Have a Nice Weekend: Shooting in a City is Next Week's Travel Theme

I hope you all enjoyed this week's people photography tips. Next week: shooting in a city.

Have a great weekend.

Keep shooting,
Rick
P.S. Answers to emails: Videos where shot with a small Canon camcorder. Stills were shot with my Canon 5D Mark II and basically two lenses: 24-105mm IS and 17-40mm; I took a few shots with my 70-200mm f/4.

Travel Photogrpahy How-to Week. Day 5: See the Light

Technically speaking, when we take a picture, all we are doing is recording light. Therefore, it’s of the utmost importance that we see the light when we take a picture – the contrast range in a scene, the shadows and highlights, the color of light, the quality of light and the direction of light.

It’s also important to know that our eyes see a much greater dynamic range than a digital SLR (about 13 f-stops compared to about 6 stops).

These three pictures illustrate, from top to bottom, the effect of: shooting in harsh sunlight, shooting in the partial shade, and shooting in full shade.

My point: try not to shoot in harsh sunlight – and notice those unflattering shadows when shooting in those conditions.

I hope you enjoy this week’s photos and the tips. If you want some hands-on experience, hope you can join one of my workshops.

If you are interested in joining one of my Cuba Workshops (after it opens and Americans can go legally (you need a license from the U.S Treasury Department now), keep checking my Events page.

Explore the light,
Rick

Travel Photography How-to Week. Day 4: Watch the Background

When photographing people, the background can make or break the scene. Here is an example.

The background in one photograph is too busy – the horizontal lines are distracting. That was the first photograph I took of this man – at the spot in which he was standing. For the second photograph, I asked the man to move just a few feet to the left, where the background was more pleasing and less distracting.

If the background is distracting and you can’t ask the subject to move, you can use a long telephoto lens set at a wide aperture to blur the background. Another option is to use Bokeh, a plug-in from Alien Skin that lets you blur the background beautifully. (You can get a 10% discount on all Alien Skin plug-ins by using this code upon checkout: RSA0901.

I hope you enjoy this week’s photos and the tips. If you want some hands-on experience, hope you can join one of my workshops.

If you are interested in joining one of my Cuba Workshops (after it opens and Americans can go legally (you need a license from the U.S Treasury Department now), keep checking my Events page.

Explore the light,
Rick

Travel Photography How-to Week. Day 3: People Make a Picture Come Alive

If you have any doubt that including people in a scene makes a picture come alive, compare these images.

‘Nuf said.

Well, actually, I can say a little something more about these photographs.

While I was walking down a street in Old Havana and looking inside a home through a large open door, I noticed a beautiful spiral staircase. I asked the owner if I could take a picture. She said, okay. I took a shot and then, unexpectedly, her children started to walk down the stairs. I kept shooting, which resulted in not only a nice photograph, but also in a pair of images that illustrates the topic of this blog post.

In low light situations like this, you’ll need to boost your ISO. Sou might get more digital noise in your pictures (especially if you have a compact camera), but the higher ISO will help to stop the action and help to avoid camera shake.

I hope you enjoy this week’s photos and the tips. If you want some hands-on experience, hope you can join one of my workshops.

If you are interested in joining one of my Cuba Workshops (after it opens and Americans can go legally (you need a license from the U.S Treasury Department now), keep checking my Events page.

Explore the light,
Rick
P.S. The image on the right was created with Topaz Adjust.

Travel Photography How-to Week. Day 2: Breaking A Rule - One of My Rules

Those of you who listen to the PhotoFocus podcast that I do with Scott Bourne know that one of my favorite photo expressions is: Exposure for Highlights – meaning that you don’t want the highlights in the scene overexposed and washed out. Expose for the Highlights was the credo for slide film shooters, too!

Exposing for the highlights is a basic guideline. For example, if you are photographing a cityscape, seascape or landscape, you want to exposure for the brightest part of the scene – even though in ACR, Lightroom, Aperture and other RAW converters – you can recover up to about one stop of over exposed areas (from a RAW file). If the highlights are overexposed, by more than one stop, they probably will be gone and lost forever.

Well, friends, like all photo rules, this one is meant to be broken, too.

