Photography Tips

1st Avenue North St. Petersburg DSLR Photography Lesson

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Linda & her Nikon D3100 on our 3rd DSLR Photography Lesson - 1st Ave North, St. PetersburgLinda's intensive DSLR Photography Lessons continued this morning once again in downtown St. Petersburg.  This was her third lesson in seven days (1st, 2nd).  If only all my students were that frequent I could finally get that Porsche 911 Carrera S I have been wanting.  Speaking of Porsches, I find out that Linda has quite the knowledge of cars as she even knew a 911 from 1999 would still be the air-cooled version.  I was impressed.  

For this 2-hour lesson block we mostly setup shop on 1st Avenue North around the 2nd Street North cross street.  This stretch of 1st Avenue North is lined with multiple storefronts all displaying different, vibrant colors (see photo above).  It is my favorite place to photograph people in downtown St. Pete.  

We had practiced flash portrait photographs last time, so today I had Linda focus more on composition and style.  I introduced her to the wonders that can happen if you purposefully tilt the horizontal axis in your viewfinder and push the shutter.  The off center shot is not a style one would want to do a majority of the time, but I do like to toss in a few of this style of shot every now and then to spice things up.  

I also had Linda shoot from a lower than eye-level perspective with her Nikon D3100 to produce a creative forced perspective portrait.  

Having covered a most of the areas I like to shoot at in downtown St. Petersburg, our fourth lesson, already scheduled for Friday morning, will be at John's Pass Village! 

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    • DSLR Photography Lesson with Jack & his Nikon D300s

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    DSLR Photography Lesson with Jack & his Nikon D300s right inside Tyrone Mall!When Jack contacted me for a DSLR Photography Lesson with his Nikon D300s stating he wanted to learn how to photograph concerts, since we could not go to an actual live concert to practice, I suggested we head to Tyrone Mall to learn how to shoot in low light.  What resulted was a 2-hour lesson with a certain espionage feel to it as we took our chances in the dark corners of the Sears electronics department, Spencer's and some super dark clothing store with columns out front and surfer clothes inside that did not even bother to put the name of the store out front.

    In fact we were able to find low light spaces better than I had even hoped for allowing us to really practice what it would be like to shoot in a concert venue.  I basically had Jack shoot in manual mode all day as to get a sharp shot a certain minimum shutter speed had to be maintained, and we would then adjust the max aperture and max ISO as needed to get an acceptable exposure.  Jack also exclusively used his Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.4G lens.  I was impressed with its sharpness even at the max aperture of f/1.4.  

    However, we did get politely kicked out of a couple of the stores for taking photos inside them.  Sears did not mind at all though as we stayed there a good 20 minutes having the run of one entire aisle.  Not a single customer passed by in all that time, sadly, for Sears.  

    Jack now has a large set of practice photos that established aperture/shutter speed/ISO guidelines depending on if there are spotlights, movement or just diffused low light.  I hope he has a great time at the concert Wednesday night and returns with exciting photographs as well! 

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    • Photography Tip - change dimensions with a tripod and slow shutter speed

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    Pane Rustica restaurant - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/8 ISO 200 10 sec tripod mounted & cable releaseThe above shot was not an accident, but one I made on purpose.  The birthday party I was hired to photograph had not started in earnest yet.  The room was mostly empty, but the guitarist was already playing.  My DSLR was already mounted to my tripod for some wide shots of the party space, so since I had the time and opportunity . . .

    The room was crazy dark, so I knew I could keep the shutter open a good long time (10 seconds) without overexposing everything.  The guitarist was not exactly rocking out, but even with his slight moving and strumming over 10 seconds it was enough to make him look unrecognizable.  Of course everything else remained still in the frame creating what I call an "out of phase" look for the subject (the guitarist).  

    A lifetime ago I was studying computer engineering at USF, and even before that getting my first taste of physics in high school.  I became and have remained fascinated by how vibrations basically keep us in this dimension.  If we could engage a phase shift, then could crossing dimensions be possible?  In my imagination at the time of making this shot, the guitarist was going through just such a phase shift.  

    Thus, tripods and cable releases are not just for taking landscape photos.  They are great fun to experiment with and possibly reveal other dimensions.

    External Flash Nikon SB-600 DSLR Photography Lesson in St. Petersburg

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    Making use of the excellent columns at the Museum of Fine Arts in downtown St. PetersburgJust three shorts days after her first DSLR Photography Lesson, I once again met Linda in downtown St. Petersburg.  In that time she had gotten some new gear, a Nikon SB-600 Speedlight!  She wanted to be able to make portraits of her family when they visit her from Minnesota.  So with the SB-600 and her still new Nikon D3100 we practiced on the front porch of the Museum of Fine Arts how to take advantage of the directional aspects of her new external flash.

    The top of the SB-600 can swivel around and angle forwards and backwards.  I told Linda my preferred method of bouncing the flash for the most part is in this order:  a wall behind me, a wall to the side of me, the ceiling.  Then we tried each way from the same spot and Linda could see the benefits/disadvantages/differences of each bounce direction.  

    One of the famous banyan trees in downtown St. Petersburg provides a shady backdrop for portraits.

    I also continued to teach her how to read and understand the histogram displayed on the back of her Nikon D3100.  With the very useful "show highlights" menu option enabled, any blown out areas of the image flash on the display alerting us that we need to adjust settings or flash direction to produce a properly exposed image.  

    Linda has already booked her third lesson!  I look forward to building on what she has already learned in the lessons over the past week. 

