Sheraton Sand Key Beach Wedding Clearwater Florida

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Sheraton Sand Key Clearwater beach wedding - Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/200th STROBIST: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight @ 1/4 power on light stand with reflective umbrella frame leftI have photographed dozens of beach weddings over the past few years, but this was only my second daytime (i.e. non-sunset time) wedding.  The first was just over a year ago and lasted only an hour, but I still remember the heat from that one!  This wedding was two hours and a little later in the year, so I prepared myself accordingly.  

This wedding was for current DSLR Photography Lesson student Chris & his bride Valentina.  I actually first met Chris briefly over a decade ago during my USF days.  For the above photo Valentina wanted a shot that featured the back of her wedding dress.  I thought black & white made the dress stand out from the background.

Sheraton Sand Key Clearwater beach wedding - Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/11 ISO 200 1/500th Nikon SB-800 TTL mode hotshoe mountedShooting a ceremony that starts at 10:30am means basically shooting in direct, harsh sunlight, i.e. the least ideal conditions.  Still, as a professional photographer one is expected to produce results.  This starts with altering expectations as of course I will not be able to produce any of my trademark stunning sunset portraits.  However, I can get very vivid blues still.  

Sheraton Sand Key Clearwater beach wedding - Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/11 ISO 200 1/320th SB-800 hotshoe mounted @ 1/4 powerI could also focus on my prefered candid style of shooting, like in the above shot of Valentina and Chris right after their first kiss as husband and wife.  Despite the power of the sunlight, I did have the one advantage of the couple facing the sun during the ceremony allowing for the best possible exposure given the conditions.

Sheraton Sand Key Clearwater beach wedding - Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/11 ISO 200 1/320th Nikon SB-800 Speedlight TTL mode hotshoe mounted This group shot is of everyone in attendance at the wedding.  The goal is to make sure everyone's head is visible.  I took a new approach this time asking people to please just stand still!  I would get the left side of the group all aligned then go to do the right and turn around to see the people on the left mingling amongst themselves again.  Finally I had to be firm and say please stand still or we will all melt in the sun!  For all future group shots I will start out with this firmness as you may find it hard to believe but adults cannot stand still either, just like kids!

Sheraton Sand Key Clearwater beach wedding - Nikon D80 with Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D lens @ f/8 ISO 200 1/640th Nikon SB-600 in TTL mode hotshoe mountedThe width of the Gulf of Mexico makes it tempting to only shoot landscape orientation shots, but I think it is important to produce a variety of shots, including ones like the above portrait orientation shot.  I still concentrate the most on getting the horizon level be it landscape or portrait orientation as my photo students know I am a stickler for level horizons.  

Sheraton Sand Key Clearwater beach wedding - Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 @ f/11 ISO 200 1/250th Nikon SB-800 Speedlight TTL mode hotshoe mountedNo sunset in the background, but the Gulf of Mexico at any time of day still makes for a pretty good backdrop.  I asked Chris if he could dip Valentina for me.  Surprisingly, he chose this kind of dip rather than putting her into the Gulf!

Sheraton Sand Key Clearwater beach wedding - Nikon D80 with Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D lens @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/160th Nikon SB-600 Speedlight TTL mode hotshoe mountedThe reception was also out in mostly direct sunlight, but nearby was a shady refreshment stand the guests hung out in until the food was ready to be served.  This is where I was able to get this candid shot of Valentina and her son.  

50mm DSLR Photography Lesson with Pam & her Canon 60D

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50mm lenses are by far the most fun for the money in the DSLR worldMy third of four lessons with Pam was a 50mm lens only DSLR Photography Lesson.  If you do not have a 50mm lens yourself, well, get on Amazon or BH Photo and order one immediately as they are the cheapest lens made, but also one of the most fun to use.  It is very, very rare in the DSLR photography world to get a great piece of gear for under $150, but that's just what you get with a 50mm f/1.8 lens.  There is no better value for money in photography, not even close.  

50mm lenses are great at easily producing bokeh since they have such large apertures.  What I told Pam at the beginning of the lesson was that it is no skill to produce bokeh using a 50mm lens, but there is a big difference in quality of bokeh depending on what the background elements of the shot are.  What works really well?  A string of lights works great.  In the above photo trees in a park along the St. Petersburg waterfront are decorated with strings of white-blue lights.  I set the focus on Pam intending to make the lights of the trees into round glowing bokeh orbs.  No flash was used and I handheld the shot.  That is the power of the 50mm f/1.8 lens!

