Photography Tips

DSLR Photography Lesson with Holly at Sunset at The Pier St. Petersburg

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Holly basked in light from the setting sun practices at The Pier St. Petersburg during our 3rd lesson togetherOn a day filled with rain in St. Petersburg, I was able to dodge most of it by morning and by evening to first have a DSLR Photography Lesson with Cindy at The Pier in the A.M. and to close the day with another lesson at The Pier with Holly.  Only poor Kiki got short changed today by having her dog park time cut short by a sudden downpour!

This was Holly's third lesson in a week's time, as she bought the discounted 4-pack of lessons.  We met in downtown St. Petersburg then made our way to The Pier as the final few raindrops of the evening storm fell harmlessly onto our lenses.  This was another lesson focusing on two things:  how to knowingly change settings to get correct evening exposures and how to creatively compose for making photographs out of what others see as just nothing, or do not even see at all.  

This brought us up, down and all around The Pier.  The roof easily provided the best views and the rainstorm left behind a spectacular sunset.  We still of course found some time to photograph the pelicans that like to hangout around there too.  I am pretty sure I saw the same rust colored female as this morning!

By the end of the lesson Holly was starting to be able to understand how to adjust her aperture and shutter speed to create a better exposed twilight image, as in if the image is too dark for your liking, then increasing the shutter speed and/or the aperture is necessary to brighten it up.  Want to create a silhouette shot?  Then increase the shutter speed so only the sky has any color.  

We ended the lesson with me convincing Holly that a tripod is certainly a worthwhile investment as I let her borrow mine to create some fantastic urban sunset shots of downtown St. Petersburg.  

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    DSLR Photography Lesson with Cindy & her Nikon 2x teleconverter

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    Closeup of Cindy's amazing Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G VRII lens with 2x teleconverterCindy and I met on a volatile weather morning in St. Petersburg for another pre-Alaska trip (for her!) DSLR Photography Lesson.  The photo above highlights Cindy's absolutely fantastic Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm VR II f/2.8G lens with her brand new Nikon 2x teleconverter, the latest iteration of that device.  In April of 2010 a friend let me borrow his first generation 70-200mm VR lens and the previous Nikon 2x teleconverter to photograph an anhinga, and I said at that time I was not impressed with the results.  I could not get a sharp image in the slightest above f/8.  I was expecting the same results even with Cindy's newer setup.  I could not have been more wrong.

    I tested the VR II lens and latest 2x teleconverter by photographing a sign at f/5.6, f/6.3 and f/8.  I had to zoom in to near 100% crop on Cindy's Nikon D90 viewfinder to perceive the slight improvement in sharpness at f/8 as compared to f/5.6.  I wasn't just shocked, I was stunned!  This setup is now a fantastic solution to get a 600mm effective focal length for a quarter of the price of an actual 600mm lens.  I did not want to hand that lens and teleconverter back to Cindy!!  Once you use them together (or even just the VR II lens by itself) it is hard to go back to lesser gear.  

    Next month Cindy cruises to Alaska from a boat leaving Vancouver to photograph whales, eagles and grizzlies!  It is hard to imagine a better wildlife photography trip than that one besides maybe a trip to Africa.  

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    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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