Photo Stories

Social Media Portrait St. Petersburg Florida for Facebook with Kate

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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!

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.

St. Petersburg Florida waterfront scenes fine art photography

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Waterfront view from North Straub Park in downtown St. Petersburg - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 3-exposure HDR

According to the Tampa Bay Times, St. Petersburg, Florida has the third largest continuous waterfront park system in all of North America (behind Chicago & Vancouver).  I believe it is the best thing about St. Petersburg, by far.  It is totally unique to the Tampa Bay area, and really anywhere else on the west coast of Florida.  

A small rainbow over the St. Petersburg Pier - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/200th tripod mounted

You can walk along water for pretty much as far as your legs will want to carry you starting on Coffee Pot Blvd following going all the way down North Shore Blvd.  I have walked its entirety, but only in pieces.  Of course the most notable landmark one will see along the way is The St. Petersburg Pier (above).

Downtown St. Petersburg bathed in a pastel sunset - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDRIf you can time your waterfront walk so that it ends at dusk at the top of The Pier itself, well then you may just be treated to a spectacular sunset view like the one above.  In the right weather, there is no more pleasant way to spend a few hours in Florida than walking through St. Petersburg's downtown waterfront parks.

Stunning Vivid Dusk Sky over St. Petersburg Florida from The Pier

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Downtown St. Petersburg vivid dusk south view from The Pier - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 11 sec tripod mounted with cable release

And to think, making this photograph will not even be possible in a year's time because the location I shot this from, the roof of The Pier, will be demolished.  I certainly hope the structure that replaces it will offer similar or better views of the downtown St. Petersburg, Florida waterfront, otherwise there will be no more photos showing its beauty at dusk, twilight and sunset.

Cotton candy coated downtown St. Petersburg vivid pink dusk - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 6 sec tripod mounted with cable releaseI had the opportunity to make these photos only because I was teaching a DSLR Photography Lesson focusing on tripod usage.  Otherwise, I would have been home and never witnessed this amazing view.  In fact, both my student and I had just earlier remarked how gray the sky was and how we would not be able to get any keepers this lesson, but at least I was able to teach him the technical aspects of using a tripod for long exposure photography.  I told him since there is so little color that I would shoot thinking to convert the images to black & white!

Orange dusk breaks over downtown St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/2 sec tripod mounted with cable releaseThen all of a sudden a hint of orange light appeared reflected off the low clouds, as the sun had already actually set.  We took immediate notice and thought, at least we got to see a touch of color.  Then as the sun slipped further to the other side of the Earth, the dusk sky started to explode in color and as we adjusted the length of the shutter speed on our DSLRs, we were able to pull more and more color back over the horizon and into our lenses.  The photographs above are actually posted in reverse chronological order, with the above orange image the first I took.  Each was made almost exactly five minutes after the other.  That is the power of putting your DSLR on a tripod and using shutter speed to create an amazing long exposure image finding light and color the naked eye cannot see.

Heritage Village Largo Florida HDR photographs

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Railroad station at Heritage Village Largo Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 7-exposure HDR tripod mountedOne of the most popular places for local photographers to go and make photographs is Heritage Village in Largo.  As is often the case with these commonly photographed places, I had never been there until this past weekend where I had my first opportunity to make a brief photo survey of the old building interiors and exteriors, with the former being much more interesting.  The railroad station shown in the above and below images was perhaps the most interesting of all since it was fully decorated with old time suitcases, signs, etc.

Railroad station at Heritage Village inside out view with suitcases - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 7-exposure HDR tripod mountedThere is no question that suitcases of the past with how they showed wear and tear are far cooler baggage than modern luggage and their bland plastic housings.  However, I cannot say I would want to lug one of those bulky suitcases around with it banging against my leg.  Of course none had wheels for pulling effortlessly behind oneself.  

Classic Florida log cabin at Heritage Village - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 7-exposure HDR tripod mountedI imagine many people still live in log cabins similar to the one above, but with perhaps a few more modern touches inside.  

Early 20th century style classroom at Heritage Village Largo - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 7-exposure HDR tripod mountedThis old classroom was very cosy and free of electronic distractions.  I could fit comfortably in the desks and appreciated their ambidextrous design.  Being a lefthander, I suffered through many right-handed designed desks in elementary through high school.

Big tools at Heritage Village in Largo - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 3-exposure HDR tripod mountedI thought to myself how strong farmers from a century ago must have been to be able to wield such large and heavy tools.  None of the tools were available to touch.  I would have liked to have given them a try!

Dreaming in black & white portrait of a young woman

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Dreaming in black & white portrait of a young woman - Nikon D80 Nikkor 50mm @ f/2 ISO 200 1/200thSome photos you edit immediately, some you get to years later, others you put aside because you know eventually you will want to edit them.  The latter is the case for the above photograph.  It was made two months ago, but it was not in the right mind frame to edit it until apparently today.  Occasionally I would look at it in my Random folder in Aperture 3 and think, do something with this photo now?  No, not yet, but keep it here, I will do something someday.  

I wanted the image to have a dream-like feel to it, so the choice to process it in black & white was natural.  I chose a push process filter in Nik Silver Efex Pro and to that applied a yellow filter to really soften the whites and leave just a few shadows for contrast.  I used the glamor glow filter in Nik Color Efex Pro to also soften the image.  

In composing the shot I did not want the young woman's face to be seen directly, as that would lead the viewer away from vague dreaming and more to wondering who she was.  The profile view shows a little, but leaves a lot a mystery, especially what might she be looking at or what is the expression on her face?