Sandy lining up a shot using leading line composition during our photography lesson in St. Petersburg Florida

Sandy had done some practicing with her DSLR applying what we learned during the first lesson and realizing what she would like to practice and review in our second lesson.  There is nothing more important when learning photography than actually going out and shooting!  

We made our way through the Saturday Market finding some challenging lighting situations.  Normally during the day increasing ISO is not necessary, but when photographing subjects under shelters like at the market, using a 200mm+ focal length, with a max f/5.6 aperture lens, those deep shade shooting conditions do require a bump in ISO in order to maintain a safe 1-to-1 shutter speed to focal length ratio.  

The Pier in the background of our evening photography lesson with Pam and her Canon T3i

Pamela told me at the start of the lesson that she knew nothing, and many people actually say that, but it is never really true as everyone knows at least a little about photography.  Either way, Pamela was a quick learner of my 5-step system for making a well exposed and sharp shot in any given situation, and with the fading evening light there was a wide range of settings needing to be used to get a good exposure.  The Canon T3i has buttons for all the things you need to change, though it lacks a top LCD, it is still an ok camera egonomically for setting up a shot (though suffers for reviewing shots due to the usual Canon making you hit the review button twice before you can actually properly review a shot).  

While Pamela practices she will be deciding which new lenses to invest in for her wildlife photography hobby.  

Dandelion ready to be plucked and blown in the wind - Nikon D300 Nikkor 50mm @ f/4 ISO 200 1/400th

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The past few weeks I have been teaching former Morean Arts Center photography student, Stacy, how to develop a Mac digital photo editing workflow.  She is new to Mac as well, so I have been showing her some of my top tips for using OS X as efficiently as possible (hint, use Expose every day).  She also got the same apps I have so she could learn my exact photo editing workflow which starts in Aperture 3, then Color Efex Pro 3, then finally Photoshop CS5.  

Stacy made this photo of her daughter and her boyfriend on their junior prom night.  No flash was used, only natural light.  Here is the process for how the photo was transformed:

Aperture 3 workflow:

• white balance slider increased toward cooler (blue)
• shadows slider increased
• mid-level contrast slider increased
• dodging brush used on all skin areas

Color Efex Pro 4 (she has 4, I use 3):

• Polarization filter applied
• Pro Contrast filter applied

Photoshop CS5 (approximate steps):

• Quick Select Tool used on all skin areas
• Dodge Brush used selectively
• Healing Brush used for blemish removal
• Clone Stamp Tool used for more complex blemish removal and slight skin softening in general
• Dodge Brush used in highlights mode to brighten eyes & teeth
• Clone Stamp Tool used to lighten under the eyes
• Quick Select Tool used on water
• Contrast adjustment made selectively to water
• Quick Select Tool used on sky
• Highlights adjustment made selectively to sky
• Saturation adjustment made selectively to sky
• Unsharp Mask filter applied

None of these individual techniques is advanced.  To a properly trained Photoshop professional they might even seem crude.  However, what each technique lacks in complexity, the complexity comes from knowing when and how to use each one to accomplish a photo retouching goal.  At each stage of editing the photo looked better.  Through experience it can be learned how to keep adding yet another stage to one's editing workflow to make a photograph reach its full potential, or in some cases, save a photo that would otherwise be culled.

Emilia celebrates her 100th birthday in St. Petersburg Florida at Brentwood Senior Living Community -- Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 800 1/60th SB-800 hotshoe mounted

Many generations helped Emilia celebrate her 100th birthday party in St. Petersburg Florida -- Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 800 1/60th SB-800 hotshoe mountedMembers of Emilia's family came over and shared birthday wishes, cards, chocolates and funny faces with her.  I liked how the young girls looked in this candid photo while their mom talks joyfully with Emilia.

Celebrating a 100th birthday with friends in St. Petersburg Florida -- Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 800 1/60th SB-800 hotshoe mountedI did not count how many friends were in attendance, but it had to be close to forty!  Everyone came over in turn to help Emilia celebrate and also to get a piece of cake!

