Tony Sweet Photography

A couple of 180s!

Tony Sweet — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 16:00:04 +0000

OK, first and foremost, we are NOT going to Iceland…..zero…..zippo…..nada…..no way…..no how!

In other words, (as if the first sentence wasn’t enough) we had to make a decision to cancel this year’s Iceland Odyssey, or really just postpone it until 2014, when we will be adding Greenland to the trip!!

After the last blog post of meeting our minimum, and that we are stoked about about going, we got a cancellation. As we were at the registration deadline, we decided to cancel to give the people who did sign up to have time to restructure their time this summer.

But, we are in the process of planning our Iceland/ Greenland trip for summer 2014!

Watch this space!

I had a few requests to show the before and after in this scene from the Maritime Museum in St. Mikes that is posted on my FB page. The point of the FB post was to avoid deleting in the field. Here’s an example of why not to delete in the field (unless, of course, it’s an obvious mistake).

Here’s the before: NOTE: you can click on this image, then on the right and left edges to toggle between this and the processed image.

I was packing to move on, when the geese showed up and were quickly paddling towards land. I was lucky to get this at all. I quickly jacked up the ISO, so I could keep the high aperture, yet gain enough speed to freeze the geese, yet keep sharpness throughout the frame. I figured that the geese added interest and filled the foreground just right. I anticipated extensive processing, but felt that it was excellent raw material.

The exact textures are not important. What is important is the technique. I first applied a flypaper edge then a warm toned, then a cool, highly textured, toned textures. With a large, low opacity, soft brush, I painted the slight vignette, loosely in the middle of the frame.

We cover texture techniques extensively in our software workshops, along with many other simple, but cogent creative software techniques. Also, keep an eye out for our Creativity Seminars Tour dates and locations, SOON!
For more info, email me!

Thanks for taking the time and we’ll see ya online!

Tony

p.s. oh yeah……please check HERE for special hardware and software discounts!

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End of St. Michaels workshop…and…Iceland is a “Go!”

Tony Sweet — Thu, 13 Jun 2013 21:51:25 +0000

We finished our St. Michaels software intensive workshop today. As usual, I can’t wait to get back there to try some of the different approaches illustrated by this outstanding and clever group of photographers. It’s amazing how, even though I’ve been shooting there for many years, that others see things that have completely elude me! Smaller groups and more software intensive workshops will be on the menu for our 2014 workshop season….watch this space!

Here’s a gallery with short shooting notes from the past week in St. Michaels, MD:

And…

…Iceland is a “GO!” We have reached our minimum, and are definitely going (making travel arrangements on Monday!). So, anyone who was tossing it around, but wanted to wait, can take a little more time….but, we are absolutely, definitely going and really look forward to getting back over there for Year 4!

For more information and/or to register contact me, susan, or GO HERE!!

Thanks for taking the time and we’ll see you online!

Tony

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End of Sedona Photo Fest

Tony Sweet — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 01:36:26 +0000

I’m sitting in my motel in Phoenix after teaching at Sedona Photo Fest. What a cool event! Unfortunately, I really didn’t have time to shoot very much, but the gold mine in Jerome is on my short list to shoot for a week straight on my next visit, hopefully next August. This is bald blue sky season, although we had some clouds for one day. This leaves lots of clean, open space for texturing, and in the case of the lead image, for dropping in a light source using Knoll Light Factory.

I found bringing the 28-300 and 16-35 was enough, but my Gitzo travel tripod was a little limiting in nature photography, although perfect for street photography (Cuba). I needed to get down to ground level a few times, but the center post made that impossible. The old trick of turning the tripod on it’s side to get to ground level worked, but was very tedious. Ultimately, placing the camera on the ground worked the best.

Here’s a small gallery of images and brief shooting notes:

Workshop openings!

June 21-23: Eastern State Penitentiary, Philadelphia, PA - 3 openings left.

July 8-13: Pacific Northwest Art School - room for a few more!

July 27: Triple Header w/ Denise Ipolito, John Barclay, and me! Whitney Center, CT

August 19-24: Iceland - 2 more to go!!

October 16-20: Acadia National Park, ME Visual Artistry Workshop - spaces available.

ALL WORKSHOPS include ample personal attention and daily critique sessions, as well as software training.

CONTACT: susan@tonysweet.com

SOFTWARE and HARDWARE discounts are H E R E !!

Check out our popular PRO CRITIQUE SERVICE!

I’ll enjoy my one day home before heading to St. Mikes for our Software intensive workshop, beginning on Sunday!

Thanks for taking the time and we’ll see ya online!

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Sedona Photo Fest

Tony Sweet — Tue, 04 Jun 2013 04:33:58 +0000

Sunset from the room

We scouted shooting locations in the Sedona area today and have a couple of very cool places picked out for our field shooting day tomorrow, followed by a class day of processing on Wednesday, then the public lecture day on Thursday, where all instructors (Scott Stulberg, John Paul Caponigro, Suzanne Mathia, and myself) will give a presentation.

Here’s a few images from the past few days:

Although this is not the best time of year for clouds (bald blue skies are the norm these days), the morning and evening light is outstanding. I decided to travel light, only bringing a D800E body and only two lenses (16-35mm and 28-300). So far, these two zooms seem to be all that I need and this may result in a permanent paradigm shift in terms of what equipment I bring in the future. Rather than bringing my infrared camera, I chose to bring Singh Ray iRay filter. The exposures are 4 minutes long, so any wind would affect the image sharpness, which was the case on the image of Cathedral Rock. However, I used an AlienSkin Snap Art texture and flypaper tin type edge to help to mask the softness in the trees. Aside from that, bringing the IR filter dramatically lightened my camera bag.

This is the third year of the Sedona Photo Fest and Sue and I will certainly come back later this year or sometime next year. Sedona is surrounded by some of the most beautiful landscapes in the country!

Don’t forget to go HERE for software/ hardware discounts!

Thanks for visiting and we’ll see you online!

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