DSLR Photography Lesson with Lisa & her Nikon D3100 in Vinoy Park

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Vinoy Park St. Petersburg - Lisa with her Nikon D3100 & Tampa Bay in the backgroundI found out during our first DSLR Photography Lesson that Lisa is a very interesting person with many unique interests.  One interest she wanted to increase her knowledge on was photography and specifically how to better use her Nikon D3100 to photograph all the details and textures that catch her eye.  We met at the usual downtown St. Petersburg spot on a great Florida spring afternoon.

Living in Ybor City Lisa is never short of interesting places and things to go out and photograph.  I told her that my default settings for just heading out the door in usual Florida weather and walking around are:  f/5.6 ISO 200 (lowest for my DSLR) WB-sunny AF-S.  After going shooting in any type of situation it is a good practice to return your DSLR to these settings before storing it in your camera bag.  

Lisa was a fast learner and my pop quizzes asking her to tell me from memory what her D3100 was currently set to were all passes.  Knowing without looking what your camera is set to is key for catching a shot that has only a few seconds of opportunity.  Then of course being able to change the necessary settings in under five seconds is also key.  

Linda and I ended up in Vinoy Park where its seawall offers a chance to use S-curve composition.  Having an S-shaped line composed in your frame gives the viewer's eye something to follow throughout your image.  Most often you see roads used as S-curves.  

I look forward to seeing what photographs Lisa produces in Ybor City and later on her trip to Costa Rica! 

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    • DSLR Photography Lesson #2 with Malissa at John's Pass Village Canon 7D

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    Malissa waiting for a great blue heron to show its head at John's Pass Village - DSLR Photography LessonFor my second DSLR Photography Lesson with Malissa (1st lesson) we met at John's Pass Village on Madeira Beach.  We started out having a review session on the four primary settings one needs to know how to set for making any given photograph.  This time Malissa brought a notepad and took detailed notes as I gave default settings to use for photographing children's sports, how to get a good exposure indoors, etc.  

    After our chat we walked down the long row of shops along the main street of John's Pass Village looking for a good palm tree to photograph to send to one of Malissa's friends who lives in a much colder climate.  This was a chance to show the decision making process for which lens to use (wide or long) and what surrounding foreground elements to include, or not include, in the composition.  

    We later had a chance to try some wildlife photography as there are many birds hanging out on the boardwalk and this time some dolphins playing just around the pilings also!  I suggested that Malissa zoom in tight on a great blue heron sitting on a rooftop, as showing it standing on metal would take the viewer out of nature thinking.  So if you can see only bird in the shot, even if you have to compose its feet out of the frame, that is much better than letting some humanmade object intrude.

    John's Pass Village on that afternoon provided us with a very good variety of subject matter to practice shooting with.  Now with this second lesson of knowledge and her notes I look forward to seeing some of Malissa's improved action and nature shots! 

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    • 60th Birthday Party Photography at Pane Rustica Tampa

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    Pane Rustica Bakery event room - 60th Birthday Party CelebrationI had the chance to photograph a 60th birthday party at the Pane Rustica Bakery (restaurant) in Tampa recently.  I wondered what it would be like?  I can recall my own grandfather's 60th birthday party long ago.  We were all in Cape Cod, Massachusetts and were heading to the go-kart track, one of our favorite summer activities.  Naturally, some bumping of karts took place.  Well, on his 60th birthday party my grandfather was thrown out for bumping!  It is a very good memory of him that I have put in the vault.

    Pane Rustica Bakery event room - birthday cakeThere were no go-karts inside the restaurant of course, and to my knowledge no one was thrown out.  It was a formal, adult birthday party.  There was one very nice homemade decoration on display, however.  The photo posters showing family history were very interesting to me.  I really like to look at old photos, especially family ones to see what places used to look like, to see what photo prints used to look like.  Also, it took me some time to realize that the poster on the left did not in fact say "HAPPY GOTH" but rather "HAPPY 60th."  I was really wondering where the goth connection was . . .

