Commercial Photography

Business Headshots done on site St. Petersburg Florida - John

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Business Headshot down on client location with dramatic lighting - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/13 ISO 200 1/250th Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/2 power to frame right modified by shoot-through umbrellaI was very glad to get a call from John, whom I met through the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce a few years ago, asking about business headshots.  I had not seen him in awhile, but I remember from photographing him from at various events that he had a great smile and would be a very fun person to work with on making a business headshot.

The headshot above is actually the last one we made during the session done right in his own home.  I asked him if I could create a headshot with dramatic lighting and a black background (result of small aperture & fast shutterspeed, the wall behind him was actually white!).  This is not the traditional look for a headshot, but I thought it would be interesting just to try.  We both were pleased with the results and he selected the shot as one of his included photos with my business headshot package.

Business Headshot made right in front of a wall in a hallway in John's homeThe shot above (same image in color and B&W) was made in a more traditional headshot manner, though in a very non-studio setting.  I offer on-your-location headshots for maximum convenience to the client.  John cleared some space in front of a wall in a hallway and with just one speedlight shot through a shoot-through umbrella the results are seen above.

It was great to have a chance to photograph John again and catch up with him on what is happening in St. Petersburg.  

Old Northeast St. Petersburg Real Estate Photography 9th Ave North

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Old Northeast Real Estate Photography - living room with character - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDRI got another St. Petersburg real estate photography assignment from Haike of Crown Group Realty last week to photograph a very charming Old Northeast home with lots of character.  The great room features a high ceiling with exposed beams, a fireplace, hardwood floors and a rounded archway into the dining room.  

Old Northeast Real Estate Photography - rounded archway & exposed beam ceiling - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 7-exposure HDRI wanted to include as many of the unique features of the rooms as possible in each shot.  Setting up in the dining room this shot shows the formal living room and in the back the Florida (sunroom) room that is right at the front of the house.  

Old Northeast Real Estate Photography - bright & cheery kitchen - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 0.5 sec single exposureThe kitchen is at the back of the house and connects to several nooks, one for a small office and another for a built-in bench table.  The owner keeps boxes of crackers in his oven, which reminds me of my grandparents who did the same!

Old Northeast Real Estate Photography - a tudor style home - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDRI really enjoyed photographing this house and talking with the owner and his two lady friends.  I believe upon selling the house he plans to move to Rome "for the rest of his life" as he puts it.  Sounds like a great adventure.

Shore Acres Real Estate Photography St. Petersburg Florida pool home

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Shore Acres Pool Home HDR Real Estate Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 9-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseNot every real estate photography assignment in Florida is for a multi-million dollar water view home.  There are plenty of other moderately priced homes on the market that need photographs made of them too, which is why I offer flexible rates for my commercial real estate photography services.  The home featured in this blog post is in Shore Acres area of St. Petersburg.  If you like it, the listing will be with Crown Realty Group.  Tell Haike I sent you.

A new backsplash brightens things in this Shore Acres home - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/2 sec tripod mounted with cable releaseI do not normally include HDR images when photographing a job in this price range, but for the lead pool shot I did as a bonus as it just looked night and day different.  All the interiors were single exposures, like this one of the remodeled kitchen.  I usually shoot at below eye level for interiors, but for kitchens I prefer to shoot from at or above eye level to show all the counter level features.

Huge flatscreen TV mounted in this Shore Acres living room - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1.6 sec tripod mounted with cable releaseWhen doing single exposure interiors, as you can see I keep window blinds closed and pointed up whenever possible.  I close them pointed up so that no bright spots are cast onto the interior itself, but rather bounced off the ceiling making the light from them useful.  I had the client move a large armchair from where I was standing so I could better photograph the living room.  

Home office full of CDs in Shore Acres Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1 sec tripod mounted with cable releaseFor small home interior rooms, I choose to shoot in portrait orientation from the door way.  This creates the largest sense of space since floor to ceiling can be seen.  I photograph bathrooms the same way since they often are not large enough to even enter and photograph, especially with a tripod.

