DSLR Photography Lesson with Jeni & her new Nikon D5100

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Jeni got a Nikon D5100 for her birthday replacing her old D50If my memory is correct, this was the first instance of a same day lesson, by that I mean I received a contact form inquiry from Jeni via my website when I woke up this morning, and then by 6:20pm this evening we were having our first DSLR Photography Lesson.  She received a brand new Nikon D5100 for her birthday this week.  She had a Nikon D50 previously, so she was not entirely new to the DSLR world.  However, like a majority of my past students, she was mostly only shooting on auto-mode, or one of the other preset modes.  I of course told her she will never use any of those again!

While teaching Jeni how to produce a photograph with bokeh, we made the unfortunate discovery that her Quantaray 70-300mm lens could not be autofocused by her D5100 as that DSLR lacks an in-body focusing motor.  So we manually focused that lens to produce one example of good bokeh for her to take note of in her notebook.  The notes she took should serve as a great reminder when she next goes out to shoot by herself.  The first lesson especially covers a lot of photography settings, so I would advise any future student to take notes as well.

We finished the lesson out at Vinoy Park just as the sun was setting behind the Vinoy Hotel itself.  Jeni is very interested in portrait photography, and has even done some for her friends already.  Since I am a big believer in strobist photography, I strongly suggested that the next piece of photography gear she invest in be an external flash.  Still, just using her Nikon D5100's pop-up flash we were able to practice making sunset portraits with decent results.  

Jeni has three young daughters so she has plenty of portrait volunteers to practice on at home!  I look forward to seeing her put to use the photography knowledge from our lesson!

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    Sacred Heart Church Palma Ceia Country Club Tampa Wedding

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    Sacred Heart Church Tampa Wedding Ceremony - f/8 ISO 200 0.8s on tripod with cable releaseThe wedding of Ryan and Monica was the grandest wedding I have been involved in photographing so far.  Monica's father must really, really love her!  This was also my first opportunity to not only photograph a wedding inside the spectacular Sacred Heart Church in downtown Tampa, but just to see inside of it after long admiring its large circular stained glass window on its front face.

    The groom getting some necktie help from his father - f/8 ISO 800 1/100th SB-800 Speedlight hotshoe mountedMy day started out photographing the groom getting ready in his spacious waterfront room in the Tampa Marriott Waterside.  The NBA channel was on and causing a bit of distraction as one of the classic playoff series between the 90s Knicks and Pacers was being broken down game by game!  Everyone in the room got a bit caught up in it.  

    The bride getting assistance with her floor length veil - f/5.8 ISO 800 1/200th SB-800 Speedlight hotshoe mountedI was next on my way to the Sacred Heart Church to photograph the bride as her assistant helped her put the last, tricky touches on getting her head to toe length veil just right.  The woman helping the bride seemed like an expert, but to my ears she spoke mostly only Italian!  It made me feel like I was in a movie to be inside such a architecturally rich church, seeing an enormous veil enveloping the bride, being put on by an old, petite Italian woman.

    Palma Ceia Country Club Wedding Reception Ballroom - f/5.8 ISO 800 1/80th SB-800 Speedlight hotshoe mountedThe reception was at the Palma Ceia Country Club where I photographed a wedding last October.  I thought I knew what to expect but the reception this time was in a much different room and even the manager said he had never seen the room decorated like it had been.  The preparations started at 5:30am that morning he told me.

    Wedding day hugs and congratulations - f/5.6 ISO 800 1/80th SB-800 Speedlight hotshoe mountedOne type of shot I always look for is what I refer to in my mind is the "hug & kiss" time for the bride & groom as they receive congratulations from the wedding guests.  To me the intensity of this time tells me a lot about the wedding, the newlywed couple, and the types of relationships they have with everyone at the wedding.  The hugging at this wedding, as you can see above, was as impressive as every other aspect of this lavish, emotional wedding.

