Photography Lessons

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

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Alison learning how to use her Canon 7D so she can make great photos of her baby during our 1-on-1 photography lesson in downtown St. PetersburgI met Alison on a sunny spring Friday morning in downtown St. Petersburg for a 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson with her Canon 7D.  Exactly one week earlier I met her friend Loni for the same type of photography lesson.  Now that I have spent 2-hours with Alison as well, they can pool their knowledge and help each other continue what I taught them.  

Alison had an 18-135mm lens for her Canon 7D which I suggested she think of as two lenses, an 18-50mm and a 50mm-135mm because when changing from one focal range to the other, the typical subject matter changes, and thus the aperture one would want to use likely would change also.  For 18-50mm I recommended by default starting with f/11 and for 50mm-135mm to default to an aperture of f/5.6.

Alison will be having a baby soon (see photo above!) and wanted to learn how to use her Canon 7D for what I would estimate to be quite a few baby photos!  Years from now having DSLR quality photos of her baby from the time of the baby's birth all through growing up will be of great value.  Digital photography will revolutionize the personal human visual record of every day life.  I often tell my students the story of how I have only one photograph of my first car, a 1979 Ford Mustang, something I loved more than pretty much anything.  For a high school student today, it would be unimaginable to have only one photograph of their favorite thing.  Such is the revolution of digital photography, and the culture of taking photos on a daily basis.

1-on-1 Canon T2i DSLR Photography Lesson in St. Petersburg with Loni

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Loni with her Canon T2i in North Straub Park during our 1-on-1 DSLR photography lesson in St. Petersburg FloridaWith the sound of racecars in the background, I met Loni for a 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson in downtown St. Petersburg.  The reason for the engine noise was that the Grand Prix was going to be raced a few days later.  Fortunately the noise came and went and I was able teach my 5-step process for shooting in manual mode on a DSLR to Loni without having to talk over racecars the entire time.  Like many people that take my photography lessons, this was her first DSLR and to this point had pretty much only been shooting in auto-mode.  It is commonly thought that manual mode means changing ten or more settings to make a photograph each and every time.  Even I thought that long ago.  However, there really is no large complexity with shooting in manual mode, especially if you have the benefit of learning my tried and true step-by-step methodology.

Even though her Canon is an older model, it was actually more useful than many of the latest models as she pretty much had a physical button on the DSLR body for every one of the five things that need to be set for shooting in manual mode.  Many newer cameras make you go into menus to change some things.  

Loni caught on well in how to use the meter to get help in choosing a shutter speed as we practiced making shallow depth of field photographs, moving subject photographs and even natural light portraits in the shade.  It was another info packed 2-hour introductory lesson.  Loni wants to keep learing so I will be seeing her again soon.  

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

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Renita visiting from Melbourne with her Nikon D5100 for our 1-on-1 photography lesson in St. Petersburg FloridaOn a surprisingly chilly spring morning in downtown St. Petersburg Florida, I met Renita visiting all the way from Melbourne for a 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson with her Nikon D5100.  In what is somewhat unusual for a photographer nowadays, Renita had several prime lenses.  Back in the old days zoom lenses were not sharp enough for pros, so they carried around bags full of prime lenses.  Renita shoots high school basketball a lot and needs the larger apertures afforded by prime lenses.  

Despite a lot of shooting experience, she had just started using aperture priority mode after only using auto-mode.  These two modes are actually the worst choices for sports photography so I began the lesson by teaching Renita my 5-step process for shooting in manual mode in order to get well exposed and sharp images shot after shot.  Like many people, she thought shooting in manual might require adjusting 10, 15 or more things as a DSLR is covered in buttons and dials.  At the most it is only five things and in reality, very rarely do you have to change all five between shots.

I think Renita will take what we practiced during the 2-hour lesson and improve her photography quickly and get better results from the very next time she goes shooting.  It was a fun time with her and she may come over to the west coast again for another photography lesson.

1-on-1 Nikon D3200 DSLR Photography Lesson in St. Petersburg Florida with Al

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Al composing a shot with his Nikon D3200 in downtown St. Petersburg Florida during our 1-on-1 photography lesson.On a very sunny late winter Florida afternoon I met longtime networking friend Al for a 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson.  I have known Al for several years and we have referred business to each other (him more to me, thanks Al!).  He is the owner of Bayprint.  He got a Nikon D3200 a little while ago and has past photography knowledge from the film days, but like many people who book a lesson, just needed some help organizing and putting that knowledge to use in a very specific and exact manner.  That is exactly what my 5-step process for getting a well exposed and sharp shot in any shooting conditions is designed to do.  

