Nikon SB-600 Speedlight DSLR Photography Lesson St. Petersburg Florida

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Sunil with very useful kneepad after practicing using his Nikon SB-600 Speedlight during our photography lesson in St. PetersburgFriday wrapped up a crash course in DSLR Photography with Sunil as he took his fourth lesson and seventh and eighth hours of 1-on-1 instruction.  Our first DSLR Photography Lesson on Monday covered the typical topics I do with any person on a first lesson.  The second was on night photography.  The third was exclusively using a 50mm lens.  This final lesson was all about how to best use his Nikon SB-600 Speedlight for portrait photography.

We met at the same spot as all the other lessons, in front of the Museum of Fine Art in downtown St. Petersburg, although on a Friday afternoon the area is much, much more lively than on any other week day.  I had Sunil mount his SB-600 to the hotshoe of his Nikon D50 and using two lenses, an 18-55mm and a 70-300mm, we practiced how to get the most out of on camera external flash.  We used the banyan trees on Beach Drive, then the covered walkway by the Ovation Building before ending up by the St. Pete waterfront.  

It was a good week with Sunil who I got to know a little bit as I shared a lot of my photography knowledge with him.  I look forward to seeing how his photography grows.

Classic Car Photography - The Judge Packard Corvette Hot Rod Mustang

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Pontiac GTO The Judge - a very famous car - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-bracket HDRClassic Car Shows are a fantastic opportunity to photograph cars, almost.  The benefit is hundreds of amazing classic cars all in one walkable space.  The main disadvantage is that there are hundreds of classic cars all in one very small space.  This means there is no lack of subject matter, but there is a severe lack of space and clean backgrounds to photograph the cars.  So when I shoot a car show I often choose to only show a portion of the car in order to be able to fill the frame with just the car I want to include in the shot as much as possible.

The Pontiac GTO Judge was the first classic car I photographed that afternoon and one of my own personal favorite classic cars.  I cannot think of a better nickname for a muscle car than "The Judge."  I just love it!

A red hot rod engine - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-bracket HDRAs soon as I saw this hot rod I knew I wanted to shoot it in a way that highlighted the exposed engine.  I considered an even tighter crop on the engine itself but decided to show it more in context for the final edit.  I like to look at hot rods, but personally they do not do much for me from the aspect of ever wanting to own one.

1960 Corvette convertible - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/2.8 ISO 200 7-bracket HDR

Now this first generartion era Corvette convertible (1953-1962) is my absolute favorite classic car and the one I would personally most like to own.  It is the best looking roadster there ever was.  It looks best in profile, but there was no space to photograph it that way unfortunately.  

Vivid red Packard - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-bracket HDRI chose this perspective for photographing this Packard because of the wheel repetition.  Also, it provided the cleanest background as well.  A Packard is a very classy looking car appropriate for showing up at black tie affairs.

A blue 1965 Mustang Convertible - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-bracket HDRI think the most interesting thing to me about classic cars are their interiors, even over the exterior body work.  The purity of the analog dashboard really fascinates me.  I cannot help but think that the first time the owner sat behind the wheel, they thought to themselves, "this is as modern as a car looks."  Now, as with this 1965 Mustang, 46 years later the interior looks ancient, or rather, classic.  It really makes me think, as modern as car interiors look now with large LCD displays, even color LCD gauges and info screens, plus carbon fiber interior trim, in twenty years how dated will they look?  In forty years?  Most importantly, how high tech will interiors have to be to make today's look as quaint as this Mustang's?

50mm DSLR Photography Lesson in downtown St. Petersburg with Sunil

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Sunil using his Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D as I photograph him with my 50mm f/1.8D lens!Sunil continued his DSLR Photography Lessons this week with me with a 50mm lens only lesson in downtown St. Petersburg.  I really like this type of lesson as using the smallest and lightest lens made is a very liberating feeling due to freedom of movement, a fixed focal length and the ability to produce bokeh at will.

Despite only using our Nikkor 50mm f.1.8D lenses all afternoon, we still managed to cover quite a few photography styles.  We returned to motion blur practice once again, only this time during the bright afternoon sun.  We also mixed in a little architecture photography.  Still, the majority of the lesson was spent practicing how to compose and create shots using a very shallow DoF (depth of field/focus).  

Tomorrow for our fourth of four lessons we will focus on using external flash for portraits.

