Thursday's Travelogue: Mono Lake, California

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All photographs © Rick Sammon
This is part of a series I run here on my blog: Thursday's Travelogue. This week Mono Lake, California.

Mono lake is one of my favorite places to shoot landscapes. In fact, it will be one of the stops on my 2012 Photo Caravan, In The Footsteps of Ansel Adams.

Photo tips:
• South Tufa is the best place to shoot.
• Sunrise is the best time to shoot - but moonrise could be cool!
• Drive to South Tufa in daylight before your sunrise shoot. The gravel road leading to the parking lot has not lights.
• Get on site early. Very early. Many other photographers show up to shoot the sunrise.
• Plan more than one sunrise shoot. You just never know, as illustrated by the two sunrise pictures in this post.
• You'll need a flashlight for your early morning shoots.
• Work with reflections. Usually, the water is calmer earlier in the day.

 

• Shoot HDR. The opening image for this post is an HDR image. Click here for discounts on Photomatix Pro and Nik HDR Efex Pro.
• Wear waterproof sandals and shorts... as you may be walking through the water, as I did, to get to a good shooting spot.
Teva Men's Toachi 2 Outdoor Performance Sandal,Raven,9 M US
• Waders are another option for keeping dry.
• Tote a tripod, which you may be placing in the water. Rinse it off afterward.
• Pack a polarizing filter to reduce the glare on water.
Tiffen 72mm Circular Polarizer
• Mono lake is mostly wide-angle photography.




Travel Tips:
• Have dinner at the Historic Mono Lake Inn. Call in advance.
• Make your hotel reservations early.
• If you will be driving over the Tioga Pass, check to see that it's not closed due to snow - even in the late spring/early summer.
• You will be relatively close to Bodie State Historical Park, Yosemite and Alabama Hillls. Plan a trip.
• You must eat at the Whoa Nellie Deli at the Tioga Gas Mart. It's fun and fabulous! 


Bodie State Historical Park is a great place for HDR.
For more info on Mono Lake, click here.


Explore the light,
Rick


P.S. See past travelogues below:


Mt. Rainier


St. Augustine


Bosque del Apache

My Light It! App Is Loaded with Lighting Tips

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Looking for some basic lighting tips? Check out my best-selling app, Rick Sammon's Light It!

If you don't want to read this long blog post, click here see the intro movie (posted on SmugMug) - which includes a mini-lesson on lighting :-)

Click here to order the app. It's only $4.99!

My Light It! app, introduced in August 2010, is designed to help you make (not just take) professional-quality digital SLR people pictures – without spending a small fortune on professional lighting accessories. It's ideal for photographers who want to learn about shooting with an accessory flash and basic lighting accessories. Some of my favorite photo philosophies are included, too.


The 1.5 hour training app (packed with 1.5 GB of info) includes both video lessons and before/after photographs. At 1.5 GB you want to download Light It! from your home computer and then transfer it to your iPad. 


Yes! Light It! is large and will take some time to download. Maybe download before going to bed.

I took the illustrative photographs with a range of Canon digital SLR cameras – from entry-level to top-of-the-line models. While watching the video lessons, you’ll learn how pros photograph people indoors and outdoors, in bright light and in low light, at home and on location, and even in a studio. In looking at the photographs in Light It! you’ll see the effects of my recommended techniques.

In the easy-to-follow and fun video lessons I’ll show you how to use reflectors, diffusers, a flash, flash accessories, basic strobe kits, basic hot-light kits and more. I also cover camera settings, as well as some of my photo philosophies. Although I often refer to specific cameras, the basic camera settings can be applied to any digital SLR - and even some compact cameras.


Two of the videos in Light It! – Top 21 People Photography Tips and Top Ten Digital Photography Tips – feature some of my favorite digital SLR pictures from around the world, accompanied with how-to tips, of course!

Light It! is a basic, or starter, app about lighting. However, as you will see, pros use many of these techniques and accessories to get great shots. 

