Photo Stories

Indian Rocks Beach 12 Person Candid Family Portraits in the afternoon

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Baby in the air on Indian Rocks Beach candid family portraits - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/2 power frame left & SB-600 @ 1/2 power frame right rearIt was an unusual family beach portrait session for me in two regards.  First, it was a large family of 12 people out on Indian Rocks Beach.  The more people the bigger the challenge of course.  Secondly, the client requested a 4pm start time since there were very young children in the shoot who could not stay awake for a more traditional sunset shoot which that day would have been until 7:50pm.  This latter condition though led to a new style shot I had not tried before (above) that I really like having one parent hold the baby in the air with the other parent looking on behind.

Afternoon on Indian Rocks Beach large 12-person family beach portrait - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/9 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightIn order to fight the power of the afternoon sun and still have the water in the background, I had to set my speedlights to 1/2 power to fill in the light on everyone's faces and also carefully angle everyone to get as much blue in the sky as possible.  That along with basically four babies in the photo made for a bit of a challenge!  I was very pleased with the result though.  It came out better than I thought possible for a middle of the afternoon portrait in direct sunlight.

This family told me they make this same photo year after year - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightThey told me that they all make this same pose year after year and having many photos over time showing it.  I am glad to contribute the 2013 version of it!

Candid kids playing on Indian Rocks Beach - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/9 ISO 200 1/250th natural lightGetting all the babies close together was a no-go even with parents sitting them right next to each other, so leaving them to their own devices I had to do some moving myself to make this candid shot.

12-person family walking down Indian Rocks Beach candid portrait photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/500th natural lightA big action shot with 12 people on Indian Rocks Beach which was at least not crowded at that time of the day on a weekday afternoon!

Treasure Island Sunset Beach Family Portraits with Elizabeth

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Elizabeth & her family on Sunset Beach Treasure Island, it was actually freezing! - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightOn perhaps the coldest evening of the year, I met Elizabeth and her family on Sunset Beach on Treasure Island for a family beach portrait session.  Not only was it cold, but it was also very windy with clouds of sand at times sweeping down the shoreline.  However, her family was great and braved the cold.  As for me, I was fine . . . inside my windproof Mountain Hard Wear jacket!

Teen romance on Sunset Beach Treasure Island portrait photography - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame right & SB-600 to frame leftYou can see the sand at their feet blowing in the wind.  I never experienced that before on Sunset Beach or any other Pinellas County beach.  I thought though it made for a cool photo effect shooting with a long focal length.

Watching the sunset on Treasure Island Florida family beach portraits - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/160th - Strobist: SB-800 frame left & SB-600 frame rightThough it was frigid and windy, at least Mother Nature also provided a great sunset as a backdrop to our family beach portrait session.

Unique Pet Photography - Kiki sitting upon her chair

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Kiki fits snugly but somehow comfortably in her own chair in front of the window - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/7.1 ISO 200 1/125th - Strobist: SB-600 @ 1/1 power to frame left in shoot through umbrella and SB-800 @ 1/4 power to frame right in 43" brollyAfter making a headshot for a client in my home photography studio, while I had all the lights setup, I tried to coerce Kiki into letting me make a photograph of her.  She is very, very reluctant to do so for some reason being very resistant to the whole idea.  So this time I put her favorite chair in frotn of a white background (though later digitally edited for a pure white background) and had her curl up into it in her usual manner.  She spends a lot of time lying down like this staring out the sliding glass door beside my work desk.  

She was actually facing into the living room and not out the window, her distant look is just her trying to avoid looking at me and into the lens!

The Westin Tampa Bay Hotel Wedding with Mattie & Kenny

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Bride & Groom on the rooftop deck of The Westin Tampa Bay - wedding photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 400 1/60th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightIt had been over a year and a half since I last photographed a wedding, but since I did so many in the past it was as they say, like riding a bike getting back into the flow of shooting a four hour event.  Mattie & Kenny's wedding was at The Westin Tampa Bay on a narrow piece of land between Tampa and Clearwater floating in the middle of Tampa Bay.  From the rooftop deck with its clear glass walls, the feeling you are floating on water, as seen in the above photograph, was pretty cool even with overcast skies.