    Digital Editing Challenge 01 - boat bow

    DIGITAL EDITING CHALLENGE is a new feature on Jason Collin Photography.  Download the source photo of the original, then edit it to be as close to my own edit of the photograph.  I fully expect some of you to be able to do an even better job than I did.  Place a link to your edit in the comments below and I will add it to the body of this blog post with name credit.  After the challenge is closed (time to be determined) I will update this blog post with how I made my edit.  Thanks for taking the challenge!

    EDITS THAT NEED TO BE MADE: 

    • basic color & contrast correction
    • removal of poles and ropes
    • change water color 

    GOOD LUCK & THANKS FOR TAKING THE CHALLENGE! 

    • post a link to your edit in the comments below 

    Guitarist Promotional Materials & Album Cover Shoot Pass-A-Grille Beach Part 2

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    Commercial Photography for guitarist promotion - f/9 ISO 200 1/250th SB-800 to frame right SB-600 to frame left

    A grainy, holga, look is what guitarist Nathan (artist name Redd Sun) told me he wanted for the edited versions of the photographs I made for him during our commercial photography shoot on Pass-A-Grille Beach.  I kept that information in mind the whole time I was shooting, despite the setting sun providing a plethora of color in the wide Florida sky that evening.  The grainy look is one of the things that interested me most about this shoot because 99% of the time when shooting on the beach vivid color shots are desired.  I saw this as an opportunity to produce something different, something . . . simpler.

    Commercial Photography for guitarist promotion - f/4 ISO 200 1/400th natural lightAfter seeing the results of this shoot, I may do an entire series of black & white beach shots.  The holga effect was applied to the above photograph using the awesome Silver Efex Pro, which if you do not have it and you like black & white, then you need to get Silver Efex Pro immediately!

    Commercial Photography for musician promotion - f/4 ISO 200 1/400th natural lightI centered the subject (Nathan) much more than I normally would during this shoot because I knew that type of composition best lent itself to the holga effect with its harsh vertical edge burning.  This is why it is always very important to previsualize a shot, or a whole shoot even, before pressing the shutter.

    Photography Lesson with Dayna & her Canon PowerShot SX130 IS

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    A first, a non-dslr photography lesson . . . Dayna & her Canon PowerShot SX130 ISThis morning's DSLR Photography Lesson was a first, in that it was not actually a DSLR lesson.  Visiting from Pennsylvania I made an exception for Dayna who has a Canon PowerShot SX130 IS point & shoot camera.  It actually had more manual controls than I thought.  The reason I do not offer photography lessons for P&S cameras is that they do not have enough (or any) manual controls, but most of all they are all so different it is impossible for me to know how to change settings on them in any kind of timely manner.  In contrast, I am familiar with all Nikon & Canon DSLR models, and also several Pentax and Sony DSLRs too.  

    For anyone that thinks a photography lesson can begin with teaching composition or photography theory, when the student does not already know about aperture, ISO, WB and focus modes, well that cannot be done, or at least the student will get nothing out of it because they will still be hungup on what aperture they should be using, etc, not if they used the rule of thirds properly.

    This was reinforced today with Dayna's lesson.  I thought I would just be teaching her how I look for and make shots, as we discussed via e-mail before, but I could not do that without first teaching her how to properly use aperture, ISO, WB and focus modes.  I firmly believe any potential photographer must first learn how to make a properly exposed, sharp image before even thinking about trying to produce the next National Geographic cover.  

    So in this way Dayna and I largely had a typical lesson.  I taught her my settings progression (see above) and which settings to use in a variety of situations.  I also showed her the limits of her camera, so she knows if her hometown newspaper asks her to go photograph sports or any other type of moving subject, the camera they have supplied her with is not capable of it (due to 1 frame per second or slower drive speed).  More importantly, I helped her learn what her camera is capable of doing when used in manual mode, especially regarding getting that all important correct exposure.  The P&S's Av mode (aperture priority) was not good at all.  However, when we took over choosing the shutter speed it could produce solid images.

    I hope Dayna enjoys the rest of her Florida visit and goes back and impresses her editors with her new photography knowledge!

