Canon XTi

1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson in St. Petersburg Canon XTi with Veronica

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Veronica with her Canon XTi in front of downtown St. Petersburg's banyan treesFor our 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson Veronica came all the way down from Spring Hill, quite a journey down the most unpleasant road in the area, U.S. 19.  Perhaps in reward for that effort we were treated to a beautiful morning in downtown St. Petersburg that was not too hot, with a nice breeze.  

Like many of my photography students, Veronica has had her DSLR for a bit of a long time, but had only ever been using it on auto-mode.  She was familiar with some photography terms from a bit of self-study, but she was hoping our lesson would help her make much better portraits of her children and improve her photography overall in general.  Well, that is exactly what I design the 1-on-1 lessons to do so it was a perfect match in that regard.  

I taught Veronica my (yet to be patented) 4-step process for setting up any given shot, and upon realizing the meter in her Canon XTi was either somehow suffering from some internal problem or just not that good, we almost immediately went into manual mode which produced much better looking exposures.  

We concluded the lesson under the famous banyan trees of downtown St. Petersburg with a little flash portrait practice.  Also, since she only has one lens (18-55mm) at this time and really wanted to be able to make better portraits and get closer to her subjects, I suggested she next invest in a 55-200mm lens or similar to be able to make the shots she needs.  We will meet again later this summer after she practices some more on her own (highly recommended) and perhaps invests in some new gear as well.

DSLR Photography Lesson with Golda & her Canon XTi

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Golda photographing in the twilight sky of downtown St. Petersburg during our DSLR photography lessonI am starting to really like having DSLR Photography Lessons start at 7pm as the final 30-minutes of the lesson carries us into twilight.  Such was the case for my first of four lessons with Golda in downtown St. Petersburg.  She has had her Canon XTi for years, but for years was just using the various auto-modes.  In a total 180, I had her shooting in manual mode most of the time and she caught on quickly.  Having never really changed any settings on her DSLR before, she remembered surprisingly well how to adjust aperture, shutter speed, ISO, white balance and focus mode in the ever changing light of a Florida sunset sky.

Quick photo tip: flash lights your subject, aperture & shutter speed control ambient light in portraits like thisAs we made our way toward Vinoy Park to photograph The Pier and the the downtown St. Petersburg skyline we practiced some action shots and talked more about the relationship between aperture, shutter speed and exposure while in manual mode.  Once at Vinoy Park, we were treated to a typically vivid sunset and then later twilight sky.  Despite having no tripod, I showed Golda how to as steadily as possible hold a DSLR for a low-light landscape shot.  We finished with a quick practice of flash portraits which we will resume in our next lesson.

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    DSLR Photography Lesson with Taryn & Scott and a Nikon D5100 & Canon XTi

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    Scott with his Canon XTi and Taryn with her brand new Nikon D5100 - St. Petersburg DSLR Photography LessonThis was my first time to teach a DSLR Photography Lesson to a brother and sister.  Taryn lives in St. Petersburg, but her brother, Scott, now resides in Amsterdam.  So while her brother was back visiting, and since she got a brand new Nikon D5100 as a mother's day present this year, all things fell into place for our lesson this morning, including massive humidity!  Scott had had his Canon XTi for awhile, but still was mostly using it in auto-mode.  Since he lives and travels around Europe so much helping him during the lesson get the most out of his DSLR will hopefully allow him to one day return to the U.S. with a fantastic European photograph portfolio.  

    Photographing a great egret in downtown St. Petersburg during our DSLR Photography LessonWhile practicing how to photograph moving subjects and how to make a flash portrait in the shade, Scott used Taryn as a model and vice versa no doubt allowing for numerous outtake photos for each to have a laugh over.  We later came across a great egret that was too busy hunting its lunch (lizards) to be bothered much by the siblings getting some wildlife photography practice.  I instructed them to get down at eye level to the bird and to also remember to use portrait orientation for some shots, especially when its neck was elongated upwards.

    It was a very fun and interesting two hours.  While Scott is soon to return to Amsterdam, I may see Taryn again for a future lesson.

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    DSLR Photography Lesson with Julie in Saint Petersburg

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    With each DSLR Photography Lesson you also get one portrait included!

    Julie received her DSLR Photography Lesson as a gift, which is starting to turn into the most popular way for me to get new students.  A person's significant other sends me an e-mail or gives me a call asking if they can give a lesson as a gift, I say absolutely, boom, a lucky person becomes the recipient of a fairly creative gift idea if I do say so myself.  

    Julie really likes to take pictures, and has taken quite a few good shots, but I began to teach her today how to make photographs by taking control of her DSLR, a Canon XTi.  Like many of my students, she was using the various preset modes on her DSLR, but was not satisfied with the results "sports mode" or any of the other modes produced.  So we went right into aperture priority mode and said good-bye forever to the little icon of the guy running on the XTi mode dial.  

    During this first lesson we mostly focused on the meaning of aperture and how to set it for photographing still or moving objects.  Added in was making sure to use the correct focus mode and the right ISO, and of course white balance too.  Lastly, we briefly touched on the virtue of external flash, which is how I was able to make the above portrait of Julie in broad daylight.

    Julie absorbed a lot in our first lesson--I was impressed--and is ready to go out and practice on her own before we have our second lesson.  Now, will her significant other give her the second lesson as a gift too or . . . ?