Commercial

Commercial Photography License downtown St. Petersburg Florida skyline by Free Art Friday DTSP

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I was contacted this week by Free Art Friday DTSP about licensing one of my many downtown St. Petersburg skyline panorama images for use on their new Facebook page.  After the client finalized their choice for what photo, since it is for a Facebook cover image, which needs to be 851x315 (crazy, I know) a specific crop of the image had to be decided upon.  I then provided the client with the image in exact resolution to fit neatly into their Facebook cover image space.  Of course, unfortunately, for some unknown reason Facebook remains the only major website to reduce image quality of images uploaded to it.  Still, the image chosen holds up well and works complimentary with the standard Facebook background color.

Be sure and visit and "like" support this new project to showcase and promote local St. Petersburg art and culture.

Guitarist Playing into the Sunset St. Petersburg Commercial Photography

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Guitarist commercial promotional photography on St. Petersburg Florida beach - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/7.1 ISO 200 1/80th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame leftA shoot on Pass-a-Grille Beach a few years ago of a guitarist for his album cover and promotional materials remains one of my all-time favorites for several reasons.  I edited quite a few shots from the shoot at the time, but thought now that over two years have passed, might I be able to find another shot I could add to my edited archives? (and also send the client a nice unexpected bonus shot)  Going through the remaining photos I liked how the sun was just at the tip of the guitar and I thought by cropping a good amount off the top and bottom the focus can be put on that particular point in the image.  

I did not do much editing to the shot, mostly actually just darkening the subject to make him standout against the bright sunset sky background more.  Go back to one of your favorite shoots and see if you cannot mine another gem or two out of it.

Courtyard Marriott St. Petersburg Suite Commercial Photography

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A suite in Courtyard Marriott St. Petersburg Florida - commercial photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDRMy former neighbor Ryan of the Courtyard Marriott (he is the sales manager) contacted me this week about making some more commercial photographs of the hotel as it is just about finished with its renovations.  To start with, they wanted to send out a new advertisement and needed just a couple photos of a suite room.  So after we discussed the future photography to be done of the hotel, I went up to the 7th floor with my Nikon and tripod.  As I have mentioned before, photographing a room is rather challenging and not at all as simple as one might think.

Office space in a sweet at Courtyard Marriott St. Petersburg Florida - commercial photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 7-exposure HDRThe real goal of this small shoot was for the image below, a small panorama of the room showing all its features wall to wall from the flatscreen TV to the bed.  It is not made up of the two shots below of course, but from the same point just shooting one frame to the left and then panning about two thirds of a frame to the right.  I then used the Photomerge automation in Photoshop to stitch the two photos together.

Suite hotel room at Courtyard Marriott in St. Petersburg Florida - 2 HDR images stitched together in Photoshop using PhotomergeI look forward to photographing the renovated historic lobby and other areas of the hotel in September.

St. Petersburg Florida Real Estate Photography Lakewood Estates Neighborhood Home

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This home available in Lakewood Estates in St. Petersburg Florida Real Estate Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/50th tripod mounted with cable releaseI went to Lakewood Estates yesterday evening in St. Petersburg Florida to make commercial real estate photographs for long-time client Crown Group Realty.  I had never been to this area of St. Pete before and found it to have a bit of a northern feel with its forests and even slight, very slight, ground elevations, as seen in the front yard of the home above.  There is also a golf course winding through the neighborhood.

Open kitchen & dining room in this home St. Petersburg Florida Real Estate Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1.3 sec tripod mounted with cable releaseA large breakfast bar with a white granite counter top stretches from the kitchen to the edges of the dining room and the living room creating a nice flowing open space.  

Pool home on a golf course St. Petersburg Real Estate Photography Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/40thThe backyard had a good sized pool with a view of a golf course.  While out making this shot I was a bit startled as there were actually people playing golf at 7pm on a Monday evening and often hitting the trees making unusual sounds I was not expecting!  I made a few shots around the pool keeping my ears open for any "fore!" calls.  

Commercial Business Headshot Optometrist St. Petersburg Florida VIP Eyecare with Dr. Henri

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Commercial business headshot for Dr. Henri of VIP Eyecare St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/10 ISO 200 1/60th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/2 power in 43" brolly to frame front right & SB-600 @ 1/2 power in 43" shoot through umbrella to frame rear rightThis morning I continued my business relationship with VIP Eyecare in St. Petersburg Florida making a headshot for Dr. Henri.  In the past I have photographed several events there as well as making commercial interior photos of their new location for print marketing materials and their website.  For the headshot itself, they wanted to make sure the VIP logo was visible on Dr. Henri's jacket, along with her name, and then have the background show some of the product they carry, i.e. glasses.  Since Dr. Henri was wearing glasses herself, I had to be careful that none of my speedlights were showing up as glare in her lenses by placing both lights high above her.  For the perspective, I shot from one step up on a folding ladder.  

Dr. Henri was a great model being able to recreate her smile as I adjusted the two speedlights I was using in the tight space between eyeglass shelves and getting the best composition possible to achieve all the details they wanted in the headshot.  It is always fun to visit VIP Eyecare and say hello to everyone there and I very much appreciate them continuing to be my most loyal commercial photography client.

Business Headshot Photography in St. Petersburg Florida with Eric

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A black & white headshot on a pure black background revealing only the subject - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/100th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/1 power in 43" brolly to frame rightI met Eric this afternoon in St. Petersburg Florida to make a few different style of headshots for him to help him promote the publication of his first book!  I used my usual strobist setup of two speedlights and brolly & shoot through umbrella light modifiers.  I did not intend with the above headshot to have the background be all black, meaning I did not use the fastest shutter speed and try to control light spill as much as possible to create it while shooting.  Instead I added it using a black & white conversion filter in Color Efex Pro.  Personally, I really like headshots and portraits where the light only reveals some of the subject, making it look like the subject is emerging from the background.

Three-quarter standing business headshot on digital white background St. Petersburg Florida Commercial Photography - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/100th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/1 power in 43" brolly frame right & SB-600 @ 1/1 power in 43" shoot through umbrella to rear frame leftEric wanted an approximate three-quarters view headshot on a white background.  I had my neutral gray collapsible background setup with a white sheet over it.  The white sheet does not produce a pure white background, Photoshop editing is still required, but it does make cutting the subject out much easier.  For this shot I used more of a backlit setup with the secondary light well behind Eric.  

St. Petersburg Florida Business headshot and standing shot on location with Colby

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Standing headshot for business client in St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/200th - Strobist: SB-800 in 43" brolly to frame right & SB-600 in 43" shoot through umbrella to frame left

There was a little bit of a twist to this business headshot shoot in downtown St. Petersburg Florida yesterday.  The client wanted new images for marketing materials, including an updated group shot of the staff.  The only problem is the staff is spread out over the country and cannot easily get together for another group shot.  So I made the above standing headshot on a white background so that their graphic designer could more easily insert Colby into the existing shot.  The edit you see above is just my own version of it on a digital white background.

Square headshot for business client in St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/200th - Strobist: SB-800 in 43" brolly to frame right & SB-600 in 43" shoot through umbrella to frame leftLikewise for the more standard square headshot above, they already had a specific background color for all the other staff, so I again photographed Colby on a white background so that he could easily be digitally removed onto the existing background the client had for the rest of the staff.  Colby was a great model and basically I got every shot on the first take.