Photo Stories

Photographing clouds is always good

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Just clouds -- Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/200thI was up early this morning not necessarily on purpose.  Rain had passed by recently.  Everything was still early morning tranquil.  I saw a great egret standing on the dock not looking to pleased about having been rained on.  I took my Nikon out to get a shot of the bird in the still very good morning light.  I approached slowly, but the egret was having nothing of it and flew off.  

So now I was standing there with camera in hand and seemingly nothing to photograph.  Fortunately, I really like to photograph clouds and to the west were some getting touched by lingering sunrise beams.  I changed my settings in a quick moment from the ones I was hoping to use to photograph the great egret to the best settings for getting a detailed cloud image.  

Instead of heading back inside with nothing, I have a simple cloud image to look at today and help me daydream and wonder what lies beyond their puffy peaks.

St. Petersburg Florida Lens Flare Park Sunset

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Lens flare sunset over North Straub Park - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/320th processing in Color Efex Pro & Topaz AdjustMy favorite time of day is the transition from day to night.  In my mind I imagine all the day time creatures shutting it down and getting ready to yield dominion to all the night time creatures.  During the transition period things overlap as the sun approaches and passes the horizon.  This great physical change always produces a large mental change.  I have always wondered why just the lack of being able to see at distance, which really is all the sun setting causes, results in the world feeling entirely different?  In addition to the lack of light it must be that other creatures hold sway over the night, and this causes peculiar feelings among day creatures that overlap too far into the night.

I made this lens flare dominated photograph of the setting sun burning its way visually through a tree in downtown St. Petersburg's North Straub Park as it shows just the start of that transition time.  Some shadows are starting to increase in size and the signal is out for day time creatures to start to head home.  There is just a peak of the human world in the shot, which no longer abides by the timing of the sun.

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!

Hanko Japanese Stamps used as signatures

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I used to walk by this display case of hanko stamps every day when I lived in Tokyo.I cannot recommend enough that one should live at least one year abroad.  Living here in the U.S. there is no sense of just how isolated things are, especially if you do not live in a big city like New York or San Francisco.  If you are a curious person and like to explore, then living abroad is a must.  One thing I discovered while living in Japan is that official documents need to be stamped using the person's family hanko stamp much more than they actually need to be signed to become official documents.  Think about how important one's signature is here in the U.S.  Not so in Japan.  When I first setup things like a bank account, they asked me for my stamp.  I of course did not have one.  Eventually a friend gave me my own with an approximation of how my name sounds in Kanji characters (see below photo).  I even had one with just "Jason" on the end of it which I used sometimes!

My own hanko stamp given to me by a Japanese friendThere are specialty shops just for hanko stamps.  There are a lot of such specialty shops along the streets of Tokyo for many things that we just do not have in the U.S.  Often they are very tiny shops, not much larger than walk-in closet sized.  I always found them super interesting and kind of mysterious.  The hanko stamps in the top image were in a display case out front of a hanko shop on a street I lived on for four years.  I walked by them every day and would always peek inside the small shop to see the craftsman as his workbench.  It just occurred to me now that I wish I had photographed the shop itself too!

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.

Using a collapsible background to make a home photography studio St. Petersburg Florida

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Kiki & I in a self-portrait featuring my new Botero Collapsible Background - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th - Strobist: SB-800 in brolly to frame right & SB-600 pointed up at background with blue gel and HONL snoot (open)I am always looking to improve the range and quality of photography products I can offer to clients.  In the pursuit of this I invested in a collapsible photography background (view on bhphotovideo.com) that measures 5'x7' is neutral to dark gray and folds up like a car sunshade into a circle when not in use.  Such a background allows one to setup a small studio space virtually anywhere, including your own living room.  

My new home studio setup featuring a 43" brolly on a light stand, 5'x7' collapsible background & gelled speedlight (behind me)The collapsible background does not require any special holder or stand.  I simply took a canvas print off the wall and rested the background up against it.  It took a little fiddling and flipping it over to get it to stay in the space I wanted it too, but all-in-all a pretty easy setup.  The background is easily big enough for two people, and maybe three or more depending on how they are posed.

This self-portrait headshot took MANY takes to make!If you like to make portraits and do not have the space to maintain a dedicated photo studio in your home, then my photography tip is to invest in a collapsible background that can be used in any room in the house and easily taken over to the homes of friends and family too.

Family Beach Portraits at Sunset Beach Treasure Island Florida - Demiduk Family

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Watching the sunset as a family on Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left rear & SB-600 to frame right frontOnce again I had the opportunity to photograph a client I already knew as DSLR Photography Lesson student Kristin booked a Family Beach Portrait session for Sunset Beach on Treasure Island.  As I have mentioned before, it is always a plus to photograph people you are familiar with, and of course as a pro photographer it is flattering that a client would give you repeat business.

Baby Naomi was in constant motion when not being held close by her parents!Kristin's nearly 2-year old daughter was a very talkative little girl, and as one might expect a very active one too.  I usually recommend that parents hold their child as the best means of keeping them in the frame!

Having family fun in front of tall beach grass on Sunset Beach Treasure Island FloridaThe whole family had a lot of personality which made it fun to photograph them as they were never at a loss for smiling in front of the lens.  A willingness to get a bit sandy allowed us to make the above shots in front of Sunset Beach's tall grass dunes.

2-year old preparing to be a ballerina - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th Strobist: SB-800 to frame center right & SB-600 to rear rightUsing a mound of sand that was the remains of a castle, Naomi practiced her ballerina moves as I framed her with the dusk sky out over the Gulf of Mexico.

Gliding down the shore black & white family beach portrait - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 500 1/400th natural lightKristin has two more photography lessons with me where I will help prepare her to be able to make her own family beach portraits in the future!