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    External Flash DSLR Photography Lesson with Barbie & her Nikon D700

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    Barbie and her Nikon D700 with new Nikon SB-900 Speedlight! Flash is necessary for sunset portraits like this.Lately everytime Barbie and I have another DSLR Photography Lesson she comes with another significant new piece of photography gear.  For our fourth of four lessons Barbie debuted her new flagship Nikon Speedlight, the large and powerful SB-900.  Also, she got a BlackRapid RS-7 strap similar to my RS-Sport model! It was my first time to get hands on with the most powerful speedlight Nikon makes and although I was impressed with its power, there were some quirks with its controls.  Like to adjust the power there is not just a plus and minus adjustment button, another button must be pressed first to select the power on the rear LCD screen.  

    To practice sunset and twilight portraits Barbie and I headed out to Vinoy Park which offers a great background of the downtown St. Petersburg waterfront to the west and to the southeast is The Pier and a panoramic view of Tampa Bay.  It is my favorite spot in the whole city.  

    To get the most natural looking flash portraits in low light we had to use our speedlights in manual mode, dialing in low levels of power like 1/64th so as to not blow out the subjects (us).  Barbie will be buying another 4-pack of DSLR Photography Lessons starting on Friday when we will continue our flash practice, and get the flash off the camera!

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    Commercial Wedding Shoot with Models at Courtyard Marriott St. Petersburg Florida

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    Commercial Wedding Photography on historic tile floor at Courtyard Marriott -- SETUP: f/5.6 1/80th ISO 400 STROBIST: SB-800 @ 1/2 power with shoot-through umbrella on light stand 9' high behind model & SB-600 @ 1/4 power with diffuser cap to frame right held by assistantThis was my most complex indoor shoot to date involving two models, two makeup artists, a dress designer, a florist, a caterer, a hotel sales manger and one photographer's assistant.  I am very happy to say it turned out to be perhaps my best indoor photography work to date.  It is very satisfying when a big team effort results in such final images.  

    I had worked with the bride model, Nancy, before on a commercial fashion shoot in Safety Harbor.  The sales manager, Ryan, of the Courtyard Marriott, who hired me to makes these images, I had met in weeks past at a networking event then in subsequent meetings discussing various photography projects.  My photographer's assistant was Natasha, a former DSLR Photography Lesson student.  When you can have that many people you already know on a photo job, it makes it much more comfortable.

    The above shot of Nancy sitting on the historic tile floor of the hotel was my idea, which I came up with on a survey of the hotel a few weeks before the shoot itself.  I am standing on a marble staircase (pictured below) offering the perfect logistics to make this kind of shot.  I wanted to go with a muted light setup producing a bit of a natural vignette to the image as I chose to most prominently light the model in the center.

     St. Petersburg Commercial Wedding Photography - Models Brad & Nancy framed by arching historic doorways - SETUP: f/4 ISO 200 1/60th STROBIST: SB-800 @ 1/4 power with reflective umbrella on light stand to frame left & SB-600 @ 1/4 power with diffuser cap to frame right held by assistantThis archway shot was another I had previsioned during a location scout of the hotel.  I really like repeating patterns and these archways caught my eye right away.  There were actually three arches, but the first one could not be worked into the shot.  This photograph turned out just as I had imagined.  

    St. Petersburg Commercial Wedding Photography - Nancy reflected in the swimming pool - SETUP: f/5.6 ISO 200 1/100th STROBIST: SB-800 @ 1/2 power with shoot-through umbrella on light stand to frame left & SB-600 @ 1/2 power with diffuser cap to frame right held by assistantThe bride reflected in the pool was another pre-planned shot.  As you might be able to tell, being able to scout a location some time before the scheduled shoot is advantageous as one then can move from location to location and concentrate more on executing the shot at best as possible rather than where will the next shot even be.  Again, I am pleased with how the shot turned out because due to the width of the pool I could not get my speedlights that close to Nancy, but as it turned out there was no lack of light for the shot.

