting on site, check out my Master Your Flash Workshops in Croton on Hudson, NY.


Look for Subtle Differences in the Light

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Photographs © Rick Sammon. All rights reserved.
Canon 5D Mark II. Canon 24-105mm IS lens.

When it comes to photography, it's all about seeing the light - seeing the contrast range in the scene, seeing the quality of light, seeing the direction of light, and seeing the color of light.

Last week, I was leading a workshop to Guizhou, China. Mostly, our group was photographing the people in several remote villages.

These two photographs illustrate a subtle difference in the light.

Both of these pictures were taken in the same village – but in two different locations – in the shade on a bright, sunny day. We shot in the shad to avoid harsh shadows caused by direct sunlight.

The photograph on the left (my favorite because of the softer light) was taken in the second location, where the light was a bit softer than in the first location. Notice how the shadows are stronger in the picture on the right.

So the message here is: see the light!

Here is a behind-the-scenes shot of one of our portrait session. I just included this for fun!

Tomorrow, I'll start a week of Storytelling here on my blog - using pictures from the Sister's Meal Festival, which was one of the main reasons for going to China.

Explore the Light,
Rick




Canon 5D Mark II/7D San Miguel de Allende Diaries Post #7

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Today we took a trip to Guanjuato - about an hour from San Miguel. A huge festival took over the city, giving us wonderful travel portrait opportunities.

The middle and right pictures: street performers. 

The girl on the left: someone snacking on some ice cream after having some pizza in a local pizza joint. I took that picture in the dimly lit entrance to the pizza place with my 5D Mark II set at ISO 6400. Now that's impressive low-light photography.

We made all these pictures, asking the subjects to move into more flattering and pleasing lighting. All the pictures were taken with my favorite people photography lens, my Canon 24-105mm IS zoom.

When photographing people, respecting the subject is the most important thing to remember.

For more on travel portraiture, check out this article.

Explore the Light,
Rick


Quickie Contest!

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I took these pictures today during the taping of my Canon Rebel T1i DVD. I like them so much I had to share them with you... and run a quickie contest.

The first person who get all three answers correct gets a copy of my book, Face to Face, which features my favorite people pictures and tips. (US shipping only.)

1) What exposure mode did I use (Av, Tv, M, P, Green, Portrait, etc.)?
2) What very important tip do you think I'd give to newbie photographers?
3) What people photography tip do you think I'd give?

Good luck.

Make pictures,
Rick