Landing At Squarespace

"It's been a long time comin'."  -  David Crosby

I finally have a web site that represents my photography and my photo philosophy. I chose a SQUARESPACE web site as my home on the web for my blog, galleries, workshops - and more - because it's the only self-publishing web site that I've found to be easy to manage and fun to use. Customer support and all the creative options for photographers are yet another reason why I landed here.

Explore my Galleries. Check out my workshops and seminars.

Of course, please subscribe to my blog, which will be the home page for ricksammon.com. I will try to post useful info every day . . . when I am in the country.

Click here to subscribe to my blog. Thanks in advance for following along.

If you have an idea for a post, please shoot me an email.

And speaking of my blog, notice that the pictures look bigger and better. That's quite nice!

If you are looking for an awesome place to host your website, check out SQUARESPACE.

Explore the light,
Rick Sammon

My Second Canon Speedlite Session at Photo Plus

I'm just back from my second Canon Speedlite session at Photo Plus in NYC. Good fun, as always.

My goal was to illustrate what can be done with just one speedlite. I was using the new Canon 600EX- RT speedlite and new Canon ST-E3 radio transmitter wireless system.

One speedlite was placed in a 28-inch Westcott Apollo soft box to camera left and aimed slightly in front of our handsome model, Lorenzo. My friend Steven Inglima, who heads up the Canon Explorer of Light program, was kind enough to hold a reflector directly opposite the softbox, a technique that adds a little fill light to the shadow side of a subject's face.

Of course, we had a cool model, which always helps. So cool in fact that I think Lorenzo should be on the cover of Cool Dude magazine :-)

Explore the light,
Rick Sammon
Canon Explorer of Light

P.S. Thanks to my fiend Vered Koshlano, a wonderful photographer, for helping out with styling and the models. And of course, thank to Jerry Ward at Canon for all his help in the Canon Speedlite booth.

Peace, Love and HDR

Final HDR Image

Here's one of my favorite HDR images, as well as one of my more peaceful images.

Title: Beautiful Buddha Reflection (We shoot here on my Croton Creative Workshop)

Location, Kent, New York

Exposures: 0, -2, -3, +2 EV

Tips:

The name of the game is to fill the frame. Notice how every inch of this frame is filled with an interesting subject.

I used my Canon 15mm full-frame fish-eye lens on my Canon 5D for this image. Without HDR, the reflection would have been very dark.

When using a fish-eye lens, make sure your camera is level. A slight tilt to the left or right can mess up your image.

Also: Shoot RAW, but to save HDR processing time, convert your HDR images to JPEGs. One technique is to use Image Processor in Photoshop.

HDR sequence.

You'll find more HDR info in my iHDR iPad app and iHDR for your Mac.

Click here to see the plug-ins I use for HDR.

Explore the light,
Rick

Take Control of Color - Your Color or Accurate Color

© Rick Sammon

I receive many emails about how to get good color, so I am reposting this post.

In one of my posts last week I talked about color - creating an image with the colors you like, as opposed to accurate colors.

I took the image above in Death Valley, where I am doing a workshop next year. I hope you can jon the fun.

The colors you see, created in Nik Color Efex Pro, are not the natural colors, they are the painterly colors I wanted in my image. The original image is below.

© Rick Sammon

Of course, getting accurate color is important, too. That's what I was striving for when I was working on my iPad app, Flying Flowers.

© Rick Sammon

For accurate in-camera color, I use the Passport Color Checker. Click here to read about this essential accessory for getting accurate color on site. Check out the sale price and save a few bucks.

Passport Color Checker

For accurate color on my desktop and laptop, and even with my printer and digital projector, I use the ColorMunki. Click here to read about this cool color tool. Check out the sales price for this product, too.

colormunki

Here's a link to a free webinar that my friend Joe Brady is hosting on color!

Here's a short movie I did on getting accurate color. If you like HDR, you'll like this movie.

Here's a post on changing colors in an image using the Color Replacement tool in Photoshop.

Explore the light,
Rick

My Quick Tips on a Cool T-shirt

My workshop and seminar participants are familiar with my one-liners, which some of my photographer friends call "Sammonisms."

These helpful photo phrases sum up some of the basic rules of photography than can help you make better pictures.

For those who want to keep my expressions handy, my photographer friend and workshop participant Spike (Mike) Ince at the Arizona T-Shirt Factory designed a cool "Rick's Tips" t-shirt.

Available in L and XL, the t-shirt are $20 each (includes shipping). Payment is via paypal to ricksammon@mac.com.

US shipping only.

Questions? Please email me.

My expressions:

The name of the game is to fill the frame.
Dead center is deadly.
When you think you are close, get closer.
The camera looks both ways.
Expose for the highlights.
Use your camera like a spaceship.
Light illuminates, shadows define.
Backlight = shoot tight.
Make pictures, just don't take pictures.
See eye to eye - shoot eye to eye.
Take the darn flash off the camera.

Explore the light,
Rick