Photography Lessons

50mm DSLR Photography Lesson in downtown St. Petersburg with Sunil

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Sunil using his Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D as I photograph him with my 50mm f/1.8D lens!Sunil continued his DSLR Photography Lessons this week with me with a 50mm lens only lesson in downtown St. Petersburg.  I really like this type of lesson as using the smallest and lightest lens made is a very liberating feeling due to freedom of movement, a fixed focal length and the ability to produce bokeh at will.

Despite only using our Nikkor 50mm f.1.8D lenses all afternoon, we still managed to cover quite a few photography styles.  We returned to motion blur practice once again, only this time during the bright afternoon sun.  We also mixed in a little architecture photography.  Still, the majority of the lesson was spent practicing how to compose and create shots using a very shallow DoF (depth of field/focus).  

Tomorrow for our fourth of four lessons we will focus on using external flash for portraits.

DSLR Night Photography Tripod Lesson in St. Petersburg with Sunil

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From the top of The Pier Sunil sets up a long exposure cityscape shot - St. Petersburg Florida DSLR Photography LessonsOn our second of four DSLR Photography Lessons I met Sunil at The Pier in downtown St. Petersburg for a night photography themed lesson covering:  long exposure cityscapes, car light trail shots, motion blur shots and abstract bokeh shots.  That made for a content packed 2-hour lesson!

It being a Tuesday evening we had The Pier to ourselves and made exposures of the downtown skyscrapers as long as 1 minute 13 seconds.  Using both a wide angle and a telelphoto lens I showed Sunil how to get a variety of cityscape shots adjusting the exposure time to produced the desired amount of ambient light to complement the lights from the buildings.

We also experimented a bit while on the trolley back into town with surprising results.

For our third lesson it will be all about using a 50mm lens.

Nikon D5100 DSLR Photography Lesson with Shaye in St. Petersburg Florida

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Shaye with her new Nikon D5100 in Vinoy Park St. Petersburg FloridaI met new student Shaye on a very sunny Florida autumn (but still hot!) afternoon for our first DSLR Photography Lesson.  She recently got a Nikon D5100, making the leap to the DSLR world.  I introduced Shaye to all the photography vocabulary and concepts I view to be the minimum to start making good photographs on purpose.  I told her not to worry though, there are only four:  aperture, ISO, WB and focus mode.  Then, if the light and subject do not change, not even all of those settings need to be adjusted that often.  It is true photography is a complex art, but the number of things one has to balance to be good at that art are not as numerous as one might think.

We made our way out to Vinoy Park for the last quarter of the lesson and were treated to some very close swimbys by a pair of dolphins.  Despite trying to predict where they would surface next, we were unable to capture them in frame.  Two years ago I was at the exact same spot and was able to make a dolphin surfacing shot (see here).  

I covered a lot of photography topics during our 2-hour lesson and Shaye showed good understanding of how to start putting them all together in order to be able to make a satisfactory photograph in any given shooting situation.  She has only one lens now so through our discussions during the lesson it seems the next best lens for her would be a 50mm f/1.8 lens.  I always get excited anytime someone gets new gear, even if it's not me!

I look forward to seeing how Shaye applies the techniques I taught her today as she photographs her dogs and children.  

Nikon D50 DSLR Photography Lesson with Sunil in St. Petersburg Florida

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Sunil photographs egrets during our downtown St. Petersburg Florida DSLR Photography LessonNew DSLR Photography Lesson student Sunil was referred to me by Alok, who took his lesson back in September . . . thank you Alok!  This was also my first mid-afternoon lesson time since the spring, but the fall weather we had a few days ago disappeared and it was not very fall like afterall today.  Sunil has a Nikon D50 and a bag full of lenses.  He has photography vocabulary knowledge, and knows how to adjust the necessary settings on his DSLR, but wanted to learn how to tie it all together when using manual mode, especially.  

Despite Sunil's experience I still taught my tried and true methodology for making a photograph, starting with setting aperture, then shutter speed (when using manual mode), followed by ISO, WB and focus mode.  Through this process more things about photography were revealed that Sunil said you cannot learn no matter how many online photography videos you watch.  I of course agree, that there is nothing like a 1-on-1 lesson in the field because it provides instant feedback about the exact shooting situation you are in.  

