Signs of Fall and Winter in Florida

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Pine cone stuck to a swinging bench - Nikon D300 Nikkor AF-S 105mm VR f/2.8G lens @ f/4 ISO 200 1/100thFall and winter in west-central Florida are not constants.  For example, just Wednesday a cold front came through bringing hours of rain and arctic (for us) 48 degree weather at night and 50s during the day Thursday.  Today is Friday and I am writing in shorts and short sleeves with the ceiling fan on and all the windows open.  Summer returned.  

So it is difficult to be a traditional seasonal photographer in this part of Florida.  There are no autumn leaves to photograph to time stamp an image to have been made in the fall.  There is of course certainly no snow to illustrate any given photo is from winter.  

Seeing this pine cone wedged on a bench swing was the most autumnal scene I have observed this year.  Post a link to your photographs that represent fall and winter in Florida to you below in the comments, and for non-Floridians, I enjoy seeing what real fall and winter look like too! 

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    • Florida beach bikini model commercial photography

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    Model: Monica Location: Sunset Beach Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/2.8 ISO 200 1/3200th 

    If you are looking for a place to warm up this winter, Sunset Beach on Treasure Island, St. Petersburg, Florida is a great choice.  In this collection of natural light photographs bikini model Monica makes a strong case for Florida tourism if not out right relocation!

    Model: Monica Location: Sunset Beach Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/2.8 ISO 200 1/2000thOne does not swim in the ocean on the west coast of Florida, but rather the Gulf of Mexico.  This means much warmer water year round as well as calm conditions out on the water.  Dolphins are a common sight.  In the above photograph Monica emerges from the Gulf in dramatic fashion.

    Model: Monica Location: Sunset Beach Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/2.8 ISO 200 1/2000thThose warm and calm conditions also make Florida's gulfcoast beaches ideal places to put your beach towel down on the white sand and just enjoy the tranquility.  The end to most days on the gulfcoast is punctuated with a fantastic sunset like the one Monica is watching above.

    Model: Monica Location: Sunset Beach Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/2.8 ISO 200 1/1250thIf you live in a cold place and have to suffer through a harsh winter, well then I hope these images have helped to warm you up a little and that you visit Florida to thaw out on your winter vacation.  Be sure and contact me for great Florida beach portraits while you are here.

    Vinoy Renaissance Hotel Mahaffey Theater The Pier St Petersburg Landmarks at twilight

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    Vinoy Renaissance Hotel east view - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 3-exposure HDR handheld

    Through my DSLR Photography teaching I am often out with students around various St. Petersburg landmarks.  Each of the three photographs in this post were made on different days while out on a lesson in the evening time.  

    The HDR image above is of the Vinoy Renaissance Hotel & Resort looking at it from the east along 5th Ave North.  At this time the setting sun was sidelighting the hotel and the tall palm trees in front of it.  The lighting is what made me stop and suggest to the student I was with that she photograph it from this angle.  I made my own shot of the hotel.  I knew HDR would produce the best results so even though I did not have my tripod with me I steadied my shooting position and fired off a 3-bracket exposure.  

    Mahaffey Theater east view - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 7-exposure HDR tripod mountedThe Mahaffey Theater was not the primary subject matter during this particular photography lesson, the new Dali Museum was, but I had always liked the architecture of the Mahaffey even when it had this area all to itself.  The sky was a fantastic purple that evening.  

    The Pier at twilight south view - Nikon D300 Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D @ f/8 ISO 200 1/80th handheldThe Pier is by far the most well known landmark of St. Petersburg, and perhaps the one with the least amount of life left as three new designs to replace the inverted pyramid have just been finalized by the city.  This landmark is most often photographed from the north and west, so I was glad to have a unique chance to photograph it from the south from a restricted access point at a marina I was able to get access to thanks to the photography student's mom having a boat docked there.  

