Photographing downtown St. Petersburg waterfall with Nikon D7000 during 1-on-1 photography lessonFor our second of four 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lessons I met Kathy in donwtown St. Petersburg and continued where we left off the other day on helping her shoot in manual mode with her Nikon D7000. This time we went into the city to practice making urban and architecture shots. It also allowed us to stay in the shade of the tall buildings and avoid the still very hot Florida October afternoon sun!
As this was our second lesson together, each time we would go to a different spot I would quiz Kathy on what settings should be changed in order to get a well exposed and sharp shot. I wanted her to get into thinking on her own how exposure works. Instead of just telling her that when her shot came out dark to change the shutter speed from 1/200th to 1/125th, I asked her what she thinks the new shutter speed should be. Thus, in this way even when I am not there she will know how to adjust her shots. The goal is not to make a perfect shot the first time, every time, but rather to be able to within one or two shots, get the exposure perfect. This allows a photographer to make a great shot in any conditions and not try to memorize which settings for which kind of shot, which would be impossible to do anyway!
Lessons resume with Kathy next week as she practices on her own over the weekend.
