"In the Footsteps of Ansel Adams" 2012 Photo Caravan

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Mono Lake
I like to plan ahead :-)

I am setting up my "In the Footsteps of Ansel Adams" June 2012 Photo Caravan. It's basically a traveling photo workshop.

We'll be photographing in some of the most picturesque places in California. I have photographed in these places before, so I will be your photo guide and tour guide, getting you to the best places to shoot.

Yosemite
Bodie State Park
Alabama Hills
Ancient Bristlecone Pine Forest
Mono Lake
If you'd like to get on the mailing list, shoot me an email at ricksammon@mac.com. Space is limited to 10 - but I may do two workshops back to back.

For those new to my Photo Caravans, you drive yourself, make your own hotel reservations (we have a group hotel), etc. We shoot as a group and download as a group. We also have a ton of fun as a group.

You must be in good physical condition for this workshop.

For some quick tips for landscape photography, click here. It's a nice slide show.

Explore the light,
Rick

Selective Sharpening in Photoshop CS5

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Photograph by Rick Sammon
Thinking and working selectively in Photoshop is important – especially when it comes to sharpening an image. In most cases, you don’t want to sharpen the entire image – for two reasons:

One, if you sharpen only the main subject (monkeys in this case), the viewer’s eye will go more toward the subject than if you sharpen the entire image area;

Two, and this is even more important, when you sharpen the dark and out-of-focus areas in a scene, as well as the main subject, you’ll increase the noise more so in those areas than in the sharp and brightly illuminated areas – because that is where noise is more visible. 

Here is a quick lesson on selective sharpening in Photoshop, requested by one of my workshop students, Donnette Largay. 

Open your image.

Go to Filter > Convert for Smart Filters.

Apply your sharpening (I use Unsharp Mask).


Once you apply your sharpening filter (or any filter for that matter), you see what looks like a familiar Layer Mask (just like in Adjustment Layers) in the Layers panel. 

With black selected as your foreground color (bottom of the Tool Bar), click on the Layer Mask, select a soft brush and "paint out" the sharpening in the areas that you don't want sharpened (background in this case). The black brush marks tell you if you have successfully painted out the desired area. If you look closely, you'll see that my image required a bit more work.

See Donnette. It never hurts to ask :-)

Hey! If anyone else out there has a selective sharpening technique, please share it in the comments. You can add a link.

Explore the light,
Rick

P.S. This is a daylight fill-in flash shot, taken at the Bronx Zoo.
 


Quick Tips for Shooting HDR Nighttime Images

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HDR image by Rick Sammon

Title: Cool Dude
Location: Miami’s South Beach (taken on my Florida Photo Caravan last week)
Exposures: 0,+2, -2 EV
Processing: Nik HDR Efex Pro and Topaz Adjust

Tips: 
• Making HDR images at night is cool, just like this cool dude. 
• Be sure to capture the entire dynamic range of the scene. Keep underexposing until you see not blinkies on your camera's LCD monitor, and keep overexposing until you see can see into the shadows.
• Use slow shutter speeds to blur moving lights, but make sure the main subject holds as still as possible.
• Use ghost-reducing features in HDR programs and plug-ins to avoid or reduce unwanted subject movement. 
• Shoot at the lowest ISO possible. 
• Keep in mind that the best time to take nighttime pictures is not at night, but rather at dusk, when there is still a bit of light in sky. A black sky equals a noise-filled sky.
• If the background is too busy or distracting, get down low and use the sky as your background.
• In a situation like this, use auto white balance.
• Remember what you mother told you, "Wear white at night." Be careful please.
• If the reds are over-saturated, reduce the saturation in the red channel. That way, your other colors will not be affected.
• Bring a flashlight so you can see what the heck you are doing! :-)

Hey! If you have a nighttime HDR photo tip, please post a comment here. Thank you.

For info on HDR Efex Pro and Topaz Adjust, click here. 

Hey... this image will be in my iPad app. Soon come! Stay tuned for info. Lots of new photos, new tips, videos and audio recordings!

Explore the light,
Rick

P.S. For more info on HDR, see my book:
Rick Sammon's HDR Secrets for Digital Photographers 

Be My Guest Monday 1/31/11: David Page


It's "Be My Guest Monday," the day of the week that's turned over to a talented guest blogger for a quick tip.

Today's guest: David Page

It is amazing how you can increase the speed of a race car and improve the composition by just tilting the image. The images above are the same except that the top one was tilted before the cropping step. I prefer to to start with a lot of resolution on an image that is "normal" with plenty of room to crop. I then rotate the image in Photoshop several times till I get my favorite angle. Then I go back to the original image and rotate it only once to that best angle again. The reason for the re-do is that every time you rotate an image there is slight small detail loss and to repeat it many times could take the fuzz right off of a peach.

The same result could be accomplished by just rotating the camera on the original shot. But at over 100 miles per hour you only get one attempt at the best angle for the best composition. Be careful in choosing the background as leaning trees etc. can ruin the effect.

• • •

David Page is the co-author, along with Dr. Richard Zakia, of Photographic Composition - A Visual Guide. These two dudes are also two of my favorite people.