Friday's Fab Photographer - George Howard

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Each Friday, I try to run a post here: Friday's Fab Photographer. This week's fab photographer is George Howard.


Take it away George.

Thanks Rick for the invitation to be featured in your blog. It is indeed an honor.

As an avid amateur photographer, my favorite type of photo session is one where I wander the streets, or the trails, looking for compelling images. A few years ago I was struggling to find such images in my local environs. Unless I was traveling to places new to me I could find little to inspire me enough to squeeze the shutter button. 

About the same time as I realized I had developed this photographer's block, I became dissatisfied with the layout of my website which grouped my images in such uninspired categories as landscapes, portraits and miscellaneous. It eventually occurred to me that I needed a theme, some underlying notion that ran through a series of photographs; something specific to seek during photo sessions that could be subsequently displayed in a cohesive group. 

Now when I wander out with my camera in hand I am mindful of the various series I have working. This approach keeps those areas I regularly traverse fresh as I look for the combination of the right light and one of those underlying notions. A beneficial side effect of this approach is that I tend to keep a camera with me more frequently since I hate to come across a perfect candidate for one of my series with no way to capture it. 

One final note, developing a strong series takes time. Several mediocre images even though tied together by a great notion remain mediocre to the casual viewer, so be patient in the building of your series

Rick previously featured two images from my Shadow Boxing series. Here are two more.


The next two are from my Window World Series.






You can view some of my series at www.georgefhoward.com – with more coming soon to SmugMug. I also have a Photo of the Week mailing list that presents one of my images each week along with some insight into why the image works. If you would like to be added to the mailing list, contact me through my site.

Thank you again Rick for sharing your space with me.  May your light always be right.

New View at New Croton Dam

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My Croton Creative Workshops students spent yesterday morning taking pictures at the New Croton Dam.

Here's a cool, new view taken by workshop participant, John Davis.

For more of John's work, see his site.

More pix to come.

I run the Croton Creative Workshop twice a year. For info, contact me.

Explore the light,
Rick

P.S. Below is a shot I took on a previous Croton Creative Workshop. Croton is a great place to shoot!

ricksammon@mac.comricksammon@mac.com

Crop My Pictures and You're a Dead Man

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"Crop My Pictures and You're a Dead Man."


That's what I used to tell my book publishers (when I used to write books rather than producing apps – where I have total control over cropping).

Of course, I told the publishers  in a much kinder and gentler manner. :-)

Basically, I suggested that the art directors not crop my pictures in any form or fashion - because a careful crop is important to the overall composition of the image.

The point of this post is to encourage you to carefully crop your images - as a careful crop can turn even a snapshot into a much more effective and dramatic photograph.

I took the pictures in this post on my Mt. Rainier workshop that I co-lead with Juan Pons last week.

Above:
I dramatically cropped my full-frame images into strongly vertical images. More than half the original images were cropped out. These are Canon 5D Mark II images.

Below:
I dramatically cropped my full-frame images into strongly horizontal images. More than two-thirds of the original images were cropped out. These are Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 7D images.



For all these images, I shot with the end result (a strong crop) in mind. So the tip here is crop as carefully as you can in camera, but always keep in mind how you will crop your image in Lightroom or Photoshop.



So crop to your heart's content.



If you want some personal advice on cropping, maybe a Tough Love portfolio review session may just what you need.

Explore the light,
Rick

In-studio creativeLive Students Selected

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For those of you who are new to creativeLive, it's an on-line class that's free during the studio class. My class is October 21 - 23. From now until then, you can purchase the class (for at-your-leisure-anytime-watching) at a discount: $99.

Part of the deal is that cL asks photographers who want to be in the studio during the class to submit videos. The photographers who produce the most fun and most creative and most passionate videos get picked.

Below are the winning 6 videos for my class. Congratulations to all. I look forward to the photo fun - but keep in mind that I will put you to work . . . especially during the studio lighting demos.

The folks at creativeLive will contact you soon about the details. For now, shoot me an email so I can say hi!

For those who did not get picked, thank you so much for making the videos. Keep shooting and tune in during the weekend - and tweet to say hi!

The winning vidoes:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgUllmyLnoY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i14vmZuuw8

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pDFNRQzQ0Wk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBbxzvjkpW0

http://whyishouldbeonsammonlive.dhrumildesai.me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0ZhVslK-vY&feature=share


Yes! The focus of my class will be on still photography, but I also have a Business/Social Media session that I don't think you want to miss. I will cover Google+ and other social media outlets. Here's my Google+ page if you want to see what I'm up to.

As an added "thank you" to the in-studio students, I'll be brining a copy of my Creating HD Videos with the Canon EOS 5D Mark II and Canon 7D DVD - which is also available as a download. Yes, my class is about still photography - but I encourage all still photographers to get into shooting HD videos, too.

Hey, if you like hands-on learning, check out all my live workshops.

Explore the light,
Rick


P.S. One of the winners, Chris, is a guitar player. Chris, I am trying to get two guitars for the Shoot Rick session at the end of the class! Creative lighting will be the goal.

To HDR or Not to HDR? That is the question

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Yesterday, I announced a Mac version of my best-selling iHDR how-to app.

Sure, I enjoy creating HDR images, and I suggest to all my workshops students that they master HDR imaging.

However, I always stress that as good and as powerful and as much fun as HDR can be, there is a time and a place for HDR. Here's why: HDR can ruin the mood of a scene. And after all, the mood or feeling, is the most important part of an image.

I took the photograph that opens this post at Mt. Rainier last week. I could have used HDR to open up the shadows, but I feel as though the shadows create the mood of this peaceful and beautiful setting.

Remember:
Shadows are the soul of a photograph.
Shadows add a sense of depth and dimension to a photograph.
Shadows can be your friend.

So embrace HDR technology, but always keep the mood of the image in mind - first and foremost.

I teach HDR on almost all of my workshops.

Explore the light,
Rick

P.S. I'll be talking more about the mood of a photograph in my creativeLive class in October. Register today for this free class.

Got a Mac? Get Ready for My iHDR App Mac Attack

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What? Run an iPad App on Your Macintosh? Yes!

Well, sort of. You can't actually run an iPad app, like my iHDR iPad app, on a Mac, so Dr. Dave Wilson, the app developer, converted my iHDR iPad app - which is a how-to app and does not create HDR images -  into a true Macintosh application.

How cool is that!


It took many weeks of detailed, gut-wrenching, exhaustive work, sometimes without food or water (locked in a hatch*), but the results are awesome.

With this technology, you can download iHDR from the Mac App Store and run it on any Mac computer from MacBook Air to a giant Mac Pro.  Cost is $9.99.

You can only get the OSX app in the Mac App Store on your Mac. So be sure to open this App Store icon on your Mac.

You buy the iPad version of iHDR  in the iPhone/iPad App Store, or in iTunes. See link below.


Get the iPad edition, $4.99, from iTunes or your iPad App Store. Click here for more info and to order.


To see all my apps, click here.


If you like HDR photography, I join one of my workshops. We shoot and process HDR - even if you have a PC :-)

Explore the light,
Rick

* If you saw the TV series Lost, you got the "hatch" joke.