Photography Lessons

Nikon D5000 50mm lens 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson in St. Petersburg Florida with Angela

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Angela using her new 50mm lens to photograph architecture details in St. PetersburgSince our first 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson in April, for our second of four lessons, Angela brought with her two new not insignificant pieces of gear, a 50mm lens and the Nikon SB-700 Speedlight.  These two items are actually by far the most popular pieces of photography gear that my students have purchased first over the past three years.  They are the least expensive ways to radically change the kinds of photographs one can make.  

We started out the lesson practicing with the 50mm lens where I told Angela I look for the background perhaps even more than the subject when using my 50mm lens because I want the best possible bokeh in my 50mm shots.  Lights of course easily make for cool looking bokeh, but also spectral slight coming through tree branches can create the same look.  

For the last half of our 2-hour lesson Angela put her SB-700 on her Nikon D5000 and we practiced flash portraits at sunset and twilight time as our lesson went until 8:30pm, well after sunset.  By manually setting the power on the SB-700 it was clear that TTL mode was choosing too much power making the subject (in this case, me!) look too "flashed" in the portrait.  Manually setting the power allowed Angela to make a portrait of me that looked much more natural balancing the exposure on the subject with the background exposure so that neither seemed to stand out from the other.

Perhaps by our fourth lesson we will get that flash off the camera for some strobist portraits!

Canon 60D 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson in St. Petersburg Florida at Dali Museum with Julie

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Julie with her new Canon 430 EX II Speedlight & her Canon 60D during our photography lesson at the Dali MuseumI chose the new Dali Museum as the location for the fourth of four 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lessons with Julie, who since our last lesson got a new external flash, the Canon 430 EX II Speedlite.  I was glad to hear that Julie has been regularly practicing her photography and even had a chance to make maternity portraits of two of her friends.  She told me that photographing people is hard!  I cannot disagree, but I also think photographing people is the most interesting and one of the best ways to really push yourself as a photographer.  

We started this morning's lesson with more 50mm lens practice using the great tree in the rear ground of the museum.  The tree has ribbons all tied to it with messages (see third photo from the top here).  Julie really liked the tree.  It makes for a very interesting subject both from an abstract shooting standpoint and also as a prop when making a portrait.

Then Julie attached her 430 EX II to her 60D and we went over to the Mahaffey Theater where I showed her how the angle of the light from the flash effects how portraits turn out.  Even in those outdoor conditions, although in the shade, it was very apparent that being able to bounce the light off of a side or rear wall produced the best results, as compared to pointing the flash directly at the subject.  

Julie is interested in learning off camera flash so I look forward to seeing her for another four lessons over the summer.  I will be looking forward to it!

Nikon D5000 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson in St. Petersburg Florida with Angela

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Angela with her Nikon D5000 on our first of four 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lessons in St. Petersburg FloridaOn a surprisingly cool spring late afternoon I met Angela in downtown St. Petersburg for our first of four 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lessons.  She has been the owner of a Nikon D5000 for a couple of years, but all that time just using it on auto-mode.  Since she regularly photographs her daughter racing motorcross, taking control of her DSLR and getting off auto-mode will definitely help her capture better action shots in a wide variety of conditions.  

We said good-bye to auto-mode and hello to aperture priority mode to start out the lesson as I introduced Angela to my 4-step processing for making a well exposed and sharp photograph in any situation.  By the end of the 2-hour lesson Angela was using manual mode to make flash portraits in North Straub Park in preparation for making prom night portraits of her daughter this upcoming Friday.  She now has the practice and knowledge to be able to make well exposed and composed portraits in an outdoor setting that would also apply to indoors as well, with a few settings tweaks needed only.  

I look forward to hearing how the prom and motorcross photos came out during our second lesson coming up soon!

Canon 5D Mark II 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson St. Petersburg Florida with Gina

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From setting the date to setting the aperture, a wide ranging DSLR photography lesson with GinaI have been in contact with Gina for the past few days helping her with everything from which DSLR to purchase to which lenses to get for it as she has a very strong need to add to her photography knowledge as quickly as possible.  She has already been shooting for awhile, getting a few high profile jobs even.  The Canon 5D Mark II was new to her and brand new store bought yesterday so we began the lesson from the very beginning, set the time and date and putting the neck strap on.

