Light painting during Julie's DSLR Photography Lesson out at The Pier in St. Petersburg Florida

Being a Monday night we basically had the entire Pier to ourselves, and especially so at my favorite water level spot upon a decaying concrete platform.  Besides showing Julie how to make the usual long exposure shots of the St. Petersburg downtown skyline, we entered a kind of special effects world with light painting.  For the above shot, I set my DSLR on my tripod with a 10 second shutter time.  Using the LED light on the back of my iPhone 4 I "painted" from the tip of Julie's finger down onto the concrete.  I did not astral project myself, I just moved quickly enough not to be fully exposed in the image.  

We went on to practice light trail shots and a number of other things too.  It was an action packed lesson for sure and Julie was great managing with an unfamiliar tripod and getting adept at changing the settings on her Canon 60D in the dark.

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The view from under the Safety Harbor Pier - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/11 ISO 200 5-exposure HDR handheld

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Due to a very low tide, I found myself with the opportunity to go under the Safety Harbor Pier.  I did not go to Safety Harbor with the express purpose of photographing it, but I of course did have my DSLR with me, but not my tripod.  The sun was still high in the sky and as you can see from the shadows starting to make its way toward the west.  A single exposure shot would not capture much of the detail under the pier itself.  However, since there was still quite a bit of available light I dared for a 5-exposure handheld HDR shot.  I highly recommend using a tripod for HDR no matter what the light, but as you can see, in a pinch, and with enough light, even a 5-exposure shot can be handheld and still produce a sharp image.

Click for large 2000px version - Safety Harbor Pier and Tampa Bay panorama - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50 @ f/11 ISO 200 1/400th 5-frame panoramaLacking my tripod did not stop me from also making a 5-frame panorama of Tampa Bay and the Safety Harbor Pier.  I used the gridlines in my viewfinder to keep each shot level with the horizon as I set the exposure to f/11 in aperture priority mode and rotated to make the five shots that I would later stitch together in Photoshop CS5 using the Photomerge function.

Safety Harbor Pier HDR image - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 5-exposure HDR handheldOnce again no tripod on hand, but I felt confident to be able to handhold this shot for five quick frames (using my Nikon D300's 6-frames per second burst mode) given the light available.  My composition choice came from putting the horizon in the lower third of the frame and having the pier form a leading line toward the center.

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The Waterfall at Signature Place Tower in downtown St. Petersburg - Rebecca with her Canon XSi

For this practice I had Rebecca start in Aperture priority mode (A, Nikon; Av, Canon) at f/11 which is recommended for our typical sunny Florida days.  Then depending on where the sun is relevant to the subject, we were able to find the limits of A-priority mode.  This is how I taught Rebecca to find the limit:  1.)  once the shutter speed goes below 1/60th, increase aperture  2.)  Once the aperture limit of f/5.6 is hit along with the 1/60th shutter speed limit, then increase ISO

When A-priority mode was choosing a shutter speed too fast even at f/11, then I had her switch to manual mode, staying at f/11 while manually setting a slower shutter speed and tweaking the latter to produce the desired balalnce between for example enough blueness in the sky, but also enough detail in the shadows of buildings.  

Using these real world skills for setting up a properly exposed shot, plus the architecture composition tips I passed on to her, I am sure Rebecca will be able to make some great shots when she visits New York City next week.

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Blowing out some highlights is not always bad - Nikon D300 Nikkor 50mm @ f/2 ISO 200 1/100th handheld

The part of the image where the bulbs are inside the pendant lights are totally blown out.  However, I liked how this looks because it produces an overall exposure that fits the mood of the shot I wanted to make.  

Go out and make your own photograph with some blown out highlights on purpose and post a link to your photo in the comments below. 

Shore Acres Pool Home HDR Real Estate Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 9-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable release

A new backsplash brightens things in this Shore Acres home - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/2 sec tripod mounted with cable releaseI do not normally include HDR images when photographing a job in this price range, but for the lead pool shot I did as a bonus as it just looked night and day different.  All the interiors were single exposures, like this one of the remodeled kitchen.  I usually shoot at below eye level for interiors, but for kitchens I prefer to shoot from at or above eye level to show all the counter level features.

Huge flatscreen TV mounted in this Shore Acres living room - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1.6 sec tripod mounted with cable releaseWhen doing single exposure interiors, as you can see I keep window blinds closed and pointed up whenever possible.  I close them pointed up so that no bright spots are cast onto the interior itself, but rather bounced off the ceiling making the light from them useful.  I had the client move a large armchair from where I was standing so I could better photograph the living room.  

Home office full of CDs in Shore Acres Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1 sec tripod mounted with cable releaseFor small home interior rooms, I choose to shoot in portrait orientation from the door way.  This creates the largest sense of space since floor to ceiling can be seen.  I photograph bathrooms the same way since they often are not large enough to even enter and photograph, especially with a tripod.

This pool home for sale in Shore Acres St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/50th tripod mounted with cable releaseFor the exterior shot, I try to include as little of the neighboring properties as possible, even if it means making a tighter shot like the one above.  I lowered my tripod enough so that the large live oak in the front yard framed the home rather than obscured the view of it.  

