Yellow McLaren 650S Spider Clearwater St Petersburg Car Photography

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Yellow McLaren 650S Spider at Dimmit Automotive Florida Car Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseFeatured prominently in the front window of the Dimmitt Automotive showroom in Pinellas Park Florida, this yellow McLaren 650S Spider certainly is an eye catcher.  The contrast of the bright yellow paint and black trim on the newly stylized supercar from McLaren looks striking.  I was barely able to squeeze in between the car and the window with my Nikon and tripod to be able to make the above shot.

Carbon fiber trim on a yellow McLaren 650S Spider Florida Car Photographer - Nikon D300 Nikkor 50mm @ f/2.8 ISO 200 1/15th tripod mounted with cable releaseThere was plenty of carbon fiber trim on the body of the McLaren 650S Spider, including all along the rocker panel as seen in the above image.  

Yellow McLaren 650S Spider for sale at Dimmitt Automotive Florida Car Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseFollow that green exit sign in the window to swing into Dimmitt and part ways with a not unsubstantial amount of cash and you can leave in this yellow McLaren 650S Spider.  I think the color and spider body style work well with the Florida gulf coast lifestyle, well, at least once the sun goes down a little bit.  

The stylish new front headlights on the McLaren 650S Spider St. Petersburg Car Photography - Nikon D300 Nikkor 50mm @ f/2.8 ISO 200 1/30th tripod mounted with cable release

The 650S follows the McLaren 12C which some said was a little boring for an exotic car (I didn't think so).  The 650S borrows design elements, like the above McLaren logo shaped headlights, from the P1 hypercar giving it more than enough flash for a midengined supercar to look the part.

Rear quarter panel view of yellow McLaren 650S Spider Florida Car Photography - Nikon D300 Nikkor 50mm @ f/2 ISO 200 1/40th tripod mounted with cable release

It is always nice to spend time photographing a supercar.  I imagine it as far, far nicer to actually drive one!

Canon T2i 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson at Curtis Hixon Park Tampa Florida with Marquita

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Among the fountains in Curtis Hixon Park Tampa Florida Markita learns how to shoot in manual mode with her Canon T2i during our 1-on-1 DSLR photography lessonMarquita has a party planning business (website) and wanted to be able to make her own high quality photographs for marketing and promotional purposes.  She met me one morning in Curtis Hixon Park in downtown Tampa with her Canon T2i and I began showing her how to shoot in manual mode and really take control over the results of her photographs with regard to exposure, depth of field and composition.  Marquita was a fast learner and soon was able to change all five of the necessary settings for shooting in manual mode.  

The last thing we practiced during our 1-on-1 DSLR photography lesson was a little motion blur shooting.  Marquita really liked this effect achieved by using a slow shutter speed and moving the camera while pressing the shutter to freeze the subject but blur the background to imply motion.  

Marquita has already sent practice shots of her party supplies and is applying what she learned during the photography lesson to her event party business and is thus on her way to having her new photography skills make money for her.  I look forward to meeting her again soon at her studio in St. Petersburg to learn product photography more specifically using lights and photography backgrounds, etc.

iPhone 6 first HDR sunset photograph example Pass-A-Grille Beach Florida

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The iPhone makes for a great always with you photography device.  The camera in each successive iPhone model is supposed to be markedly better than the previous one.  Having pre-ordered and received an iPhone 6 on launch day, I was excited to see how much better its camera (two generations newer than my iPhone 5) was.  I was at Pass-A-Grille Beach at the southern tip of St. Petersburg and was treated to a great sunset view.  I made one photograph using the regular single exposure mode in the standard Phone app and then another photo right after using HDR mode.  Sunsets are great for HDR as the sky is often much brighter than the foreground, however, there was little difference in the single exposure and HDR iPhone 6 photographs.  The HDR one did produce a little better detail around the sun, but not enough in the rocks in the foreground.  

This was just one test of a particular photography situation, but a very common one, and overall I disappointingly did not see much difference from past iPhone 5 shots.  I will be testing out more shots using both the default Camera app and the pay Camera+ app on the iPhone 6.

Photography Tip - have a foreground element in vertical orientation photos

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Photo Tip - without a foreground object this vertical orientation shot would have not enough interest as composed - made with an iPhone 5When shooting in portrait orientation (vertical shots), which I recommend to do more often than you are probably currently doing, having a foreground object really helps fill the frame with interest for the viewer.  In the above shot made with an iPhone 5, there is a salt marsh and Kiki of course as subject matter, but without the boardwalk in the foreground leading to those other subjects, it would just be empty space of little interest and probably would end up being cropped out.

So when shooting landscape type shots in portrait orientation, try and include a foreground object to add more interest to the photograph overall.  Post a link to your results in the comments below!

