Model Portfolio Shoot at the new Dali Museum St. Petersburg Florida with Abby

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Model Portfolio Shoot - Abby with New Dali Museum background - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/4 ISO 640 1/60th Strobist: SB-800 Speedlight to frame left & SB-600 Speedlight behind model

I was first in contact with model Abby back in October when she was in the process of moving to and getting settled in St. Petersburg.  We were able to schedule a model portfolio shoot this week on a beautiful Florida winter evening using the new Dali Museum as a backdrop, a location I had been wanting to use for awhile.  

Abby surrounded by bokeh using "sandwich lighting" - Nikon D300 Nikkor 105mm VR Micro @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame right both @ 1/4 powerNot only did I get to try out a new location for this shoot, but also some new strobist techniques, like what I am calling the "sandwich lighting" technique seen in the photograph above.  I placed one speedlight on each side of Abby with no front or backlight intending to create dramatic and defining shadows.  The bokeh is a result of lights strung on trees.  

Abby was a tireless jumper! - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5 ISO 200 1/200th Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame right about 45 degrees eachWhen I first mentioned my thoughts for this shoot with Abby, I said I wanted to make some of the images dynamic, involving motion in some way.  She was all for a jumping shot and I did not realize while shooting just how many times she jumped until I started the editing process at home and saw over 20 shots to choose from!  Abby's vertical leap is very impressive.  This was a fun shot to make.

Abby among the ribbons of the wishing tree at the Dali Museum - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 200 1/200th natural lightWe started out the shoot with some natural light shots around what I call the "wishing tree" behind the Dali Museum where visitors tie their entrance bracelts to long green ribbons, often with wishes or messages written on them.  

A famous Dali melting clock on a bench with model Abby - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 200 1/200th natural lightAnyone familiar with Dali's work will recognize the melting clock image.  This is part of a bench in the very nice grounds surrounding the museum.  I had Abby start by lying down on the bench, but I found myself liking this pose much more as overall I was looking to make less traditional model looking images.

A view of downtown St. Petersburg behind model Abby - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/200th Strobist: SB-800 just to camera left & SB-600 to model's rightOver the course of the shoot Abby and I found out that we have some very rare things in common, including our college majors, having visited Thailand and that our parents currently live in the same small area of Florida.  Along with Abby's ability to come up with numerous, great poses, this made the shoot one of my most enjoyable ever.

 Dali lights up at night in this model portfolio shot - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/4 ISO 400 1/20th Strobist: SB-800 to left of camera & SB-600 behind modelWe started the shoot at the ideal time allowing us to begin with natural light shots, moving toward twilight shots before ending with some night shots making use of the lights of the Dali Museum for the background.

Lens flare on purpose modeling portfolio image - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/200th Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightIt was very nice to meet and work with Abby and I would recommend her for anyone who needs a model for a project as she is professional, very easy to work with and of course beautiful.  You can see more of her work on Model Mahem.

Canon 60D DSLR Photography Lesson 50mm lens St. Petersburg Florida

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Julie with her Canon 60D and new Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens during our second photography lesson in St. Petersburg FloridaSince our first DSLR Photography Lesson Julie has invested in the absolute best value in photography, a 50mm f/1.8 lens.  It is the cheapest lens to produce for manufacturers (around $110), but is a lens that is in every photographer's camera bag.  Among my photography students who started out with just the kit lenses (18-55mm, 55-200mm), by far the most common next purchase was a 50mm lens.  

Julie and I met in the usual downtown St. Petersburg spot.  We both were traveling light with just the 50mm lenses.  That is another benefit of the lens, it is very light and portable.  Since covering a lot of the nuts and bolts of how to just get a correct exposure and focus during our first lesson, for this 50mm lesson we discussed composition much more, in particular with the 50mm producing the best bokeh and DoF possible.  Much of this comes down to framing the shot with a complementary background trying to include objects that will result in pleasing bokeh and setting the focus on the subject in a way to maximize DoF.

When dealing with a DoF of a centimeter or two at most, setting the focus and recomposing will result in a lack of sharpness on the intended subject.  Therefore, one needs to frame the shot as desired, and then using a single focus point, manually in the viewfinder select the focus point to fall upon the intended subject.  Some DSLRs make this much easier to do than others (hint, Nikon D300 makes it easy).

I look forward to seeing Julie's shots of Gasparilla and the portraits she makes with her new 50mm lens.

Brown Pelican Bird in Flight St. Petersburg Florida Fine Art Nature Photography

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Brown Pelican preparing to dive St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/1250th

Regular followers of my nature posts will know that I am very fond of photographing the many local brown pelicans in my St. Petersburg, Florida neighborhood.  I have not yet achieved my long-term goal of photographing a pelican skimming just over the water, but I was glad to be able to add these images to my pelican portfolio.  On Saturday pelicans were regularly diving out of the sky into the water for fish around The Pier.  Once getting the settings dialed in using shutter priority mode and multi-point focus, it was just a matter of tracking the birds fast enough as they made their dives.

