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Commercial Photography
Social Media Portrait St. Petersburg Florida for Facebook with Kate
Portrait made right in Kate's living room for looking smart on social media - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/9 ISO 200 1/100th - Strobist: SB-800 in 43" brolly to frame right & SB-600 on floor pointing at backgroundI made this portrait of Kate for the intended use of looking good on social media websites from Facebook to Linkedin. It is a mix of formal and casual made right in her own living room! I brought my mobile studio setup saving Kate the trouble of having to leave home to get a great portrait of herself made. The setup consists of a collapsable background leaned against a wall, a speedlight on a light stand in a brolly and another speedlight on the floor pointing up at the background.
So if you are using a profile photo on Facebook that you are not happy with, stop! Reserve your social media portrait session today as I can come to you or we can make a great shot at your favorite outdoor location too!
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TownePlace Suites Marriott St. Petersburg Clearwater commercial pool shoot
Photographing the same subject matter in different seasons or just a significant amount of time later is a very good personal photography project to do. It is rare to have that kind of opportunity with a commercial photography shoot, but that is just what happened when former clients TownePlace Suites Marriott Clearwater called and asked me to come make a new photograph of their outdoor swimming pool. They had updated the furniture and needed a new photograph to highlight the changes to the pool area.
For me it is interesting to see the differences in angles I chose in 2011 and 2012. The tighter shot of the pool in 2012 was no doubt influenced by the client wanting to see the new furniture in the shot better.
Here is an insider photo tip for shooting pools: do not get the entire pool in the shot, thereby leaving the exact size of the pool unknown to the viewer.
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Cassis Restaurant Cirque du Soleil Commercial Window Advertising Photography St Petersburg Florida
Last week I began a commercial photography project for Bayprint documenting the printing, installing and displaying of a particular type of print made especially for windows. When viewed from outside you see a colorful image of a Cirque du Soleil performer. From inside, it appears as just a light gray shade. These prints were installed on Cassis, a downtown St. Petersburg restaurant right on Beach Drive, a heavy foot traffic location. As you can see, they add quite a bit of color to the restaurant's facade!
These comparison before and after shots were taken a few days apart, but I went back at the same time of day to match the light and shadows as much as possible. I looked at the before photo on my iPhone 5 to help me line up the after shot in the same framing.
On yet another day I went to Cassis to photograph the installation process. Since I am a person who has trouble putting a small sticker on a car window in any kind of alignment, I had a lot of respect for the guys doing the install working with such large prints. As most pros do, they made it look easy!
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St. Petersburg Commercial Business Photography product feature with Al
Bayprint owner Al inspecting a special print destined for the windows of Cassis - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/7.1 ISO 200 1/60th - Strobist: SB-800 at 1/1 power in 43" brolly to frame right & SB-600 @ 1/1 power in 43" shoot-through umbrella to frame leftA sudden commercial photography job came up when I saw Al at a networking event he was hosting just yesterday. Al is a past headshot client (see here) and has also referred other business to me. The project we started today involves me photographing special window display prints he is making for the downtown St. Petersburg restaurant, Cassis. The first shot he wanted was the above, showing the prints coming right out of the (large!) printer. The remaining shots will be of the installing process as well as a before and after of the Cassis window front.
As is often the case with on location commercial shooting, space is in short supply and careful placement of lighting for strobist shots is necesary. I put my 43" brolly on a light stand partially in a closet next to the printer and ultimately placed my 43" shoot-through umbrella on a light stand to camera left. I wanted to maintain good detail in the full frame of the shot, so I used a small aperture of f/7.1 causing me to have to use both speedlights at full power, something I normally do not have to do. The ambient light in the background was pretty well exposed at 1/60th, but I still did some dodging in Photoshop to make the lighting balance overall between foreground and background.
The last detail was making the shot from a higher perspective. Al is a pretty tall guy, and the print was fairly long coming out of the printer, so I used a step-stool to get the framing as seen above.
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Downtown St. Petersburg Real Estate Photography Bayfront Tower Florida
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
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.
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