10 Countries, 10 Days, 10 Tips: Day 9 - Peru

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Rick  Sammon photograph.
It's Day 9 of my travel series here on my blog. Thanks for joining me.

Location: Machu Picchu, Peru.

Tip: Pack your wide-angle lens or wide-angle zoom. The wider the better.

Machu Picchu is breathtaking – in more ways than one.

First, at about 8,000 feet above sea level, the air is thin. Hiking around can literally take away your breath. Therefore, you must be in good physical condition for your trek to this 15th-century Inca site. In addition, you may get an altitude headache. Drinking coco tea can help.

Second, the site is, indeed, breathtaking. To capture the entire scene, you'll need a very wide-angle lens. I used my Canon 15mm lens to capture these scenes. If I go back, I'd take the new Canon 8-15mm zoom. It's the most versatile wide-angle lens available for landscape photography.

If you can't capture the entire scene with one lens, shoot a panorama.

Rick Sammon photograph.
Due to the contrast range in the scene (bright sky and deep shadows), you'll probably want to shoot HDR. If you are new to HDR, check out this article: HDR Must Know Info.

Both of these photographs have a good sense of depth, due to the foreground elements. When there is not an obvious foreground element in your frame, use the ground as your foreground element. For more composition techniques, see my Composition class on Kelby training.

Here's another tip: Don't look down!

I hope you can join me on one of my workshops and photo tours. Great fun, great photo ops and great people.

Explore the light,
Rick

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