Yesterday, I made quick visit to the Wings of Freedom tour , which was in Pompano Beach, FL. Today the tour is moving to Ft. Lauderdale. The opening image for this post is the ONE shot I envisioned before I set out for the shoot – the one image I wanted to make.

Envisioning the end result is often the key to making a good image, and it's the title of my next book, Creative Visualization for Photographers, due out in April.

Knowing in advance that I wanted to capture as much of the plane's cockpit as possible, I shot with my Canon 15mm fish-eye lens - which is discontinued and is replaced by the 8-15mm lens. I shot with my Canon 5D Mark III.

I also knew that in order to capture the entire dynamic range of the scene, I needed HDR. Above is the seven-shot bracketed sequence I used to create my HDR image. It's a hand-held sequence processed in Photomatix.

Hands down, Photomatix is the best HDR program out there. Why? Three reasons:
1) You can create realistic-looking HDR images;
2) Image alignment is awesome, even for hand-held shots;
3) The Program is easy to use.

You can get a 15% discount on Photomatix when you use this code upon checkout: ricksammon.

I liked by HDR color image, but I wanted to create an image with the feel of yesteryear - the feeling that I get when I watch old movies. To reach that goal, I used Macphun's Tonality, and selected the Great Depression filter in the Vintage Collection.

Yes, the Tonality Pro is fun, but it also offer dozens of creative options to help you awaken the artist within.

You can get a 10% discount on Tonality Pro and all the MacPhun products by using this code upon checkout: RICKSAMMON.

Click here to read another post I did on Tonality Pro.