St Petersburg Florida Commercial Photography - Suncoast Electric Vehicles Richard Nimphie

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Suncoast Electric Vehicles Personal EV electric car - St. Petersburg Florida commercial photographyI was excited this week to get a commercial photography job photographing Suncoast Electric Vehicles and its personal EV car and green van, as well as to meet the dealership owner, Richard Nimphie.  My supercar passion is well known, but for my about town car I would definitely also have an EV car of some kind.  I am surprised with all the people of means that live in my neighborhood, I have only seen one Chevy Volt driving around and no totally EVs at all.  I guess EVs are still pretty rare and hard to get no matter what car budget one has.

Richard Nimphie of Suncoast Electric Vehicles St. Petersburg Florida inside the Personal EVI have unknowingly driven by the Suncoast Electric Dealership on 4th Street North I estimate at least 180 times since it opened earlier this year and never noticed it, and I am a very observant person, especially for cars!  The signage is small and low and the building is surrounded by trees.  I might suggest to them to somehow making the dealership much more visible to passing cars.

Personal EV plug with body graphic leaving no doubt where to put it!Mr. Nimphie and his staff were very friendly answering my questions about their EVs and helping me setup photographs highlighting the features of EV cars, which of course are their lack of a need for gas and electrical outlet for a gas cap.  Thinking now I guess in the future there will be something like sold laptop docking station built into the walls of garages that everyone will just connect to when they return home in order to recharge.  Maybe that will not even be necessary as some sudden, burst recharging technology could be invented along just a few seconds of plugin time to be back on the road.

The GREENVAN EVC1000 at Suncoast Electric Vehicles at 2401 4th Street North St. Petersburg FloridaIf you drive less than 40 miles a day and stay on roads with speed limits 40mph and under, which would be nearly all roads in St. Petersburg, then the Personal EV would make a great way to start the future in your garage today.

SUNCOAST ELECTRIC VEHICLES official site

2401 4th Street North St. Petersburg, FL 33704

Photography Tip - Use Photoshop Clone Stamp Tool to clean backgrounds

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Top: the original RAW image Bottom: after using clone stamp tool to clean background

When I go around saying digital photography editing skills are 50% of what you need to produce a satisfactory final image, I really mean it even though every other photographer around would probably disagree with that.  I invite you to look at the above before and after shots and tell me in the comments below what percent digital editing had in helping the final image be all it could be.  

For this photography tip I will just concentrate on: 

  • how I used the clone stamp tool in Photoshop CS5 to clean up the background, i.e. removing the light posts and wires 

When I first pulled up this photo in Aperture 3, I really liked the bird in flight action.  The great egret was caught in an unusual mid-flap wing position.  However, the background was not clean and the egret's feet were overlapping a light post.  Then there was the corner of a roof intruding in the lower left of the frame.  Finally, there was a single tall light post on the right of the frame that was another distraction.  

To me the two things that really make a photograph of a common subject matter standout are light and background.  You need good light for a flattering exposure and a clean background to let the subject stand out.  While it is entirely possibly to be at a location where one can get both of these things just right, I, myself, do not want to be limited to just those exact right circumstances.  Hence, I have worked on my clone stamp skills with earnest.  

Now, if you have used the clone stamp tool in Photoshop you know it kind of has a mind of its own.  It almost never works like you want it too, especially if you use it in broad strokes.  First, in order to be able to use the clone stamp tool, you must have a source area in your photo you can sample from.  In the great egret shot, I have plenty of other gray clouds to sample to later stamp onto the light posts.  Really this is an ideal shot for using the clone stamp tool to fix because of the ample source cloning material, the relatively small amount of area that needs to be stamped on, and the fact that the subject does not much overlap any of the background distractions (just a bit of feet do).  

The shortcut for selecting the clone stamp tool is "S" and the key to using Photoshop efficiently is learning as many keyboard shortcuts as you can.  To change the size of the brush use the bracket keys:  ] and [   To sample an area hold the Option key (on a Mac) then click on the desired spot.  I very rarely use the clone stamp at 100% as that makes is hard to control and often artifacts are introduced.  For this shot I mostly used 80% opacity.  Once I sampled a cloud I stamped in ver short strokes, never more than one or two at a time.  Then I would go back and sample the same or another area.  Also, I almost always use a soft brush (see screenshot).  