This picture, one of my favorites from a trip to Cuba, illustrates my point. Had I exposed for the highlights – the windows – the young couple, with their beaming faces, would have been way too dark.

The story behind the photo: While I was walking down a street in Old Havana before sunrise, I spotted two cool, vintage blue cars. I experimented with creative composition and got the shot you see here.

After shooting for a while, several people started getting in the shot in the distance, “ruining” my picture. However, keeping in mind that photo opps are everywhere, I walked up to the car and noticed the cute young couple that had just jumped in the back seat. I asked if I could pop in for a photo – using sign language because I don’t speak Spanish. Okay was the answer. I jumped in the front set and fired off a quick shot – because the car was running and I felt that the people wanted to leave in a hurry.

Sure, I could have used a flash to balance the inside light to the outside light – but I think that would have destroyed the spontaneity and feeling of the moment. Also, I kinda like the way the couple is surrounded by the bright windows.

And by the way… did you notice the interior of this car? Looks at all the stuff that is missing!

Hey, if you don’t agree on all this, let me know – as always. Either way, I love this photograph because it not only captures the couple totally at ease with a total stranger, but it also illustrates the all-important point in travel photography: it never hurts to ask. And… I guess it also illustrates one of my photo skills – photographing strangers in strange lands.

If you want to learn more about light, check out my book: Exploring the Light.

I hope you enjoy this week’s photos and the tips. If you want some hands-on experience, hope you can join one of my workshops.

If you are interested in joining one of my Cuba Workshops (after it opens and Americans can go legally (you need a license from the U.S Treasury Department now), keep checking my Events page.

Explore the light,
Rick

Travel Photography How-to Week. Day 1: Be On the Lookout

When we travel, we always need to have the “radar” up – looking, rather than just seeing. It’s kinda like the difference between haring music and listening to music. Big difference.

While walking around the streets of Trinidad, I noticed this wonderful wall, which made a nice photo itself. Shortly after photographing the wall, I moved on. Then, about two minutes later, I noticed a horse-drawn cart coming down the street at a moderate speed. Because my radar was up, I saw a potential picture in my mind’s eye. The picture was the cart in front of the wonderful wall. I ran back to the wall at top speed and snapped the picture you see here – with my Canon G10 point-and-shoot camera, by the way.

The top images are Topaz Adjust images (click here for info). The bottom images are the straight shots.

So, keep up your “radar” at all times.

I hope you enjoy this week’s photos and the tips. If you want some hands-on experience, hope you can join one of my workshops.

If you are interested in joining one of my Cuba Workshops (after it opens and Americans can go legally (you need a license from the U.S Treasury Department now), keep checking my Events page.

Explore the light,
Rick
P.S. I know posting these four images together makes this post look very busy. Sorry, it was the easiest way to get my tips across. For a larger view, just click on the image.

Why I Think We Like Sunrises

Thanks to all for posting (on my twitter site) their reasons as to why humans like sunrises.

Here is my guess:

Most action in the animal kingdom, above and under water, takes place at sunrise and sunset. Animals seek out prey and seek out protecting from predators during those times. In Africa for example, most of the action is over by 8 AM; it does not start until around sunset. It's the same on the coral reef. This has been true for millions of years. Perhaps the reason we like sunrises and sunsets is because millions of years ago, it was at those times when we were most alert to danger and exhilarated by a potential meal – and perhaps somewhere buried in our minds are those feelings.

• • •

And here is what Dr. Richard Zakia, author of Perception of Imaging, says about sunrises:

I think you hit the nail on the head with your insight. We are part of the animal world. I think if we did not live in our civilized world we might be more attentive to sunrise and sunset, like our farmers are. I wonder if animals were 'civilized', like those that live in a zoo or aquarium, respond the same way to sunset and sunrise as those in the wild.

I recall an experiment that was done some years back where a woman was put in a
dark space for a couple of days to determine whether she could tell sunrise from sunset,
sleep time from wake time, or something like that. The result was astonishing. She could.

Happiness,
Dick

Just a Preview of Next Week's Photos

Here is a preview of next week's images.

Sure, I'll post some straight shots, but these were created with Topaz Adjust.

You can order Topaz Adjust - and all the Topaz plug-ins on my plug-in site. From the home page, go to the Plug-in page a scroll down.

