Photography Tip - recharge your batteries, right away!

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Eneloop rechargeable batteries hold their charge well, so I do not worry about leaving them in my camera bag for weeks.So you have a spare battery for your DSLR camera and even an extra set of batteries for your external flash.  That's great!  Are both sets of batteries fully charged right now?  Often the last thing a photographer wants to do after shooting a 4-hour event or an 8-hour wedding when getting home is taking out the old battery charger and loading it up with drained batteries.  Yet recharging your dead batteries right away is a photography tip I highly recommend.  There are several reasons for this: 

  • What if you suddenly get a big job the next day? 

This happened to me just last month.  A contact at the Treasure Island Yacht & Tennis Club called me up saying there was an event going on right now that they wanted a photographer for.  At the time I was on the other side of Tampa Bay, an hour away, and did not have any of my gear with me.  I was still able to take the job though because there was still time for me to cruise across the Howard Franklin (traffic free at that time) grab my camera bag, and head to the yacht club.  If all my batteries were not already charged, I would have had to of either shot conservatively over the 3-hour job (totally not ideal) or further delayed my arrival on the job site by stopping to buy some AA batteries at CVS.   

  • One less thing to worry about before shooting an all day wedding 

In the days before shooting a long wedding (6 to 10 hours) there are a lot of things a wedding photographer has to make final checks on.  Therefore, I do not want to have recharging all my batteries on that list as well.   

  • What if the job goes long? 

Maybe the event planner underestimates the time they needed a photographer for.  You were told it would just be an hour long job.  Only one set of batteries was charged, but you knew that would be more than enough for just an hour of shooting.  Then they want you to stay on for another two hours.  It would be terrible to have to say no because you do not have the batteries to do it, or have to leave the site to get more batteries, assuming the piece of gear you need batteries for does not use proprietary ones. 

  • I'm not a pro photographer, should I be so strict about keeping my batteries charged? 

Yes!  Just like a wedding photographer the day before a wedding, a parent on the day before a big family day trip has a mile long checklist of things to get ready.  Recharging batteries could easily get forgotten or not remembered in time.  It is extremely wise policy for the hobbyist shooter to adopt as many pro photographer habits as possible.  This is from personal experience.  I used to not be as serious when just photographing my family and friends on day trips, etc, but then there were just too many "forgot the memory card," "left bracketing on," mistakes so I prepared to photograph those fun, personal events just like (almost) I would a paid professional event.

Julia Gorzka Social Media Breakfast at USF St Pete

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Julia Gorzka speaking at USF St Pete about social media and business

USF St. Petersburg campus has an ongoing monthly series of breakfast lectures on various business aspects.  I have attended many in the past, but since my business is only a sole proprietorship, they have not all been applicable to my own business needs.  Still, I usually pick up a tip or two and they are good networking opportunities, plus USF provides a free breakfast!  This morning's breakfast lecture by Julia Gorzka on social media, however, was very relevant to how I run my business.  

Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8 @ f/2.8 ISO 800 1/320th Nikon SB-800 Speedlight hotshoe mounted in TTL modeI have been on Twitter for years and have been building and promoting my photography business heavily on Facebook for over a year.  In fact I raised my hand and offered my own opinion on how Twitter can be used to build a business.  What I did learn from Julia is that I need a YouTube channel specifically for my photography business so that potential clients can see me and hear my voice.  This has actually been buried on my to-do list for months and months, but it just got bumped to the top of the queue thanks to Julia's presentation.

USF St Pete puts out a pretty good breakfast spread nowThe turnout for these monthly breakfasts has really increased since the first one I went to that had maybe fifteen people.  In fact, the lectures were moved to another building into a much larger room.  The free breakfast has greatly improved too.  It used to be just donuts, fine with me of course, but I did feel guilt eating two donuts at 8am.  Now with fresh fruit and croissants added to the donut and pastry choice, I felt no guilt and really appreciated the efforts USF St Pete is going through to help local businesses.   

DSLR Photography Lesson #2 with Craig

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Craig is not shy about asking if he can photograph people in public with his Nikon D60Craig and I met at the same downtown St. Petersburg location as our first lesson just a little over two week ago, only this time to my surprise a large event (SPCA 3km pet walk) was going on.  This was a bonus as Craig really likes to photograph people and is not afraid at all to ask someone if he can take their photo.  I would say he photographed at least 6 different people up close!