The movies for Light It!, shot by Emmy-award winner David Leveen, are divided into five sections:

Basics: 33 Minutes
Outdoors: 15 Minutes
In Your Home: 16 Minutes
On-Location: 12 Minutes
Studio Shooting: 23 Minutes


Hey! I told you Light It! is loaded with lighting info!

The total viewing time is about 1.5 hours.What’s more, I have included more than 100 end-result pictures in the app to illustrate the techniques I discuss in the lessons. So in effect, Light It! is like taking a private lesson with me – but only at your own pace.


To see all my apps, click here.

I hope you enjoy Light It! Let me know by shooting me an email.

Explore the Light – and explore the joy of lightingpeople photography.

Best,
Rick 
P.S. To learning lighting on site, check out my Master Your Flash Workshops in Croton on Hudson, NY.


Photomatix PRO 4.1 - HDR 4 U

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I am in the process of making a movie (screen/voice capture) of my workflow for Photomatix Pro 4.1 (latest version). It will be posted on YouTube in two weeks.


I will let you guys know the day it's up!


Any particular features you'd like me to highlight? Got questions? Please submit your ideas the Comments on this page - rather than on facebook, twitter or Google+. Easier for me to track :-)


New to Photomatix, the High Dynamic Range (HDR) program I used to create the above image? Well, you can save 15% when you order Photomatix by using this code: ricksammon. 


Also, to read about some of my HDR work, check out this article in the New York Times.


Explore the light,
Rick


P.S. If you have an iPad, check out my HDR app: Rick Sammon's iHDR.

8.23.11 Tuesday's Talented Twitter Find: Tito Herrera

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This week's Tuesday's Talented Twitter Find is Tito Herrera.
Follow Tito on Twitter.

About My Tuesday's Talented Twitter Find: Each Tuesday (when I am not traveling) I will pick a talented photographer I find on Twitter - and promote the talented photographer here on my blog and on twitter, etc.

Nice work Tito!

Tito s the director of the Panama Photo Festival, which is set for February 18 to 21, 2012. If you are interested in joining Tito (and me and other top instructors) in Panama, contact Tito through twitter.

Here is a link to my work on the 2011 Panama Photo Workshop.

Explore the light,
Rick

P.S. If you are not following me on Twitter, click here to keep up to date with what I'm doing. And, keep posting interesting photo stuff on Twitter!

Rick Sammon's Select Series Launched: Vol 1 - Travel and Nature Photography From A to Z

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All photographers have their favorite photographs and tips. That includes me!

In my latest project - the Rick Sammon Select Series - I share some of my favorite photos with basic tips, to help you turn your snapshots into great shots. Some of the photographs have appeared in my books, magazine articles, apps, DVDs and in my on-line training classes. Here, my photos/tips are put together in an easy to read volume.

Each volume in the series is a downloadable PDF that can be viewed on any laptop computer and on an iPad. Each volume cost only $5.00.



The series is the idea of photographer Steve Dreyer, who attended one of my workshops and has since become my friend.

Travel and Nature Photography is Volume I in the series. It includes:
• 26 travel and nature photo tips. A to Z - the number of letters in the alphabet. Tips on aerial photography, nighttime shooting, landscapes, kids, jungles, glare on water and much more.

Plus:
• 6 pages of basic HDR info.
• 3 pages of Steve's photographs and tips.

Again, these are basic tips aimed at the photo enthusiast.



Click here to order!


If you need help with Download/Payment Instructions . . .


After you click the Click here link above.


1) Complete the form and submit it.
2) Once your payment is received, you will receive an email stating that you can download the PDF.
3) Download the PDF to your desktop computer - view and enjoy.


To Save and View the PDF on an iPAD once downloaded to your computer:
1) Connect your iPAD to your desktop computer where you have iTunes installed.
2) Open iTunes and drag the PDF to the iTunes library (in Books section).
3)  Perform a sync.
4) Open the book in the PDF section of iBooks (install the free iBooks app if  needed). Enjoy.

Steve and I are currently working on Volume II in the Rick Sammon Select Series: Photographing People.


Explore the light,
Rick