Commercial

Downtown St. Petersburg Real Estate Photography Bayfront Tower Florida

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Bayfront Tower condo for sale, St. Petersburg real estate photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 9-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable release

This morning I went to Bayfront Tower in downtown St. Petersburg to photograph an updated condo for sale.  I have shot from the open air top floor of the building before, producing a panorama image that has been my best selling fine art print.  This time I was on the 13th floor, which I only now realize I should have been afraid of!  The condo had recently been updated and the sellers did a very good job of staging their condo.

Dining room of downtown St. Pete condo, Florida real estate photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 0.8 sec tripod mounted with cable releaseI used HDR for the top image as the inside of the condo is much darker than the direct sunlight out beyond the window.  A 9-exposure HDR image allowed me to show outside the window as well as inside the condo in one evenly exposed image.  HDR is not always necessary, as the above shot of the dining room did not have a high dynamic range (it helps that no windows are in the shot) so a single exposure was sufficient for producing a well exposed shot.  

Great room of downtown St. Petersburg Florida condo - St. Petersburg Real Estate Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1.6 sec tripod mounted with cable releaseWhen making a shot of a room with an open doorway to another room, I always make sure that the adjoining room is also well lit, so that you can have a peak into the other room.  If not, then it would appear as a dark area in the image.  In the above shot I opened the blinds in the bedroom so that the light in that room matched the light in the great room.

Professional Headshot for Businesswomen in Clearwater Florida on location

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This morning I returned to a Clearwater business office to finish making headshots of the entire staff.  I photographed a majority of the staff in August, as seen here.  Having shot on this location before and having taken detailed notes, I was able to setup very quickly and produce a consistent business headshot like I had two months earlier.  The staff were again great to work with, which makes shooting a headshot much smoother.  

I used my same two strobe setup, a SB-600 @ 1/8th power with diffuser cap pointed at the portable background and a SB-800 @ 1/4 power in a 43" brolly to subject's left with camera settings of f/7.1 ISO 200 & 1/100th shutter speed on my Nikon D300 with Nikkor AF ED 80-20mm f/2.8D lens.

Professional business headshots are available to be made right in your office, home or in my St. Petersburg home studio.  The headshots are available for individuals or an entire business staff.

Commercial Duvet Bedding Blanket Pillow Photography St. Petersburg Florida

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Commercial bedding photography done in client's Clearwater home - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1 sec tripod mounted - Strobist: Nikon SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 43" brolly in foreground SB-600 @ 1/16th power in 43" shoot through umbrella background (window light in left background)Shooting on location (this time a residential Clearwater home) always presents unique challenges, as of course no two locations are exactly alike.  Shooting large objects on location can be especially challenging, especially so when they are in a small space.  My challenge with this commercial duvet, pillow & bedding shoot was to make the final images not look like they were merely taken within the client's own bedroom per se.  Using some set decoration (statue, clock, plant) and turning the negative of having a bright window behind the bed into a feature of the shot, was how I attempted to be as creative as possible within the bedroom location.

Commercial bedding photography done in client's Clearwater home - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1 sec tripod mounted - Strobist: Nikon SB-800 in 43" brolly in foreground SB-600 in 43" shoot through umbrella background (window light in left background)In the digital editing process I smoothed out the transition of full sunlight to orange wall removing all texture.  Contrast was selectively enhanced to compensate for the harsh light falling on the bed and lastly a softening filter was applied to the overall image as small details are a detriment to this type of shot.

Vintage Door Model Portfolio Shoot St. Petersburg Florida with Rita

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Framing the model, Rita, with detailed architecture and a vintage door - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/9 ISO 200 1/100th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 43" brolly to frame left

For my model portfolio shoot with Rita in downtown St. Petersburg, I finally had a chance to use a very small part of a building I had been wanting to feature in a photo shoot for a long time.  Many times I walked past this spot while teaching 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lessons and kept making mental notes to use the features of the spot (long brick wall, medieval looking door) in a shoot someday.  Finally, that day was yesterday evening with model, Rita (her official website).

Featuring a brick wall in this panorama model headshot - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 43" brolly to frame right & SB-600 @ 1/16th power with diffuser cap pointed at the wallThough we only shot in a space of about 10 feet, we were able to produce a variety of different shots by featuring the brick wall or the metallic door as the background as well as close-ups and wide shots.  I also switched between using a 2-strobe setup like the one above, and a single strobe setup like the lead image.  

Model positioning her arm as a triangle to be symmetric with the door handle - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 43" brolly to frame leftRita's style of changing poses after each time I pushed the shutter made for a flow that I had not experienced with a model before.  I really liked it as it kept the shoot moving giving the process a dynamic feel.  