This pool home for sale in Shore Acres St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/50th tripod mounted with cable releaseFor the exterior shot, I try to include as little of the neighboring properties as possible, even if it means making a tighter shot like the one above.  I lowered my tripod enough so that the large live oak in the front yard framed the home rather than obscured the view of it.  

Downtown St. Petersburg Waterfront Panorama Print in The Hangar Restaurant

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Jason standing next to his 16 foot wide and 5 foot tall panorama print in The Hangar Restaurant St. Petersburg 

After seeing some of my downtown St. Petersburg panorama prints in ARC Printing, the owner of The Hangar, Steve Westphal, contacted me about getting a large print for wall display.  The final size came out to be 16'x5' made up of four 4'x5' panels.  This is the largest print of one of my photographs by square area made to date.  The image itself is a 6-shot panorama of the St. Petersburg downtown waterfront featuring The Pier, the new Dali Museum, Progress Energy Park and Albert Whitted Airport (where The Hangar is located).

The Hangar located at Albert Whitted Airport 540 1st St SE, St. Petersburg, FL 33701It is always great to see one's work in print, especially on such a large scale.  Have lunch at The Hangar and see the print up close!

Thanks again to Mike of ARC Printing for his help in producing a very tricky print.  I highly recommend other photographers use ARC Printing for their large scale prints as they produce a high quality product and Mike has the best customer service I have ever experienced.  Visit the official ARC website for location and ask for Mike and tell them that Jason sent you!

Model Portfolio Shoot at the new Dali Museum St. Petersburg Florida with Abby

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Model Portfolio Shoot - Abby with New Dali Museum background - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/4 ISO 640 1/60th Strobist: SB-800 Speedlight to frame left & SB-600 Speedlight behind model

I was first in contact with model Abby back in October when she was in the process of moving to and getting settled in St. Petersburg.  We were able to schedule a model portfolio shoot this week on a beautiful Florida winter evening using the new Dali Museum as a backdrop, a location I had been wanting to use for awhile.  

Abby surrounded by bokeh using "sandwich lighting" - Nikon D300 Nikkor 105mm VR Micro @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame right both @ 1/4 powerNot only did I get to try out a new location for this shoot, but also some new strobist techniques, like what I am calling the "sandwich lighting" technique seen in the photograph above.  I placed one speedlight on each side of Abby with no front or backlight intending to create dramatic and defining shadows.  The bokeh is a result of lights strung on trees.  

Abby was a tireless jumper! - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5 ISO 200 1/200th Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame right about 45 degrees eachWhen I first mentioned my thoughts for this shoot with Abby, I said I wanted to make some of the images dynamic, involving motion in some way.  She was all for a jumping shot and I did not realize while shooting just how many times she jumped until I started the editing process at home and saw over 20 shots to choose from!  Abby's vertical leap is very impressive.  This was a fun shot to make.

Abby among the ribbons of the wishing tree at the Dali Museum - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 200 1/200th natural lightWe started out the shoot with some natural light shots around what I call the "wishing tree" behind the Dali Museum where visitors tie their entrance bracelts to long green ribbons, often with wishes or messages written on them.  

A famous Dali melting clock on a bench with model Abby - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 200 1/200th natural lightAnyone familiar with Dali's work will recognize the melting clock image.  This is part of a bench in the very nice grounds surrounding the museum.  I had Abby start by lying down on the bench, but I found myself liking this pose much more as overall I was looking to make less traditional model looking images.

A view of downtown St. Petersburg behind model Abby - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/200th Strobist: SB-800 just to camera left & SB-600 to model's rightOver the course of the shoot Abby and I found out that we have some very rare things in common, including our college majors, having visited Thailand and that our parents currently live in the same small area of Florida.  Along with Abby's ability to come up with numerous, great poses, this made the shoot one of my most enjoyable ever.

 Dali lights up at night in this model portfolio shot - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/4 ISO 400 1/20th Strobist: SB-800 to left of camera & SB-600 behind modelWe started the shoot at the ideal time allowing us to begin with natural light shots, moving toward twilight shots before ending with some night shots making use of the lights of the Dali Museum for the background.

