Canon XS

1-on-1 Canon XS DSLR Photography Lesson in St. Petersburg with Sarah

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Sarah with her Canon XS in Vinoy Park during our 1-on-1 DSLR photography lesson in St. Petersburg Florida

Sarah and her family not so long ago moved to Florida.  She recently also got her first DSLR.  So on Friday morning I got to introduce her to both her Canon XS and the beauty of the downtown St. Petersburg waterfront.  It was a warm spring morning with plenty of sunshine, but we started out in the shade of the Museum of Fine Arts where I explained all the photography terms Sarah will need to know in order to shoot in manual mode with her Canon.  

Even for a total beginner like Sarah, by the end of the two hours using my 5-step system, she was able to use the meter to help her manually get the exposure correct for both still and moving subjects.  We even concluded the lesson with a little portrait practice.  Sarah said she has already ordered a new camera so I look forward to helping her continue to advance her photography knowledge when that comes in soon.

Real Estate Photography Lesson in Largo with Kelly & her Canon XS

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Real estate photography often involves working in small spaces!This year I have started to teach more commercial photography lessons, that is teaching photography to those who will use those photography skills to directly help their own businesses.  To that end I met Kelly this morning in Largo for a 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson on how to photograph real estate, as she is an agent and wants to improve her listings with better images.  She was a referral from Angela, another photography student and also family portrait client.  Thank you Angela!

The photography lesson with Kelly this morning was a combination of the usual 5-step methodology (in manual mode) I teach everyone for creating a well exposed and sharp image in any given situation.  However, I limited the scenarios this time of course to shooting indoor interiors.  In this way I showed Kelly everything from how to properly change lenses, how to get the most stability out of a tripod, why you would want to purposefully overexpose certain images and also how to compose and frame shots to best showcase each room of a house.

It was a nice change of pace for me to teach this kind of commercial lesson and I look forward to seeing the no doubt improved real estate photographs Kelly uses for her upcoming listings!  Visit her official business website if you are looking for a home in northern Pinellas.

Canon XS 1-on-1 indoor light DSLR Photography Lesson with Suzanne St. Petersburg Florida

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Suzanne relaxing after we finished our fourth 2-hour DSLR photography lesson together!When Suzanne bought her 4-pack of 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lessons in October of last year, I did not imagine we would only have the fourth one now in June!  This, though, has allowed her to add a valuable new piece of equipment to her gear bag, a Canon 430EX II Speelite which she wanted to learn to use in indoor settings.  For that I have brought students to Tyrone Mall in the past, however, this time may have been the last time possible for it as we first got kicked out of Sears then later (thankfully at the end of the lesson) from the entire mall itself!  In my times there before no one has said anything to me.  Still, we were able to practice all I wanted to show Suzanne with regards to using the directional, or bounce, abilities of her external flash.  

We even found a closed store that had tall, black velvet drapes blocking its entrance that made for a studio-like background.  After that we used a nook hidden in a hallway to see how bouncing the light off a rear wall, a side wall and straight ahead effects light on the subject (in this case me!).  I pointed out that having shadows on the face of the subject is not always bad and the headshot practice we did should hopefully allow her to make a better one of her brother-in-law, that is if he does not take advantage of my own $99 headshot service!

I enjoyed my lessons with Suzanne and perhaps we will meet again for more advanced off camera flash and digital photograph editing lessons!

Canon XS DSLR Photography Lesson Birds in Flight with Suzanne St. Petersburg Florida

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Suzanne impressively was not afraid to get eye level to her subject even on surfaces of questionable cleanliness.Suzanne (see her photos made during this lesson) and I were back at The Pier for our third of four DSLR Photography Lessons.  Our goal this time was to capture birds in flight, one of the most challenging things to do in photography.  In particular, I wanted us to be able to make a shot of a pelican right before it breaks the surface of the water in a dive.  On our walk out to The Pier I advised Suzanne on the best settings we could use, namely: 

  • shutter priority mode @ 1/1000th of a sec
  • ISO set to lowest possible
  • WB sunny
  • focus mode:  AF-C (Ai-servo)
  • multiple focus points (since the birds would fill the frame from our location) 

Thankfully, the pelicans at The Pier were in a near feeding frenzy with birds regularly diving all around us.  It is really something to witness this act of nature up close.  It is also really something to try and photograph the act as there is at most one second between dive and water entry.  

I showed Suzanne my technique of using the lens as a scope to track the bird at distance, rather than keeping one's eye behind the viewfinder when trying to locate the bird.  Then once in shooting range, quickly dip your eye behind the viewfinder and the bird will be in frame, more easily ready to be photographed.  

The weather was great and the bright sunshine felt welcome, as was the breeze, pretty much ideal DSLR Photography Lesson conditions.

Canon XS DSLR Photography Lesson at The Pier St. Petersburg Florida with Suzanne

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Suzanne at The Pier in St. Petersburg chooses pelican or egret for her next shot on our second DSLR photography lesson.It seems Suzanne and I only meet for DSLR Photography Lessons on holidays!  Our first lesson together was right on Halloween evening, and today's second of four was on Christmas Eve, Eve.  By this reckoning I predict our next lesson might be on Groundhog's Day perhaps!  It was another exceptionally warm December day in Florida, some 10F above what is "normal" for this time of year.  Suzanne wisely wore her hat, I should of as well.  

For this second DSLR Photography Lesson Suzanne said she wanted to practice making scenic shots.  Meeting at our usual spot on Beach Drive in downtown St. Petersburg, we made our way out to The Pier for that purpose.  We began by reviewing the four basic settings that need to be correct in order to make a properly exposed and in focus shot as we walked out to The Pier.  She showed me some of her recent San Francisco trip photos that did not come out as well as she would have liked, so the first order of business was to show her how using different settings would have helped those shots.  

We ended with some bird photography which cannot be helped on any trip to The Pier as all the sea birds there are practically posing to be photographed.  For our third lesson, we will try to capture the birds in flight, a challenging photography skill.