Photography Lessons

Andrea's Birthday Present DSLR Photography Lesson

in

Andrea got a Nikon D3000 and my DSLR Photography Lesson as her birthday presents!

The second lesson in a row that was given as a birthday present!  Not only was Andrea given a 2-hour DSLR Photography Lesson with me for her birthday, but even better a Nikon D3000!  Andrea loves to travel abroad, often going to Central America, but has traveled in Asia a lot too.  Part of the reason why she wanted to make the jump to a DSLR camera and to learn how to use it, was to be able to better make photographs on her travels.  This also was one of the main reasons for getting into photography for myself, I wanted to have photographic records of my international travel that I could look back on years later and relive my travel experiences and share them with others.  

Andrea practicing the underhand lens grip that is best for getting a steady shot, but do not forget to lock that elbow in too!

I found Andrea's Nikon D3000 to have responsive menus and fast action for zooming in and around images on the back LCD.  My first Nikon, the D80, had considerable lag making reviewing images feel like your camera is stuck in molasses.  Andrea, with my coaching, practiced switching settings on her D3000 for action shots to landscapes.  We covered a lot of settings for a first lesson and with continued practice I am sure Andrea will be able to setup a landscape shot right after shooting action in no time.  Andrea mentioned a possible trip to Ecuador this summer so I hope our lessons together can enable her to come home with some amazing photographs!  I look forward to our next lesson and further helping her toward reaching that goal.  

DSLR Photography Lesson with Julie in Saint Petersburg

in

With each DSLR Photography Lesson you also get one portrait included!

Julie received her DSLR Photography Lesson as a gift, which is starting to turn into the most popular way for me to get new students.  A person's significant other sends me an e-mail or gives me a call asking if they can give a lesson as a gift, I say absolutely, boom, a lucky person becomes the recipient of a fairly creative gift idea if I do say so myself.  

Julie really likes to take pictures, and has taken quite a few good shots, but I began to teach her today how to make photographs by taking control of her DSLR, a Canon XTi.  Like many of my students, she was using the various preset modes on her DSLR, but was not satisfied with the results "sports mode" or any of the other modes produced.  So we went right into aperture priority mode and said good-bye forever to the little icon of the guy running on the XTi mode dial.  

During this first lesson we mostly focused on the meaning of aperture and how to set it for photographing still or moving objects.  Added in was making sure to use the correct focus mode and the right ISO, and of course white balance too.  Lastly, we briefly touched on the virtue of external flash, which is how I was able to make the above portrait of Julie in broad daylight.

Julie absorbed a lot in our first lesson--I was impressed--and is ready to go out and practice on her own before we have our second lesson.  Now, will her significant other give her the second lesson as a gift too or . . . ?

DSLR Photography Lesson #2 with Danielle in Sunken Gardens

in

Danielle making a Nikon D80 look stylish during our DSLR photography lesson in Sunken GardensI often find that I never exactly know what will happen in one of my DSLR Photography Lessons.  And I like that.  I feel that keeping the lesson content and structure fluid allows me to adapt the lesson on the fly to what the photography student specifically needs or wants to learn that lesson.  

Thus, Danielle and I began our second lesson today in Sunken Gardens with an in-depth conversation about what settings might have better helped her make portraits of her son's school classmates and how to take the first steps toward potentially making some money from photography in the semi-near future.  I did not have this planned, but I think it turned out to be a very productive use of our lesson time.  

My plan was for Danielle to practice making photographs using her tripod, which I learned was given to her by her father.  The tripod was of a certain vintage, i.e. a bit old.  As she was setting it up I started to feel uncomfortable about her putting her Nikon D80 on it.  My gut was right, as a leg fell right off the tripod!  So much for practicing tripod photography and won't the Sunken Gardens staff be surprised to see a large tripod in a trash can in the middle of the gardens!

It was all for the best as we had plenty of new photography ground to cover, the most useful of which I feel was how flash can radically improve outdoor photography.  I had Danielle photograph a flower in semi-shade without flash, which looked ok.  Then I had her useonly the D80's built-in popup flash to eliminate shadows and expose details in the flower that just were not present in the non-flash photo.  I was even surprised by the improvement.  

In an exciting note, Danielle will be investing in some new photography gear that we will put to good use in our next DSLR photography lesson.  I literally get just as excited about somebody else getting new photo gear as I would getting it myself!  

Thanks to Danielle for asking so many good questions during the lesson, which actually makes my job easier.  The time went by quickly. 

DSLR Photography Lesson with Rhonda . . . and Mike!

in

Rhonda focuses her new Sigma 70-300mm lens mounted on her Canon XT during our first DSLR photography lesson in downtown Saint PetersburgThe sun made a semi-surprising appearance for the first DSLR photography lesson with Rhonda...and Mike who was there unofficially, though most welcome.  The forecast had rain in it, but hardly even any clouds and temperatures warm enough for my first jacket-less lesson in awhile.  Mike called me up last week wanting to book a lesson for his wife Rhonda as a present, which is becoming an increasingly popular type of lesson booking.  

