New Tours/Workshops Added to My 2011 Schedule



My photo tours and workshops, which I have been running for 20 years, are designed for photographers at all levels of expertise. Everyone joins in the photo learning – and photo fun!

We shoot during the day and work and play in the digital darkroom at night.

Please be familiar with all your camera settings. And, if you have  PC, please know where to find stuff. I am a Mac person. We have PC folks on the workshops who can help you, but I use a Mac.

Shop around. You'll find that my photo tours/workshops are some of the best-priced photo learning events available.

If you have any questions, please email me.

Private workshops – in Croton-on-Hudson, New York and to locations around the world – are available.

Alaska by Small Yacht
April 27 to May 4 and July 14 to 21
Wildlife and Nature Photography
Preview.

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 Atlanta, GA
June 12
Speedlite Workshop
Click here for info

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Plymouth, MA
 August 12 - 14
Landscapes, Seascapes and HDR 
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NYC Photo Shoot
June 18
Click here for info.

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Leaving Las Vegas for a Model Shoot
September 2- 4
 Click here for Info

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Mt. Rainier National Park
September 21 to 24
Landscape and HDR Photography
A Sammon/Pons workshop
Click here for info

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Croton Creative Workshops
September 28 to Oct 1
and 
October 5 to 8
Click here for info

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Los Osos, CA
Oct 12-16
California Photo Fest

Bosque del Apache
Early December 1 to 5
Rick Sammon and Juan Pons Workshop

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2012
Photo Tours/Workshops


Florida Photo Caravan
January  21 to 28
See a slide show with pix from our 2011 Caravan.
See another slide show.


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California - Yosemite, Mono Lake, Alabama Hills, Bodi State Park
In The Footsteps of Ansel Adams Workshop
June Dates to Be Determined
Click here for more photos.
Email me to get on the list.

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If we'll be photographing people on one of my workshops or photo tours, you may want to bring my reflector/diffuser kit.

I highly recommended that you take out travel insurance on all of your trips - on my trips or when you are traveling on your own. You just never know what can happen. I also recommend that you buy refundable airline tickets. Again, anything can happen.



My favorite workshops images are on my Smugmug site. Click here to check 'em out.
Save some bucks (20 percent the first year) when you make a personal Smugmug site/gallery! Click here for a trial version and to save. 

"Awaken the Artist Within" Topaz Adjust Webinar. 4.11.11

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Left Original. Right Topaz Adjust/Portrait Smooth
I truly believe that every photographer, and that includes you, has an artist within - an artist that can be awakened in the digital darkroom by using creative plug-ins. An artist that can make your time sitting at your computer, processing your images, more fun.

One of my favorite plug-ins is Topaz Adjust. With a click of your mouse and a swipe of a slider, you can transform your pictures into more creative - and professional looking - images.


In my Topaz Adjust Webinar on April 11 at 5 PM Easter Time, I'll share with you my favorite effects. I'll also take your questions.

Create a painterly look from a photograph. I'll show you how.



Topaz Adjust's Spicify Filter

I hope you can join me for the plug-in fun.

If you have never tried Topaz, click here for info. Also, you can $ave a bundle of $ when you order a Topaz Bundle. The Photoshop bundle is my favorite.

Click here to sign up! 

See you (okay, I really will not be able to see you, but I will get your questions) on the Webinar.

Explore the light,
Rick

P.S. You'll find more examples of how creative plug-ins can enhance your images in my latest iPad app, Rick Sammon's HDR Portfolio.

Final Photos and Tips from Photoshop World

As usual, Photoshop World was awesome. Awesome classes. Awesome instructors. Awesome after-hour parties.

Here are a few shots that I took on the last day of the event in the Westcott shooting booth. All photos were taken with my Canon 5D Mark II and favorite Canon lens: 24-105mm IS lens.

Our model: Rebekah Corey. If you would like to get in touch with her, shoot me an email. 

Above: Use plug-ins to create a mood. Here, and on most of the images in this post, I applied Topaz Adjust's Spicify filter then reduced the detail in the image with the Details sliders. I used this effect to remove some of the reality of the scene for a more impressionist/painterly-type image.


Above (Photo by Michael McCaskey): Get to know the model before a photo session. Remember that a model often needs direction. Work with a model to get the shots you both like.


Above: Here's a behind-the-scenes shot of my favorite set-up at Westcott's main shooting area. We were using Spiderlites in softboxes. Spiderlites offer continuous, daylight balanced light, which makes it easy to see shadows and highlights - and to get good color in your photographs. (In my previous post from PSW, I used a Canon 580 EX II Speedlite in an Apollo softbox.)

As you can see, we used a three-light/softbox set-up and a reflector placed on the floor to light the model. What looks like another light (in the middle of the two lights on the right) is actually another Spiderlite in a sofbox on another set at the booth.


Above: Speaking of giving the model direction, I suggested to our "Little Red Riding Hood" model that she look scared, which she did! 


Above: Work with shadows. Remember: Shadows can be your friend. Also, give the model direction as to what to do with her (or his) hands.


Above: Here's a basic lighting tip: The larger the light and the closer the light, the softer the light.

If you like stuff like this, shoot me an email to get on the list of my workshops and seminars. Also see my Seminars and Workshop pages of this blog.

Explore the light,
Rick

P.S. To learn more about creative plug-ins, click here.

We Are A Part Of Everyone We Meet

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My dad died a year ago this weekend. 

In thinking about my dad, I thought I'd share the post I wrote (now with a few edits) about him shortly after his passing.

Four years ago, late one December afternoon, my dad and I were sitting in his study. We were having a nice talk – and a nice time. I looked at him and thought: He looks so happy. The light is just right. I should take a picture - because it might be the last good picture I ever take of him. He was fading.

I thought about taking the picture for about 10 minutes, holding back some tears – thinking about what it would be like not to have him around, after having him around for 88 years - as my dad, and later on in life as the first-pass editor for most of my books. (He was a great editor.)

I finally asked him if I could take a shot. He said sure, with a smile and nod. He knew what I was thinking. I asked him to look out the window, and I took a single shot.

My dad, 91, died suddenly and peacefully and quickly on April 3, 2010. A few hours before, on the other side of the country, I had a dream about him: He had pushed his walker aside and was standing up straight. I had not dreamed about him for at least 20 years. Hummm....

Sure, I am very sad. I get waves of tears. I miss him more than he probably ever realized. He was my dad, a very big part of my life – in fact, half the reason for my life. :-)

Those of you who know me know I enjoy quotes. Here is my favorite: "We are a part of everyone we meet." Want proof? My dad, Robert M. Sammon, Sr., was a photographer, getting me started, along with my mother, in photography with his cameras and basement darkroom. But more important, he was a good dad - which I try to be. Everyday. I am very glad we met.

You might want to keep that quote in mind when you meet people. I sure do. You may have more of an impact on someone than you realize.

Rick
Proud son of Robert M. Sammon, Sr.