Photography Lessons

Canon T3i 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson in downtown St. Petersburg Florida with Erin

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Erin with her Canon T3i during our 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson in St. PetersburgThis was actually my second 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson with Erin, but the first one out in the field with her Canon T3i as previously we worked on editing, content management and website related photography topics.  The weather cleared up to make for a very pleasant Friday evening in downtown St. Petersburg to learn about my 4 (or 5 in manual) step process for producing a well exposed and sharp photograph in any given shooting situation.  

Besides teaching how this process works, I perhaps even more importantly to start out with, teach the person how to get around their DSLR in an efficient manner and be able to change these camera settings eventually without even having to think about it.  To know photography, one must first and foremost know their gear.  Then they can apply photography knowledge using their gear in a skilled manner that will in the end result in satisfying photographs.  

I look forward to seeing Erin's photographs taken in manual mode!

CanonT3i Off Camera Flash Strobist Photography Lesson in St. Petersburg with Elizabeth

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Elizabeth learning off camera flash for portraits in downtown St. PetersburgFor our third of four 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lessons in downtown St. Petersburg I met Elizabeth for an off camera flash portrait photography lesson who brought her very generously willing boyfriend, Angel, to model once again.  Since our last lesson on natural light portraits, Elizabeth invested in a pair of Yongnuo remote flash triggers and a light stand.  This allows her to put her Canon 430 EX II Speedlite right next to her subject, but be able to shoot from any distance up to 30+ feet away.  

You may think why would I want to ever shoot a single portrait subject from so far away, but using a long focal length has many benefits in portrait photography, the least of which is limiting distortion which helps the subject to not look wider than they actually are.  

I am sure with numerous people to help her practice, along with her own enthusiasm for portrait photography, Elizabeth will be regularly wowing her friends and family with her new photography skills!

50mm Lens Photography Lesson 1-on-1 with Tim & his Nikon D7000 in St. Petersburg Florida

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Tim with a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G lens on his Nikon D7000 during our second 1-on-1 photography lesson in St. Petersburg, FloridaFor our second 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson I met Tim in the usual downtown St. Petersburg spot for 2-hours of instruction on how to shoot with a 50mm lens.  He has the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G for his Nikon D7000.  This time he also tossed on the external battery grip to his DSLR as well.  There was also a piece of new photography gear to debut for him, a BlackRapid camera strap!  During our first lesson he commented on mine and I said I could not imagine using the old over-the-neck-style strap ever again (read my full review).  BlackRapid if you are reading this I would not mind a FastenR-3 in thanks for referring another customer to you!

Some of the 50mm shooting tips I gave Tim included moving the focus point in the frame rather than recomposing, really paying attention to the background for creating the best bokeh and not always trying to get the whole subject in the frame (read photo tip on this).

In addition to all that his fingers got a good workout constantly adjusting the shutter speed and often the aperture too as we worked exclusively in manual mode today and were often moving from shade to bright light on our tour of downtown St. Petersburg.  For our next lesson we will head to The Pier for a lesson focusing on shooting from a tripod.

1-on-1 Nikon D7000 DSLR Photography Lesson St. Petersburg Florida with Tim

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Tim with his new Nikon D7000 with the St. Petersburg Pier in the background during our 1-on-1 photography lessonLike many of the people that take my 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lessons, Tim just recently purchased his first DSLR making a not insignificant investment in both the body, a Nikon D7000, and accessories and did not want to be stuck shooting in auto-mode.  Prior to our first of four lessons yesterday evening Tim had done a lot of reading and video watching so he was already familiar with the most common photography terms and settings.  During the lesson I helped him understand how all those things (aperture, shutter speed, ISO, focus mode) work together in order to produce a well-exposed and sharp photograph.

Tim's technical expertise from his job I believe also helped him understand things quickly, like how to read the histogram and which way to adjust the shutter speed in order to improve a shot.  We basically stayed in manual mode the entire lesson, a far cry from auto-mode!  