So to summarize how I use the clone stamp tool in Photoshop CS5: 

  • "S" to select it
  • [ ] to change brush size
  • type 8 to change opacity to 80%, etc
  • Option-click to sample an area
  • Use short strokes
  • Resample every one or two strokes as needed 

Try this clone stamping technique on one of your photos and post a link in the comments below to a before and after shot, or e-mail the shot to me and I will include it in this post.

Bradenton Florida Wedding Photography - Kiera & Ricardo

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Bradenton Wedding Photography in Calvary Baptist Church - the bride, KieraI photographed my first wedding in Bradenton, Florida, which was held at the Calvary Baptist Church and then on to the nearby Renaissance banquet hall for the reception.  However, I first met Kiera in her family home that she grew up in.  As I walked up the staircase to the second floor the wall was lined with childhood photos of her and her siblings.  It was really nice to get to see some of her family history before taking one photograph that day.  Hopefully I will have produced a photograph worthy of placement on that wall.

The Bradenton bride getting ready - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 400 1/100th strobist: SB-800 on light stand to frame left & SB-600 on chair to frame rightOften, just by watching people I find shots I would not have thought of myself.  The mirror was on the far side of the bedroom and was not being used.  As I was getting ready to setup for a staircase shot, I saw Kiera go over and look into it.  I always like to get a reflection shot of some kind and after working a bit on the lighting logistics was able to get my second strobe placed so that I could both back and front light Kiera without producing any glare in the mirror.

Entire wedding party in Calvary Baptist Church Bradenton FloridaThe wedding party was rather large and included four energetic kids and one very long wedding dress train.  This was perhaps the most difficult shot all day to get right as on top of the tech stuff for producing this kind of shot (off camera flash, correct exposure in a large dim room, etc) I had to make sure eighteen people all lined up without significantly blocking anyone and keep them all from trodding on the bride's beautiful, but expansive, wedding dress.

A riverfront location picked by the bride in Bradenton Florida after the wedding ceremonyThe bride had mentioned going to a riverfront location after the ceremony, which I thought sounded good.  The more environments I can photograph the bride and groom in the better.  However, after the ceremony the bride was not so sure of making the effort to go out there and perhaps we would all just head to the reception.  I highly recommended that we make the effort to go out to the riverfront because ten years from now I am sure she will be glad that we had.  This is also part of the professional wedding photographer's job.  

Bride & Groom action shot after their Bradenton Florida wedding by the limoThe above shot was my idea as I always want to try and include some action shots if possible, even during a wedding.  Kiera & Ricardo would good about following my suggestions for shot ideas despite both of them wearing far more restrictive clothing than myself.  This was a spontaneous shot I did not have preplanned, just thought we could do something on our way to the riverfront.

Wedding Bliss under the bride's veil in Bradenton Florida - natural lightThis shot, however, was preplanned as soon as I saw Kiera putting on the veil in her grandmother's bedroom.  It is always great when the bride wears a large veil.  With the wind it took a bit of finagling to get the veil as good as we could and keep it from blowing all over the place.  I think this was the time Kiera & Ricardo enjoyed the most while I was photographing them that day. 

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    • DSLR Photography Lesson with Barbie & her Nikon D700

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    Nikon D700 DSLR Photography student Barbie in downtown St. PetersburgI was first contacted by Barbie back in December.  She sent a very enthusiastic e-mail.  However, due to various circumstances, we were unable to have our first DSLR Photography Lesson until just today.  Her enthusiasm never waned over those three months and resulted in today one of the most enjoyable lessons I have had in the nearly two years I have been offering 1-on-1 photography lessons in St. Petersburg.  Barbie was just like I expected her to be from her impassioned e-mails.  It is always nice to be around an enthusiastic person.  