Lens flare on purpose modeling portfolio image - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/200th Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightIt was very nice to meet and work with Abby and I would recommend her for anyone who needs a model for a project as she is professional, very easy to work with and of course beautiful.  You can see more of her work on Model Mahem.

Flamenco Dancer in Black & White at Ceviche St. Petersburg Florida Commercial Photography

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Carolina dancing at Ceviche in St. Petersburg - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/2.8 ISO 800 1/60th SB-800 Speedlight hotshoe mounted at 1/4 power - black & white processing in Silver Efex Pro

--please note all these images were made live while performing, not in a studio

These black & white flamenco dancer images were created in the basement of Ceviche, a downtown St. Petersburg restaurant.  Through editing I have created shots with an entirely different look that the ones I made of my primary client that evening, Vanessa.  She was not always on stage so she said to be sure and photograph the other dancers as well because they might be interested in purchasing images too.  Thus, Carolina selected these three photographs of herself among others.  

Carolina flamenco dancing at Ceviche in St. Petersburg - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/2.8 ISO 800 1/60th SB-800 Speedlight hotshoe mounted at 1/4 power - black & white processing in Silver Efex ProCarolina did not request black & white images.  I edited her selected shots in color as I did Vanessa's.  These edits are my personal take on the feeling I wanted the images to create.  The basement of Ceviche is already very dark, so it was not hard to make the background completely disappear.  I used differen filters in Silver Efex Pro for each shot to create the B&W conversion I felt best suited the particular photograph.

Carolina flamenco dancer with zoom effect blur in Ceviche - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/4 ISO 800 1/13th SB-800 Speedlight hotshoe mounted at 1/4 power - black & white processing in Silver Efex ProThis last shot was made by zooming out while pressing the shutter creating the blur effect in the room's lighting.  This is achieved by using a slow shutter speed, in this case 1/13th of a second.  

--Vanessa's flamenco dancer images in color

Panorama Tampa at Twilight Views from a Parking Garage

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Downtown Tampa Panorama at Twilight Bird's Eye View - click for 1200px image - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 5 sec 3-frame panorama tripod mounted with cable release

It is hard to pry me out of St. Petersburg.  Thankfully, a new client hired me to make some images of Tampa for their new website giving me the opportunity to cross the Howard Frankland Bridge with my DSLR and tripod in tow.  Of all the photographs I took that afternoon and evening, in this post a selection of images taken all from the same spot atop a parking garage are featured.  I had never been to the top of this parking garage before.  I just stumbled upon it as I was searching for bird's eye vantage points of downtown Tampa.  It was a little hard to get into, as I had to risk walking up the narrow entrance ramp before I found an actual parking level that had elevators to the top.  I later found out the actual entrance is inside a building on the other side.  After walking the last three flights to the roof (the elevator I was in did not go to the top) carrying all my gear, I was glad I as always was properly attired with the best footwear possible.

University of Tampa from above at dusk with light trails - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/16 ISO 200 5 sec tripod mounted with cable releaseIt was a very unique feeling being alone on the top of that garage.  There were only two cars left parked on the far side from me.  It was after 5:30pm and everyone had already gone home for the day.  I felt like I was in a secret spot with a view of all downtown Tampa.  All this added up to a feeling of peace.  My Nikon D300 was on my Induro CT214 tripod, so I had no weight on my body from gear.  I could move about freely looking for shots.  At first there was too much light to make the light trail shots I wanted to, so I passed the time by observing and wondering.

Blue Skyscraper to Blue Infinity with Moon - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1.6 sec tripod mounted with cable release - lens correction in Photoshop CS5 to straighten buildingBehind where I knew I wanted to do most of my shooting stood a tall blue skyscraper trying to reach to the Moon.  I thought it interesting how the color of the building nearly blended in perfectly with the twilight sky.  I debated for awhile on which to include in this post, the lens corrected image you see above (building is straight) or the non-corrected one with the building bending inward appearing to reach for the heavens.  

Sykes Building Downtown Tampa Twilight - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/16 ISO 200 10 sec tripod mounted with cable releaseI really enjoyed being alone atop that parking garage waiting for the evening to transition from dusk to twilight.