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How often is most of your family in town here in Cape Coral or Ft Myers Florida? How often is your entire family in town? Thanksgiving is the perfect time to have that large, family group photo you always talk about, but never get to have. In as little as 15 minutes I can arrive at your home (or the location of your choice), setup, and have a great portrait of your family made.
Reserve your Family Thanksgiving Portrait with Jason today!
SINGLE FAMILY PORTRAIT SPECIAL -- $99*
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reserve deluxe candid portrait session
GRAND CANDID PORTRAIT PACKAGE -- $599*
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* $50/$150/$250 single/deluxe/grand nonrefundable deposit required; additional fees may apply
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Corporate accountant headshot in Clearwater Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/6.3 1/200th ISO 200 - Strobist: SB-800 in 43" brolly to frame left 43" reflector to frame right & SB-600 in shoot through umbrella on background
An accounting firm in Clearwater, Florida that has offices around the country needed new headshots. They had hired a marketing firm to take charge of this and from them I was given very specific requirements for making headshots in the exact style they wanted. This included being as specific as getting a particular "TV gray" background from BH Photo! This was fine with me as the more details the more I can deliver exactly what the client wants. Yet, despite all these guidelines, the final style of the headshots allowed for a good bit of creativity as the person being photographed could choose from one of 12+ different headshot poses!
The most complex setup I have used for a headshot yet. From left to right: SB-800 in 43" brolly on light stand, SB-600 in shoot through umbrella on light stand, 9' wide TV gray paper background, posing stool, 43" reflector on light stand
This is the setup I used. I had to order the TV gray background of course since I did not have one lying around already. I also bought the large stand to hold the background, which in this case was 9 feet wide. The stands can hold up to a 12 foot wide background.
Using a posing stool for the first time for a headshot at Dixon Hughes Goodman accountants Clearwater Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 1/200th ISO 200 - Strobist: SB-800 in 43" brolly to frame left 43" reflector to frame right & SB-600 in shoot through umbrella on background
This person used the stool for resting his arms upon, which was one of several posing choices the marketing company offered. In another first, I had not tried this kind of composition before and now have it as an example I can offer to my own future headshot clients. You can see how the marketing company used another headshot of this person in a final version on the company website.
The client wanted empty space to the left of the subject for these business headshots in Clearwater Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/6.3 1/200th ISO 200 - Strobist: SB-800 in 43" brolly to frame left 43" reflector to frame right & SB-600 in shoot through umbrella on background
Another requirement for all the headshots was to leave a lot of space to the left of the subject. The marketing company would then crop the headshots to how they wanted. I had great help from a staff member of the accounting firm in both setting up the photography gear and in choosing what poses worked best for each person. It turned out to be one of the most fun headshot shoots I have had!
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Relaxing on a swing at Honeymoon Island State Park Florida during a maternity photo shoot - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 1/200th ISO 200 - Strobist: SB-800 & SB-600 to frame left & rightA lot can happen in 4 years and so it has for a past DSLR photography student of mine. I first met Betty in November of 2010 for a couple of 1-on-1 DSLR photography lessons with her Canon T1i. She contacted me this fall inquiring about maternity portraits and after a bit of schedule gymnastics, we were able to find a date and location that worked out. It seems that in those 4 years she was busy, not so much with her photography as she informed me sadly, but in her personal life getting married and now expecting a baby.
I added a digital white background to this maternity portrait actually made on a beach at Honeymoon Island State Park Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/9 1/250th ISO 200 - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightIt is always nice to see a past photography client again and especially so to photograph a new part of their life. It was a bit breezy out on the beach at Honeymoon Island State Park, but otherwise the weather cooperated pretty well. I had a number of different styles of shots I wanted to try, including the tightly composed profile photo above. I cut out the existing background as it was not very vivid to begin with and replaced it with a pure white digital background.
Willing to get sandy for a maternity photo at Honeymoon Island State Park Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 1/250th ISO 200 - Strobist: SB-800 & SB-600 angled down
For the last shot of the afternoon I asked them how willing they were to get a bit sandy. They were quite willing so I was able to try out an overhead shot I thought was a bit different than the usual maternity composition angle. I look forward to photographing Betty and baby in 2015!
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Karin framing a shot with her Nikon D3200 during our 1-on-1 DSLR photography lesson at Honeymoon Island State ParkI had not been to Honeymoon Island State Park for awhile, but on a Saturday back in November I had first a 1-on-1 DSLR Photo Lesson with Karin and her Nikon D3200, then a maternity shoot with a former photo student. I met Karin at the park's visitor center which provided a comfortable place to first discuss my 5-step process for getting a well expososed and sharp photo in any given shooting situation.
