iStuff Sunday #8: Hit Me With Your Best Shot

© David "iMan" Leveen

iStuff Sunday is a regular feature that I link to here on my blog. It's written by my friend David "iMan" Leveen, who shot all the videos for our Light It! iPad and iPhone apps. 

Click here to see all my apps.

Each week David will cover some cool techniques and fun stuff for your iPad and iPhone - and maybe even for iLife and iWork users.

If you want to suggest a topic, let us know in the Comments section here.

Also let us know if you'd be interested in an iPhone workshop by the iMan in NYC or up here in Croton on Hudson, NY.

This week: Hit Me With Your Best Shot.

Explore the Light,
Rick

10 Countries, 10 Days, 10 Tips: Day 8 - Cappadocia, Turkey

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Rick Sammon photograph.
It's Day 8 of my travel series here on my blog. Thanks for joining me.

Location: Cappadocia, Turkey.

Tip: Go above and under ground.

Rick Sammon photograph
The two main attritions of Cappadocia are the spectacular landscapes and the intriguing underground cities.

Book an early morning ballon ride. Use a polarizing filter to darken the sky and whiten white clouds.

Rick Sammon photograph.
In the afternoon, explore the cities that are carved out of - and in - the mountains.

Rick Sammon photograph.
You may not be able to use a tripod or a flash in some underground cities, so you'll need to boost up your ISO, as I did below (boosting my ISO to 1000).

Rick Sammon photograph.
Don't worry about noise in your images. You can reduce it in Lightroom and Photoshop.

For over and under pictures, I recommend a wide-angle lens. If you want to take only one lens, I'd recommend a 24-105mm lens.

Here's a list of all my gear.

I hope to see you someday on one of my workshops. We shoot from sunrise to sunset.

For travel tips on the go, check out my iPad app, Rick Sammon's 24/7 Photo Buffet.

Explore the light,
Rick




10 Countries, 10 Days, 10 Tips: Day 7 - Churchill, Canada

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Rick Sammon photograph.
It's Day 7 of my travel series here on my blog. Thanks for joining me.

Location: Churchill, Canada.

Tip: Photograph the polar bears in winter, when there is snow and ice on the ground.

Rick Sammon photograph.
Photographers from around the world make the trek to Churchill to photograph the polar bears. Some stay in lodges, but I think you'll get a higher percentage of good pictures and have a better experience if you stay on site in a polar buggy or tundra buggy, as I did (see below).

Rick Sammon photograph.
If you do stay in a polar or tundra buggy, be sure to have toe-warmers. Even though the vehicles are heaters, your toes may get chilly . . . because it can be 35 degrees below zero outside.

Rick Sammon photograph.
When it comes to lenses, the longer the better. The polar bears come up to the vehicles, but photos taken that close look as though they were taken in a zoo.

Rick Sammon photograph.
You definitely want to photograph the animals from a distance.

Rick Sammon photograph.
Most of the time you'll be shooting through a window from the vehicle. But if it's safe, you might be able to shoot outside the vehicle. The photograph directly above illustrates a basic composition rule . . . the rule of odds. For more tips on composition, see my Composition class on Kelby Training.


When photographing white subjects, set your exposure compensation to +1 as a starting point for a good exposure. As always, check your histogram and highlight alert.

Rick Sammon photograph.
Above is a shot of our polar bear caravan. We had a vehicles for eating, sleeping, dining and partying. Good fun.


My favorite and recommended lens/accessory for this trip:

I hope to see you on one of my workshops someday.


Explore the light,
Rick

10 Countries, 10 Days, 10 Tips: Day 6 - Holland

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Rick Sammon photograph.
It's Day 6 of my series on travel photography here on my blog. Thanks for joining me.

Location: Holland.

Tip: Go in April for the tulip festival in Keukenhof. And go early in the morning before a "million" other photographers show up - and show up in your pictures.

Rick Sammon photograph.
Bring all your lenses, from wide-angle to telephoto - and your macro. I took the opening pictures for this post with my Canon 15mm lens, and I took the picture above with my Canon 24-105mm IS lens.

To get a starburst as you see in the top photograph, you need to shoot at f/22.

The flowers in both of these photographs are backlit. Try shootin toward the sun for pictures in which the flowers look as though they are illuminated from within.

When dealing with backlit subjects, it's especially important to check your camera's highlight alert.

If you like the composition of these photographs, check out my composition class on Kelby training.


While in Amsterdam, you'll find tons of photo ops if you walk the streets. My favorite street lens is my Canon 17-40mm lens.

You'll find more photo tips in my apps.

And you'll have a blast making pictures on my workshops, where we often shoot toward the sun. :-)

Explore the light,
Rick


10 Countries, 10 Days, 10 Tips: Day 5 - Kenya

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Rick Sammon photograph. Canon 100-400mm IS lens.
It's Day 5 of my series on travel photography here on my blog. Thanks for joining me.

Location: Kenya's Masai Mara. I took the photographs in this post on a recent trip to the Mara that was expertly organized by &Beyond.

Tip: Go in the rainy season.

Rick Sammon photograph. Canon 17-40mm lens.
I know that may not sound like a killer tip, but I think it's an important one to consider. In the rainy season, the sky can be filled with beautiful and dramatic clouds. Those clouds make a wonderful background for your wildlife and people photographs.

I enhanced the clouds in the scene above with Topaz Adjust/Spicify filter. Info on all the plug-ins I use are on my plug-ins page.

In the dry season, you'll probably get a beautiful clear sky, which can be boring. In those conditions, it's best to compose your picture without too much sky in the frame - as I did for the last photograph in this post, which was taken in the dry season. For more on composition, check out my Composition class on Kelby Training.

Rick Sammon photograph. Canon 24-105mm IS lens
In the rainy season, it will probably not rain all day. In fact, when we were on the Mara in November, it only rained in the late afternoon for a hour or so - but boy did it rain!

Rick Sammon photograph. Canon 24-105mm IS lens.
 If you go in the rainy season, you must be prepared with rain gear for your camera and yourself.

Rick Sammon photograph
Another advantage of going in the rainy season: the overcast sky makes getting good exposures of wildlife easier than it is on bright, sunny days - because contrast is reduced.


You can see more of my Africa pictures, and order prints, in my SmugMug gallery.


If you like traveling and photography, check out my workshops and photo tours.

If you want travel photography tips at your fingertips, explore my app: Rick Sammon's 24/7 Photo Buffet.

Rick Sammon photograph.

I'm leading a photo workshop to Tanzania in 2013. I hope you can join the photo adventure.

Explore the light,
Rick