During our 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson Gina wanted me to go through every menu setting and every button on the camera leaving no stone unturned.  This gave me my most indepth look yet at how a Canon DSLR works as I shoot Nikon.  I have already had hands on with every Canon model made in the past five years, but before now not setting one up totally from scratch.  I remain convinced the ergonomics of shooting with a Nikon of similar level are far, far better.

We finished the lesson with a review of the correct terms for referring to shutter speed, how to identify and describe a lens, among other terms.  

I hope Gina's upcoming shoot goes well and I look forward to seeing the images.

Nikon D90 Architecture Photography Lesson in St. Petersburg Florida with Bill

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Bill with his Nikon D90 practicing architecture photography outside of Signature Tower in downtown St. PetersburgMy third DSLR Photography Lesson with Bill on Saturday morning was our first 1-on-1 lesson as his wife Ria could not make it for this one.  We met at the usual spot in downtown St. Petersburg on a typcially beautiful, sunny and warm Florida spring morning.  The focus for this lesson was on making architecture shots, and how to use aperture priority mode to get a general idea of the exposure wanted, before switching to manual mode to fine tune it exactly to the desired results.  

At the very beginning Bill showed me some shots of the St. Petersburg skyline and waterfront he took since our last lesson, homework so to speak.  This was very useful to me in being able to show Bill which settings were correct, and which ones needed to be changed in order to produce a better shot.  We then simulated some of those shot circumstances during our lesson so Bill could practice getting all settings correct for better results.  

We had time during this lesson to start to discuss composition more, especially when photographing buildings.  I showed Bill my parallel edge photography tip while saying that the entire building does not always need to be in the frame.  

Our next lessons will start to include digital photography editing in addition to more shooting practice.  I am looking forward to seeing Bill's early morning dawn shots of St. Petersburg with the help of the things we practiced this lesson.

Guided Photo Tour of St. Petersburg Florida featuring The Pier Vinoy Park & Beach Drive

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2-hour Photo Tour of downtown St. Petersburg for $25 per person
  • Guided by local pro photographer 
  • Learn great photography tips!
  • Take the best vacation shots ever!
  • Fun & interactive group activity
  • Sunset, bird, portrait opportuities & more!
  • Start at Vinoy Park finish at The Pier
CALL: 813-240-5357 E-mail: CONTACT FORM FACEBOOK

 

Want to take a 1-on-1 private photography lesson with Jason?

Canon 7D 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson in St. Petersburg Florida with Amy

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Amy with her Canon 7D & 430 EX II Speedlight in front of a famous downtown St. Petersburg banyan treeI met Amy on a rather warm spring St. Petersburg morning for our first 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson.  Amy has been doing paid work with her Canon 7D for sometime, but was looking to learn from our lesson some of the very practical tips and tricks for how to make better photographs that are not found in books, videos or even in a photography classroom.  Since I am a self-taught photographer with years of expeirence I have a lot of real-world photogrpahy practices I can share with my students to not just improve the final results of their photographs, but how to make it easier to produce a good photo before ever pushing the shutter.

Amy had been shooting in "P" mode on her Canon 7D after receiving some bad advice from another photographer.  With her experience and with the subject matter she shoots I told her she should be shooting in manual mode exclusively, which is where we set our exposure dials for the entire lesson.  To further polish her professional way of shooting I turned off the "beep" on her 7D when getting a focus lock which is a most unwelcome sound when photographing in a quiet setting.  Then I showed her my very stable way of shooting by placing the left palm under the lens and shooting from a near sideways feet apart position allowing for both elbows to be against the body for support.

We finished the lesson at one of the two famous banyan trees in North Straub Park.  We started using her Canon 430 EX II Speedlight on the camera as she usually shoots, but then moved to using the Canon 7D's built-in remote flash trigger ability to get the speedlight off camera.  

I look forward to seeing how Amy applies all the things we practiced and discussed today in her future work.  If you live in or near Plant City, Amy's photography website can be found here.