    The birthday boy receiving kisses from his daughters - Pane Rustica Bakery event roomThe event space was exceptionally dark, but one good thing it did have going for it was a very tall and wide room dividing gray curtain that could be pulled out and extended as necessary.  It made for the perfect photography background.  Whenever someone wanted a photo, I just pulled out the curtain and was able to get both a good exposure and a clean background.

    The 60th Birthday Speech -- Pane Rustica Bakery event roomI have mostly successfully avoided having an organized birthday party since I was 12 years old.  Even as a kid I forbid the singing of the happy birthday song at my party.  The cake was brought out in silence.  Perhaps on my own 60th birthday party, should I be lucky enough to be able to attract such a large crowd of fans as seen above, I will yield and give a speech myself, though never to the birthday song!  However, I am a big fan of birthday party games like pin the tale on the donkey, musical chairs, etc.

    Family Birthday Celebration - Pane Rustica Bakery Tampa event roomI wonder if any of the above photographs will end up on a future birthday poster for him, perhaps for his 75th birthday celebration?  If I could, I would like to contact the person(s) who took the photographs on his 60th birthday poster and tell them that they did something valuable and continue to contribute to this person's life.  

    DSLR Photography Lesson at John's Pass Village Nikon D3100

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    Linda photographs a shark at John's Pass Village with her Nikon D3100 during our DSLR Photography Lesson #4At John's Pass Village Linda continued her torrid pace of taking DSLR Photography Lessons.  For our fourth lesson together (1st, 2nd, 3rd) we concentrated more on composition and seeing photographs when walking around a given tourist or travel area.  John's Pass Village is definitely a touristy place, but one I actually like a lot myself as it is heavier on nostalgia than kitsch.  

    I had not had a lesson at this location in awhile, so it was nice to go back and spend time along its quaint shops and candy stores.  However, a lot had changed since my last visit, including installation of many street light poles that were unwelcome intruders into scenes that were once free of such objects, as well as an artistic staircase losing some of its art appeal.  

    For followers of my flickr photostream, you may recognize that shark.  There is now a light post making it impossible to get the same composition I did two years ago (photo here).  Hopefully Linda will like her shark photo as much as I do mine.  Now when I go back there I feel like the shark is an old friend.

    The above photo is titled off horizontal axis on purpose since I could not otherwise fit both Linda and the shark in the frame.  This was the main composition tip I had Linda practice during the lesson.  Sometimes the best composition is not with everything in a straight line.  Sometimes you cannot fit all you want to in a level composition.  In these cases, off level composing can be very effective.  Of course as with all techniques, one should not become too reliant upon it, but rather maintain a variety of composition styles. 

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    • Madeira Beach St Petersburg Candid Portrait Family Photography at Sunset

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    Madeira Beach St. Petersburg Florida - Bliss Family watches the sunset over the Gulf of Mexico

    Over the winter I made a couple of visits to the section of Madeira Beach across from John's Pass Village.  I noted that it may make a good location for a future family beach portrait session because of its long stretch of empty beach, seawall and most of all the newly completed drawbridge.  Well, now that temps are in the high 70s the beach was no longer deserted and the seawall was covered with anglers.  However, it remained a good location as the drawbridge was mostly free of people.  

    Carie recently took a DSLR Photography Lesson and said how she was also interested in family portraits.  I am always very pleased to be able to provide multiple services to the same client.  I met Carie and her family (three kids, one husband) on a warm Saturday evening at the aforementioned Madeira Beach spot.  Carie herself ended up suggesting what turned out to be my favorite shot of the evening (see above).  This is the second family portrait session in a row where this has happened (see first here).

    I was very conscious of reflections during this candid family portrait session.In a candid family beach portrait session I take a few photos of the whole family together, stationary first, then set everyone loose to do what they like on the beach.  Carie's daughters took up a fascination with sailing a leaf down a tidal pool.  Decades ago I first learned how to skimboard in such a section of water.  

