Photography Lessons

Canon 50D & 70-200mm f/4 lens 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson with Ariel in St. Petersburg Florida

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Ariel willing to get all the way down on the ground to get the shot during our 2nd photography lesson in St. PetersburgI met Ariel for our second of four 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lessons in downtown St. Petersburg, although from there we made our way out to The Pier to photograph birds using her Canon 70-200mm f/4 lens.  We were in luck as besides the usual bunch of pelicans that are always hanging around, there was also a snowy egret conveniently standing on a box and a curious laughing gull who perched right next to us for five minutes.  In all I felt we were very lucky with bird spotting during our time at The Pier.  

In between shots we discussed what Ariel may want to branch into next with her photography, and we came to the conclusion off camera flash (strobist) is next!  I recommended the basic kit needed:  remote flash triggers, light stand and light modifier and once they are all delivered, our third lesson will be all about how to make great one light portraits.

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

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Practicing DoF with a 300mm lens during our photography lesson in St Petersburg Florida

On a warm February Saturday morning I met Patricia with her new Nikon D7000 in downtown St. Petersburg for our first of four 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lessons.  She was very new to DSLR cameras, and photography in general, but my 5-step process for learning how to make a well exposed and sharp photograph works for total beginners as well as more experienced photographers.  We began the lesson with a lengthy tour of how to use her Nikon and in particular how to use the finger and thumb dials to make adjustments to the critical aperture and shutter speed settings.

In the second half of the lesson we wondered around the waterfront area practicing how to control DoF, in particular, how to make the background disappear into a nice, creamy bokeh.  This skill is very useful for portraits especially, as well as just adding a creative look to an image overall.  Using the paperboy statue out in front of the St. Petersburg Museum of History I showed Patricia how focal length and distance from the subject matters even more than using a large aperture in creating bokeh.  

For our next lesson we will head out to The Pier!

Nikon D3100 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson St. Petersburg Florida with Jason

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Jason using his Nikon D3100 tripod mounted for some long exposure shots on The PierWhile it is still open and still standing, I will still be using The Pier as a great location for my 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lessons, and really cannot imagine what it will be like to not have it available come May 2013.  Friday evening I met Jason with his Nikon D3100 in downtown St. Petersburg.  He specifically wanted to practice long exposure night photography, which is fine by me as it is one of my favorite kinds.  We made our way out to The Pier and got setup on the open roof viewing area.  This type of photography of course requires a tripod because as by the end of the lesson we were using 30-second exposures, and even while there was still plenty of light in the sky (but no sun), exposures were in the 1 to 2 second range.  

In a way, night photography is kind of simple: put camera on tripod, leave shutter open, done.  Of course there are things that can be done to improve one's night photography, especially related to placement of the horizon and exactly how long to leave the shutter open.  These were the things we focused on mostly during our night photography lesson.  I look forward to seeing Jason's future long exposure shots!

Canon 50D 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson with Ariel in St. Petersburg Florida

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Ariel showing good form shooting with her Canon 50D during our DSLR Photography Lesson in St. PetersburgWhen I met Ariel for our first of four 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lessons in downtown St. Petersburg, she already had good knowledge of photography terms and concepts.  I did not have to tell her that f/5.6 was a larger aperture than f/11 for example.  However, I still began the lesson with my 5-step process for making a well exposed and sharp shot in any shooting conditions.  I believe that having a set way of getting the correct exposure and focus is the key to being able to make consistently satisfying photographs.  After all, if you make a good shot, you want to know why so you can do it again, right?  

Ariel had the Canon 70-200mm f/4 L lens which we used mostly in the second half of our lesson.  I am always cautious about using a lens at its largest aperture as they can be softer than just one stop down.  As the late afternoon began to fade, being able to have a larger aperture like f/4 available was a plus, and we did a direct test to see if any sharpness was lost at f/4 compared to f/5.6.  I did not see any and was thus impressed and for any Canon shooters out there looking for a good, budget 70-200mm lens, this lens sells for about $700, which I consider a great bargain and I recommend it.

I will be meeting Ariel again on Monday to continue our photography lessons!

Canon T3i 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson in downtown St. Pete Florida with Jeannie

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Out on The Pier with Jeannie for our second 1-on-1 photo lesson in St. Petersburg FloridaOn yet another cool Saturday morning I met Jeannie for our second of four 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lessons in St. Petersburg Florida.  This time we went out to The Pier with her Canon T3i to photograph pelicans, and ended up finding a sailboat race and a fitness competition!  When The Pier closes in May, I will certainly loose out on one of my favorite locations for photography lessons.

A sailboat race like this is just one of the many things that can be photographed from The Pier in downtown St. Petersburg

During this second photography lesson I helped Jeannie reinforce what she learned during our first lesson so that she can become more and more comfortable with just the physical process of getting her camera set eventually allowing for maximum concentration to be placed on composition and creativity rather than the technical aspect of getting a shot.  We made great progress!

1-on-1 Nikon D5100 DSLR Photography Lesson with Lourdes in St. Petersburg Florida

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My first photography lesson with Lourdes & her Nikon D5100 spanned day & night in downtown St. Petersburg!Lourdes called me up asking about my 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lessons telling me about how she ultimately wanted to photograph racecars!  First, she wanted to learn how to use her Nikon D5100 properly and stop just relying on auto-mode.  Since that is exactly what my photography lessons are designed to do, we got started right away after we met in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida in showing her how to change all the settings she needed to on the D5100.  With that particular Nikon in manual mode, most settings needed to be changed in menus with only aperture and shutter speed able to be changed using the thumb dial (plus another button for aperture).  Fortunately, when shooting in manual mode shutter speed is the thing most often that needs to be changed between shots so the Nikon D5100 is still fairly quick to use in the field.   

I was also able to help Lourdes become familiar with her two lenses, a Nikkor 18-55mm that came with the camera itself, and also a 75-300mm third party lens that we discovered cannot be auto-focused on the D5100 since that body itself lacks an internal focus motor and the third party lens did not have a motor in it either.  The lens could still be manually focused, but at 300mm and trying to shoot a racecar, that would not be very easy to do!

I recommended a more practical long lens (Nikkor 70-300mm VR) for Lourdes to get and will be looking forward to continuing the photography learning we started in our second lesson soon.

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

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Mari going all out lying on the sand to get the best perspective to photograph birds during our photography lesson in St. Petersburg Florida along the beaches near North Shore ParkThis was Mari's sixth total 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson with me, and the first of a new 4-pack of lessons.  We had a very specific focus for this photography lesson:  birds.  In particular, birds along the shore both standing and flying.  I knew to get the best shots we would have to lie down flat on our stomachs, so I brought a sheet for us.  Well, the first spot we used it appeared dry but after about a minute the sheet started to get soaked through.  After that, Mari just had to be tough and lie right on the sand as seen above!

Shooting while lying down can be very comfortable, and it provides not just a very stable shooting position, but also allows for shooting at eye level to the smallest and shortest of birds.  We practiced getting sharp images by carefully setting the focus and recomposing.  Step by step Mari is improving her nature photography!