Business Headshot Photography Maria in St. Petersburg Florida

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Headshot done right in the client's St. Petersburg Florida office - Nikon D300 with Nikkor 80-200mm f/2.8D lens @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/160th Strobist: SB-800 to frame right @ 1/4 power & SB-600 @ 1/8th power to frame left both pointing backwardsI met Maria in her office on 4th Street near downtown St. Petersburg for what I aim to be a "quick and painless" headshot.  My goal is to be in and out in less than 30 minutes so that making the headshot photograph does not take up much of the client's time.  On this occasion it went about as smoothly as it possibly could go because Maria was very well prepared and a great model for her headshot!

The headshot, or rather upper body headshot, was made right in her office using a blank wall as she wanted a plain background from which her graphic designer could easily manipulate the image to be used in various PR materials and on her business website.  This final image was delivered to Maria less than 12 hours after the shoot. 

DSLR Night Photography Tripod Lesson in St. Petersburg with Sunil

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From the top of The Pier Sunil sets up a long exposure cityscape shot - St. Petersburg Florida DSLR Photography LessonsOn our second of four DSLR Photography Lessons I met Sunil at The Pier in downtown St. Petersburg for a night photography themed lesson covering:  long exposure cityscapes, car light trail shots, motion blur shots and abstract bokeh shots.  That made for a content packed 2-hour lesson!

It being a Tuesday evening we had The Pier to ourselves and made exposures of the downtown skyscrapers as long as 1 minute 13 seconds.  Using both a wide angle and a telelphoto lens I showed Sunil how to get a variety of cityscape shots adjusting the exposure time to produced the desired amount of ambient light to complement the lights from the buildings.

We also experimented a bit while on the trolley back into town with surprising results.

For our third lesson it will be all about using a 50mm lens.

The Pier Trolley warp through St. Petersburg

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On The Pier Trolley in St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50mm lens @ f/11 ISO 200 10 sec on Induro CT214 tripod with cable releaseThe results of this photograph were a complete surprise.  After the ten second exposure when the image popped up on the back of my DSLR I said, "wow."  I was in the middle of teaching a DSLR Photography Lesson at The Pier.  The student and I were up on the top of The Pier making long exposure night cityscape shots.  We came down to wait for the trolley and prepped to make light trail shots once we got back to Beach Drive where there were more cars.  While on the trolley I just casually stood my tripod up.  I decided to push the shutter on the cable release.  The above shot was the result.  

Photography Tip:  make a shot when you would never think to

If I had collapsed my tripod legs and had it and the camera leaning up against my shoulder as I normally would have when on the trolley, this shot would not exist.  If I had not thought, "what the heck, I'll just push the shutter and see what happens," there would be no shot like this.

Now, on my own time I will return and take the trolley and on purpose try to make even better shots than this as I think the results are super cool and I am sure with a few improvements in technique and settings it can be done.  Once I do that I will post again detailing the technique I used.  I cannot wait! 

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    • Nikon D5100 DSLR Photography Lesson with Shaye in St. Petersburg Florida

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    Shaye with her new Nikon D5100 in Vinoy Park St. Petersburg FloridaI met new student Shaye on a very sunny Florida autumn (but still hot!) afternoon for our first DSLR Photography Lesson.  She recently got a Nikon D5100, making the leap to the DSLR world.  I introduced Shaye to all the photography vocabulary and concepts I view to be the minimum to start making good photographs on purpose.  I told her not to worry though, there are only four:  aperture, ISO, WB and focus mode.  Then, if the light and subject do not change, not even all of those settings need to be adjusted that often.  It is true photography is a complex art, but the number of things one has to balance to be good at that art are not as numerous as one might think.

    We made our way out to Vinoy Park for the last quarter of the lesson and were treated to some very close swimbys by a pair of dolphins.  Despite trying to predict where they would surface next, we were unable to capture them in frame.  Two years ago I was at the exact same spot and was able to make a dolphin surfacing shot (see here).  

    I covered a lot of photography topics during our 2-hour lesson and Shaye showed good understanding of how to start putting them all together in order to be able to make a satisfactory photograph in any given shooting situation.  She has only one lens now so through our discussions during the lesson it seems the next best lens for her would be a 50mm f/1.8 lens.  I always get excited anytime someone gets new gear, even if it's not me!

    I look forward to seeing how Shaye applies the techniques I taught her today as she photographs her dogs and children.