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    • DSLR Photography Lesson with Linda and her Nikon D3100

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    Linda and her new Nikon D3100 with Ginger too during our 1-on-1 DSLR photography lesson in St. Petersburg, Vinoy Park

    What a difference DSLR Photography Lessons have been this winter compared to last weather-wise.  Here in a windless Vinoy Park I could very comfortably show Linda how to use her Nikon D3100 to take expansive landscape shots as well as landscape portraits.  Last winter any trip here resulted in the student and I being pummeled by a strong, cold wind.  This morning nothing but sunshine.  However, Linda recently moved from Minnesota so even our worst winter days here are not likely to phase her.  

    It has been a long time coming for Linda wanting to learn more about photography.  Thanks to her husband giving her the generous gift of a Nikon D3100 package, after our lesson she will have the tools, knowledge and most of all Florida's beautiful scenery with which to get busy pursuing photography more seriously.

    Linda asked if the Nikon D3100 was a good first DSLR to get.  It is Nikon's entry level DSLR, so for someone with no previous knowledge of manually controlling a camera, I think it is a good tool to start out with.  It has a few useful dedicated buttons on its body, but not so many as to appear overwhelming.  The rest of the settings are changed via a convenient one-touch-to-access info button.  The menu system overall is greatly improved with helpful photo samples next to many of the settings giving an example of what they are for.  

    My first Nikon was the D80 which had no such fancy visual menus.  Thus, it took me a week on my own just to figure out which autofocus mode was best to use in a given situation, even though it now is dead obvious to me.  The current crop of entry level DSLR cameras make it possible to learn solid digital photography techniques even faster.  

    In between photography conversation Linda told me her first impressions of Florida, which were mostly good, save for the terrible drivers here, in particular how fast everyone drives.  She said in Minnesota no one goes more than 5mph over the limit otherwise they would be liable to get a speeding ticket.  Here, that number is more like 10mph.  

    Linda has already scheduled her second lesson for this Friday and she may have a new external flash by then! 

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    • freeFall theatre company ribbon cutting St. Petersburg Florida

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    St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster helps Eric Davis of freeFall theatre company do the ribbon cutting in St. PetersburgOn a bright and sunny Tuesday morning the new freeFall theatre company of St. Petersburg, Florida had its ribbon cutting on the front lawn with assistance from St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster.  As you can see by the direction of the shadows, I had to shoot almost directly into the sun, which of course meant having to definitely use manual settings to insure the exposure was long enough to be able to see some details amongst the group and try not to just totally blow out the sky.  Using my Nikon SB-800 Speedlight as fill flash, I was able to produces a satisfactory exposure.  

    St. Petersburg Mayor Bill Foster addresses a packed freeFall theatre before the ribbon cutting.Before having to deal with too much light, I had to deal with far too little light inside the darkened theatre itself.  The purple hues are due to the colored lights being used to light Mayor Bill Foster and the packed stands of attendees.  This was not a situation where flash was allowed so that meant cranking the ISO up to 1600, setting the aperture to f/2.8 and using a steady a shooting stance as I could in the crowded conditions as I let shutter speeds dip to as low as 1/40th of a second making sure to shoot when the mayor froze his stance, otherwise even just a slow walk would lead to a blurred image at 1/40th of a second.

    freeFall theatre company interior "Frogs" set - f/2.8 ISO 1600 1/40th handheld no flashSeveral people spoke and had the crowd quite energized.  I was ready to see a full performance!  We were treated to a small performance showcasing the current, impressive cast of The Frogs.  Long ago when I was a USF student there was a brief period where I frequented a number of Tampa playhouses.  I would like to again, but it seems ticket prices have gone up significantly since the 90s!

    freeFall theatre company Eric Davis shakes hands after the ribbon cutting ceremonyIt is certainly not often one shoots in such extremely different light conditions in a span of five minutes.  That is just part of being a professional photographer, being able to adapt to wildly varying shooting environments in minimal time with the ability to produce consistent results regardless.  Lots of shooting experience in lots of situations gives one the confidence necessary to do this.

    DSLR Photography Lesson with Damian & his Pentax K-7

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    DSLR Photography Lesson in St. Petersburg Florida - Damian & his Pentax K-7On a chilly but brilliantly sunny Saturday morning I met Damian for our first DSLR Photography Lesson.  His wife bought him a lesson gift certificate for Christmas.  This was a chance for me to get a closer look at the new Pentax K-7 DSLR, my first time to see it in person.  I was impressed.  I had never before seen a DSLR that had a proper AF-S/AF-C/M switch on it besides my Nikon D300 (and other Nikons).  It also had two finger dials and a top-of-body LCD, which to me is mandatory for a DSLR to have.  

    Damian and his wife will be going shortly on a trip to Saint Lucia so we spent a good amount of time on how to make, frame and manually expose landscape shots.  I had Damian start out shooting in aperture priority mode, forever leaving auto-mode behind, as I have all students do.  However, in the bright late morning light the shots from his Pentax were coming out a bit underexposed so I had him switch to manual mode and set the shutter speed to 1/160th (rather than the 1/320th aperture priority mode was choosing).  Since it is really hard to see a 3-inch LCD screen in the aforementioned bright Florida sunshine, I taught Damian how to read the histogram, which is kind of like flying an airplane by instruments alone.  The LCD screen can certainly lie, but the histogram cannot.  

    Damian is now ready to produce some great beach landscapes down in Saint Lucia.  I look forward to seeing them and to our next lesson when he gets back. 

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