Stay tuned!

Best
Rick

Travel Photography How-to Week. Prelude: Always Carry a Camera

I could not wait to start my Travel Photography How-to Week, so I am starting one day early with this prelude.

This week I’ll focus on taking people pictures. Next week: shooting in a city will be the topic. (If you have a topic you’d like me to cover, let me know!)

Some of the pictures I’ll use were taken on my 2001 trip to Cuba – one of my favorite destinations. You may have seen some of these pictures in my books. Others were taken on my more recent travels.

Why use so many Cuba photographs? Because I think/hope that Cuba will be open to American soon! And I think that as a photographer, you’ll love it there.

Today’s tip: Always carry a camera – no matter how tired you feel or how much you just want to kick back and relax. I know that sounds simple, but my guess is that not everyone reading this blog follows that advice.

I took this shot of little boy in a small pizza shop. He ducked in to get out of the rain. I love the innocence and the eye contact in the image. I photographed this woman smoking a cigar on my way to lunch.

Both photographs were unexpected keepers that I took in common locations.

When I want to relax and not walk around with my two Canon 5D Mark II cameras, I tote my Canon G10. It’s great for fun shots and even serious shots … as long as I don’t shoot above ISO 400 in low light situations (where digital noise starts to creep in).

I hope you enjoy this week’s photos and the tips. If you want some hands-on experience, hope you can join one of my workshops.

If you are interested in joining one of my Cuba Workshops (after it opens and Americans can go legally (you need a license from the U.S Treasury Department now), keep checking my Events page.

Explore the light,
Rick

Favorite Photo?

While teaching a workshop last week for the Light Photographic Workshops, I snapped off these three shots.

Only one is a keeper for me.

Which one do you like? And, more important, why?

I'd be interested in your opinion.

See the light,
Rick

Compact Camera, Professional Results

So... more than a few of my students at my recent Light Photographic Workshops were surprised to see me taking sooooo many pictures with my Canon G10.

Well, I was shooting with the G10 (in addition to taking most of my shots with my
Canon 5D Mark II) because I am working on my next book: Confessions of a Compact Camera Shooter - Spring 2010 publication.

I was also shooting with the G10 to illustrate the point that one can get great shots with a compact camera.

Here a few of my favorite shots that I took with that compact wonder. I enhanced the model shot with the Midnight Filter in Nik Color Efex Pro. (15% off standard products if you use this code: RSAMMON upon checkout.)

Always carry a camera,
Rick

My Take on the Cool Picture

OK friends - here goes.

The picture on the left is the picture I envisioned when I spotted this cute store front in Carmel, CA (see yesterday's post). Although I was on a casual walk, I had my ever-ready Canon G10 with me - and snapped a photo at the wide-angle setting.

Back home, for added fun, I used the swirl technique - outlined on the Articles pages of my site.

Tip: Always carry a camera :-)

See the light,
Rick

Really Cool Picture?

Does anyone see a really cool photo op in this incredibility boring picture?

Lemme know.

My take tomorrow.

Looking for pictures is good photo exercise.

See the light,
Rick

Light Illuminates; Shadow Define - A Good Example. 'Nuf Said.

Another BS (Bull Schmitt, a.k.a. Hal Schmitt) creation... but I think the concept was Victoria's :-)

Shoot for Sharp Shots!

When I make a photograph, one of my main goals is to get the sharpest possible in-camera picture.

Check this out.

While making an HDR shot, I took three exposures of this cool truck with my Canon 5D Mark II and 17-40mm lens. What looked like a dust spot turned out to be a plane - after zooming in 400 percent.

Now that's a sharp camera - and sharp zoom lens!

Come on one of my workshops. We always shoot for sharp shots... and often shoot HDR images.

See the light,
Rick
P.S. Uh.... for this shot, Rick "RAW Rules" Sammon shot JPEGs! Still great tones and sharpness.

Last Image from Light Photographic Workshops

:-(

Our workshop is over. Here is the last picture I made: 7 shots (over-at-under) the recommended exposure. Processed in Photomatix and Topaz (see my plugin site for info).

15mm lens on my Canon EOS 5D Mark II.

Great fun.