Me of course, I'm shy and my street photography is done with a 80-200mm f/2.8 lens.  However, what I do not need to teach Craig in boldness, I still was able to offer him some new tips and techniques for shooting in such unpredictable event lighting without a flash.  I was able to convince him that using manual exposure mode would in fact be easier, not harder, than using aperture priority mode.  That's what I especially like to do during lessons, eliminate fear and show that DSLR photography is not super mysterious.  Well, it's a little mysterious of course, but there are answers to all questions, so no need to hold onto photographer fears (for example not shooting in RAW mode -- just get Aperture 3, import the RAWs and it processing them all automatically, you will never even know you are not working with JPGs anymore).

Actually, at the end of the lesson we did talk about some quick editing tips as Craig brought his laptop with him and showed me some family portraits I took.  I immediately gave him the sound advice someone once gave me, "I see no portrait orientation shots.  Take portrait orientation shots."  

The whole 2-hour lesson time passed by fast again.  Maybe next time I might meet Craig more toward his neck of the woods, Lutz! 

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    • Auburn Storm Sky Wedding on Sand Key Florida

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    Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 400 1/100th Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight on light stand to frame leftYou may already recognize Olivia from her bride series entry several weeks ago, so allow me to introduce her husband Felix.  Their Florida beach wedding on Sand Key finished just before a huge storm swept in.  That was the good news.  The bad was Olivia really wanted sunset backdrop portraits and in my long time Florida resident opinion, it was just not going to be possible.  However, I was obviously proven wrong as the storm was extremely fast moving and left enough time for the portraits Olivia hoped for.  The bonus was the leftover stormy skies provided a unique and dramatic background.

    Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/800th Nikon SB-800 Speedlight hotshoe mountedEven during the ceremony the storm clouds were already visible.  The above is my first try at a new wedding ceremony shot for when a bride wears a long veil -- using the veil to frame the foreground in order to feature the groom.  The bride always gets so much attention, I want to try and do something for the groom when I can.

    Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/200th Strobist -- Nikon SB-800 Speedlight on light stand to frame rightThis throwing stones into the ocean was a new custom for me to photograph at a beach wedding.  The beast of a storm in the background is on its way south to rain upon St. Petersburg.

    Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 400 1/100th Strobist -- Nikon SB-800 Speedlight on light stand to frame leftThe flower girl and her big sister were no worse for ware after the rain delay.  They were staying dry in their family van, me I was out in the semi-protected cover of a changing area listening to the storm carefully.

    Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 400 1/60th Strobist -- Nikon SB-800 Speedlight on light stand to frame leftSo it all turned out well and ended with smiles and even a pirate ship!  Rain is a reality in Florida, especially in the summer time, but even if it comes, a photographer should be patient and wait it out until the last possible moment to see if a few more shots can be made.  Plus I always am aware of my surroundings and note where I can take cover should sudden rain come besides keeping a rain jacket next to my gear.

    Karen & James Beach Wedding at Sand Key Florida

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    Sunset wedding portrait using a 2-strobe setup on Sand Key Beach FloridaKaren and James had perfectly clear western skies for their beach wedding at Sand Key.  Such conditions are actually rare.  It is not often the sun can be seen all the way down to the horizon for a Gulf of Mexico sunset.  

    Another 2-strobe setup facing the opposite direction on Sand Key FloridaHowever, turning around to the east offered an entirely different sky.  As usually happens in late summer, storms roll in from the hotter inland parts of Florida, sometimes reaching the coast.  We were fortunate this time as we got the benefit of having the dramatic storms clouds as a portrait background, but with none of the rain!

    Humor and glamour abound with Karen's daughtersLast night I came up with a new mathematical photography formula:

    wedding portrait (constant) + children (variable) = unknown

    Often it is these types of images that get the most feedback and comments from everyone!  I believe in 20 years, this type of photograph will produce the most reaction still.

    Steam shovel Digging on a Twilight Florida Beach

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    Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/4 ISO 200 4s tripod mounted with cable releaseAs a child I had huge Tonka trucks made of metal that I played with in a large sandbox.  As I looked at the photo above, it reminded me that the first time I ever thought about having a job, I thought I wanted to operate a steam shovel.  It seemed like a really cool job, and still does!  During a recent DSLR photography lesson on what should have been a dead peaceful Sunset Beach, there was instead an incredible noise coming from the steam shovel and dump truck working into the early night repairing the erosion damage caused by a large storm a few days earlier.  

    At first I thought what rotten luck to have that racket going on during a lesson.  However, it did give us a chance for a pretty unique photo opportunity.  Photographing the twilight sky from a beach in Florida is nothing rare, but having an active construction site in the foreground of that twilight sky is.  

    Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/4 ISO 200 2s tripod mounted with cable releaseI wonder if the steam shovel operator felt uneasy having so much of the Gulf of Mexico to his/her back?  Did they have any irrational fear that they would slip back and sink into deep water?  Into the brine?  I did.  I guess I prefer to be a daylight, solid ground steam shovel operator.