    St. Petersburg Commercial Wedding Photography - Models Brad & Nancy on the historic marble staircase - SETUP: f/4 ISO 400 1/100th STROBIST: SB-800 @ 1/2 power with shoot-through umbrella on light stand 9' high behind me & SB-600 @ 1/4 power with diffuser cap to frame right held by assistantThe original marble staircase was something the hotel sales manager definitely wanted to showcase in one of the shots.  I previsioned perhaps the bride walking down the staircase or maybe the bride on the bottom of the staircase being helped down by the groom, but thanks to the models' creativity with their posing, I liked this shot the best of the staircase series.  I cannot say how much it helps a photographer to work with great models!  It makes my job so much easier.

    St. Petersburg Commercial Wedding Photography - Models Brad & Nancy facing the original hotel elevator - SETUP: f/5.6 ISO 400 1/80th STROBIST: SB-800 @ 1/2 power with shoot-through umbrella on light stand 9' high behind models & SB-600 @ 1/4 power with diffuser cap to frame right held by assistant

    To feature the hotel's original elevator I chose to once again use the nearby marble staircase as a vantage point.  Shooting straight on to the elevator produced a flat shot.  I felt shooting from above like this created a dynamic image showing the bride & groom's anticipation, while at the same time including the elevator in the shot, as well as the original tile floor.  I chose also to again keep the lighting soft & muted, to help create that classic look.

    St. Petersburg Commercial Wedding Photography - carrying the bride over the threshold - SETUP: f/5.6 ISO 400 1/80th STROBIST: SB-800 @ 1/4 power with shoot-through umbrella on light stand to frame left & SB-600 @ 1/8th power with diffuser cap pointed at back hallway wall handheld by assistant

    There was no trouble to light up the models from the front (within the room), but this meant the hallway looked very dark.  The solution was to place one speedlight on the left of the door frame pointing toward the opposite wall.  Not only did this fill the hallway with light, it provided a strong backlight to the shot.  

    St. Petersburg Commercial Wedding Photography - models using their own creativity - SETUP: f/4 ISO 400 1/100th STROBIST: SB-800 @ 1/2 power with shoot-through umbrella on light stand @ 1/4 power in bedroom to the right & SB-600 @ 1/16th power with diffuser cap to frame left directly on the floor pointing straight up Both Nancy and I had the same idea for a through the doorway bedroom scene shot.  However, her and Brad came up with the pose and prop setup (shoe placement, jacket coming half off) on their own, which I would say made the shot nearly entirely if not for the tremendous challenge I had trying to light everything.  It was by far the hardest shot to light for me ever.  Getting rid of shadows behind Brad was the main challenge.  Putting the second speedlight on the floor behind him solved it, after lots of trial and error.  Ultimately I did have to clone out one shadow along the right side of the bed from umbrella edge spill.  This was also the last shot of the day (3.5 hours of straight shooting!) so it was great to end on one so challenging.

    I appreciate the work of everyone at the hotel that day helping make the images in this photo story.

    Models: 

    More information about commercial & wedding photography:

    BlackRapid RS-Sport Camera Strap Gear Review

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    Gunslinger hip to eye shooting style demonstration using the BlackRapid RS-Sport strap system with a Nikon D300 & Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D - photo by PedroLet me start by just saying that the BlackRapid RS-Sport strap has made me excited about using my DSLR again because of just how cool it feels to slide the camera up and down the strap.  Readers of my movie reviews will know I am a big western fan, and I definitely feel like an old gunslinger when using my BlackRapid RS-Sport.  So this is the emotional part of the review, which is mostly what determines buying a certain product or not.  I decided to buy one even before I knew it would make me feel like a gunslinger.  Just trying a photo student's RS-7 strap for a few seconds instantly convinced me to free my neck from its burden and get a sane camera carrying system.

    For the ergonomics and practicality part of the review, the BlackRapid RS-Sport strap still gets a very positive gear report from me.  I have only had the RS-Sport for exactly two weeks, but I have already put it through many different shooting situations and it has performed great in all of them.  On a 2-day event shoot (5pm-8pm Friday; 9am-12am [yes 15 hours] Saturday) I got home early Sunday morning with zero shoulder pain.  Normally after only a few hours using my old Nikon Professional branded Optitech neck strap, I would have lingering sourness after a job.