Bokeh made by traffic lights - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 43" brolly to frame right & SB-600 @ 1/16th power to frame leftI liked being able to make soft looking images, like the one above, along with gritty images in the same shoot as no matter how long or short of a shoot, I do like to create a variety of looks for the model.  For the above shot, I thought the straight perpendicular composition looked too rigid, so I tilted my camera to remove the boundary feeling of the 90-degree angle framing.

This images features a vertical line theme - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/9 ISO 200 1/100th Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 43" brolly to frame leftI was again impressed with the lighting job my 43" brolly did.  I will feature it in a proper gear review soon.  As you can see it does not take a lot of lighting equipment to make an effective portrait.  The above shot features a single speedlight off camera in the brolly.  All I did was place it about 45 degrees to the left of the model on a light stand using inexpensive Yongnuo radio triggers (to be reviewed soon also).  Of course it also helps to have a beautiful and talented model like Rita to work with!

St. Petersburg Florida Professional Business Headshot Photography Service with Buddy

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Professional Business Headshot made in St. Petersburg Florida home studio - Buddy in formal attire - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/7.1 ISO 200 1/100th Strobist: SB-800 in 43" brolly to frame right & SB-600 in snoot pointed at backgroundBuddy came to my home studio in St. Petersburg Florida to have his professional business headshot made to improve his online business appearance.  This is exactly why I offer this business headshot service either in my home studio or on location right in your own office or home.  The more Linkedin profile photos I see made with an awful camera phone the more I wonder why anyone would want to represent themselves in that type of unprofessional manner.  

Business casual style professional headshot done in my St. Petersburg Florida home studio - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/7.1 ISO 200 1/100th - Strobist: SB-800 in 42" brolly to frame right & SB-600 in snoot pointed at backgroundBuddy was a natural in front of the lens and very fun and uncomplicated to photograph.  He was even wearing eyeglasses with an anti-glare coating that showed no reflections in them at all!

Commercial High Tech Equipment Shoot in Clearwater for Nordson March

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A real worker being the model for this Nordson March commercial equipment shot - Nikon D300 (tripod mounted) Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/3 sec Strobist: SB-800 to frame left in 43" shoot through umbrella and SB-600 in same setup to frame right - white background added digitallyLast week I had an interesting commercial photography job in Clearwater that on the surface would sound super simple--photograph a large square machine in a warehouse, no editing required as the company's graphic artists would handle that as they use the images I make in online and print media materials.  Easy right?

Well, nothing really is ever as easy as it seems in photography.  The machine itself was about the size of two refrigerators and an off-white color, meaning reflections from any lighting I may use would be an issue.  I used two 43" shoot through umbrellas to produce maximum light surface area in order to try and minimize hot spots on the machine.  It took me quite a bit of time to position the umbrellas so that the upper corners of the machine did not appear as hot spots.  However, once everything was setup, and since I was shooting on a tripod, each shot after that was rapid.  

The purple lighting is the result of plasma being produced! - Nikon D300 (tripod mounted) Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/4th sec - Strobist: SB-800 to my left in 43" shoot through umbrella & SB-600 in same setup to my rightFour minutes after turning the machine on, plasma is produced inside!  Seeing the plasma up close like that was kind of a David Banner moment for me!  To have no glare on the LCD screen I had some of the warehouse staff hold up a white background sheet over me and the machine to diffuse the light and make the screen readable (in another closeup shot).

The two 43" shoot through umbrella setup I used to make all the shots for the shoot.The above photo is the setup I used to make the top photo in this post.  All other shots were made with a similar arrangement of the two speedlights in the shoot through umbrellas.  I have to thank the workers in the warehouse for their help holding the diffuser sheet and for not minding the good amount of space the shoot took up in the middle of their work day.

Office Staff Business Headshots on location in office in Clearwater Florida

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Part of the staff I photographed on location making business headshots for the entire office in Clearwater FloridaThis morning I drove to Clearwater to photograph nearly the entire staff of a business.  It is actually a planned two-part shoot that will entail me returning on another date yet to be determined to photograph the remaining staff.  It was my first time to make so many headshots in a row, all told thirteen different shots.  It was kind of fun for someone to walk in for a few minutes, see how they choose to smile, and then move on to the next person.  No one was really camera shy so all I had to do was tell there where to point their toes and then which way to twist and look.

camera settings for headshots: f/7.1 ISO 200 1/60th Strobist: SB-800 in brolly @ 1/4 power & SB-600 with diffuser cap at 1/8 power pointed at backgroundI was provided with a near ideal space to make the headshots in--a long rectangular room free of obstacles and even a large table for me to spread all my gear out on.  I leaned the collapsible photography background against the wall, setup my lights, dialed in camera and strobe settings, then it was just a matter of getting the best smile out of each person.  No mess, no fuss!  Nice.