Barefoot Beach Resort condo commercial HDR shoot

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Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/11 ISO 200 7-bracket HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseFor me it is always nice to get a commercial real estate job because it provides a welcome change of pace to the usual people-based photography I do.  In some ways, it is much easier to photograph a bedroom or a kitchen or a living room.  Nothing is moving around, nothing blinks, nothing is camera shy, and perhaps best of all it's air conditioned!  Then again, lighting a room or small or large size presents its own challenges.  Furniture does need to be posed, or rather arranged, for best presentation.  Which angle most flatters the room?  What elements get left along the edges of the frame (bit of crown molding above) and which get cropped out (painted wall to the right)?

Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/11 ISO 200 9-bracket HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseI chose to use mostly HDR to make the photographs for Barefoot Beach Resort in Clearwater.  I tried some two-strobe setups, but in the end all but one image I delivered to the client was HDR.  The one non-HDR shot was of a small kitchen where I could not setup my tripod, but rather had to climb up on a counter and almost lay down!  That was actually kind of fun.  

Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/11 ISO 200 7-bracket HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseOther challenges of doing open window room photographer include reflections.  The above photograph of a master bedroom had a window to the right of the frame which I wanted open (well the blinds actually) as it provided needed light, but it also caused a huge reflection on the painting on the wall above the bed.  You cannot see it now because of some careful, and tedious cloning work.  Then there was the setup.  French doors lead out to the Florida room (middle photo) and are a main feature of the master bedroom.  Working with the client we decided that just that much of the French doors in the shot was enough to portray them to viewers while still showing a good portion of the bedroom as well as the hallway to more show some of the layout of the condo.

Working with a tripod and without people as subjects meant I could really take my time and setup and frame the shots exactly how I thought best with input from the client too, without worry of the subject matter getting tired.

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DSLR Photography Lesson with Aaron and his Nikon D300

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Nikon D300 Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D @ f/4 ISO 400 1/200th Strobist: Nikon SB-600 Speedlight with diffuser cap in TTL mode triggered by commander mode handheldAaron used some bargain hunting skills to get himself a used Nikon D300 for a very good price.  He then went and got the well received Nikkor AF-S 35mm f/1.8G lens.  Since I have shot with a Nikon D300 myself for the past year and half I know the DSLR very well.  We started the lesson going through very specific menu settings that I have honed over time via my own experiences with the camera and things I heard from other photography podcasts.  

As always, weather was an issue, but we got really lucky with the rain.  It was raining before the 5:30pm lesson, and poured at 7:45pm, but in the middle there was only a slight sprinkle for a few minutes, so no real threat to our gear.  

Nikon D300 Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D @ f/4 ISO 400 1/200th Strobist: Nikon SB-600 Speedlight with diffuser cap in TTL mode triggered by commander mode handheld

Since Aaron was using his fast 35mm and I was using my fast 50mm, we spent a lot of time talking about DoF (depth of field) and controlling the background in shots.  We did not stick with large apertures though as Aaron was also interested in how to use his 35mm lens for landscapes.  I just had him use f/11 and showed him very steady handholding techniques (since he had no tripod with him) as well as where to set his focus (1/3 of the way into the shot) and in the overcast conditions he was still able to produce some nice landscapes of the harbor in front of The Pier.  

I also stressed the rule of thirds composition guidelines, especially for when using one's camera in portrait orientation.  Basically that means not putting the horizon in the dead center, but rather the upper or lower third of the frame.  

Aaron has an interest in portraits which will probably be the focus of our next lesson.  

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    • A pelican hiding inside of a pelican

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    brown pelican (female) - Nikon D300 with Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens @ f/4 ISO 800 1/400thPelicans are very malleable birds.  Though they may not be very beautiful or majestic, I think if I had to live life as a bird I might choose to be a pelican just for how many different ways they can fly, swim and rest in.  One of my long term photography goals is to photograph a pelican at near eye level as it just skims over the surface of the water.  In the meantime, I still find pelicans in new positions I have not seen before.  

    The above female brown pelican had her neck turned 180 degrees with her beak resting between her wings in a homemade feather pillow.  Using my Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens @ 200mm I did not disturb her at all to make this photograph, but I cannot tell for sure if she was sleeping with one eye open or not.  

    I wondered what she was dreaming about.

    DSLR Photography Lesson #2 on The Pier with Henry & his Sony Alpha A230

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    Henry setting up a shot using his Sony Alpha A230 and newly acquired Tamron 70-300mm lens on The Pier in St. Petersburg

    Henry took his first DSLR Photography Lesson with me back in April.  Then he had no telephoto lens.  After the lesson he began doing research into which lens to get and last week his new Tamron 70-300mm f/4-f/5.6 lens for his Sony Alpha A230 came in.  This was all just in time (lens arrival and our 2nd lesson) before his big trip to Costa Rica today.  Rain was definitely threatening out ability to have a lesson out on The Pier, but in the end we were pretty lucky having plenty of time to practice using his new lens outside before the rain returned and we took cover in a very deserted Pier food court.  