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Reddish Egret - Boyd Hill Nature Preserve, St. Petersburg FL - this image available for fine art print purchase & commercial license - Nikon D300 Nikkor 105mm VR micro @ f/11 ISO 200 1/250th tripod mounted with cable release

I made sure to have calm feelings inside of me as well giving the bird nothing to pick up and feel anxious itself about.  I was able to photograph the bird as close as I wanted and then even picked up my DSLR and tripod and walked past the reddish egret without it flying off.  After I did my exploring of the small island and returned to the bridge, the bird was gone.  

I was glad to be able to share a few moments with this creature and to also be able to photograph it.

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Ren taking shelter from a light rain with his Canon T3i in downtown St. Petersburg Florida during our first photography lesson.

Ren works in a company that uses a lot of gear, gadgets and tech and whose co-workers have a lot of their own which helped him make the jump to the DSLR world.  He has already taken about 6,000 photos he said, though only around 2 out of 4 he ends up liking.  This is totally fine though for someone starting out in photography and as a mostly self-taught photographer myself, I went through a very similar process teaching myself about aperture, shutter speed, ISO and even focus modes (which did baffle me for an afternoon believe it or not).  Now, through that real-world learning experience, I can pass on a very practical DSLR photography teaching method to all my students.  

Ren also audio-recorded the lesson so he will have the pleasure of hearing my voice and jokes again and again on how to produce well exposed and sharp images in real world situations.  I recommend some kind of note taking during the lessons, unless one has a photographic memory of course!

Besides setting the settings correctly for any given shot, one must be adept at physcially knowing how to actually manipulte the many buttons and dials on a DSLR.  Even just two seconds wasted fiddling with the wrong button can mean the difference between making and missing a photograph.  As I recommend to everyone, I suggested that Ren keep his DSLR next to him on the sofa while watching TV and work on mastering how to change all the commonly used exposure settings.  

Ren will return to the museum above on Friday on a school trip with his daughter.  I look forward to seeing his photographs applying what he learned today.

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Rebecca happy to be out of auto-mode with her Canon XSi at the end of our first of four photography lessons.

Not only that, Rebecca had yet to even use her new Canon 55-250mm lens!  So I showed her my recommended technique for changes lenses in the field as we went back and forth using the 55-250mm lens and her 18-55mm standard zoom lens.  

For someone claiming to "know nothing," Rebecca was very fast to pick up on the basic photography terms and concepts needed to be able to properly make a photograph in typical Florida bright daylight conditions.  Perhaps her fast uptake was due to her taken lengthy notes on my four step process for setting up a shot.  I highly recommend note taking, though few students actually come with notepad and pen in hand.

For our already scheduled second lesson we will head out to The Pier, one of my favorite shooting locations, to practice bird-in-flight shots.

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Stephanie in Straub Park during our 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida

We began the lesson as I do most lessons, going over my 4-step process for getting all settings right for any given shot no matter what the lighting conditions.  We concluded the lesson with some natural light portraits where we discovered the difficulties with the Tamron 70-300mm lens.  Switching back to her favorite Canon 18-135mm lens using the exact same settings finally yielded acceptable sharpness results and overall image quality.  

Stephanie is heading to Colorado on a ski trip and of course bringing her Canon XSi onto the slopes with her.  I look forward to seeing some great action skiing shots.

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great blue heron in profile looking into the frameOne easy to remember photography tip that will improve your shooting is to have the subject "looking" or "moving" into the frame.  This means the subject should be at one edge of the frame appearing to look into or go into the empty space in the shot, rather than staring at the edge of the frame.  A subject that looks into the frame or motion that leads into the frame gives the viewer's eyes some place to go.  

FOR SUBJECTS IN PROFILE

Kiki in profile looking into the empty frame makes my eyes follow hers.In the above photographs of a great blue heron and of beloved puppy Kiki, both subjects are shown in profile and both are looking into the empty frame.  If I had composed the shots with the empty space to the right, the images would look awkward and unbalanced.  When photography a subject in profile, be sure to include enough space for that subject, and the viewer, to look into.

FOR SUBJECTS IN MOTION

The airplane has enough space to "fly" into creating movement for the viewer.Likewise for subjects in motion, they should also have plenty of space to "move" into in the frame.  This allows the viewer to look and see where the airplane is flying.  The Jeep below suggests a continued movement and leading action.  Having empty space to either the rear of the plane or Jeep would not only look awkward but show that we were too slow on the shutter to catch the action.

This Jeep continues on because of the composition.

FOR SUBJECTS LOOKING INDIRECTLY

What is the flamenco dancer looking at? The composition gives enough space for the question to arise.When a subject is looking indirectly in the frame, space should still be given in the composition in the general direction the subject is looking.  The flamenco dancer above is facing the lens, but looking to her right.  Composing for more space on the left of the frame makes the viewer also look left.  The wedding couple below are really looking indirectly in the frame, but overall both their poses and the directions of their eyes favor viewing from top right toward bottom left.  

Pose & composition direct the viewer to look from right to left.Keep the "look into the frame" composition tip in mind to produce photographs that give the subject and the viewer space to look into and avoid subjects staring into the edges of the frame.