Life Lessons We Can Learn From Mother Nature – iPad App Now Available

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Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing. – Abraham Lincoln

Kenya
Canon 1Ds Mark II
Canon 1000-400mm IS lens @ 340mm
Aperture Priority Mode
ISO 125
f/8.0 @ 164th sec.

Photo tips:
• Check your histogram to make sure that your highlights are not washed out.
• Don't look directly into the sun at sunrise and sunset.
• Wear sunglasses at sunrise and sunset.
• Have fun in Photoshop creating the mirror effect, as I did here.
• Note that polarizing filters are not effective when shooting directly toward or away from the sun.

• • •
Life Lessons We Can Learn from Mother Nature, my latest iPad app, was recently released on the iTunes app store. The concept: On each page of the e-book-type app you’ll find an inspirational or motivational quote accompanied by one of my wildlife or landscape photographs. I tired to match each photograph to the quote, which was a challenging but rewarding process.

The photographs are from my travels over the years; the quotes are gathered from a lifetime of looking for inspiration from others.

To celebrate the iPad app, co-developed with Juan Pons (the dude who started the Digital Photo Experience with me), I’ll be posting a picture and quote from time to time here on my blog – pictures and quotes that are not in the app. I’ll also include the location in which each photograph was taken, as well as the camera data – as I do in the app.

To order the app, which also features my favorite Photoshop techniques for wildlife and nature photography,
click on the iPhone/iPad photos on the right.

If you have an inspiration quote you’d like to share, please share it here via a Comment.

Explore the light – and explore the iPad!

Rick
P.S. Click here to see all my apps.

Butterfly

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Photograph © Rick Sammon. All rights reserved.

I am just finishing up a new project on butterflies.

Stay tuned for info. Any guesses? :-)

For now, here is some info on this cute creature:
Precis coenia
BUCKEYE
RANGE: United States to Mexico, Cuba, the Bahamas and Bermuda

Directly between the eyes of the Precis coenia is a pair of palpi that are widely thought to be used for cleaning the eyes, as they are often seen brushing across the eyes while feeding or at rest.

Camera info:
Canon 1Ds Mark II
Manual Exposure Mode
Canon 100mm Macro Lens
ISO 100
F/16.0 @ 1/60th sec.
Canon MR-14EX Ring Lite

Click here and scroll down to see a list of my gear.

Butterfly photo tip:
Add light

When adding light, a ringlight is a good choice. A ringlight fits around a lens and can provide ratio and shadowless lighting. The light from a ringlight also adds contrast to a picture, making it look sharper than a natural light photograph. I used a Canon MR-14EX ringlite on my Canon 100mm macro lens for this picture.

You could use a camera’s built-in flash, or an attached accessory flash for close-up flash pictures. If you do, you will probably get a harsh shadow in your picture – caused by directly light or because the lens or lens hood is shading the subject from the flash.

A coil cord is another option. It lets you position the flash off camera for more creative lighting than on-camera flash photography. However, harsh shadows may be undesirable.

Explore the light,
Rick