DSLR Photography Lesson #2 with John & his wife in Oldsmar

John & Lisa photographing the lake behind their home in Oldsmar during our DSLR Photography LessonJohn has been very prolific in adding to his already substantial photography gear list since our last DSLR Photography Lesson at John's Pass village just two weeks ago.  For our second lesson, but first for his wife Lisa joining us, I ventured out to their home in Oldsmar by special request.  I knew they lived on a lake, but I did not know they had five dogs!  This was a pleasant surprise.

John already had a Nikon D300s and the awesome Nikkor AF-S 105mm VR micro f/2.8G lens, to that he added another D300s for Lisa and the Nikkor AF-S 17-55mm f/2.8G wide angle lens!  On top of that he has boosted his software for editing digital photographs as well with the both Lightroom for his PC and Aperture 3 for Lisa's Mac!

One of their four Yorkshire Terriers and one of their five dogs total! They were very friendly.We started out wide shooting landscapes by the lake where I showed them how you can spice up an oft photographed scene by getting really low to the ground.  John was not afraid to get dirty at all and lied down right on his stomach (recommended).  To Lisa I suggested tilting the horizontal axis to add a dimension of interest.

After a quick retreat from the sun we were back outside to photograph a different subject matter entirely, dogs!  After setting up their D300s's with the best manual settings for the harsh afternoon sunlight I led the dogs on several romps around their backyard as John and Lisa shot away from as close to eye level as they could get to their small dogs.  It did not take long for them to realize that the percentage of in focus shots when photographing running dogs is not high at all.  It is definitely a type of photography that takes practice, the right gear, and then more practice!

We ended up back inside starting to edit some of the photos they took in Lightroom and Aperture.  I showed Lisa the PDF of shortcuts I made specifically for Aperture 3 that will help her get efficient when using the app.

It was a very different type of lesson for me on a number of accounts and also a lot of fun.  Thanks to John and Lisa for their generous support of my lessons. 

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DSLR Photography Lesson #2 with Teresa off camera flash & editing

Strobist hibiscus photo with various Color Efex Pro 3 filters applied to it (original photo by Teresa)Teresa once again made the journey down from New Port Richey for our second DSLR Photography Lesson (the 1st).  One of the best benefits of the Canon 7D over its less expensive Canon family members is its ability to trigger a flash off camera with no additional accessories.  Now, perhaps setting the 7D up to trigger a Canon brand flash is easier, but with Teresa's Nissin flash we had a heck of time making it work despite having all the settings on the 7D and Nissin correct.  What we discovered is the 7D must be in manual exposure mode for it all to work.  This is strange, but actually ok since I prefer to shoot in manual mode for strobist photography anyway.

We had to use yours truly as the model for the first part of the lesson, and used the covered walkway in front of the Museum of Fine Arts as the location.  I actually like that location a lot and have shot actual models there before.  Using the flash off camera allowed Teresa to use her favorite lens, the Canon 70-200mm f/4 because the flash could be positioned close to the subject (me) while allowing her to be the necessary distance away from me to use the 70-200mm lens at its full 200mm focal length.  I have spared you by not included the closeup shot of my face in this post!

A hibiscus bush in bloom was our last subject matter for the day (see above).  After taking a few strobist shots of the flowers with me acting this time as the light stand, we went to the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce (of which I am a member) and used a conference room there for practicing editing.  Teresa had gotten my favorite filter editing app, Color Efex Pro 3.  I showed her the selected filters I use on almost every single photo I take, indoors or out (see this post for detailed info on my editing process).

In this way the three-hour lesson went by very quickly.  We already have another three hour lesson scheduled for next week with more shooting and editing on the itinerary! 

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DSLR Photography Lesson with Teresa & her Canon 7D

This week starts off with a DSLR Photography Lesson with new student Teresa and her Canon 7D.  As you might expect from a Canon 7D owner, Teresa already has photography knowledge.  What I helped her do in this first of four lessons she has already booked (which gets her a discounted price) is pull all that existing knowledge together and add to that my own process for dialing in the best settings that produce the exact exposure, DoF and sharpness I want.  

Teresa is already entering into action pet photography and hopes to break into newborn photography as well, especially since a family member will be having a baby soon.  She has a nice assortment of lenses and a new Nisson external flash, so first it is a matter of finding out what gear is best for each type of situation.  Using her Canon 70-200mm f/4 lens we practiced photographing moving subjects in strong mid-day Florida sunshine, which she will often need to do in her pet photography work.  We started out using aperture priority to see what shutter speeds it would give us, and they were all over the map.  Varied results are exactly what one does not want.  Thus, we switched to manual mode.

Knowing that to freeze most action a minimum shutter speed of 1/500th is required, we set the shutter to 1/640th to make sure we had enough, then adjusted our aperture and ISO settings to yield the best possible exposure given the non-ideal light conditions.  In this manner we locked in settings that consistently produced results we were happy.  Once one locks in the best possible settings, the photographer is then free to concentrate just on shooting, composition, etc with no worries about exposure or other technical aspects of shooting.

Our next lesson will be how to make use of her external flash for portrait work as well as how to use Color Efex Pro to edit digital photos.  It will be a longer lesson than usual, but Teresa is a self-declared photography sponge right now, which makes having lessons fun for me as well.  I am looking forward to it since external flash and Color Efex Pro are two of my favorite photography related things! 