Sunil bought my discounted 4-pack of lessons and wants to take them all this week as he is on vacation.  We will meet again tomorrow for a night photography lesson out on The Pier.

DSLR Photography Editing & Workflow Lesson with Kamila in St. Petersburg

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This afternoon I visited Kamila at her very nice new home for another DSLR Photography Lesson focusing on workflow, editing and also getting the exposure right for very specific shooting conditions.  As you can see, Bob the Yorkshire Terrier was an integral part of the lesson as well!  Kamila had a list of questions ready (good idea), the first of which was deciphering what all the symbols and buttons on the back of her Nikon SB-700 Speedlight mean.  This piece of Nikon gear is not very intuitive at all, not that really any speedlights are.  Although there are way more dedicated buttons on the back of the SB-700 compared to the SB-600 model it replaces, the SB-700 actually seems more difficult to use, at least at first.

Once the mysteries of the speedlight were solved we moved on to DoF (depth of field) issues, specifically making sure both father and baby are in focus during a tightly framed portrait using a 35mm f/1.8 lens.  After checking the photo in question's exif data, and seeing the aperture of f/3.2, it was easy to diagnose the problem as being the result of too large of an aperture.  I advised Kamila to use f/8 or even f/11 to insure the in focus plane is large enough for both sets of eyes.  We practiced this by using two stuffed animals on her sofa to produce an image with no DoF problems.

We concluded the lesson discussing what computer hardware and software would help improve her workflow, which now is rather disjointed and definitely not as efficient as it could be.  She mentioned maybe getting a new Mac soon, which I said was a great idea because then she could use the excellent Aperture 3 to process, organize and edit all her RAW images (once she makes the switch to shooting in RAW).

I look forward to our next lesson which will be about using off camera flash, possibly even two speedlights, and of course to seeing Bob again too!

Canon XS DSLR Photography Lesson with Suzanne in St. Petersburg

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Halloween lights provide the background in downtown St. Petersburg for my first DSLR Photography Lesson with SuzanneSince neither of us had trick or treating plans, I met Suzanne for our first DSLR Photography Lesson in downtown St. Petersburg early in the Halloween evening.  There was surprisingly little spooky activity happening and no one in costume to photograph.  Still, we managed to practice no less than five shooting techniques in our first of four 2-hour lessons!

Suzanne was already familiar with some photography terms and just needed clarifying and instruction on how they all tie together, especially in the DSLR world.  Also, since she already knew how to change some of these settings on her Canon XS, we were able to practice more than usual in a first lesson, especially since the early sunset time in late October afforded a chance to practice motion blur shots.  

I look forward to our next lessons which will cover photographing sunsets, action shots and more!

Nikon D700 & Nikon SB-900 Speedlight DSLR Photography Lesson St. Petersburg

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Barbie relaxing during our 6th DSLR Photography Lesson with her Nikon D300 at the New Dali MuseumBarbie returned from her many travels for our sixth DSLR Photography Lesson this morning at the New Dali Museum in downtown St. Petersburg.  As you can see from the photo above, she makes herself very comfortable while doing photography.  We were not on a beach but under a large tree behind the museum that has a pathway made up of of broken shells.  

We kept the flash on the camera for today's lesson, but still produced creatively lit portraits (unfortunately I had to be the model!).  I really like using the Dali Museum location for photography work, and of course photographing the museum itself, especially at twilight, can produce dynamic results (see here).

I had Barbie really concentrate on thinking which settings to use before pushing the shutter as we shot in various lighting and background situations.  As a photographer, as you move to the next location you should already be thinking of what kind of shot you want to make, which in turn dictates which settings you will need.  If you change light between locations and keep the same settings, well, the results will of course be very overexposed or underexposed.  Even though it's all digital, I do not like to waste shots.  Plus, if the shot is too bad it gives me no reference to use to hopefully perfectly dial in my settings by the second shot.  

Lessons with Barbie are always fun and before she travels again we need to finish our remaining two lessons!