Photography Tips

DSLR Photography Lesson with Holly on composition & framing creative shots

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No photographer was harmed in the making of this photo! - Holly with her Canon XT photographing architecture detail in St. Petersburg during our 2nd DSLR photography lessonI met Holly again this morning in downtown St. Petersburg for our second of four DSLR Photography Lessons.  After going over many of the technical details for setting up a given photograph during our first lesson, this time the lesson focused more on composition and how to make interesting photographs out of places you may visit on vacation.  

When photographing a building or a place, it is often an instinct to try to photograph the entire building or the entirety of a place.  This often leads to what I refer to as a "mugshot" of a building.  Yes, you can see it all, but so can you by standing right in front of it so that usually does not make for an interesting photograph.  The cure to this is only photographing a part of the building, or tilting the axis, or shooting while lying on your stomach, or any such similar composition that creates something one cannot see at eye level.  

I took Holly around some of my favorite alleys and side streets to show her the things I look for in order to find something that may be interesting.  For example, that big semi-truck in the photo above.  My idea to make that photo was to create the illusion that the person on the street (Holly) may be in harm's way, so in a sense the viewer of the photograph has to stop and think, "hey, that truck is probably just parked."  Getting someone to have one thought about a photograph to me is enough for it to be a success.  

For our third lesson we will meet in the evening to see how less light affects one's photography.

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    DSLR Photography Lesson with Holly and her Canon XT in St Petersburg Florida

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    Holly is eager to learn how to use her Canon XT better and eliminate blurry photos!

    Last week Holly called me, as many people have, to say she has a DSLR, but has only been using it in auto-mode.  This is of course a tragedy that can easily be remedied with my DSLR Photography Lessons.  In fact, Holly signed up for the discounted 4-pack of lessons.  This morning was the first of those four.

    She bought a used Canon XT a little while ago, but as mentioned above was only using it in auto-mode and not getting consistently sharp images.  I started the lesson by showing her step by step how to change the settings necessary for getting off auto-mode.  I also explained a few common photography terms and how they relate to certain types of shots.  With just a little bit of knowledge about aperture, ISO, WB and focus modes, one can begin to take control over the camera and thus take control over the outcome of one's photographs . . . and a DSLR wants to be controlled, it does not want to use its own brain. 

    Holly and I covered a lot of ground in downtown St. Petersburg with practice in both Vinoy Park and North Straub Park.  This first lesson of four was a very broad lesson showing how to do a general range of photography.  Each successive lesson will be more focused on a specific photography area.  My goal is to get Holly totally prepared for making great photographs indoors and out before she visits Washington DC in July.  

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    DSLR Photography Lesson #2 with Betty - tripod night photography

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    Betty setting up a shot with her Canon T1i on a tripod of downtown St. Petersburg at sunsetTime goes by fast.  It has already been 7 months since my first DSLR Photography Lesson with Betty in downtown St. Petersburg.  With a vacation coming up to Seattle and Vancouver, Betty wanted to brush up on her photography skills and get some long exposure shooting practice in, which requires a tripod of course.  She hopes to photograph waterfalls that look like cotton candy with her Canon T1i on her trip as well as do some wildlife photography.  Since the fountain in downtown was not running, we headed straight to The Pier which is a surprisingly good spot for bird photography in particular as well as great night landscape shots.

    A few pelicans were kind enough to let us first get some closeup shots and then some bird-in-flight practice.  Betty soon found out that capturing a bird in flight is no easy task even with all the correct camera settings.  During our lesson she learned the skills to do it, now she will just need to go out and practice as much as possible in order to capture that ideal bird-in-flight shot she wants.  

    Once the sun started to get close to the horizon we went to the top of The Pier which offers the best urban view of the sunset around.  I have had several late evening (early night) lessons at The Pier and I really enjoy them and will suggest them more to future students.  

    With her camera setup on a tripod, I instructed her to be sure and turn image stabilization (IS, VR) off as it actually hinders getting an in focus shot when using a tripod.  Next I told her to always set her ISO to the lowest setting as camera shake is no longer an issue on a tripod.  Finally I showed her how she had to use manual mode to get the best long exposure sunset and twilight shots.  By the end of the lesson Betty realized how using a tripod can really allow one to capture an entirely different kind of shot and that tripods really are very useful.  Plus, I think shooting with a tripod is much more relaxing and its own kind of fun.  

    I look forward to seeing how Betty puts all these new photography skills into action on her Pacific Northwest trip!