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DSLR Photography Lesson Portrait Practice with Natasha & Canon XT

Natasha atop a parking garage in downtown St. Petersburg with her Canon XT for portrait practiceFor our second of four DSLR photography lessons, I once again meet Natasha in downtown St. Petersburg.  For this second lesson we focused on low light portraits.  We started off in a covered area along 2nd Ave that I have used for other lessons.  For all my portrait work I use manual exposure mode.  However, I had Natasha start out using aperture priority because I wanted her to see what type of exposures the camera is capable of choosing on its own.  Using several different apertures and even adjusting the ISO did not yield an exposure I thought was the best possible.  This is when I had Natasha switch to manual mode.

Aperture priority mode did provide us with useful information.  Noting the shutter speeds it chose, I was able to advise Natasha on what shutter speed to actually set in manual mode to yield a more properly exposed portrait.  For example, if the camera was choosing 1/160th in aperture priority mode with a slightly dark exposure, in manual mode a slower shutter speed like 1/100th would be set to better expose the subject matter.  

Natasha does not yet have an external flash, so we used the popup flash on her Canon XT.  Using some special composition techniques, and a well placed wall, I was able to show her how to kind of bounce the light even from her popup flash so as to not directly blast the subject straight on, which usually results in a not very natural skin tone.

I am enjoying these single focused, high detail lessons.  Lesson three will be soon! 

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DSLR Photography Lesson with John & his Nikon D300s

John very focused on getting a shot with his Nikon D300s in John's Pass VillageIt seems lately my DSLR photography students are coming in even more enthusiastic, more eager to learn than ever before.  New student John and his Nikon D300s is yet another such example.  Even though John has quite a significant photography background in the past, if one does not keep up on it, like with many other things, skills can be forgotten, or at least buried under other memories.  So during our first lesson I helped John dig up some of that old photography knowledge and added a lot of new DSLR specific info for him to put into his memory banks as well.

John (his website) is a very interesting person of some notoriety in the permanent makeup world, though I cannot say I had even heard of that term before I met him.  

Due to the St. Pete Grand Prix going on last weekend, we did not meet at my preferred first lesson local, downtown St. Petersburg, instead meeting at John's Pass Village.  After setting up his Nikon D300s with all the customizations I have done to my own Nikon D300, we used the mix of waterfront, beach and gift shop environments to go through all the normal settings one needs to change on a given day of photography in the bright Florida sunshine.

John has the same awesome Nikkor AF-S 105mm f/2.8G VR micro lens that I do, which is what we ended the lesson practicing with.  That macro lens has very unique DoF properties, outstanding sharpness and the best looking bokeh around.  John is excited about having more and more lessons, and I am as well, especially using the 105mm lens. 

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DSLR Photography Lesson Cindy gets Nikkor 70-200mm VR II lens!!

Cindy has the new flagship Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G VR II lens!!For our second of four DSLR Photography Lessons I met Cindy once again in downtown St. Petersburg returning to The Pier as well because . . . she made a significant gear investment by getting the Nikkor AF-S 70-20mm VR II f/2.8G lens!  Most people not into photography would be shocked by what such a lens goes for, but as mentioned in this lesson post, Cindy is headed for Alaska and wants her gear to not be any source of limitation while photographing whales and eagles.  Plus, this lens will be great for the next 10+ years.  Lenses have a very long life, much longer than camera bodies or really any other type of gadget or electronics.

We hopped the trolley to The Pier saving us some of the walk and headed straight to its roof where there was a succession of small airplanes taking off and landing whose distance and size provided very good whale photography simulation.  For sure Cindy wants to get shots of the tails of whales sticking out of the water and of course of them breeching.  Therefore, blurry shots are not tolerable, thus in the bright sunlight I had her use manual mode with a shutter speed of 1/640th and an aperture of f/5.6 with some adjustments made as we went along shooting.  One can always make a slightly underexposed image brighter in the digital editing process, but there is no rescuing a blurry shot, so making shutter speed a priority for such shots is my advice.

More new gear (an external flash) may be showing up in Cindy's bag by the time we have our third pre-Alaska lesson in the coming weeks.  I think I am just as excited about a student getting new gear as she/he is. 

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DSLR Photography Lesson with Natasha & her Canon XT

Natasha & her Canon XT DSLR on our first lesson with the Vinoy Hotel in the backgroundNew DSLR Photography Lesson student, Natasha, will be helping photograph her friend's upcoming wedding in April.  Thus, she has booked my new 4-lesson discount package in order to get up to speed as fast as she can by then, as she already previously has some photography knowledge.  In addition to learning the basic settings (aperture, ISO, WB, focus mode) that are in need of regular changing, one must also know their gear well.  Natasha's friend will be arriving at her wedding location in a horse-drawn carriage in the middle of the afternoon (tricky lighting).  So to photograph this well a fast enough shutter speed must be used to freeze the action and certain moving subject shooting skills need to be refined.

We simulated this scenario by having me walk in an arc around her while she was in AI-servo (AF-C for Nikon) and burst mode.  Through several practice rounds we found out what were the best settings to use in broad daylight, and most importantly how fast her DSLR/lens combination (Canon XT) could get a focus lock on a moving subject.  It is critical to know how many usable shots (six or two or four, etc.) one can get in a given space.  This exercise helped give Natasha some idea what she can expect when photographing the bride arriving via horse-drawn carriage for real and what can be expected of her photography gear.

We will cover more topics and scenarios like this in our next three lessons so hopefully come her friend's wedding day, she will feel as prepared as possible! 

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