    The effectiveness of the BlackRapid strap system comes from taking the weight off your neck because when do you ever carry anything around your neck ever besides for some reason a heavy DSLR?  Instead, the BlackRapid strap system puts the weight on your left shoulder like any other style of bag one carries.  It has to be your left shoulder too.  If you are left-handed like me and concerned because you usually carry everything on your right shoulder so your left hand has easy access to the bag, it immediately felt normal to me to have the BlackRapid strap on my left shoulder because you grab a DSLR with your right hand first anyway.  The grip on the DSLR body is designed for the right hand so do not be concerned about having to use it on your left shoulder, even if your are left-handed.

    Your camera on a BlackRapid strap can hide behind your hip in tight spots or can easily be held in front to squeeze through places.

    I chose the RS-Sport model for the extra bit of strap that goes under the armpit area for extra stability.  I have to admit I did think at first that this is not comfortable and maybe I should have just gotten the RS-7 which is similar to the RS-Sport but minus the underarm strapping.  However, in real world use and not hyper nitpicking when trying it on in one's house, I am definitely glad I got the RS-Sport because the main shoulder pad is more ergonomically tapered and the underarm strapping is not noticable to me anymore.  

    How anybody can use the first party straps that come with a DSLR is beyond me.  I immediately got a cushier Optitech neck strap, which sells for about $24.  Now I wish I had gotten a BlackRapid strap long ago.  The RS-Sport sells for $69.95 and the standard RS-7 for just $58.95.  There are several other styles, including a dual strap system for carrying two cameras!

    Take a 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson with me and I will let you try out my RS-Sport strap for yourself! 

    --thanks to Pedro for taking these shots of me

    DSLR Photography Lesson at the New Salvador Dali Museum with Golda

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    Golda with her new Canon 7D at the New Salvador Dali Museum in downtown St. PetersburgIt was my first time to have a DSLR Photography Lesson on the grounds of the new Salvador Dali Museum on the St. Petersburg waterfront.  I will definitely be using it again as there are ample architecture photography opportunities along with a very interesting garden to photograph, plus good locations to practice portraits as well.  This was the site of my fourth of four lessons with Golda who will in September be going on a three week mediterranean cruise!!

    I actually visited the Dali Museum to photograph it for promo shots for a hotel recently, but did not get up close like I did today.  The strange design of the "waterfall" of glass looks much better close up I think than it does from afar.  I used it for the background of the above portrait of Golda.  She is standing under a tree that has long green streamers tied to it, upon which people tie their Dali ticket wristbands as well as handwritten messages and notes.  I thought it was a nice interactive touch to have as part of the greater museum exterior.  

    As for what we practiced during the lesson, we started with architecture shots of the building itself, then moved on to making shots with bokeh (using the streamers), transitioned to use an external flash to add fill light for portraits in the shade before ending with composing portraits to take advantage of repeating patterns.  It was a photography packed 2-hours!

    I look forward to seeing Golda's mediterranean photos and especially the promised postcard she said she would send!

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    Tripod DSLR Photography Lesson with Pam in St. Petersburg Florida

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    Pam using her Canon 60D with Canon 10-22mm ultrawide angle lens on her tripod in downtown St. PetersburgAs you can see, for our second of four DSLR Photography Lessons, Pam was not afraid of getting into the thick of the concrete jungle to get a shot.  This evening's lesson focused on using a tripod to compose architecture shots.  We mostly photographed the skyscraper condos of downtown St. Petersburg before ending along the waterfront.  

    I showed Pam a few tripod basics, like making sure the front of your lens points over one of the three legs of the tripod (for extra stability) and that if you do not need your tripod's full height, you should use only the upper portions of the legs, leaving the thin (and less stable) legs unextended.  When using a tripod I also recommend using a cable release, which Pam has, so as to avoid any shake from your finger pressing (and shaking) the shutter release button.  

    It was a bit of a learning experience for me as well helping Pam compose shots with her ultra-wide Canon 10-22mm lens, as I do not own a similar lens and no past student has either.  One really has to think, "I am going to shoot wide, and only wide," as even at 22mm everything still looks wide in the frame.  My next gear purchase though, besides a Spider Belt, will be an ultra-wide angle lens, probably the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 as several friends have it and love it and I have not heard anything but praise for that lens.

    For our third lesson next week Pam and I will be using 50mm f/1.8 lenses exclusively.

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