After overcoming an unusual shutter action when having Al for the first time shoot in manual mode (quiet shutter mode activated itself!), we made our way around beautiful downtown St. Pete practicing how to control DoF to make the background be a non-factor in a shot and also how to photograph moving subjects.  The St. Pete Grand Prix is coming up this weekend and Al is going to be track side.  We practiced on far slower cars on Beach Drive, but the technique is the same.  We finished covering how to make motion blur shots in broad daylight.  I look forward to seeing Al's grand prix shots!

1-on-1 Nikon D5300 DSLR Photography Lesson in St. Petersburg Florida with David

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Dave showing great portrait orientation shooting form with his Nikon D5300 during our photography lesson in downtown St. Petersburg FloridaI met David in downtown St. Petersburg Florida for our 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson on a February Saturday morning with very changing weather.  He received the photography lesson as a gift certificate present from his wife to help him get started in the DSLR world with his newly purchased Nikon D5300.  This was my first time with this very new Nikon DSLR and I would have to say I was disappointed by its lack of dedicated buttons.  Changing the ISO and the focus mode requires going into the menus.  The build quality felt like typical Nikon quality though.  Now that I think about it more, though, no 5xxx series Nikon ever had more buttons, but still I would like to see less menu reliance on a DSLR in that price range.

The lesson began as all first lessons do with me explaining to David in detail my 5-step process for getting a well exposed and sharp shot in any shooting conditions.  After this rain started to fall, but the breezeway in the front of the Museum of Fine Arts was plenty big enough to still practice all we would have had it been sunny.  In fact it allowed us to work on natural light portrait practice a little more than we would have otherwise.  I was able to show Dave the big impact composition has on the overall look of a portrait even with the subject staying in the exact same spot.

I look forward to seeing David's photos and his progress with his DSLR.

1-on-1 Canon 5D Mark III DSLR Photography Lesson in St. Petersburg Florida with Gail

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Yours truly as the model for this off camera flash strobist portrait lesson on Sunset Beach Treasure Island FloridaOn a beautiful evening in Treasure Island, Florida I met Gail for an off camera flash portrait lesson on Sunset Beach.  She had found out about my photography lessons doing some online searching and decided to come all the way over from Vero Beach on the other coast of Florida!  We had two lessons.  The first was on the beach at sunset time showing Gail my 2-strobe technique for making off camera flash portraits.  I helped Gail setup her radio triggers and showed her how I position two speedlights for a variety of shots, including the walking one above.  The second strobe is directly in front of me (not visible in photo).

A strobist portrait of my DSLR photography student Gail on Sunset Beach made during our evening lesson.Gail switched out and became the model as I showed her more shooting tips for using her Canon 5D Mark III.  The second part of the lesson was showing Gail my editing workflow and helping her use her MacBook Pro much more efficiently too!  It was very nice to meet Gail and I am flattered she came all the way from the other coast.  She did of course stay a few nights in the area and made a trip out of it as well.

Canon T3 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson in St. Petersburg with Ken

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Ken focuses his Canon T3 during our 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson in downtown St. Petersburg FloridaMy 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson with Ken was a long time in the making.  He first contacted me in November of last year, and at last his schedule freed up so we could meet in downtown St. Petersburg.  Ken had some familiarity with photography terms and he did read his Canon DSLR manual.  We began the lesson by going over in detail how to change the necessary settings on his specific Canon T3 camera body for shooting in manul mode.  Up until then, Ken had been shooting in auto-mode.  My introductory 2-hour lessons are designed so that the person never has to use auto mode again and can shoot in manual mode just like the pros do, and really how a DSLR wants to be used.

After having that in-depth tour of his DSLR, we practiced how to control DoF and make the background disappear and create a subject surrounded by bokeh (photography term for out of focus background).  We also covered a few shooting tips including favoring shooting flowers in shade rather than the harsh midday sunlight of Florida, and as much as possible when shooting in direct sunlight, to get your back to the sun.

I look forward to seeing Ken's progress when we meet for our next photography lesson soon.