Photography Tips

DSLR Photography Lesson with Henry & his Sony A230

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Sunset as viewed from inside Vinoy Park sculpture during our DSLR Photography LessonHenry is the proud new owner of a Sony A230, my first time to teach a student with a Sony DSLR.  We met at the usual downtown St. Petersburg location, but at the unusual time of 5:45pm, which allowed us to have a bit of a sunset background (above photo) to practice with.  Henry is a former Canon film SLR shooter, but was looking to refresh his memory and get familiar with the larger number of settings a DSLR body offers than a SLR film body.  For sure there is no ISO button on a film camera!

Demonstrating my "quick & dirty" technique for off camera flash - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens @ f/8 ISO 200 1/320th SB-600 Speedlight held off camera to the leftHenry had just bought a Sony brand strobe to go with his A230, which pleasantly surprised me as I love to practice flash photography with students.  I was impressed by the Sony A230's remote triggering abilities, being able to sync off camera at 1/500th of a second.  My Nikon D300 can only do 1/320th of a second using the built in commander mode.  

I am starting to show more and more students how to do my "quick & dirty" off camera flash technique.  Basically, you just set your camera to remotely trigger the flash, hold it up and to the left as you see above, then make the best composition you can with just your right hand on your camera!

If you are wondering why I broke my own rule and have a building coming out of Henry's head, I had to at least partially block the sun in order to be able to get a good exposure.  Plus I just thought it looked kind of cool with the sun over his shoulder.

I look forward to our next lesson once Henry gets a Tamron 70-300mm lens.

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    • DSLR Photography Lesson with old high school buddy Mark

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    The familiar downtown St Petersburg background - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/200th SB-600 Speedlight handheld off camera to the left

    Had a special DSLR Photography Lesson today which was part high school reunion as well.  Mark and I had not seen each other since we graduated, nearly 18 years ago!  We spent a good part of the lesson catching up on what we had been up to for nearly two decades woven in between lots of photography talk.  He just got a good deal on a Nikon D300, the same camera I shoot with.  We had nice sunny, though as usual blustery, weather.  

    It was of course easy for me to show Mark his way around his D300 as I can change many of the settings on mine without even looking.  We covered many of the usual settings for a first lesson (aperture, ISO, white balance, focus mode) and also dabbled a bit in exposure compensation for helping us shoot in harsh Florida sunlight.  

    Mark wanted to use the palm frond as a prop, here on this bench in Vinoy Park

    We ended up in Vinoy Park practicing off camera flash.  Mark even tried out my "quick and dirty" method of shooting.  As you can see in the above shot, Mark's head does not overlap with any background object nor is any background object sprouting from his head.  This is not a coincidence.  I shifted my position so that neither the tree nor the sculpture was touching Mark's head.  This is something to always look for when making a portrait.  

    I had a great time catching up with Mark and introducing him to his D300, and going for a little spin in his Jeep Wrangler.  I look forward to catching up more and meeting his family in the near future.

    DSLR Photography Lesson - Andy with his new Canon 7D

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    Andy takes aim at the Vinoy Hotel - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm - f/11 ISO 200 1/200th SB-600 Speedlight held off camera to the left

    I met new DSLR Photography student Andy in downtown St. Petersburg where we quickly got into an in-depth discussion about the settings on his newly bought Canon 7D.  Though there were a few settings we had some pause in finding, in the end we were able to master all the settings changes needed to shoot a wide variety of shots from landscapes, to portraits, to moving objects (including dive bombing pelicans!).

    Andy was a quick and eager learner and our lesson passed by very quickly.  We really only began to cover all the things his 7D can do, along with his very nice Canon 10-24mm ultra wide angle lens, as well as the 24-135mm kit lens that came with his 7D.  We have already booked our next lesson which will have a Mac lesson bookended onto it as well!  Yes, I also teach Mac & OS X 1-on-1 lessons.  

    Our first lesson was a lot of fun and I am looking forward to seeing the view from Andy's Indian Rocks Beach townhouse next week!

    DSLR Photography Lesson #3 with Danielle and her Nikkor 70-200mm lens!

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    Danielle proudly shows off her awesome Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm VR f/2.8G lens obtained at a good price, used, from Craigslist

    It has been nearly 2 months since our last DSLR Photography Lesson, and Danielle has made a major gear investment in that time.  She wanted to get a medium telephoto f/2.8 lens, so I kept my eye out on Craigslist for any deals.  Danielle ended up getting a great deal on one of Nikon's best lenses, the Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm VR f/2.8G from someone selling locally on Craigslist.  How she has a lens she can really grow into as she photographs sporting events for her son and maybe even makes a little money photographing the other kids on the team as well.