Brown Pelican on an aerial fish survey - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/1250thThis collection of pelican images focuses on the birds as they are about to make a plunge into Tampa Bay hoping to come up with a beak-full of small silvery fish.  Observing a bird's behavior is key to being able to capture the photographs one wants.  I watched where and how they circled and what they did with their wings right before their split second descents.

Brown Pelican wings arced for diving in St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/1000thDuring this shoot I also became, at long last, a believer in shutter priority mode.  With the pelicans diving from a bright blue sky background down to the dark waters of Tampa Bay, I knew what shutter speed I needed to freeze their flight, but adjusting the aperture constantly to maintain the correct exposure would have been nearly impossible.  Thus, shutter priority was the best exposure mode to use for these bird-in-flight images.

Brown Pelican hovering before diving in St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4.5 ISO 200 1/1250thI also used multi-point focus because I was able for the most part to fill the frame with the pelicans, allowing the 21-focus points to act as a net.  If I could not fill the frame with the pelicans, well, I probably would not even push the shutter, but in that case I would use a single focus point to place right on the bird to distinguish it from any other possible background elements.  In relative close-up shots like these, the multi-focus point setting gave me the best chance of landing a focus point on the subject (pelican) where a single focus point might get lost under a single wing flap.

Visit The Pier for great pelican and bird-in-flight photography opportunities:


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    • Canon XS DSLR Photography Lesson Birds in Flight with Suzanne St. Petersburg Florida

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    Suzanne impressively was not afraid to get eye level to her subject even on surfaces of questionable cleanliness.Suzanne (see her photos made during this lesson) and I were back at The Pier for our third of four DSLR Photography Lessons.  Our goal this time was to capture birds in flight, one of the most challenging things to do in photography.  In particular, I wanted us to be able to make a shot of a pelican right before it breaks the surface of the water in a dive.  On our walk out to The Pier I advised Suzanne on the best settings we could use, namely: 

    • shutter priority mode @ 1/1000th of a sec
    • ISO set to lowest possible
    • WB sunny
    • focus mode:  AF-C (Ai-servo)
    • multiple focus points (since the birds would fill the frame from our location) 

    Thankfully, the pelicans at The Pier were in a near feeding frenzy with birds regularly diving all around us.  It is really something to witness this act of nature up close.  It is also really something to try and photograph the act as there is at most one second between dive and water entry.  

    I showed Suzanne my technique of using the lens as a scope to track the bird at distance, rather than keeping one's eye behind the viewfinder when trying to locate the bird.  Then once in shooting range, quickly dip your eye behind the viewfinder and the bird will be in frame, more easily ready to be photographed.  

    The weather was great and the bright sunshine felt welcome, as was the breeze, pretty much ideal DSLR Photography Lesson conditions.

    Vietnam Hill Tribe Children Photo Story

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    Laughing at my numbers jokes on a lunch break in Vietnam 2002 - Olympus 2040Z 2 MP digital cameraWhen you travel with your camera, fun things happen.  The photographs you make with your camera help you remember that fun years down the line.  In July of 2002 I spent a few weeks traveling in the northen areas of Vietnam and met a lot of people and especially kids.  My style of traveling is very slow paced, spending days just hanging out in random places.  I am a shy person by nature, but whenever I have travled in SE Asia, if I just sit somewhere, inevitably people will come up to me and start talking.

    In the above photo I was on a small guided tour doing homestays with hill tribe peoples in the Sapa Valley (perhaps the most pure place I have ever been).  We did not stay with this family, only having lunch there.  It was a restaurant really and rather busy.  My backpack developed a rip in it and I asked this woman if she could sew it.  While she did that I had my lunch with her and all those kids.  While in Vietnam, I learned how to say numbers in Vietnamese, which allowed me to make a series of jokes about buying some of their farm animals, etc.  It was a fun time with them and thanks to my trusty Olympus 2040Z, one of the first digital cameras, only capable of a 2MP image max (1600x1200), I have this photo to help me remember that time.  

    "Hello, candy?" was my greeting from these girls - Olympus 2040Z 2 MP digital cameraI was hiking down into the Sapa Valley on my own, as the pace of the guide with the three much older members of the group were taking involved way too many breaks.  I was feeling the thrill of exploring an enchanted place and could not stop.  Along the way I met these two girls who greeted me with, "Hello, candy?"  This made me laugh.  I told them sorry I did not have any candy with me.  I think we shared some raisins together though.

    Jason with two Black Hmong children in Sapa, Vietnam - Olympus 2040Z 2 MP digital cameraTo make this group shot with yours truly in it I set the camera on my bag with the self timer on.  These kids belonged to the Black Hmong hill tribe and were tending to a water buffalo, who did not want to be petted, unfortunately.  I still regularly wear the shirt and pants you see me in above, although in my increasing width, the shirt is seemingly shrinking.  The G-Shock watch I am wearing, along with the Olympus camera that made this photo, were both, sadly, stolen when in Miami in 2003.  