    Photograph the same subject during the day & at night

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    The Courtyard Marriott Hotel in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida: top in late afternoon, bottom at night after a rainstormThe client wanted both daytime and nighttime exterior shots of their hotel.  I shot the daytime one first.  Several days later I went to photograph the hotel at night, having to wait out a sudden rainstorm that sprang up as I was making the 5-minute drive from my home to the hotel!  The daytime image is a 7-exposure HDR image and the bottom is just a single long exposure.  

    I did not make a shot from the same spot necessarily on purpose, but I am glad I did as it was a chance to see how a specific subject appears in a photograph in two totally different lighting situations.  So this photography tip is more like a photography project: 

    • Photograph the same subject during the day and then at night 

    As you can see a hotel in a city makes for a pretty good day & night subject.  Anything that has cars passing in front of it or on it will allow for making a light trail long exposure night shot.  

    Be sure and include a link to your day and night shot in the comments below. 

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    • Banyan Trees of Cape Coral Florida Rotary Park

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    Banyan trees in Rotary Park Cape Coral Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/160th

    This year I have started to look for and photograph banyan trees on purpose.  The trees above are not from my current home of St. Petersburg, Florida, but from my distant past home of Cape Coral.  I chose this unusual composition and framing purposefully by positioning myself so that the background tree would be clean (not overlapping the foreground tree).  I wanted to exaggerate the distance between the trees as well to create in my mind a duality.  To me, the foreground tree is how one sees a tree in actuality, while the background tree is how one sees a tree in one's mind.

    Office Depot Ribbon Cutting Ceremony Event St. Petersburg Florida

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    Ribbon Cutting Ceremony Event for a new Office Depot location in St. Petersburg - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 800 1/60th Nikon SB-800 Speedlight hotshoe mounted @ 1/4 powerI have a new respect for Office Depot after photographing their ribbon cutting ceremony for their new location on 40th Ave NE in St. Petersburg.  Not only did they help support a local business by hiring me to photograph the event, they also took this opportunity to give to local businesses doing community work.

    Nothing like being handed a big check! Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 800 1/60th Nikon SB-800 Speedlight hotshoe mounted @ 1/4 powerPhotographing an event like this is pretty straight forward and I was provided an excellent shot list and agenda by the home office.  When big checks are in shots, they can tend to act like reflectors and being more blown out than any other subject in the shot.  I balanced the exposure of the check itself in the above shop by selecting just the check in Photoshop CS5 and then adjusting the highlights until it matched more with the rest of the image.  This also makes the red in the check look a more true, deep red instead of a light pinkish red.

    St. Pete TV was there filming the event and interviewing Office Depot managers and other VIPsI really like photographing ribbon cutting events because the atmosphere is celebratory, I am always trying to top my previous ribbon cutting action shots and there are often great cookies or other treats up for grabs.  I look forward to continuing my business relationship with Office Depot and using them as a customer for my printer ink needs as they are located very close to my neighborhood.

    Nikon D7000 DSLR Photography Lesson with Naomi in St. Petersburg Florida

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    Naomi with her Nikon D7000 in Straub Park St. PetersburgNaomi first contacted me way back in December of 2010 about the DSLR Photography Lessons I offer.  I would have to say it was the longest first contact to first lesson, but I am glad to have done so as I really like helping people to get started using their DSLRs.  It was also my first time to get hands on with the Nikon D7000, which explains why it took me a bit of time to figure out how to change the focus mode on it.  It seems Nikon got too clever with its switch design not bothering to even label it!

    It was a very crisp 1st of December morning, with the usual brillian Florida sunshine.  It was actually nice to be in the sun, which I was as we practiced using AF-C focus mode.  Naomi is into kite boarding, so we AF-C is the focus mode for moving subjects, although this time the target was me, not a kite boarder.  

    I look forward to seeing Naomi's actual kite boarder shots.  I came across a few people doing this before and it seems like a great subject for producing exciting action shots.