We met at the usual downtown Saint Petersburg spot and having ample sunlight could start out with positioning ourselves to make the best exposure possible by putting our back to the sun and pointing our shadows at the subject we wanted to photograph.  

Mike was a good sport being a model for Rhonda all day during our DSLR photography lesson!

We covered a fairly wide range of photography topics during the 2-hour lesson, even having time to practice a little daylight flash portrait photography.  I learned from Rhonda, the family photographer, that there are many photos of Mike in the places they have traveled to, but few of her since she is always behind the lens.  It seems like for our next lesson we should practice using the tripod and self-timer so Rhonda can get into the shot too!

Rhonda and Mike make a good photography team and I am sure with what we learned in our first lesson today that Rhonda will have even better photographs of Mike at the next place they travel too!  Thanks to Mike for being a good sport all day long being our test subject and to Rhonda for being such an attentive student.  

 

 

DSLR Photography Lesson with Anne in chilly downtown Saint Petersburg

in

DSLR Photography Student, Anne, photographs the boats in the marina in front of the Vinoy

Cold and clouds returned to my latest DSLR photography lesson with new student, Anne.  Friday's scheduled second lesson with Danielle had to be postponed, so I was just glad it was not raining.  Anne shoots with a Nikon D60 and the two kit lenses that come with it.  She told me she was an auto-mode shooter, but she had good knowledge of the meaning of aperture and knew how to navigate her D60's menus well.  What we did in our lesson was of course get her off of auto-mode and into control of her D60 by taking what she knew about aperture and applying it to specific aperture settings to get the best results in various photography scenarios.  

In just a short time Anne was controlling the DoF (depth of focus) of her images by selecting the correct aperture and focal length to do so.  Hello bokeh!

One feature of my DSLR photography lessons is I make one portrait of the student. Here Anne smiles happy with the knowledge that she can make better photographs.Anne and I already started talking about her next lesson where she wants to practice photographing crashing waves and sunset photography.  We will head to Pass-A-Grille beach for that lesson as downtown Saint Petersburg has no waves and only obstructed sunsets.

I appreciated Anne's enthusiasm and being able to see her passion for photography reignited after our lesson.  It makes teaching photography all the more fun.

DSLR Photography Lesson with Danielle in actual Florida sunshine!

in

Danielle photographs some artwork during our DSLR photography lesson in Vinoy Park

Finally, sunshine returned to a DSLR Photography Lesson!  My first lesson with Danielle in the usual downtown Saint Petersburg locations was basked in bright sunlight, albeit still very cool temperatures.  However, I was just glad we had the chance to photograph some color instead of just gray during the lesson.  Danielle shoots with a Nikon D80, the very first DSLR I owned.  I still have fond memories of that camera and am relieved I was able to sell it to a good friend who now takes great care of it and makes good use of it too.

Danielle has training in photography, and has produced some nice portraits of her children.  What we focused on was how to take more control of the camera and know which settings to use for which situations instead of relying on automatic ones, especially for which focus mode to use, which aperture and which focal length.  

I demonstrated to Danielle how to use off camera flash in this portrait of her before Saint Petersburg's "skyscrapers"

Danielle had an older Quantaray external flash (strobe) that worked well with her Nikon D80.  The sunshine allowed us to practice using our strobes to make portraits in broad daylight and also on a shaded bench.  

Our lesson went by quickly.  I look forward to my next lesson with Danielle as she is a quick learner and will no doubt be making even better portraits and actions shots of her children.  I hope the sun joins us again as well!

Pet Photography lesson with Linda at North Shore Dog Park

in

DSLR Photography Student Linda with her Yorkshire Terrier Benji

The string of cold, overcast DSLR photography lessons continued yet again for Linda's third lesson in as many weekends.  For this lesson Linda brought along Benji, her Yorkshire Terrier to be her practice model.  She wanted to learn how to photograph Benji in action.  We went to North Shore Dog Park in the old northeast section of Saint Petersburg.  Since there was no sunshine at all that morning we really had to pay close attention to maintaining a fast enough minimum shutter speed in order to keep Benji looking sharp.  So just like in Carmen's lesson the day before, I again advised a student to use the auto-ISO feature.  We set the max ISO to 1600 and the minimum shutter speed to 1/500th of a second as Benji was a quick little guy when he wanted to be.  

4 month old pug puppy, Beatrice, always warmly greeted Linda when she knelt down.

We were not alone in the small dog section of the North Shore Dog park.  Other sub-20 pound dogs were running about including fawn pug Beatrice who never failed to come over and nuzzle and give kisses to anyone she could reach.  She was a very cuddly and sweet puppy.

Linda and I ended the DSLR photography lesson by practicing landscape shots with her new tripod.  The overcast skies did not provide for any stunning views of Tampa Bay, but at least we could practice what settings to use and Linda wisely wrote them down into her notebook so she can practice on her own.  

It was a fun lesson with Linda and Benji, and visiting Beatrice too.