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    Photography Tip - use portrait orientation for long tall subjects like a great egret

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    Photography Tip - portrait orientation allows the great egret to fill the frame - The Pier, St. Petersburg, Florida

    • Setup:  Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-20mm f/2.8D @ f/4 ISO 200 1/2000th 

    Getting into a fixed routine of using landscape orientation with your DSLR is easy.  After all, the DSLR seems to be designed to be held horizontally.  However, only using landscape orientation eliminates 50%+ of composition possibilities!  Not to mention it makes it extremely awkward to photograph long, tall subjects like the above great egret.  Perhaps the best criticism I was every given about my photography was there there were not enough portrait orientation shots (thanks Jeff!).  I was told that over two years ago.  Ever since then every time I shoot I am mindful of using an appropriate amount of landscape and portrait orientation shots.  Maybe now you will be too.

    When shooting in portrait orientation, I like to hold the grip part of the DSLR up, which allows me to still wedge my left elbow into my body creating a stable shooting position.  The highest end DSLRs (i.e. $5000+) come with a vertical grip built in.  However, many other DSLRs do have vertical grip accessories available for them made by the manufacturer.  Another benefit of using a vertical grip is that it houses more batteries so you can shoot longer.  

    This great egret photograph is available for commercial license and fine art print

    DSLR Photography Lesson with Taryn & Scott and a Nikon D5100 & Canon XTi

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    Scott with his Canon XTi and Taryn with her brand new Nikon D5100 - St. Petersburg DSLR Photography LessonThis was my first time to teach a DSLR Photography Lesson to a brother and sister.  Taryn lives in St. Petersburg, but her brother, Scott, now resides in Amsterdam.  So while her brother was back visiting, and since she got a brand new Nikon D5100 as a mother's day present this year, all things fell into place for our lesson this morning, including massive humidity!  Scott had had his Canon XTi for awhile, but still was mostly using it in auto-mode.  Since he lives and travels around Europe so much helping him during the lesson get the most out of his DSLR will hopefully allow him to one day return to the U.S. with a fantastic European photograph portfolio.  

    Photographing a great egret in downtown St. Petersburg during our DSLR Photography LessonWhile practicing how to photograph moving subjects and how to make a flash portrait in the shade, Scott used Taryn as a model and vice versa no doubt allowing for numerous outtake photos for each to have a laugh over.  We later came across a great egret that was too busy hunting its lunch (lizards) to be bothered much by the siblings getting some wildlife photography practice.  I instructed them to get down at eye level to the bird and to also remember to use portrait orientation for some shots, especially when its neck was elongated upwards.

    It was a very fun and interesting two hours.  While Scott is soon to return to Amsterdam, I may see Taryn again for a future lesson.

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    Photography Tip - broken habits create new opportunities

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    Snell Isle Sunset St. Petersburg Florida - f/8 ISO 200 3-bracket HDRThe most peaceful part of my entire day is when I take beloved puppy, Kiki, for our after dinner, sunset walk around the "big block."  We start out on the very path pictured above and walk along Smacks Bayou aways often spotting dolphins and manatees.  However, this evening just minutes before we were to set out on our evening stroll, a sudden heavy rain fell, then stopped, then started again.  Our walk was, sadly, washed out.

    However, this break in our routine created the chance for me to photograph the above scene.  I still took Kiki out for a quick call of nature, saw the sunset, and thought to myself, "a real photographer would go back inside, grab his/her camera, then come back out and photograph this putting aside one's disappointment at not being able to go on a peaceful stroll.

    So, an irritation produced an opportunity.  If your usual schedule gets sidetracked, look for new photography chances because of it.

    DSLR Photography Lesson with Jeni & her new Nikon D5100

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    Jeni got a Nikon D5100 for her birthday replacing her old D50If my memory is correct, this was the first instance of a same day lesson, by that I mean I received a contact form inquiry from Jeni via my website when I woke up this morning, and then by 6:20pm this evening we were having our first DSLR Photography Lesson.  She received a brand new Nikon D5100 for her birthday this week.  She had a Nikon D50 previously, so she was not entirely new to the DSLR world.  However, like a majority of my past students, she was mostly only shooting on auto-mode, or one of the other preset modes.  I of course told her she will never use any of those again!

    While teaching Jeni how to produce a photograph with bokeh, we made the unfortunate discovery that her Quantaray 70-300mm lens could not be autofocused by her D5100 as that DSLR lacks an in-body focusing motor.  So we manually focused that lens to produce one example of good bokeh for her to take note of in her notebook.  The notes she took should serve as a great reminder when she next goes out to shoot by herself.  The first lesson especially covers a lot of photography settings, so I would advise any future student to take notes as well.

    We finished the lesson out at Vinoy Park just as the sun was setting behind the Vinoy Hotel itself.  Jeni is very interested in portrait photography, and has even done some for her friends already.  Since I am a big believer in strobist photography, I strongly suggested that the next piece of photography gear she invest in be an external flash.  Still, just using her Nikon D5100's pop-up flash we were able to practice making sunset portraits with decent results.  

    Jeni has three young daughters so she has plenty of portrait volunteers to practice on at home!  I look forward to seeing her put to use the photography knowledge from our lesson!

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