Celebrate A Mom's Love With Your Photos – Maybe Win an Apple Watch . . . and more!

My friends at Adorama have put together a totally awesome photo contest - which runs though the end of May 2015.

Click here for the info!

The idea: you don't need to submit a studio-quality photo. Just a fun shot that captures a mother's personality.

Color and black and white photos can be submitted. Above is my mom and my son a few days after he was born.

Yup! You can even submit an underwater image. That's Susan Sammon scuba diving in the Seychelles.

Good luck.
Rick

What's New?

My 36th book: Creative Visualization for Photographers - composition, exposure, lighting, learning, experimenting, setting goals, motivation and more.

The book is available both in a Kindle version and paperback.

I also have some new workshops: Casper, WY, Atlanta, GA and Telluride, CO.

 

And . . .

My on-line store, where you can download e-books and narrated QuickTime movies of some of my presentations.

Check Out My 2015 Photoshop World Classes

I can't wait for Photoshop World in Vegas: August 11 - 13, 2015. If you have not registered, it's not too late to sign up for a fantastic learning experience – combined with a ton of fun.

In my Plug-in class, I'll show you how to create an image like the one above from the snapshot below.

Like travel photography? That's on my schedule, too.

In my Travel Photography Essentials talk, I'll take you to some of my favorite locations around the planet, including Myanmar, where I took the photograph above.

And if you like photographing people on location, I think you'll enjoy my Face to Face/On-location Portraiture class. I'll talk about how to get the best in-camera image, but I will also cover how to use HDR (which I used for the photograph above) in high contrast situations.

I'll be there for the entire show, so if I don't see you at one of my classes, please  don't be shy about saying hi in the halls. It's always fun to make new friends and to see old ones.

I also have several KelbyOne classes that I think you would enjoy. Check 'em out.

Explore the light,
Rick

What's new?

My 36th book: Creative Visualization for Photographers - composition, exposure, lighting, learning, experimenting, setting goals, motivation and more.

The book is available both in a Kindle version and paperback.

I also have some new workshops: Casper, WY, Atlanta, GA and Telluride, CO.

 

 

Introducing My Latest e-Book: Conquer Photographic Composition - and Explore the Wonders of Iceland

Click images to enlarge.

My latest e-book is here: Conquer Composition - and Explore the Wonders of Iceland. The e-book features the same photographs and tips that are included in my iPhone and iPad app, Conquer Composition app  – with the addition of five photographs/tips and the location for each photograph.

The e-book is priced at $4.95. Click here to download from my on-line store.

In the e-book I share with you some of my favorite Iceland photographs that illustrate 34 important composition techniques - techniques you can use for all your photography.

Part I (pages 5 to 38) includes a composition technique and the location for each photograph.

Part I (pages 5 to 38) includes a composition technique and the location for each photograph. Part II (pages 40 to 73) includes exposure information for the photographs.

I created this e-book for Android device users who don’t have iPhones and iPads – as well as for photographers who prefer to learn from e-books. This e-book offers both photography and location suggestions for photographers who plan to visit Iceland.

For more in-depth advice on composition, check out my KelbyOne class: Composition - the strongest way of seeing.

And for more advice on exposure, see my KelbyOne class: Light - the main element in every photograph.

For hands-on training, check out my workshops!

Explore the light,
Rick

Excerpt #6: Creative Visualization for Photographers

This post wraps up my blog series: A week of excerpts from my latest book, Creative Visualization for Photographers.

Scroll down for posts 1 -5 in this series. Thank you for following along.

Excerpt #6

When you are taking panos, set your camera to the Manual exposure mode, set the white balance to the existing conditions (sunny, cloudy, etc.), focus – and then set the focus to manual. 

In metering the scene, set your exposure to the brightest part of the scene. If you meter the darkest part of the scene, the highlights may be blown out in bright areas of your pano.

If you set your camera on any of the auto exposure modes, and/or if you use a polarizing filter, the exposure will change throughout your panorama, and you will get visible/annoying bands of dark areas in your image, most visible in the sky. Because these bands blend gradually between the images, it’s virtually impossible to remove them, even for a skilled Photoshop expert.

You need to hold, or set your camera on a tripod, vertically. The pano in this post is a hand-held pano that I took in Iceland on one of my photo workshops.

 The vertical position is important because when you stitch the images together, you lose a portion of the top and bottom of the frame, as well as a little bit of the frame on the left and right. Knowing that, you need to shoot a little wider than you may think – so important parts of your photograph will not be cut off in your final panorama.

As you move from left to right or right to left, you need to overlap your images by about 1/3. Keep the horizon line level.

I cover processing my Iceland pano, and have more pano examples, in my book.

Both the e-book and paperback version of my book are now available.

Enjoy!

Explore the light,
Rick

24/24-105 Gallery Added: 24 of my favorite images taken with the Canon 24-105mm IS lens

I just added a new gallery on my site: 24/24-105.

The gallery includes 24 of my favorite images taken with the Canon 24-105mm IS lens – which I think is the most versatile lens Canon offers. It's kinda amazing what you can do with one lens!

Here's a sneak peak at just a few of my photographs.

As you will see, I use this lens to photograph landscapes, people and even wildlife.

If you are looking for an all-in-one lens, check out the Canon 24-105mm IS lens. (If you like photographing horses, check out my Provence workshop on this page: 2015 photo workshops.)

Explore the light,
Rick

That's me in Iceland with my Canon 24-105mm IS lens and Canon 5D Mark III.

Thank you Mark Hardymon for the nice photo.