Halloween lights provide the background in downtown St. Petersburg for my first DSLR Photography Lesson with SuzanneSince neither of us had trick or treating plans, I met Suzanne for our first DSLR Photography Lesson in downtown St. Petersburg early in the Halloween evening.  There was surprisingly little spooky activity happening and no one in costume to photograph.  Still, we managed to practice no less than five shooting techniques in our first of four 2-hour lessons!

Suzanne was already familiar with some photography terms and just needed clarifying and instruction on how they all tie together, especially in the DSLR world.  Also, since she already knew how to change some of these settings on her Canon XT, we were able to practice more than usual in a first lesson, especially since the early sunset time in late October afforded a chance to practice motion blur shots.  

I look forward to our next lessons which will cover photographing sunsets, action shots and more!

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Holly's notes from fourth of four lessons beside her Canon XT - photo by iPhone 4Holly's crash course in DSLR Photography finished at Tyrone Mall!  I use that location for when students want to practice shooting in an indoor shooting environment.  Plus it's air conditioned so we can have mid-afternoon lessons.  This fourth of four lessons for Holly was focused on first using her pop-up flash to get a well exposed indoor portrait given the fluorescent lighting in Sears electronics department.  Unfortunately for Sears, they do not get many customers looking to buy TVs.  Perhaps their non-existent customer service is one reason why as we were in there for twenty minutes and no one even made eye contact with us!

To wrap up everything we practiced during our four photography lessons together, Holly and I sat down for a good note taking session.  Even though I do provide students with a PDF study guide (available exclusively to paying clients), there is no substitute for writing down in your own words (and handwriting) specific settings and photography scenarios.  As you can see from Holly's notes, I also suggested what gear she should buy next (an external flash, a tripod, a telephoto lens).  

Holly will be taking her Canon XT and new photography skills to Washington in a couple of weeks and I hope she is able to return with great photographs!  I look forward to seeing them.  

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Holly basked in light from the setting sun practices at The Pier St. Petersburg during our 3rd lesson togetherOn a day filled with rain in St. Petersburg, I was able to dodge most of it by morning and by evening to first have a DSLR Photography Lesson with Cindy at The Pier in the A.M. and to close the day with another lesson at The Pier with Holly.  Only poor Kiki got short changed today by having her dog park time cut short by a sudden downpour!

This was Holly's third lesson in a week's time, as she bought the discounted 4-pack of lessons.  We met in downtown St. Petersburg then made our way to The Pier as the final few raindrops of the evening storm fell harmlessly onto our lenses.  This was another lesson focusing on two things:  how to knowingly change settings to get correct evening exposures and how to creatively compose for making photographs out of what others see as just nothing, or do not even see at all.  

This brought us up, down and all around The Pier.  The roof easily provided the best views and the rainstorm left behind a spectacular sunset.  We still of course found some time to photograph the pelicans that like to hangout around there too.  I am pretty sure I saw the same rust colored female as this morning!

By the end of the lesson Holly was starting to be able to understand how to adjust her aperture and shutter speed to create a better exposed twilight image, as in if the image is too dark for your liking, then increasing the shutter speed and/or the aperture is necessary to brighten it up.  Want to create a silhouette shot?  Then increase the shutter speed so only the sky has any color.  

We ended the lesson with me convincing Holly that a tripod is certainly a worthwhile investment as I let her borrow mine to create some fantastic urban sunset shots of downtown St. Petersburg.  

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No photographer was harmed in the making of this photo! - Holly with her Canon XT photographing architecture detail in St. Petersburg during our 2nd DSLR photography lessonI met Holly again this morning in downtown St. Petersburg for our second of four DSLR Photography Lessons.  After going over many of the technical details for setting up a given photograph during our first lesson, this time the lesson focused more on composition and how to make interesting photographs out of places you may visit on vacation.  

When photographing a building or a place, it is often an instinct to try to photograph the entire building or the entirety of a place.  This often leads to what I refer to as a "mugshot" of a building.  Yes, you can see it all, but so can you by standing right in front of it so that usually does not make for an interesting photograph.  The cure to this is only photographing a part of the building, or tilting the axis, or shooting while lying on your stomach, or any such similar composition that creates something one cannot see at eye level.  

I took Holly around some of my favorite alleys and side streets to show her the things I look for in order to find something that may be interesting.  For example, that big semi-truck in the photo above.  My idea to make that photo was to create the illusion that the person on the street (Holly) may be in harm's way, so in a sense the viewer of the photograph has to stop and think, "hey, that truck is probably just parked."  Getting someone to have one thought about a photograph to me is enough for it to be a success.  

For our third lesson we will meet in the evening to see how less light affects one's photography.

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Holly is eager to learn how to use her Canon XT better and eliminate blurry photos!

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Last week Holly called me, as many people have, to say she has a DSLR, but has only been using it in auto-mode.  This is of course a tragedy that can easily be remedied with my DSLR Photography Lessons.  In fact, Holly signed up for the discounted 4-pack of lessons.  This morning was the first of those four.

She bought a used Canon XT a little while ago, but as mentioned above was only using it in auto-mode and not getting consistently sharp images.  I started the lesson by showing her step by step how to change the settings necessary for getting off auto-mode.  I also explained a few common photography terms and how they relate to certain types of shots.  With just a little bit of knowledge about aperture, ISO, WB and focus modes, one can begin to take control over the camera and thus take control over the outcome of one's photographs . . . and a DSLR wants to be controlled, it does not want to use its own brain. 

Holly and I covered a lot of ground in downtown St. Petersburg with practice in both Vinoy Park and North Straub Park.  This first lesson of four was a very broad lesson showing how to do a general range of photography.  Each successive lesson will be more focused on a specific photography area.  My goal is to get Holly totally prepared for making great photographs indoors and out before she visits Washington DC in July.  

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