    Barbie was given a very generous present late last year, a Nikon D700!  The D700 is a pro-level DSLR and definitely not the usual camera one first ventures into the DSLR world with!  So it is understandable to be a little intimidated by its complete lack of auto-exposure presets, labyrinth of menu settings and just overall physical girth.  However, the ergonomics of the D700 are excellent allowing for quick changing of all the major settings:  aperture, ISO, WB and focus mode, all of which have their own dedicated button or switch in the case of focus mode.

    As of right now Barbie has just one lens, the Nikkor AF-S 70-300mm f/3.5-5.6G, so we mostly practiced making photographs with bokeh and photographing moving subjects, two things that lens is best suited for.  I expect Barbie will soon be putting those skills to use to make action shots of her golden retrievers.  

    Barbie is already booked for three more lessons.  I am sure with her enthusiasm and strong motivation to be able to photograph everyone around her, we will continue to have fun and knowledge filled photography lessons. 

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    • Home Instead Senior Care Ribbon Cutting Event St. Petersburg

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    Ribbon Cutting Ceremony for an event at Home Instead Senior Care St. PetersburgThere is a certain timing to photographing a ribbon cutting event that I have learned from experience.  Here is my methodology:  first, get everyone's attention and say look here (at your lens).  Take that photo with the scissors raised to the ribbon as a just in case shot.  Then say, "ok, cut!"  Wait half a second, then shoot away and you can capture the ribbon in free fall as seen above, which is my preferred shot, rather than just everyone standing behind an uncut ribbon.  Waiting half a second allows time for the ribbon to fall, and just in case the person has trouble with the big, ceremonial scissors which tend not to work that well.  No troubles cutting at Home Instead Senior Care of St. Petersburg this morning though!

    St. Petersburg event photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/8 ISO 400 1/100th SB-800 Speedlight on hotshoeOne corner of Home Instead Senior Care felt like the Price Is Right with its spinning prize wheel.  Someone working there has good crafts skills!  The woman above won the largest prize available.  I heard (very) faint rumors of a car being a prize, but since it was not a Ferrari 458 Italia, I had no interest in plying my luck.

    Home Instead Senior Care of St. Petersburg ribbon cutting ceremony cakeAlas, I was not on site long enough for cake cutting time.  Though this was a win for my sugar intake for the day, it was a great loss to the large portion of my mind that is ever searching for the next piece of cake, or pie, or pastry, or donut, or . . .  

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    • Parkshore Grill Tyson Grant Commercial Photography St. Petersburg

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    Chef Tyson Grant of Parkshore Grill - Nikon D300 Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D @ f/5.6 ISO 400 1/250th Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight @ 1/4 power on light stand to frame right & SB-600 @ 1/8 power behind subjectThis afternoon I met Chef Tyson Grant of Parkshore Grill on 300 Beach Drive in downtown St. Petersburg for a commercial photography shoot.  As he was changing into a clean white chef's coat I scouted the restaurant for the best spot to make his portrait.  I thought the area behind the bar was the most distinctive background, but I ended up blurring most of it anyway as you can see in the final shot which was tighter than I first envisioned as well.  

    Parkshore Grill at 300 Beach Drive St. Petersburg Florida - outdoor cafe style dining is available all along Beach DriveBeach Drive has many restaurants running along its wide sidewalks, most all of which offer outside eating options.  On a pleasant sunny March afternoon like this one, most of the umbrella covered tables were occupied.  The area in front of the Parkshore Grill was very busy and I could not frame a shot to my liking, so I had to cross the street and include some of the surroundings to get a shot I liked of the exterior of the restaurant.

    Chef Tyson Grant of Parkshore Grill 300 Beach Drive St. PetersburgAnother central feature of the interior of Parkshore Grill was a winding staircase leading to a raised dining area in front of the kitchen.  Chef Grant said he liked this staircase so I setup the above shot having to carefully position both of my strobes so that they were close enough to him to light him up, but not so close that they got into the shot.  Using portrait orientation solved most of that dilemma and allowed the staircase to flow nicely into the foreground.

    Thank you to Chef Tyson Grant for his time this afternoon.  It was a fast, but fun and interesting commercial photography shoot for me.  Visit the Parkshore Grill website.