    Nikon D300 Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D @ f/4 ISO 200 1/1600th natural light - Madeira BeachCarie's family were great shoreline walkers maintaining a nice even plane (important for keeping everyone in focus) and perfect spacing between each other.  I told them to walk at a good pace too, as it would make for a more natural positioning and final image.  If one walks slowly, motion gets more deliberate and less pleasing to freeze in a frame.

    I wanted a turn myself! -- natural light Madeira Beach 15 minutes before sunsetThere has to be no greater joy for a child than to be tossed up into the air by their father!  Florida's pale blue evening sky always provides a pleasing background for a photo of any subject matter.  

    Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/125th Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4th power on light stand to frame rightI always like to get one photo of just the parents, which was a quick operation this time as Carie's son is very active and would not stay long in the care of his two big sisters.  The Gulf of Mexico was its typically calm self that evening.

    Up on the drawbridge over John's Pass!Above is the very last shot of the portrait session.  I saved the drawbridge for last, after sunset, thinking the sky will then produce some great color and Mother Nature cooperated with a range of purples to oranges.  

    I had a very good time photographing Carie and her family and trying out a new beach location.  Thanks Carie!

    1st Avenue North St. Petersburg DSLR Photography Lesson

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    Linda & her Nikon D3100 on our 3rd DSLR Photography Lesson - 1st Ave North, St. PetersburgLinda's intensive DSLR Photography Lessons continued this morning once again in downtown St. Petersburg.  This was her third lesson in seven days (1st, 2nd).  If only all my students were that frequent I could finally get that Porsche 911 Carrera S I have been wanting.  Speaking of Porsches, I find out that Linda has quite the knowledge of cars as she even knew a 911 from 1999 would still be the air-cooled version.  I was impressed.  

    For this 2-hour lesson block we mostly setup shop on 1st Avenue North around the 2nd Street North cross street.  This stretch of 1st Avenue North is lined with multiple storefronts all displaying different, vibrant colors (see photo above).  It is my favorite place to photograph people in downtown St. Pete.  

    We had practiced flash portrait photographs last time, so today I had Linda focus more on composition and style.  I introduced her to the wonders that can happen if you purposefully tilt the horizontal axis in your viewfinder and push the shutter.  The off center shot is not a style one would want to do a majority of the time, but I do like to toss in a few of this style of shot every now and then to spice things up.  

    I also had Linda shoot from a lower than eye-level perspective with her Nikon D3100 to produce a creative forced perspective portrait.  

    Having covered a most of the areas I like to shoot at in downtown St. Petersburg, our fourth lesson, already scheduled for Friday morning, will be at John's Pass Village! 

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    • DSLR Photography Lesson with Jack & his Nikon D300s

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    DSLR Photography Lesson with Jack & his Nikon D300s right inside Tyrone Mall!When Jack contacted me for a DSLR Photography Lesson with his Nikon D300s stating he wanted to learn how to photograph concerts, since we could not go to an actual live concert to practice, I suggested we head to Tyrone Mall to learn how to shoot in low light.  What resulted was a 2-hour lesson with a certain espionage feel to it as we took our chances in the dark corners of the Sears electronics department, Spencer's and some super dark clothing store with columns out front and surfer clothes inside that did not even bother to put the name of the store out front.

    In fact we were able to find low light spaces better than I had even hoped for allowing us to really practice what it would be like to shoot in a concert venue.  I basically had Jack shoot in manual mode all day as to get a sharp shot a certain minimum shutter speed had to be maintained, and we would then adjust the max aperture and max ISO as needed to get an acceptable exposure.  Jack also exclusively used his Nikkor AF-S 50mm f/1.4G lens.  I was impressed with its sharpness even at the max aperture of f/1.4.  

    However, we did get politely kicked out of a couple of the stores for taking photos inside them.  Sears did not mind at all though as we stayed there a good 20 minutes having the run of one entire aisle.  Not a single customer passed by in all that time, sadly, for Sears.  

    Jack now has a large set of practice photos that established aperture/shutter speed/ISO guidelines depending on if there are spotlights, movement or just diffused low light.  I hope he has a great time at the concert Wednesday night and returns with exciting photographs as well! 

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