Have a Good Book Idea? Team With An Expert... or Three

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Yesterday's post featuring my butterfly picture (taken in my kitchen, by the way) got me looking through my butterfly picture folder, which features the photographs I took while working on my book, Flying Flowers.

In my seminars, I talk about working on that book, and how I hired three butterfly experts – Alan Chin Lee, Gary Noel Ross, Ph.D., and Tom Emmel, Ph. D. – to help me with the text.

Those experts added credibility to the book, which is important for any book and author.

If you have an idea for book and if you are not an expert on a subject, seek one out. He or she may be an expert and not a great photographer. Your timing may be just right. You might make a great team - which is attractive to book publishers.

These pictures were taken in Mexico at the over-wintering site of the monarch butterflies – where 30 million monarch gather each winter.

How did I get there? The experts invited me. :-)

See, it pays to network.

Explore the Light,
Rick

Pano + HDR = Dynamic Duo

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Click on the image for a larger view. Note: Images on this blog don't have the same vibrancy as the original images.

If you have not tried Photomerge (panorama feature) in Photoshop... what are you waiting for? Or as my grammar school nuns would say, For what are you waiting? :-)

Anyway, if you have not tried HDR photography, that's right, For what are you waiting?

And... if you have not combined HDR imaging with Photomerge, well... you get the point.

The middle and bottom panos here are a combination of several straight-out-of-the-camera shots.

The top pano is a combination of 3 bracketed exposures of 5 different shots.

The basic process:
1) Shoot your HDR images (using a tripod of course).
2) Process each set of images in Photomatix. (You can get a 15% discount on Phototmatix by using this code upon checkout: Ricksammon.)
3) Use Photoshop's Photomerge to combine your HDR images.

For an even more dynamic image, try processing it with Topaz Adjust, as I did on the top pano. Topaz Adjust is not a true HDR program, but it can add a sense of depth and dimension to your images.

By the way, all 3 panos were shot with my Canon G10.

We'll be shooting the Buddhist temple during my Croton Workshop.

The nun photo? Well, I just wanted to show you what I went through as a kid!

See the light,
Rick
P.S. "Never end a sentence with a preposition." Sister Lucia

Got Mac?


Yo, as David Leveen says when he comes over to work on my Mac (and iPhone). He's the man when it comes to fixing/updating my Mac – and getting me set up with my iPhone.

Need Mac help in the NY Metro area, check him out at MacSimply.

More on David.. and me :-)

See the light,
rick

Happy 40th Anniversary!

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On this day 40 years ago, I was planning the trip to Woodstock (in my 66 VW camper) with by pals, some of whom you see here hanging out with me in a parking field at the festival.

Much as changed - in the world and with me. But ya know what, I still feel as though I am 19 in many ways. My son has helped. So has music. And so has photography – because making pictures is so much fun and offers a sense of freedom, which was important to hippies back then :-)

If I had a time machine and could go back in time, I'd travel to when Santana played at Woodstock – the high point, so to speak, of Woodstock for me. Catching a sandwich dropped from a helicopter was kinda cool, too.

Any Woodstockers out there? I would love to hear from you!

PLJ (Peace, love and joy),
Rick

P.S. What, no photo tip?! Okay, here goes:

Do you think that when Santana plays a guitar solo he is thinking about what note he just played, what note he is playing, and what note he will play next? Do you think he is thinking about what key he is in, how far to bend a note, to pull-off or hammer a note, etc.?

My guess is no.

It's the same thing with photography: we have to know our cameras and the technical aspects of photography so well that getting the shot becomes almost automatic. That's when the magic of photography happens. Soooooo, practice as much as possible - just as Santana did for years before stepping out on the stage at Woodstock.