Photography Tips

DSLR Photography Lesson with Cherryl & her new Nikon D5000

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Cherryl with her new Nikon D5000 during our first DSLR Photography Lesson in downtown St. PetersburgWith this point in the summer in Florida, one always has to keep an eye to the sky for rain.  I would say that for our first DSLR Photography Lesson together, Cherryl and I were 80% lucky.  There were definitely rainstorms all around downtown St. Petersburg, but for the first 100 minutes of our two-hour lesson they merely provided a pleasant overcast sky and a nice breeze.  During this time I introduced Cherryl to the photography terms one needs to know before pressing the shutter in any kind of purposefulness.  

We also spent a lot of time practicing how to get the subject of a photograph in focus, both when moving and when not.  There is a bit of finger skill one must demonstrate with the shutter, specifically the ability to keep it pressed half way down the entire time during composing the shot, and not releasing it until you have the shot you want.  When photographing a moving subject one never releases the shutter from the half way position the entire time.  

With further practice this skill set will come easier to Cherryl and I look forward to seeing some great soccer action shots!

About the last 20-minutes of our lesson . . . well, the rain came but we took shelter in front of the Chihuly Museum and ended the lesson as I would have rain or shine, with some flash portrait practice.  I was impressed with the range of the pop-up flash on Cherryl's Nikon D5000. 

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    Digital Photograph Editing Lesson with Chris

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    Selective contrast edits in Photoshop can make a big impact on your photos - image used by permission 

    Chris took his first DSLR Photography Lesson on Tuesday where we went out into the field to practice shooting.  For our second of four lessons Chris wanted to learn digital photograph editing, which I believe is a very wise thing to do (read more here about my feelings on learning shooting & editing at the same time).

    The cruise ship is Chris' own photograph.  The original is well composed with good contrast in the foreground plants.  However, the cruise ship itself appears to be covered in a haze.  I taught Chris the following techniques using Photoshop CS5 to selectively enhance the cruise ship first, then the water, then finally the sky.

    For the Cruise Ship: 

    • Use the Quick Select Tool (W) to select the entire cruise ship
    • Go to Images --> Adjustments --> Brightness/Contrast
    • Increase contrast to your preference 

    For the Water: 

    • Use the Quick Select Tool (W) to select the entire water area
    • Go to Images --> Adjustments --> Brightness/Contrast
    • Increase contrast to your preference
    • Go to Images --> Adjustments --> Color Balance (Command-B)
    • Enhance the color sliders to your preference

    For the Sky: 

    • Use the Quick Select Tool (W) to select the entire sky
    • Go to Images --> Adjustments --> Color Balance
    • Enhance the color sliders to your preference

    The real key to this type of digital photo editing is the use of selected adjustments.  If we had not selected just the cruise ship, and instead universally adjusted the contrast on the entire photograph, then the plants would have suffered from too much contrast in getting the cruise ship right.  Of course making the sky look a deeper blue if done universally would make even the green plants start to look blue.  Therefore, the key is starting with the Quick Select Tool (W) and selecting only the area you want to adjust.  

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    DSLR Photography Lesson at Tyrone Mall St. Petersburg with Holly

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    Holly's notes from fourth of four lessons beside her Canon XT - photo by iPhone 4Holly's crash course in DSLR Photography finished at Tyrone Mall!  I use that location for when students want to practice shooting in an indoor shooting environment.  Plus it's air conditioned so we can have mid-afternoon lessons.  This fourth of four lessons for Holly was focused on first using her pop-up flash to get a well exposed indoor portrait given the fluorescent lighting in Sears electronics department.  Unfortunately for Sears, they do not get many customers looking to buy TVs.  Perhaps their non-existent customer service is one reason why as we were in there for twenty minutes and no one even made eye contact with us!

    To wrap up everything we practiced during our four photography lessons together, Holly and I sat down for a good note taking session.  Even though I do provide students with a PDF study guide (available exclusively to paying clients), there is no substitute for writing down in your own words (and handwriting) specific settings and photography scenarios.  As you can see from Holly's notes, I also suggested what gear she should buy next (an external flash, a tripod, a telephoto lens).  

    Holly will be taking her Canon XT and new photography skills to Washington in a couple of weeks and I hope she is able to return with great photographs!  I look forward to seeing them.  

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    DSLR Photography Lesson with Chris & his Nikon D300 & Nikkor 70-200mm lens

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    Chris, now a Nikon man - DSLR Photography Lessons in St. Petersburg Florida - SETUP: f/2.8 ISO 800 1/100th natural lightHaving DSLR Photography Lessons at 7pm during the Florida summer are great because they offer relief from the intense heat.  However, the mosquitoes are now out in full force causing me to wonder, as ever, how they can survive when there are so few people around?  If anyone knows please tell me in the comments below!

    Chris had had a Canon Xti that was not getting much use over the past few years.  Recently he was given a great offer to get a Nikon D300 (same DSLR I shoot with!) and a Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm VR f/2.8G lens, a fantastic combination.  He still has the Canon, but since the buttons and nomenclature are basically all different between the systems, I told him he could leave the Canon in the car.  Ah, his car is not just any car actually, it is the awesome Lexus IS F!!

    Now the Nikon D300 is not for someone just getting into DSLR photography as it is sparse on explaining what its buttons do, but for someone who knows something about photography, that is a plus as there are no useless buttons or settings on it.  So if you do find yourself with a D300 as your first DSLR, then I would recommend taking a lesson with someone, as Chris chose to with me, in order to get over the initial steep learning curve.

    Chris is also wisely choosing to learn how to edit digital photographs at the same time as he learns to shoot.  He got my special discounted 4-pack of lessons so it seems we will alternate between a shooting lesson and an editing lesson as Thursday morning we are all booked to dive into Photoshop CS5!

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    St. Petersburg Florida Downtown Sunset Panorama High Detail

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    Click image for LARGE 5000px detailed version - 14-shot panorama of downtown St. Petersburg Florida at sunsetWhat you see above, if you can see anything, is a 14-shot panorama photograph of the downtown St. Petersburg, Florida skyline at sunset.  The panorama image was made by using Photomerge in Photoshop CS5.  

    This type of image is incredibly easy to make: 

    • just take consecutive, level, same exposure shots
    • overlap the final third of each shot
    • put all the photos into a single folder
    • open up Photoshop CS5
    • in the Automate menu choose Photomerge
    • sit back and let your computer's CPU do some serious processing

    in a few minutes you will have created your own panorama image! 

    --inquire about licensing this image or ordering prints for your office or home

    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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