Thank You Croton Creative Workshop Photographers

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Just a quick "thank you" to all the talented photographers who participated in my fall 2011 Croton Creative Workshop (one hour from NYC). You all did an amazing job. What's more, we had a blast!

Above is our group shot, taken at one of my favorite shooting locations, a nearby Buddhist temple. Below is a cool shot (taken by John Dutsar) of the Buddhist temple.


I also want to thank the Croton Fire Department for letting my group shoot in one of the firehouses. I took the photograph below to illustrate the technique: the closer you are to a subject, the more intimate the picture becomes. Here I used my Canon 15mm lens on my Canon 7D.


And below is our group shot with Tom "Tex" Dinkler, who helped coordinate our shoot at the firehouse. Thanks, Text!


During my Croton workshops, I make a BIG print of a student's image that I really like. Below: John Virgolino and I are holding a 24 x 53-inch print of the Buddhist temple that I made for him on my Canon IPF 6350 printer. Nice work, John . . . stitching together 21 images for this super pano!


Below is my own favorite shot from yesterday. Yes! We do studio work, too! Click here to read about it.


Below: Nice shots Ned (left) and Bryon (right)!



I hope to see you soon on another workshop. Croton Creative Students: If you have a web gallery, post it in the Comments here on my blog. I would love to see more of your pictures!

I am currently setting the dates for two 2012 Croton Creative Workshops.

To get on my mailing list, click here.

Explore the light,
Rick

P.S.


Of course we shoot at the New Croton Dam! Above is a wonderful image by Don Smith. I like the depth of this image. Below is a nice pano from Bernie Perry.

One Light Speedlite Wonders

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Today was the last day of my Croton Creative Workshop. We did it all during the past three days: indoors, outdoors, HDR, speedlites, reflectors/diffusers Lightroom, Photograph, people, etc.

This afternoon we focused on speedlite photography - using only one one light and one reflector. The main purpose of this session was to demonstrate different lighting techniques. Had this been a serious studio shoot, I would have ironed the background.

Above is one of my favorites shots. It illustrates that you can indeed get cool lighting with one light.



Above is a behind-the-scenes shots taken by workshop student Danel Hernendez.

Notice that the soft box is not pointed directly at the subject. Rather, it's pointed in front of the subject. In doing so, the light falling on the subject is soft and flattering. This is called feathering the light.

Also note: the larger the light, the softer the light; the closer the light, the softer the light.

The cool painted background was provided by Westcott.

The softbox on the left is a Westcott Apollo soft box.

The gold reflector on the right is from the Westcott 6-in-1 reflector diffuser kit.

I am shooting with my Canon 7D and 24-105mm lens.

The Canon 580EX II in the softbox is fired from the Canon ST-E2 mounted in the hot-shoe of my camera.

Here are the links to some of the gear:


Canon 580EX II Speedlite



Westcott 6-1 Kit
Westcott 1032 6-in-1 Reflector Kit 42in.




One of the cool things about my studio workshops is that the students can see the results of their work during the shooting sessions.

To get on the mailing list for my workshops, including my Croton Creative Workshops, click here.

Explore the light,
Rick

P.S. See more lighting techniques on my October creativeLive class.

Friday's Fab Photographer - George Howard

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Each Friday, I try to run a post here: Friday's Fab Photographer. This week's fab photographer is George Howard.


Take it away George.

Thanks Rick for the invitation to be featured in your blog. It is indeed an honor.

As an avid amateur photographer, my favorite type of photo session is one where I wander the streets, or the trails, looking for compelling images. A few years ago I was struggling to find such images in my local environs. Unless I was traveling to places new to me I could find little to inspire me enough to squeeze the shutter button. 

About the same time as I realized I had developed this photographer's block, I became dissatisfied with the layout of my website which grouped my images in such uninspired categories as landscapes, portraits and miscellaneous. It eventually occurred to me that I needed a theme, some underlying notion that ran through a series of photographs; something specific to seek during photo sessions that could be subsequently displayed in a cohesive group. 

Now when I wander out with my camera in hand I am mindful of the various series I have working. This approach keeps those areas I regularly traverse fresh as I look for the combination of the right light and one of those underlying notions. A beneficial side effect of this approach is that I tend to keep a camera with me more frequently since I hate to come across a perfect candidate for one of my series with no way to capture it. 

One final note, developing a strong series takes time. Several mediocre images even though tied together by a great notion remain mediocre to the casual viewer, so be patient in the building of your series

Rick previously featured two images from my Shadow Boxing series. Here are two more.


The next two are from my Window World Series.






You can view some of my series at www.georgefhoward.com – with more coming soon to SmugMug. I also have a Photo of the Week mailing list that presents one of my images each week along with some insight into why the image works. If you would like to be added to the mailing list, contact me through my site.

Thank you again Rick for sharing your space with me.  May your light always be right.

New View at New Croton Dam

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My Croton Creative Workshops students spent yesterday morning taking pictures at the New Croton Dam.

Here's a cool, new view taken by workshop participant, John Davis.

For more of John's work, see his site.

More pix to come.

I run the Croton Creative Workshop twice a year. For info, contact me.

Explore the light,
Rick

P.S. Below is a shot I took on a previous Croton Creative Workshop. Croton is a great place to shoot!

ricksammon@mac.comricksammon@mac.com

Crop My Pictures and You're a Dead Man

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"Crop My Pictures and You're a Dead Man."


That's what I used to tell my book publishers (when I used to write books rather than producing apps – where I have total control over cropping).

Of course, I told the publishers  in a much kinder and gentler manner. :-)

Basically, I suggested that the art directors not crop my pictures in any form or fashion - because a careful crop is important to the overall composition of the image.

The point of this post is to encourage you to carefully crop your images - as a careful crop can turn even a snapshot into a much more effective and dramatic photograph.

I took the pictures in this post on my Mt. Rainier workshop that I co-lead with Juan Pons last week.

Above:
I dramatically cropped my full-frame images into strongly vertical images. More than half the original images were cropped out. These are Canon 5D Mark II images.

Below:
I dramatically cropped my full-frame images into strongly horizontal images. More than two-thirds of the original images were cropped out. These are Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 7D images.



For all these images, I shot with the end result (a strong crop) in mind. So the tip here is crop as carefully as you can in camera, but always keep in mind how you will crop your image in Lightroom or Photoshop.



So crop to your heart's content.



If you want some personal advice on cropping, maybe a Tough Love portfolio review session may just what you need.

Explore the light,
Rick