    She used her 70-200mm lens exclusively during the lesson where I showed her which focus settings I would use in various situations, and why.  The decisions to be made are of course to use single or continuous focus, but also the trickier choice of single point or multi-point focus.  Some pelicans around John's Pass Village were kind enough to volunteer to be fast moving models for us.  

    We ended the lesson by showing how great of a portrait lens the 70-200mm makes both in natural light and with an external flash.  I look forward to seeing what shots Danielle can make with her increasing photography skill set and of course with using her sweet 70-200mm lens!

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    DSLR Photography Lesson #2 with Chris & SB-600s

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    Chris demonstrating my "quick & dirty" off camera flash method - f/11 ISO 200 1/320th SB-600 held off camera just like pictured!I have recently mentioned my "quick & dirty" off camera flash technique several times, but had no photo to demonstrate it until now.  During our second DSLR Photography Lesson, I started to teach Chris the "quick & dirty" technique at John's Pass Village.  For the shot above I asked him to take the position, but we both forgot that his Nikon SB-600 Speedlight was still on and set to the same channel my Nikon D300's commander mode was, so it was a nice bit of luck that his SB-600 went off to help with the demonstration.  When you do not have a light stand or tripod with you, the "quick and dirty" off camera flash technique can still produce good results.  It just takes a bit of practice to balance a DSLR in just your right hand and maintain the strobe in your left hand pointing at your subject.  

    During our lesson I was the model allowing me to instruct Chris to point his strobe a little more this, a little more up, etc.  With practice, one can get a feel for pointing the strobe directly at the subject without having to even look at your left hand. 

    Another accidental firing of Chris' SB-600! Cool effect or just a fail shot? Make your comment below.

    For our next lesson we may try out the street portrait act that Kelley and I have done before and see who we can get to be models for us, as Chris' skills continue to improve and before he gets tired of only having me as a model for our lessons!

    Emily's 1st DSLR Photography Lesson - John's Pass Village

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    Emily & her Canon XSi - f/5.6 ISO 200 1/160th SB-600 handheld off camera; processing in Color Efex Pro 3 & Topaz Adjust 3

    Emily got her Canon XSi about a year ago.  She knew her way around her camera pretty well, and she even took about 6 weeks of classroom photography lessons.  However, once you are out on your own with your camera, that is a whole other thing, which is why I offer 1-on-1 private DSLR Photography Lessons where we actually learn and shoot at the same time.

    Emily had a lens I had not had any hands on experience with yet, the Tamron 10-24mm ultra wide.  John's Pass Village does not have many sweeping landscapes, but having an ultra wide angle lens is still great for photographing all its colorful shop fronts.  

    We covered many of the usual things I do with a student on her/his first lesson, like controlling DoF (depth of focus) using aperture and focal length, positioning yourself with your back to the sun whenever possible, and some basic composition techniques like the rule of thirds.

    Emily also had an external flash, so we ended the lesson with some portrait practice.  I had Emily use her flash and not use her flash for the exact same portrait to show the different having an external flash can make.

    Emily is new to Florida so it was fun to see excitement at seeing dolphins, etc.  I look forward to showing her more of what Pinellas County has to offer and helping her make even better photographs with her Canon XSi.

    DSLR Photography Lesson in downtown Tampa Theatre area

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    DSLR Photography Lesson in the Tampa Theater area was lesson #6 with Andrea!

    Andrea and I broke new ground again for a DSLR Photography Lesson location, this time downtown Tampa in and around historic Tampa Theatre (our 6th lesson!).  Andrea did her homework and got a nearly perfect score on the photography quiz I sent her.  Our last lesson was in rain and some of the least ideal conditions for photography possible.  This time things were totally opposite with blue skies and nice temperatures.  The only thing that was missing was . . . people!

    Andrea wanted to start with practicing street photography, but unfortunately downtown Tampa was nearly desolate.  However, with some strategic searching and quick fingers to the shutter button, Andrea got a great shot of a cyclist heading uphill with a cool city bokeh background.  

    We then returned to practicing manual focus of her Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D lens.  Andrea was greatly improved from last time.  We found an interesting sculpture to practice on first, then went on to shooting the Tampa Theatre itself.

    I believe Andrea has been steadily improving and I am excited to see her shots from today's lesson.