night portrait

Crown Jaguar F-Type Client Event at Dali Museum St Petersburg Florida Photography

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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!

Canon XS DSLR Photography Lesson with Suzanne in St. Petersburg

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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 XS, 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!

DSLR Photography Night Lesson with Patti & her tripod

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Long exposure portrait - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm tripod mounted @ f/4 ISO 400 1.6 sec

For Patti's second DSLR Photography Lesson in downtown St. Petersburg she wanted to learn how to use her tripod for making great dusk, twilight and night shots.  It turns out she has the same Pro Line tripod as I do!  The weather in St. Petersburg went overnight from summer-like to arctic.  As we made our way out to The Pier, I was glad I was wearing my Mountain Hard Wear softshell rendering the blustery wind harmless.

We stopped at the approach to The Pier for a tip on using leading lines to add interest to a shot's composition.  I also stressed one of my axiom's of photography -- avoid shooting at eye level whenever possible.  I had Patti fully shorten her tripod's legs for a nice long angle shot of The Pier, that she remarked after she took it was different than any other shot of The Pier she had taken before.  That is exactly the kind of results I strive for in my own photography and something I try to instill in anyone I teach photography to from the beginning -- if I can see it by standing at eye level, why in the world would I want to look at a photograph of the exact same thing?  I wouldn't.  So show me something I cannot see by standing at eye level.  I am glad to pass on this practice to Patti as she photographed The Pier during our lesson.

Of course the best thing about photography and The Pier, is shooting the downtown St. Petersburg skyline from the top of The Pier itself.  This is challenging however as there is a very tall railing that needs to be shot over.  Our tripods needed significant center column extension to be able to do so, a negative because that reduced stability.  Add in a strong wind, and conditions were far from ideal.  This just made us have to be extra careful and thoughtful in the mechanics of tripod shooting.  Patti has a handy wireless remote she used to trigger her Nikon D3000 in order to eliminate camera shake even more.  

Taken in a moving elevator! Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm tripod mounted @ f/8 ISO 400 2 secBefore we entered the elevator to get back to the ground level I suggested we set up our DSLRs for long exposure shots while riding the elevator down.  Setting up our cameras before allowed us to be ready once we got into the elevator and not hold it up or have to worry about it moving before we were ready.  You can see Patti's reflection to the mid-left and mine to center-right.  To the far left is some guy who had a DSLR who I heard say, "wish I had brought my tripod."

Patti is off to Las Vegas for a family Christmas vacation.  She now has the skills to get some great night shots of that far brighter city.  I of course encouraged her to wake up before sunrise and head out to the desert for some dawn landscapes!  I look forward to seeing if she does. 

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    • Night Tripod Photography DSLR Photography Lesson with Mohammad

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    Long exposure portrait - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1sec Nikon SB-800 Speedlight hotshoe mounted in TTL modeEach time we have another DSLR Photography lesson together, Mohammad has a new piece of gear!  After our first lesson (which before he just bought a Canon T2i) he got a Canon 430EX II Speedlite that we used during our second lesson.  Now for out third lesson last night he had bought a nice Manfrotto tripod and joystick grip head.  It was my latest lesson, from 8pm to 10pm.  This allowed us to have a little light left in the sky for ideal night time cityscape shots conditions and to be able to practice portraits outdoors under completely dark skies.

    We met at the usual spot in front of the Museum of Fine Arts on Beach Drive then walked toward The Pier.  Along the way we stopped at a few spots to practice low to the ground shots.  A benefit of using a tripod is you can use the legs in their shortest length and get a very low, creative angle and turn an ordinary scene into a photograph.  No one usually lies down on the ground when out sightseeing, thus a shot made from that perspective will show the viewer something that cannot be seen by just standing at the same spot at eye level.  This to me, showing what cannot be seen by just standing somewhere at eye level, is one of the things that makes a photograph a photograph, rather than just a snapshot.

    We then made our way up to the top of The Pier, a 5-story open air patio, with a great panoramic view of the St. Petersburg skyline, though marred somewhat by a very high railing forcing one to use the center column on one's tripod thereby reducing stability.  When shooting at night or dusk, manual mode is best as controlling both the aperture and the shutter speed is necessary to produce the exposure one wants.  We mostly used shutter speeds in excess of 15 seconds.  

    Our final stop, after riding the trolley from The Pier to North Shore Drive and having an exciting elevator ride with a big group of European tourists, was in front of BayWalk for some long exposure shots of the traffic driving by.  However, the traffic at most consisted of three or four cars, so we did not have much chance to get those cool red and white trail lights from the cars' lights in our shots.  Still, the spot was good for long exposure portraits (see top photo), which we made by keeping our cameras tripod mounted and flashes hotshoe mounted (so they can sync with the long exposures).

    I really enjoyed this night lesson as using the tripods allowed for a slower, more methodical lesson pace and of course it was not as hot outside.  Plus Mohammad is a good student asking many questions and an interesting person who travels a lot.

    I wonder what piece of gear Mohammad will buy before our fourth lesson, maybe a 70-200mm f/2.8 lens?? 

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    • Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center Night Wedding Portrait

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    Textual illumination at Davis Art Center Ft. Myers, Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens @ f/2.8 ISO 800 1/60th Strobist - Nikon SB-600 Speedlight in TTL mode on tripod to frame right triggered by commander mode

    If you are looking for a cool place to make portraits at night in the Ft. Myers, Florida area, the Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center in the downtown area of Ft. Myers is a great place to shoot when it is all lit up.  Cylindrical structures with old names carved into them are lit up from the inside projected said names on all surrounding surfaces.  

    While the reception party raged on inside after, Debbie and Matthew and I slipped out to make a few night wedding portraits.  I used off camera flash to light the couple and let my shutter speed stay open long enough to bring out some of the details in the building behind them.

    If you have photographed at the art center (day or night), please include a link to your photographs in the comments below. 

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