Death Valley Workshop Day 1 - Telling the Story

February 25, 2012 in Death Valley

As always, my advice to my workshop students is to "tell the whole story" of a location.

One story-telling technique is to shoot both wide-angle and close-ups views.

Try story-telling on your next photo trip. You'll like it.

Click here to see the gear I am using to tell the story here in Death Valley on the workshop run by Randy and Jeff who head up The Digital Photo Workshops.

Scroll down for more Death Valley posts.

Explore the light,

Rick

Death Valley Workshop Day 1 - Bad Water

February 24, 2012 in HDR

It's still day one of my workshop with The Digital Photo Workshops here in Death Valley.

We had a blast this afternoon photographing at Bad Water.

When shooting into the sun, shoot HDR. And, use an aperture of f/22 to create the starburst effect.

Here I used Photomatix to create the HDR image. Click here to learn more about the creative plug-ins and HDR image programs I use.

Scroll down for previous posts from Death Valley.

More images to come.

Click here for my iPad and iPhone apps that offer how-to info on lighting and HDR.

Explore the light,
Rick

Death Valley Photography Workshop: Day 1 - Sand Dunes

February 24, 2012 in California Photo Workshops, digital photo workshops

It's day one of my workshop with The Digital Photo Workshops here in Death Valley.

We had a blast this morning photographing the sand dunes.

A basic tip: You snooze you lose. You gotta get up early and stay out late to capture the beautiful shadows created by a rising or setting sun.

Remember: Light reveals, shadows define.

Also, envision the end-result and crop creatively. Here I cropped out the top and bottom of the frame to draw attention to the beautiful sand dunes in the center of the frame.

More images to come.

Explore the light,
Rick

P.S. For all my workshops, click here.

Use Snapseed as a Time Machine - and go back in time

February 20, 2012 in Nik's Snapseed, World Fair

Snapseed image by Rick Sammon

Recently, perhaps because I am over 60 and past halftime, I have been reflecting on past experiences - and on those who have influenced my life.

My grandmother was one of those people. We had a lot of fun together, and that fun included a trip to the 1964 World's Fair in Flushing Meadows, NY.

When I photographed the Unisphere this past weekend, I thought about old times and old photos.

I took my original photo with my Canon 5D Mark II and Canon 15mm lens. The fish-eye lens created the curvature in the image, and setting the aperture to f/22 gave me the starburst effect. I added the vintage look in Nik Software's Snapseed, which I have loaded on my iPad.

Snapseed image by Susan Sammon

I guess my wife, Susan, was reminiscing about old times, too. She also used Snapseed on her iPad to create a back-in-time image.

For a few more Snapseed images, see my Creative Plug-ins page.

Explore the light,
Rick

Atlanta Lighting/Lightroom Workshop Gear List

February 20, 2012 in Canon Speedlites, workshops

Catherine Hall photographed at Google. © Rick Sammon

I am gearing up for my March 9-11 Atlanta Lighting and Lightroom workshop with fellow Canon Explorer of Light (and good friend) Parish Kohanim.

We'll shoot in the studio and on-location. How cool is that!

Parish will show you how to use studio lights for sensational portraits. Some of his gear, which he'll share with you, is shown below.

Parish is a master at creating different lighting effects and moods will all types of lighting, including direct light and softbox light. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn from a master . . . and to play with his gear.

We will tether your camera to computers with large Apple cinema displays so you see the effects of your work immediately.

I'll be teaching speedlites. We'll both teach Lightroom.

Here's a look at some of my gear. This is my basic gear reco for studio (and in-home) speedlite shooting.

Pocket Wizard wireless transmitters/receivers - for off-camera flash photography.

Phottix wireless transmitters/receivers - for off-camera flash photography.

Canon ST-E2 wireless transmitters/receivers - for off-camera flash photography.

I bring all wireless systems for the students to share. If you have another brand of camera, be sure you know how to fire your flash remotely - and have the needed accessories or camera capabilities. Off camera flash shooting is a must.

Honl gels - to add color to a white background and to change the color in a scene, as illustrated above.

Two Honl Grids - to direct the light, as illustrated above. The smaller the grid, the more focused the light.

Two Canon 580 EX II speedlites - set on TTL for easy flash photography.

Canon 100mm macro lens - which I also use for portraits.

Canon 24-105mm IS lens - my main lens for studio shooting.

Tether cable - so I can hook up my camera to my Macbook Pro laptop for easy image viewing. I view through Canon Digital Photo Professional, but Lightroom does the trick, too.

Canon 5D Mark II - from which I can control the light output of the speedlites.

Two 28-inch Westcott Apollo soft boxes - in which I place my speedlites . . . and which I often hold in different positions around a subject. Yes! I am a voice-activated light stand.

Westcott 6-in-1 reflector/diffuser kits.

Here is a look at Parish's studio, which we will transform into your studio for the two-day workshop.

Our motto: "We teach, you shoot." We hope you can join the info-filled and fun-packed workshop.

Parish's list to come.

Here is my original post on the workshop. Hope to see you in Hot 'Lanta.

Explore the light,
Rick

P.S. If you can't make the workshop, you'll find lots of lighting tips in my apps.