Bride getting ready at The Westin Tampa Bay Hotel - wedding photography - Nikon D300 Nikkor 105mm VR micro @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/100th - Strobist: SB-800 in 43" shoot through umbrella to frame leftIt turned out that Mattie and I had a few mutual friends, including my eldest friend Terry and his wife Beth, both of whom attended the wedding giving it a rather familiar feeling.  The atmosphere in her room as she was getting ready was very loose and full of laughing.  I began my shooting for the day by making a photo of Mattie putting on the finishing touches.

Bride & bridemaids at The Westin Tampa Bay Hotel - wedding photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/7.1 ISO 200 1/60th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame right both in shoot through umbrellasMattie had seen images from another wedding I photographed in the Westin a few years back and also wanted some photos featuring the lobby's unique waterfall.  I used two shoot through umbrellas to provide enough light on the bride and bridesmaids for the portrait above.

Bride & Groom dancing at The Westin Tampa Bay Hotel - wedding photography - Nikon D80 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 800 1/100th with SB-600 hotshoe mountedThe reception was in a room with floor to ceiling windows facing southwest which flooded it with light during the late afternoon allowing me to use that light as a hyper backlight in the above portrait of the bride & groom having their traditional first dance.  

Groom & Bride listening at The Westin Tampa Bay Hotel - wedding photography - Nikon D80 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 400 1/100th with SB-600 hotshoe mountedCupcakes continue to be popular at weddings, with dozens under the wedding cake itself.  I got to have one of the cupcakes as a closing treat when I was finished shooting.  I often say I shoot weddings just for the cake!

Bride & Groom cake smash at The Westin Tampa Bay Hotel - wedding photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 640 1/60th with SB-800 hotshoe mountedFrom start to finish it was a joyful and surprisingly emotional wedding for Mattie & Kenny.  Not often have I seen the groom get so emotional during the vows and also during the speeches at the reception.  They also were not afraid to smash a little cake, which I also found refreshing since some newlyweds nowadays opt for a clean cake eating which is no fun at all!

Thank you Mattie & Kenny! 

Unique Pet Photography - Kiki & Jason out of perspective

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How can you make a unique photograph?  How can you push the bounds of what a photograph can be?  A single exposure, a single shot, that can create a great pet photograph no doubt.  However, it is limiting in just how unique a shot can be.  I am always thinking of ways to make unique and interesting pet photography shots, and photographs in general.  In the above composite photograph of me and my beloved puppy Kiki, I took a shot I made of Kiki over a year ago and combined it with a self-portrait I just made this afternoon.  Below is how I did it:

I already had the shot of Kiki edited onto a white background.  The original photo was mostly white in the background, but I still used the Quick Select Tool in Photoshop to cut Kiki out of it and then paint in a digital background.  I have that photo printed out and on a shelf in my bedroom so I see it every day.  It popped into my head recently to put myself into that image to make it appear that Kiki was about to swallow me.  There was not enough space under her upper jaw for me to really be seen, so instead I used a flipped self-portrait in a perspective showing me to be actually smaller than Kiki, adding to the uniqueness and strangeness of the final composite image.

Treasure Island Large Family Beach Portrait on the Jetties Sunset Beach Florida

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14-person family beach portrait on Sunset Beach Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/7.1 ISO 200 1/100th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/1 power in shoot-through umbrella to frame right & SB-600 same setup frame leftI was contacted by Kristen about a large family group portrait.  14-people large, with seven of them young children!  She wanted just one single portrait out on Sunset Beach on Treasure Island, Florida.  It went much smoother than I expected getting the shot on only about the seventh take.  Also to my surprise there was basically no wind at all out on the beach so I was able to use shoot through umbrellas with my speedlights softening and expanding the light on everyone in the big portrait.  Kristen wanted to shoot on the jetties and did not want the sun in the background.  After setting up my two lights I found that everyone had already pretty much settled into a good spot.  I gave a few suggestions for moving a bit this way or that, and then boom, 14-person family portrait made!

A silly faces version of the family portrait on Treasure Island Sunset Beach Florida - settings same as above photoThey asked if they could make silly faces after we got our more formal shot finished.  I see that stretching your mouth open sideways is a popular funny face to make!  I really liked how it turned out.  

Entrance in the Clouds

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An entrance to a cloud kingdom - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/200thI have written before about how photographing clouds is always good.  To end this week I wanted to share this cloud gateway image to fuel your imagination for what may lay beyond the clouds.  This is how I often think myself.  No matter how stormy the surroundings may be, there remains at least a small portion that is bright and hopeful.  As long as that small part still exists, so does hope, and therefore so does life.