    It was very overcast outside, so I had Henry adjust his exposure compensation to give his shots a little extra light.  A number of pelicans and some trash eating birds were our practice subject matter.  His new Tamron lens had a macro setting which we turned on some old screws in a forgotten section of a lower dock.  Macro photography and external flash are definitely linked, and I showed Henry that how you point the light direction makes for a very different photograph.  We found that bouncing the light off the white wall that was connected to the dock produced a very pleasing light fall off across our exposed screw subject matter.  If there is no white wall next to what you want to shoot?  Well, just have an assistant hold a reflector for you!

    The last part of the lesson was a surreal off camera flash lesson inside The Pier itself, mostly in the food court area.  I cannot say I had ever been in a more abandoned feeling public place in Florida before.  Not a single customer in the entire food court.  This was good for us as we were able to take up all the space we wanted to in practicing off camera flash with appropriate white balance in mixed/horrid lighting conditions.  

    I am looking forward to seeing Henry's shots of Costa Rica when he returns. 

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    • A Twilight Wedding on Sunset Beach Treasure Island Florida

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    Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/8 ISO 400 1/80th Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight @ 1/2 power on light stand to frame leftI wonder if any wedding dress makers offer dresses made particularly for (hot) Florida beach weddings?  Many of the brides I photograph do a great job of getting around on loose sand in long flowing dresses, but I am sure glad to be wearing ultralight wicking materials rather than a highly non-breathable wedding dress.  Callie, as you will see, was still quite nimble despite the longish train of her wedding dress.

    Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/5.6 ISO 400 1/60th Nikon SB-800 Speedlight hotshoe mountedMost of the time for beach weddings I do not see the bride and groom until they are standing on the beach just before the ceremony.  They often come from out of state and do not hire me for any photography before the ceremony.  However, for Callie and Joey's wedding I got on the scene even before Callie donned her wedding dress so the above photograph shows the moment all the finishes touches to attire, hair and makeup were completed.  This also allowed me to get to know Callie a little before her wedding, which is a big plus for me as a photographer.  

    Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/5.6 ISO 400 1/60th Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight @ 1/2 power on light stand to frame leftNot only did Callie and Joey reserve photography time for before the beach wedding ceremony, but also for a time after sunset too.  No other beach bride from this summer has a portrait like the one above because no others reserved after sunset time for photography.  After the sun goes down, often the sky turns purple with hues of orange.  Add to that that Callie, shoeless, was willing to scramble up some jetties, all this enabled me to make basically the exact shot I pre-visioned.  

    Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/5 ISO 200 1/30th Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight @ 1/2 power on light stand to frame leftWe even had time for a few well after sunset portraits with Callie and her bridesmaids.  Again, this kind of photograph was a first for me this summer.  It was also a very fun series of shots to end the night on.  After the shot above, Callie and her friends put on their "silly faces" I believe they called them.  I will keep those shots offline though . . . thanks Callie and Joey for a very fun and creative evening of beach wedding photography.

    DSLR Photography Lesson with Jordan & her new Nikon D3000

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    Jordan was very excited to enter the DSLR world with her Nikon D3000I sometimes get DSLR Photography Lesson inquiries before the student even owns a DLSR.  Sometimes they even call me from Best Buy asking which camera to buy and when can they take their first lesson!  Obviously I always recommend the Nikon D3s, but then it seems no one has a $5,000 budget, so then I recommend them something a bit more reasonable.  Things were alone this line before Jordan and I had our first lesson together yesterday.  She had recently bought a super zoom point and shoot, but was wondering if she should have gotten a DSLR.  Since she could still return the P&S so I recommended Nikon's entry level DSLR, the D3000.  She bought it with the 18-55mm kit lens, along with a couple of other small accessories.  

    The enthusiasm she showed in her e-mails before the first lesson carried over into the lesson itself as she was anxious to learn as much as I could teach her during the 2-hour lesson.  We covered all the things I usually do in a first lesson (using aperture priority mode, set focus mode, ISO, WB for a number of shooting situations, etc) but also how to use exposure compensation to try and stem the harsh midday lighting conditions on a summer Florida Saturday.  

    As we walked along the downtown waterfront area toward Vinoy Park we talked about photography and how she hopes to connect it to all the interesting people around her.  Even though we did get stuck in a bit of rain at the end of the lesson, we still took shelter under some trees to get in some flash portrait practice.  I look forward to our next lesson and seeing what gear Jordan buys between now and then. 

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