A special Lithuanian cake that was very rich and delicious - St. Petersburg Florida birthday photography - Nikon D80 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 640 1/100th SB-600 hotshoe mountedEmilia's family is Lithuanian and they brought the special Lithuanian cake you see above, and yes that is a candle that says 100 on it!  The cake was great, truly unlike any I have tasted before.  A very rich taste, though the cake itself was light and dry, with crystalized fruit between layers.  I noticed I was one of the only people that finished their entire piece of cake.

100 years young in St. Petersburg Florida Birthday Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 800 1/60th SB-800 hotshoe mountedThank you to Jess for contacting me about photographing this 100th birthday party.  Is was a very fun photography experience!

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Social media portrait with a puppy in St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/125th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 43" brolly to frame right & SB-600 @1/4th power in 43" shoot through umbrella to frame left

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I will be working with new client Kevin on several photography projects.  The first of which was this social media portrait session.  Kevin wanted to have some good portraits of himself showing what he likes to do in his own home setting for social media and also for dating websites.  I have been trying to find a way for years to reach people who use dating websites who are trying to find their dream matches with horrible cell phone mirror photos of themselves.  If you are going to spend money on a dating website, and are serious about finding someone, then I think there is great value in having professional portraits of yourself made showing you having fun and doing things you like to do.  You will definitely stand out from 99% of the other profiles on any dating website just by having high quality and most importantly flattering images of yourself.

That is Kevin's puppy Dash with him above.  I had fun playing with Dash while I was getting my strobist gear setup as she was particularly fond of my light stand bag and tumbling over it!

Formal social media portrait with photos of his children in the background - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/125th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 43" brolly to frame right & SB-600 @1/4th power in 43" shoot through umbrella to frame leftKevin wanted one shot of him looking more formal.  It was his idea to have photographs of his children in the background.  I liked the idea also.  There was a challenge to overcome in not having any reflections from my speedlights in the photo frames on the wall, but after a few adjustments I was able to produce the glare free shot above.

Social media portrait showing pool & billiards hobby - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/125th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 43" brolly to frame right & SB-600 @1/4th power in 43" shoot through umbrella to frame leftThis photograph shows Kevin by his pool table which tells the story of one of his hobbies.  He is still the main subject of the photograph, but including the pool cue and edge of the table shows what Kevin likes to do for fun.

Social media portrait showing in kitchen cooking hobby - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/125th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 43" brolly to frame right & SB-600 @1/4th power in 43" shoot through umbrella to frame leftKevin's house had a great kitchen which I thought should definitely be featured in one of his social media portraits.  This shows him in an inviting activity where a person on a dating website might imagine they would like to visit sometime.  In the right background of the shot is Kevin's new Italian ice machine!  He can make his own sno-cones.  

Next I will be photographing Kevin's GT-R.  I am looking forward to it!

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Harvey photographing a pelican coming in for a landing during our digital photography lesson in St. Petersburg Florida

He kept asking me, like many people do, "which settings should I use for this and that," which I can never answer because unless I am looking at the same subject and light, I cannot really say.  This is why I stressed to him and to others that I teach a process that allows you to determine which settings to use on your own.  Of course there are basic default settings one can start out with in typical shooting situations, and those can be found in my photography tips section, but I cannot answer questions that contain the words "always" and "settings."

Eventually Harvey became a bit more comfortable, and accepting, of shooting in manual exposure mode.

John with his new Canon T4i during our 1-on-1 photography lesson in downtown St. Petersburg Florida

After I showed him around his Canon T4i we walked around the waterfront area practicing how to use the meter to get a baseline exposure, and then how to read the histogram after making the shot to see how the results really came out.  I showed John how to control DoF with aperture and focal length and then concluded the lesson with a little shade versus direct sunlight portrait practice.