See the light,
Rick

Farewell to the Light Photographic Workshops

A big thank you to all the students who participated in my Light Photographic Workshops this past week.

We all got great panos. This is just a quickie from a few jpegs. Will work on a much better images during the flight back to NY.

See you next year!

See the light
rick

HDR at Light Photographic Workshops

Hi!

Everyone on the workshop is getting great photos!

Today was devoted to HDR. We found a great spot to shoot - illustrating the point: never underestimate the importance of a good subject.

I processed these quickly in Topaz Adjust to post. Will fine-tune and post later on the pluginexperience. (Join the fun there, and get discounts on plug-ins.)

Thanks Hal for loaning me your Canon 15mm lens. And thanks Hal and Victoria for helping to make this a great week. And of course... thanks to the students - all of whom are taking pro-quality images!

Off to shoot more horses.

Play with the light,
Rick
P.S. We are doing lots of HDR shooting on my Croton workshop this fall - after the 1st night's pizza party.

Set Goals. See the Light. Have Fun!

Day 3 of my Light Photographic Workshops here in Los Osos, CA. We ended today with an awesome one-hour shoot on the beach (we actually had less time than that to shoot). Basically, we were chasing the ever-changing light.

Here are my favorite pix.

The assignment for the students: set a goal. The goal was to get a running hose with all hooves in the air. See the shot on the right. Some of students reached that goal. How cool!

On my workshops, I ALWAYS stress the importance of setting goals.

We also made pictures . . . rather than taking pictures. We made the picture on the left by asking the rider to ride up a small hill (5 times). We also picked the location and timed the shot.

The middle shot? Well, as those of you who come on my workshops know, having fun is #1. This is just a fun behind-the-scenes shot . . . showing how useful tripods are when you are photographing people.

The end shots were taken with my Canon 5D Mark II and 100-400mm IS zoom. The middle shot was taken with my ever-ready Canon G10.

Mo' pix to come from the students later this week. A really great group. Love 'em!

Hey! Come on one of my workshops. Have fun. Make great pictures. Make great friends.

Best,
Rick
P.S. The Light Photographic Workshops wants me back next year. Planning that soon!

Live From Light Photographic Workshops: Making Pictures

This week's blog posts will be devoted to my time here on the West Coast at the Light Photographic Workshops - formerly the Lepp Institute. As usual, I'll give a photo tip for each post.

In our spare time today, we talked about "making pictures." Here are a few pix that illustrate that philosophy. That's me workin' the reflector.

We used a piece of cloth as nice background.

We used my Lighting Tote to control the light - with a reflector and diffuser.

Always remember: There is a big difference between taking a picture and making a picture.

See the light,
Rick

Live from the Light Photograhic Workshops: Mastering Fill Flash in a Must

This week's blog posts will be devoted to my time here on the West Coast at the Light Photographic Workshops - formerly the Lepp Institute. As usual, I'll give a photo tip for each post.

Today we worked on fill-flash. We all got some nice shots. Two of mine are here, as well as one by Bob Canepa! Thanks Bob!

Tip: Camera on Manual. Meter the sky. Underexpose by 1 stop. Flash on. Exposure compensation to -1 for starters. Adjust flash until you are happy with subject brightness.

See the light,
Rick

Live From Light Photographic Workshops: Fore!

This week's blog posts will be devoted to my time here on the West Coast at the Light Photographic Workshops - formerly the Lepp Institute. As usual, I'll give a photo tip for each post.

Well, it was almost a perfect day, until Rick and Hal stepped onto the 6th Tee after sunset. Sorry Hal. Hope you can still make it for the sunrise shoot tomorrow!!!!

Thanks Victoria for taking a fun shot - I guess....

Tip: Don't stand too close to a bad golfer!!

See the light, watch the clubs,
Rick

Live From Light Photographic Workshops: Day 2

The participants are doing a great job!

Bill Murr took the top photo in SF on the way to the workshop, and Barbi "Eagle Eyes" Kutilek (www.birdingpix.com) took the bottom image yesterday during our "Intro to HDR Shoot."

Great work! More images to come.

Today's tip: Envision the end-result - see in your mind's eye the creative possibilities that away you in the digital darkroom.