    Plastic bottles were in high demand in northern Vietnam - Olympus 2040Z 2 MP digital cameraAnother very surprising thing was the high interest in collecting plastic water bottles (empty).  Whenever our transport vehicle would stop, kids would ask for any empty water bottles we had.  You could also buy food and full water bottles from right inside the vehicle.  As soon as you stop, boom, arms are through the windows and snacks are literally right under your nose for purchase!  Very convenient!

    She spoke near fluent English, self taught in Sapa, Vietnam - Olympus 2040Z 2 MP digital cameraThis photo story is revealing a significant secret of mine, which is my feelings about the Sapa Valley in northern Vietnam.  It is an absolutely incredible place.  It is just so pure.  The Earth seems younger there.

    I spent about two hours just chatting with the girl above while I waited for my train to leave Sapa.  Her English was amazingly good.  She said she just learned by talking to tourists.  I was impressed as none of my students back in Korea could speak English like her!  She was talkative and I enjoyed listening to her tell me how she makes the crafts she does and just about her life in Sapa in general.  I cannot remember what I bought from her.  Perhaps a bracelet?  I am very glad to have this photograph to remember her by.

    Heading to the post office on a rope bridge in Vietnam - Olympus 2040Z 2 MP digital cameraThese boys were on their way to the post office proud to have the responsibility of delivering a postcard.  I had to keep retaking this photo as more boys wanted to get in the shot.  They went on to the post office and I continued on into the Sapa Valley. 

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    • Make time for your photography

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    Jason's own Suunto Vector watch that has been to the top of Mt. Fuji and the jungles of BorneoWhen was the last time you picked up your camera?  If you do not do photography for a living, it may have been awhile.  If you are a pro photographer, when was the last time you took your camera out for just some simple personal shooting?  Days can easily turn into weeks and your DSLR has not had a single actuation put on it.  Just like everything else, one has to make time for photography.

    This is certainly true for myself, as I very rarely go out on my own (no Kiki) to make photographs just for fun.  So this afternoon I made the time and went to Boyd Hill Nature Preserve for some macro photography (photos here).  Even though I really like macro photography, I had to make the effort and take the time to do it.

    So within the next week, be sure and make at least one morning, afternoon or evening just for shooting what you like, for fun.  Let me know how it goes in the comments below. 

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    • Boyd Hill Nature Preserve Macro Photography St. Petersburg Florida

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    Something small will emerge in Boyd Hill Nature Preserve - Nikon D300 with Nikkor AF-S 105mm VR Micro @ f/11 ISO 200 1/40th tripod mounted with cable release Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight @ 1/16th power handheld to frame left-frontBoyd Hill Nature Preserve is less than twenty minutes from my front door, but in nearly three years I have never visited it.  This is mostly due to the fact the park does not allow dogs and I prefer to visit such places with beloved puppy, Kiki.  However, I was feeling restless today and could not concentrate well so thought this was a chance to go out and just make some photographs for my own personal enjoyment wiht just me and my tripod.

    Small green leaf in Boyd Hill Nature Preserve - Nikon D300 with Nikkor AF-S 105mm VR Micro @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/100th tripod mounted with cable release Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight @ 1/16th power handheld to frame left-frontI decided before I stepped out the door to only bring my trusty macro lens, the Nikkor AF-S 105mm VR micro f/2.8G.  I also decided to work the entire time from on my Induro CT214 tripod.  I highly recommend approaching personal photography projects in this way.  For the first ten minutes walking in the forest I just observed, camera and tripod still in their bags.  I did not want to spend the entire time behind the lens.

    Lady bug in Boyd Hill Nature Preserve - Nikon D300 with Nikkor AF-S 105mm VR Micro @ f/22 ISO 200 1/60th tripod mounted with cable release Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight @ 1/16th power handheld to frame left-frontI came across some flowering plants which were a busy intersection for a variety of insects.  There was one lady bug tucked away in some leaves perhaps napping.  The challenge with macro photography in the field is that things move.  As you can see I used f/22 and still was working with a crazy shallow DoF due to the properties of the macro lens.  Therefore, even a 1 millimeter sway in the wind by the plant can throw off a carefully calculated manual focus on a subject.  I recommend picking a day with no wind for macro photography.

    A small relative of Mothra's perhaps in Boyd Hill Nature Preserve - Nikon D300 with Nikkor AF-S 105mm VR Micro @ f/22 ISO 200 1/60th tripod mounted with cable releaseThere was a monarch butterfly proudly fluttering about, as well as a gulf fritillary butterfly, but only the above moth was willing to stay put long enough to be photographed.  

    It was a pleasant time in Boyd Hill Nature Preserve.  Admission is $3 and you are not allowed to bring any food or drink on the trails.  Visit their official website for more details.


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