Bilmar Beach Resort Sunset Portraits Treasure Island Florida with couple from Utah

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Visiting all the way from Utah, Matt & Shanna have fun at Bilmar Beach Resort during our sunset portrait session - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame right front & SB-600 to frame right rearIt would seem the Bilmar Beach Resort is a popular hotel with out of state visitors as the last time I did a sunset beach portraits session there it was with someone visiting from Chicago.  This time, a couple all the way from Utah was staying on Treasure Island and met me for a candid couples beach sunset portait shoot.  There are few things I am lucky with in life, but having good weather at sunset time is one of them.  Just the night before it was raining all evening.  As you can see, no rain in sight thankfully!

Twilight beach portrait at Bilmar Beach Resort Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left front & SB-600 to frame right rearBeing a Tuesday evening in September as well, there were few people on the beach allowing for wide shots like the one above to not require any tricky people removing editing in the background.  The twilight sky was also very beautiful.  We stayed a little extra longer to get the above shot.

Leaning in for a kiss at Bilmar Beach Resort Treasure Island Florida during sunset portraits - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5 ISO 200 1/200th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame right front & SB-600 to frame left rearIt was a fun session with Shanna and Matt and I am always glad to be able to help people remember their time in Florida through photographs.

Ballet Dancer Model Portfolio Shoot Wesley Chapel Florida Photography

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Ballet dancer Katie in her own home studio for this model portfolio shoot in Wesley Chapel Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 & SB-600 each in own 43" brollyKatie is a new friend I have made in my brief time in Wesley Chapel Florida.  For many years she was a professional dancer and on stage around the country.  Now in her Wesley Chapel home she has her own dance studio.  I went over on a Sunday evening to make some ballet dancer model portfolio shots in that studio and found out the real challenge of shooting in a room with a wall of mirrors!  It took me quite a few different setup tries to eliminate or reduce lights and myself ending up in the background of shots.  Katie also had the hard task of repeating physical ballet moves like the one above!

Katie on her ballet bar in her home studio during our model portfolio shoot in Wesley Chapel Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 & SB-600 each in their own 43" brollyIn this shot Katie takes a break from jumps and relaxes with a leg up.  I tried out the bar myself and took two tries before I could swing my leg up on its own (no hand help) even though I am three inches taller than Katie!  Range of motion is something I know I need to keep working on.  

Katie on point during our ballet model portfolio shoot in Wesley Chapel Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 & SB-600 each in their own 43" brollyNot suprisingly, being on tip toes is not the most comfortable thing to do in the world.  I realized quickly that my usual lens I like to use for model shoots, my Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D was not going to be practical in such a space, and switched to my Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens which was used for all the shots seen here.

Katie showing the flexibility of a ballet dancer during our model portfolio shoot in Wesley Chapel - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 & SB-600 each in their own 43" brolly - background added digitally

Katie also uses her dance studio as a fitness and workout center.  It was not possible to remove all things from the room, and they were too hard to remove digitally on their own, so in the above shot I just cut out Katie herself and put her on that digital background, which is actually a portion of a photograph I made at a car event (see the second photo from the bottom) that had cool red lighting.  

Katie touching the sky during our ballet model portfolio shoot in Wesley Chapel Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 & SB-600 each in their own 43" brollyWe shot for quite sometime and Katie was great about repeating each jump & pose as long as needed to get just the right shot in terms of lighting, limb placement and composition.  I got to learn just how challenging it is to shoot in a hall of mirrors and to be a ballet dancer!

Nikon D5300 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson in Wesley Chapel Florida with Reham

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Reham practices setting the focus and recomposing with her Nikon D5300 in Wesley Chapel Florida during our 1-on-1 photography lessonOn a warm and humid Wesley Chapel Florida evening I met Reham for the second time at Shops at Wiregrass for a 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson.  We first met one week earlier where I taught her my 5-step system for getting a well exposed and sharp shot in any shooting conditions.  Between now and then she practiced in a variety of settings from an outdoor restaurant to a dark bowling alley!  This practice allowed her to come to our second lesson with specific questions and specific photos to ask.  This is exactly the way to make progress in learning how to become a digital photographer, by taking what is learned during the lessons, applying it in the field, then returning with questions before learning another photography skill.  I was pleased with Reham's practice and progress in just one week!

The photography skill we focused on this time, was actually setting the focus and recomposing as I noticed she centered the subject every time in all of her practice shots.  Putting the single focus point on the subject of the photograph, pressing the shutter halfway, and keeping it pressed halfway while slightly recomposing the shot is the technique needed to prevent boring, centered subject photographs.  In particular, when photographing a person, the focus should be set upon the eyes, and then recompose from there, as I did in the portrait of Reham above.  

I will meet Reham two more times next week to get her as ready as possible to make great photographs during her trip to Paris later this month!