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kodak.com
presents
Rick Sammon, Professional Photographer
Chat with a Pro Shooter!
October 26, 2000
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Christopher-3:
I love the variety of your subjects and see that many of your images are color. Is there a film you prefer over others?
Rick Sammon:
For my people pictures, I use Kodak E100S because I like the warm tone the film produces. For low light situations, I use Kodak E200. If you shoot print film, you might want to try Portra 160.
Sandy OR:
We went to the Northern California coast and the redwoods this summer. When my photos of the trip came back the pictures taken on the beach were beautiful, but even ones on the same roll taken in the redwoods were dark and blurry. I use a point and shoot camera, what happened?
Rick Sammon:
Without seeing the pictures, it's hard to tell. But in the low light of the forest, your camera selected a slower shutter speed, so you got blurry pictures. You can avoid this by switching to a faster film in low light situations. Faster film being ISO 400 or ISO 800.
Michael:
Hi, Rick. Michael from the China trek! If I wanted to offer any of my images to a magazine, what's the proper way to go about it?
Rick Sammon:
Hi Michael! Each magazine is different. Basically you should send either a sheet of slides, or a CD with great images along with a proof sheet of the pictures on the CD to the editors. The key is to a) make sure your pictures are targeted to the magazine, b) present your work very professionally and, c) be patient. I've waited up to six months to get a positive reply from a magazine.
Kyres:
Have you ever done photo shoots for National Geographic? If so, which stories did you cover and, if not, you should. Your photos are wonderful and so expressive!
Rick Sammon:
Well thank you! The project I did for National Geographic was for a book they did last year called "The Wonders of the World." I wrote and illustrated the chapter on the Seven Underwater Wonders of the World, which is also the title of one of my books. I used my underwater photography to communicate the beauty of the marine environment, and to communicate the message that we must protect the marine environment for future generations.
Shutterbug:
Can the pictures from digital be developed from the memory disk anywhere?
Rick Sammon:
You can get pictures from a digital camera in several ways, including hooking it up to your computer, taking the memory card out of the camera and using a card reader. You can take your memory card to a place that has a Kodak Picture Maker Kiosk, and actually upload your pictures to photo nets on line and get your pictures that way.
Myrthynn:
What special training and equipment do you need for underwater photography?
Rick Sammon:
I taught myself underwater photography, just like I taught myself PhotoShop and photography, and lighting. The way you get good at something is by practicing. For example, all the great musicians got good at improvising by practicing, and that's how you get good at photography, underwater photography or any photography. However, for underwater photography you must be a certified scuba diver, and you must take training for that. And I use a variety of underwater camera systems for my photography.
Birdie:
Your web site has a picture of you with a digital camera. What kind of digital camera do you recommend? What should I look for in a digital camera? How many pixels do I need to get good pictures?
Rick Sammon:
Currently I'm using a Kodak DC4800, 3-mega pixel digital camera. If you want to make photo quality 8 X 10" and 11 X 14" prints, you really need a 3 mega pixel camera. Things to look for, in addition to the number of pixels, include the zoom range, the manual exposure controls, and whether or not the camera accepts accessory lenses.
Kodak:
Rick we are just about out of time. Any final thoughts you would like to leave us with?
Rick Sammon:
I would say there has never been a more exciting time to take pictures, whether you use a film camera or a digital camera. So with all this technology available to us, there is no reason we all can't take better and better pictures.
Kodak:
Thanks for checking out our chat
this evening. Rick will be back later
this fall for another chat at kodak.com,
with some more photos from his travels.
Look for Rick's columns and articles each
month in the "K.zine," the new online magazine
starting next month on kodak.com. You can
also check out some of Rick's photos
on www.ricksammon.com. See you soon! This has been a production of
Kodak.com and Talk City, Inc.
Copyright 2000. All rights reserved.
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