See the light,
Rick

Live From Light Photographic Workshops: Day 2

This week's blog posts will be devoted to my time here on the West Coat at the Light Photographic Workshops - formerly the Lepp Institute. As usual, I'll give a photo tip for each post.

We had a fannnnnnnnnntastic sunrise today. Students got a ton of GREAT HDR and pano shots!

Elisabeth Haug took this nice shot... of the instructor :-)

When shooting HDR images, don't change the aperture - bracket with the shutter speed.

When shooting panos, overlap the images by at least 1/3.

See the light!

Best
rick

Light Photographic Workshops: Almost Day 1

This week's blog posts will be devoted to my time here on the West Coat at the Light Photographic Workshops - formerly the Lepp Institute. As usual, I'll give a photo tip for each post.

The workshop begins in a few hours. The drive along the coast yesterday from San Fran to Los Osos was wonderful. Here's are two shots that I took with my G10.

Today's tip: Never leave home without a polarizing filter. In addition to darkening a blue sky and reducing reflections on water, it can also make your pictures look sharper – by reducing reflections on atmospheric haze.

Explore the Light,
Rick

I Have a Confession to Make

I have a confession to make! You can read about it here.

:-)
Rick
P.S. No camera is too big or too small to take on one of my workshops.

SLR Snapshots to Great Shots Week: Last Day - Avoiding Flats

This week's blog was devoted to SLR tips - in honor of the Wiley DVD (available this fall) that I was shooting on the new Canon Rebel T1i . All the photos were taken with that camera. It's a also to celebrate my new SLR classes on Kelbytraining.com (available now).

Today is the last day of T1i posts... for a while, at least.

The title of today's post, Avoiding Flats, refers to avoiding flat pictures - in other words, pictures that don't show the full brightness range of a scene . . . pictures that lack contrast.

Pictured here is our entire DVD crew: David Leveen (creative director), Jen Maihack ("student") and yours truly. The top row of pictures was shot with the camera set to the Monochrome Picture Style. The pictures are okay - but they were taken in the shade and lack contrast, as indicated by the histogram (spaces at the left and right of the "mountain range").

By simply moving the shadow and highlight triangles inside the "mountain range," the contrast was improved. See the bottom row of pictures. Yes, it's a subtle change, but enough to make a difference - in my books anyway. Adjusting Curves (making an "S") can also improve a photo's "looks."

So when you do a get a flat photo, fix it in the digital darkroom.

And, please check your histogram on your camera's LCD monitor after you take a shot. It's the best way to determine a whether or not you have a good exposure.

Happy 4th,
Rick

Topaz is Too Cool

Hey All

I created the effect in today's earlier post with Topaz Adjust > Spicify.

Here is another example of the fun you can have with Topaz Adjust (Clockwise from top left): original, Clarity, Exposure Stretch and Spicify.

More example of Topaz Adjust and other plug-ins at: www.pluginexperience.com. Discounts on select plug-ins, too!

Get plug-in and get experienced.

Play with thelight,
Rick

SLR Shapshots to Great Shots Week: Day 5 - Goodbye Jen & When You Plan, Pray!

This week's blog is devoted to SLR tips - in honor of the Wiley DVD (available this fall) that I am currently shooting on the new Canon Rebel T1i . All the photos were and will be taken with that camera. It's a also to celebrate my new SLR classes on Kelbytraining.com (available now).

Well, my “student,” Jen Maihack, on the DVD has flown the coup – back to Florida! She did an great job, playing the part of the student very well, especially because she is a pro photographer herself.

Thanks Jen. Great work!

Speaking of great work, our creative director, David Leveen, actually shot a few HD video segments with the T1i. We'll post some soon.

So what’s the tip for this installment of SLR Snapshots to Great Shots? Here goes:

When You Plan on Taking Outdoors Portraits,
Pray for an Overcast Sky

During a shoot at Bear Mountain State Park, one segment was devoted to shooting portraits. Thankfully, the sky was overcast, as you can see in the top right of the frame in my vertical picture on the right.

An overcast sky produces soft, pleasing flattering light – unlike the harsh light we get on sunny days.

If it is sunny, try to shoot in the shade or use a diffuser to soften the light. Shooting before sunrise and after sunset works, too.