After that the grounds around the visitor's center itself provided enough variety to put into practice how I had instructed Karin, step-by-step, to shoot in manual exposure mode. The variety of shady mangroves and bright sky provided a good contrast for learning how to quickly change between shooting conditions. About 7 to 10 seconds (or faster) is the time range I set for students to get to for changing all 5 settings as need be between shooting conditions, and then even less than that for adjusting in the same conditions. Of course I do not expect such quickness during the first lesson! In time with experience and becoming more familiar with the Nikon camera body, Karin will be able to minimize the time getting settings right allowing her to maximize the time to get a shot in the first place and then compose it as desired.
Many of my hundreds of photography students start out always centering the subject in the frame during our first lessons. That is understandable as they are busy learning my 5-step process for making a well exposed and sharp photograph in any given shooting situation. Once the technical apsects of photography take up less of the process of making a photo, then one can begin to focus on being creative, and the first step in that is composition.
The rule of thirds is a good way to start getting more appealing composition, but I like to think in two dimensions with the rule of thirds as well. By that I mean putting a major feature of my subject in a vertical thid and a horizontal third. In the above example of a model at the Dali Museum, the upper third and left third interset right by the model's face. Then the lower third and left third intersect by her hand and the melting clock. There is still a good amount of negative space in the frame, but that is put to the far upper and left parts of the photo. I would not want a lot of negative space on both sides of the subject (as in if I had centered her with no focal points other than along the midpoint of the photograph).
So the next time you go out shooting, especially a portrait, try putting a major subject focal point at a third and a third in the frame.
The final version of the photo putting a major focal point at a third and a third
Guests arrive to pose in front of the new Jaguar F-Type at the Dali Museum in St. Petersburg event photography - Nikon D300 tripod mounted with cable release Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/100th - Strobist: SB-800 & SB-600 both in brolly
The Dali Museum in St. Petersburg was host to an event put on by Crown Jaguar for guests to come and see some of its cars, including the stunning new Jaguar F-Type Coupe (see above). This was my second time working for Crown, as I photographed the Audi A3 premiere event back in April too. This time they hired me to photograph all the guests as they arrived in front of a F-Type. This was my first time doing this kind of arrival portrait photography actually. The shooting began just before sunset so early arriving guests got a colorful background like in the above portrait. Soon night came and the background became just a few distant lights.
My setup for making guest arrival portraits a speedlight in each broody and my camera tripod mounted so I got the exact same framing and background for each shot - photo made by iPhone 6
This was my setup for all the portraits. My camera was on a tripod so every shot was in the same framing. I advised people to stand in front of the front wheel of the Jaguar F-Type Coupe to further insure similar photo results. I had two speedlights each in a brolly and kept the one to frame left constant, but as night fell moved the one to frame right to also light the car more. Unfortunately, the provided lighting for the car was not very bright at all. I compensated for that by moving one speedlight and tweaking a few camera settings. I ended up pleased with the results of night portraits using just two speedlights with a large background object (the car).
Some guests at the Crown Jaguar F-Type Dali Museum event arrived in costume - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 400 1/60th - tripod mounted with cable release - Strobist: SB-800 & SB-600 both in brolly
Some guests wore costumes as Halloween was just three days away. It was interesting to look up and see who might appear before my lense each shot. Many people joked asking if this photo was their opportunity to win the car or something like that. I only ever replied simply, "umm, no."
From dusk to night shooting guests arriving in front of the Jaguar F-Type at the Dali Museum St. Petersburg Event Photography - Nikon D300 tripod mounted with cable release Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/30th - Strobist: SB-800 & SB-600 both in brolly
The Jaguar F-Type Coupe received universal praise for its looks by everyone. As of the time of shooting, Crown Jaguar did have this particular F-Type for sale!
The Jaguar F-Type coupe made for a stunning backdrop for portraits at the Crown Jaguar Dali Museum in St. Petersburg - event photography - Nikon D300 tripod mounted with cable release Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 320 1/60th - Strobist: SB-800 & SB-600 both in brolly
It was a fun and challenging evening of photography, my favorite kind, and I got to stare at a beautiful car the whole time too. Two Crown Jaguar employees helped make sure each guest would receive their print of the photos I made by writing down the photo number as I shot, thank you ladies!
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