We also had a few other things in common like spending time in Japan to talk about.  For our second lesson we will focus on using his 50mm f/1.8 lens.

Induro CT214 Tripod 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson St. Petersburg Florida with Chris

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Chris at The Pier with her new Induro CT214 tripod with her Nikon D90 mounted on the Induro BDH2 ballheadTo my great surprise Chris showed up for our third of four lessons with an Induro CT214 carbon fiber tripod, the exact same one I have!  I gave her some tripod buying advice, but for a truly no comprimses tripod, I can only recommend the one I, myself, bought last summer, which was the Induro CT214 (reviewed in detail here).  After I got over my initial surprise I went about the business of showing Chris all the features of the Induro CT214 that I have amassed in a year of using it as well as good tripod practices in general, like making sure the lens always points out over a leg of the tripod.

She even had new Yongnuo speedlight radio remotes for triggering a flash off camera, but they can also be used to remotely trigger the shutter too, a really cool bonus feature.  This way she was able to shoot from the tripod without adding the risk of camera shake from physically pushing the shutter.  Now that we had all this exciting new gear to use, all we needed was a great location, and The Pier in the evening time always provides one.  There was even a nice breeze making the temperature almost pleasant.

We concluded the lesson up on the top of The Pier photographing the sunset as it dipped below the St. Petersburg skyline (example of the view).  Chris has ample opportunities to photograph the sunset and other great vistas so I look forward to seeing the images she takes between now and our fourth lesson.

Nikon D90 & Nikon D40x DSLR Photography Lesson in St. Petersburg with Chris & Paul

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Chris & Paul showing good shooting form with their Nikons during our photography lesson in St. Petersburg FloridaI met Chris and his father-in-law Paul on a pleasant overcast St. Petersburg evening to help them both get off auto-mode on their Nikons.  Each of them had a few lenses and had been shooting for awhile, but they thought it was time to learn how to take more control over their DSLRs and that is exactly what my DSLR Photography Lessons are designed to do!

In addition to teaching my four step process for getting the exposure and focus right for any given shooting situation, I also teach several habits of the pro-photographer than anyone with a DSLR should emulate as well.  This starts with safely changing lenses, putting everything in the same place in your camera bag every time, always leaving your DSLR on until you put it away in your bag and of courrse how to properly hold your DSLR to maximize stability (see above stances).

Once again I did not have to be the model during this lesson as Chris & Paul took turns being the subject for each other as we ended the lesson with a little flash portrait practice using the scenic St. Petersburg harbor as the background at dusk.  I look forward to seeing how their photographs improve as they put the skills we covered to use to take more control over their shots!

Canon T3i Natural Light Portrait Photography Lesson in St. Petersburg with Elizabeth

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Elizabeth photographing her boyfriend who thankfully modeled during our natural light portrait photography lesson in St. PetersburgFor our second of four 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lessons in St. Petersburg, Florida Elizabeth brought her boyfriend and his brother to model for our lesson on natural light portraits.  This was great for me as otherwise I would have had to of been the one in the shots as I am most of the time when students want to practice portraits.  Bringing your own model also has the benefit of at the end of the lesson you have portraits of someone you know that you can share and display rather than twenty forgettable shots of yours truly.

Elizabeth will soon be investing in some strobist gear, so instead of bothering to use the almost useless popup flash in portraits practice, I had her put on her Canon 70-300mm lens and just use natural light and over exposing techniques to make some creative portraits all over the place, from under a shaded hall of columns (see above) to the interior of the Baywalk parking garage to the front steps of a museum.  

Indeed we also practiced making silhouette shots atop the parking garage utilizing a railing high up in the air to create some rather cool images.  Thanks to the models' willingness to go wherever we asked Elizabeth not only learned the technique for using natural light in portraits, but also actually ended up with some great shots of her boyfriend and his brother.