Explore the Light,
Rick
P.S. If you like the image on the left better than the picture on the right, let me know here. I’ll share the technique.

Happy 4th of July - Quick Fireworks Photo Tips

Fireworks photographs are not easy to take, mostly because the light level changes, sometimes by a few f-stops, from burst to burst. What’s more, each burst is in a different place in the sky. Another challenge is to capture the burst right at its peak.

Here are my tips for photographing fireworks. Even though I followed them, the three pictures you see here are the best out of about 100 that I took at two different fireworks displays. So the first tip is to be prepared to take lots and lots of pictures.

Okay, here are my other tips.

Bring a small flashlight so you can see what you are doing!

Choose a location. This is very important. For two of the pictures here, I had a good location. For the Brooklyn Bridge fireworks shots, I did not have the best location, and I was locked into that position (due to the large crowds).

Mount your camera with a wide-angle lens or wide-angle zoom on tripod. You want the tripod to steady your camera (use the self-timer to release the shutter) and the wide-angle lens to capture the fireworks in the sky.

Set the ISO to 200, the exposure mode to Manual, and begin by setting the exposure at f/11 @ 2 seconds. You’ll have to change this setting from time to time, but I find that it’s a good starting point.

Activate the long-exposure noise reduction feature in your camera if it has one. Noise shows up in dark areas, and you’ll have plenty of dark areas in the scene. If you camera does not have that feature, plan on reducing the noise in the digital darkroom.

As I suggested, plan on taking lots of pictures.

Finally, have fun! Fireworks displays are a blast – literally!

This tip is from my book: Digital Photography Secrets.

Happy 4th!

See the light,
Rick

SLR Snapshots to Great Shots Week: Day 4 - Move In or Zoom in Closer

This week's blog is devoted to SLR tips - in honor of the Wiley DVD that I am currently shooting on the new Canon Rebel T1i (available this fall). All the photos were and will be taken with that camera. It's a also to celebrate my new SLR classes on Kelbytraining.com (available now).

Move In or Zoom In Closer

Here's an important photo expression: When you think you are close, move in or zoom in closer.

I could go on to explain, but the two pictures here illustrate the important of following that advice.

Keep that thought in mind, and you'll get pictures with more impact.

Speaking of zooming, if I could only take one lens with me on a shoot, it would be my 24-105mm IS zoom. Nice for landscapes, portraits and environmental portraits.

Gotta zoom outta here for the last day of our T1i shoot..... HD video!

See the light,
Rick

Aloha and Eureka

Hi All

Just a quick note say aloha and eureka.

Aloha: I will be teaching at the Maui Photo Festival and Workshops later this year.

Eureka: Among other activities, I will be sharing some pictures from my Eurkea Springs workshop earlier this year.

Info on my Events page on my site.

ila Al Leka' الى اللقاء
(That's See You Later in Arabic, which I'll be saying after my Kuwait workshop.)
Rick

One Out of Focus Picture . . .

One out of focus picture is a mistake - 20 out of focus pictures is a style!

Here's an out-of-focus and blurry shot by my friend Jennifer Maihack that brought that expression to mind. I love it! Quite artistic.

Check out her web site to see some in focus pictures.

Steady as she goes,
Rick

SLR Snapshots to Great Shots Week: Day 3 - A-Depth is A-OK

This week's blog is devoted to SLR tips - in honor of the Wiley DVD that I am currently shooting on the new Canon Rebel T1i (available this fall). All the photos were and will be taken with that camera. It's a also to celebrate my new SLR classes on Kelbytraining.com (available now).

A-Depth is A-OK

Certain Canon cameras, including the T1i, offer an A-Depth mode. When the camera is set to this mode, it "sees" all the elements in the scene and picks the best focus point for good depth-of- field. It's an A-OK mode for quick snapshots.

For max depth-of-field for scenic photographs, here is what I do:
1) Use a wide-angle lens;
2) Select a small aperture;
3) Set the focus 1/3 into the scene.

I photographed this biplane at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in Upstate NY. A great place for fun - and fun photographs.

The top photo is the straight shot. I created the bottom photograph using Topaz Adjust. See my plug-in site for more info - and how-to tips.

Make pictures,
Rick