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    Guitarist Promotional Materials & Album Cover Shoot Pass-A-Grille Beach Part 1

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    Guitarist Musician Promo Shoot - Pass-A-Grille Beach St. Petersburg Florida Commercial Photography

    To state it simply, this was one of the best shoots I have ever done, in all aspects.  Nathan (artist name Redd Sun) contacted me about making some photographs for use as his own promotional materials for his music as he liked the style of this vanishing point photograph.  The photographs in this post are obviously not that style, rather these are my own favorites from the shoot.  In post Part 2 I will put the shots Nathan chose edited in the grainy style he requested.  

    What made this shoot one of the best, if not the best, for me was how Nathan wanted to be photographed.  He told me at the start that he did not want any poses or anything like that.  Of course I specialize in candid style so this was perfect for me.  He then said just photograph him as he changed his guitar strings and then as he played.  This could not have been more ideal instructions for me.  The bonus was I got to listen to his guitar playing while shooting, which I really believe helped me capture the types of shots he wanted.  Normally I just shoot in silence.  This gives me the idea to bring along a music source of some kind for future shoots.

    Guitarist Musician Promo Shoot - natural light portrait on Pass-A-Grille Beach St. Petersburg FloridaI (we) was also lucky in that the Pass-A-Grille Beach was not that crowded, there was a great sunset and the natural light before sunset time was fantastic (see above natural light photograph).  This natural light allowed me to roam freely with my preferred Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens on my Nikon D300.

    Guitarist profile shot for promotional materials - Pass-A-Grille Beach St. Petersburg Florida commercial photographyOf course I also used my own personally developed two-strobe setup for proper sunset shots.  Even in the above shot, however, the photograph remained a candid as Nathan seemed to not notice me setup my lights around him and just kept on playing.

    Guitarist silhouette promotional shot - Pass-A-Grille Beach St. Petersburg Florida commercial photographyEven though we were at basically the same location for the entire one-hour shoot due to the ability to make both natural light and strobist shots, as well as using three different lenses, I was able to provide Nathan with a wide variety of shot styles.  

    I really look forward to seeing how Nathan uses the photographs in his promotional materials.  Part 2 of this photo shoot, to come soon.

    Cadillac CTS with Model Tampa Commercial Car Photography

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    Model: Amber Car: Cadillac CTS setup: f/5.6 ISO 200 1/200th strobist: SB-800 @ 1/2 power to frame left, SB-600 @ 1/2 power to frame center-right

    I returned to the Tampa Convention Center for another commercial car photography shoot, this time though, with the added bonus of having a great model, Amber (her website).  I was really excited about this project when contacted by the client and am very pleased with the resulting photographs.  I have photographed cars before, and models too, but never a car & model together, thus the extra enthusiasm for this particular Tampa shoot.

    I used my typical two speedlight strobist setup for all the shots.  I mostly used the setting sun as a third, backlight source (see highlights on Amber's hair).  To setup the shots I first directed the client where and how to park his Cadillac CTS.  Then I showed Amber what type of pose I would like for the shot.  Next I setup my speedlights around her.  After this much setup the shooting part is easy, especially since Amber did her job very well.  All this allowed me to put into a photograph what I first envisioned in my mind.  

    Model: Amber Car: Cadillac CTS setup: f/9 ISO 200 1/200th strobist: SB-800 @ 1/2 power to frame left SB-600 at 1/2 power to frame back-rightI do not normally use my speedlights at 1/2 power, which is a lot, but the sun was really strong so using 1/2 power created the amount of fill light I wanted.  I also purposefully tried to create some lens flare in shots, as seen in the above photo.  I also wanted to make sure to leave some color in the sky and not have it just washed out white.  The Tampa Convention Center can be seen in the background.

    Model: Amber Car: Cadillac CTS setup: f/8 ISO 200 1/200th Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power to frame left SB-600 @ 1/4 power to frame rightI really like Amber's pose in the above shot.  It was not easy for her to do so either while balancing on the front fender of the Cadillac CTS.  I set my speedlights to only 1/4 power this time because I did not have to over power the sun to light Amber how I wanted to.  Thanks again to the client and Amber for a very smooth, very effortless car & model shoot.