Canon 7D 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson in St. Petersburg Florida with Amy

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Amy with her Canon 7D & 430 EX II Speedlight in front of a famous downtown St. Petersburg banyan treeI met Amy on a rather warm spring St. Petersburg morning for our first 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson.  Amy has been doing paid work with her Canon 7D for sometime, but was looking to learn from our lesson some of the very practical tips and tricks for how to make better photographs that are not found in books, videos or even in a photography classroom.  Since I am a self-taught photographer with years of expeirence I have a lot of real-world photogrpahy practices I can share with my students to not just improve the final results of their photographs, but how to make it easier to produce a good photo before ever pushing the shutter.

Amy had been shooting in "P" mode on her Canon 7D after receiving some bad advice from another photographer.  With her experience and with the subject matter she shoots I told her she should be shooting in manual mode exclusively, which is where we set our exposure dials for the entire lesson.  To further polish her professional way of shooting I turned off the "beep" on her 7D when getting a focus lock which is a most unwelcome sound when photographing in a quiet setting.  Then I showed her my very stable way of shooting by placing the left palm under the lens and shooting from a near sideways feet apart position allowing for both elbows to be against the body for support.

We finished the lesson at one of the two famous banyan trees in North Straub Park.  We started using her Canon 430 EX II Speedlight on the camera as she usually shoots, but then moved to using the Canon 7D's built-in remote flash trigger ability to get the speedlight off camera.  

I look forward to seeing how Amy applies all the things we practiced and discussed today in her future work.  If you live in or near Plant City, Amy's photography website can be found here.

3rd Annual Florida Beach Halfathon at Ft. Desoto Park 2012

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On the return leg of the halfathon - Nikon D300 with Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/6.3 ISO 400 1/800th shutter priority on monopodI had the opportunity to work with a team of sports photographers to photograph the 3rd Annual Florida Beach Halfathon at Ft. Desoto Park in St. Petersburg, Florida recently.  I really like photographing these types of running, triathlon events as they present unique challenges.  The first is being in kind of an "assembly line" mentality for shooting.  The same subject comes by often, and for a long time.  Can you stay focused shooting the same shot over and over especially after a few hours of standing outside in Florida?  To do this I adapt the mindset of ever trying to perfect the shot of the runner.  This keeps me focused and engaged and of course always trying to produce better photographs.

body paint was a popular form of expression for runners - Nikon D300 with Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/2.8 ISO 2000 1/500th shutter priority mode on monopodOne thing that I find interesting is what the runners choose to wear, what messages are they promoting and how do they express themsleves while running, especially when they see the front of my lens approaching.  The runner above was covered in St. Patrick's Day themed body paint (which was the day before).  

Taking time out to pose for the camera! - Nikon D300 with Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/2.8 ISO 800 1/500th shutter priority mode on monopodMany runners waved or gave some kind of sign and flashed a smile when they past me, like the woman above.  There were of course many more smiles on the way out than there were on the way back in!

All ages participated in this halfathon - - Nikon D300 with Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/2.8 ISO 800 1/500th shutter priority mode on monopodOne major shooting challenge was the fact that due to Daylight Savings Time happening the weekend before this halfathon, the race actually started well before sunrise in near complete darkness!  We were not allowed to use flash either so shooting wide open at f/2.8 and maxing out ISO at 3200 still was not really enough for the first few runners.  Really the problem was the auto-focus finding anyone in such darkness moving so fast, plus the exposure challenges.  Slowly the sun started to rise and slowly ISO could be dropped to reasonable settings.  

I enjoyed photographing this event and was surprised to be cheered on so much by the runners who often also said "thank you!" to me as they past.  When I could I shot out, "thank you for running!"

Porsche 911 GT2 RS white with black rims St. Petersburg Florida

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Porsche 911 GT2 RS in white with black rims - Vinoy Park - St. Petersburg, Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor AF-S 105mm VR micro @ f/4 ISO 200 1/2000th - black & white processing in Silver Efex Pro, white background digitally inserted in PhotoshopSitting at my desk now, before me on the wall is a large poster of the new 991 generation Porsche 911 Carerra.  I found the poster in with an edition of the Wall Street Journal.  To my left on the wall is a custom photo of a Cayman S made by Porsche specifically for me from a Facebook promotion they had last year.  In the photograph above, is the current apex Porsche, the Porsche 911 GT2 RS.  I made this photograph in Vinoy Park where the Porsche was one of several others waiting to be part of a car show the next day.  

The problem with photographing cars at car shows is that it is very hard to get a clean shot.  Choosing the angle I did insured no other cars appeared in the shot.  The background bokeh of trees and condos was busy.  In my post processing of the image in Photoshop, the final step I took was removing the GT2 RS itself from the frame and placing it upon an empty background.  I then created a new layer and inserted it behind the Porsche layer.  I painted this layer white thus removing the background distraction resulting in a clean image.

The original color photograph on left; The black & white digital white background image on the rightIn the above comparison you can see how removing the background (also in the windows too) puts the focus on the GT2 RS.  Also notice the optical illusion created by using a white background.  Doesn't the color image make the Porsche look much bigger in the frame?  However, they are the exact same size.

Nikon D90 & D3100 DSLR Photography Lesson with Bill and Ria in downtown St. Petersburg Florida

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Ria & Bill show good form as they prepare to photograph me as I walk down a sidewalk during our Nikon photography lesson.Last Saturday I ended my day with a DSLR Photography Lesson with husband and wife Bill & Ria and this Saturday I began my day with our second lesson together, this time in the usual downtown St. Petersburg spot.  They both did some studying and practice since our last lesson which I highly recommend so that at the start of the next lesson they will have questions to ask and photographs to show me.  

For our second lesson we continued with the 4-steps to setting up a well exposed and in focus shot.  We started with making sure we were aware of the position of the sun relevant to our subject, which whenever possible we want our backs to the sun and our shadows pointed at the subject.  This is of course useful when photographing still and moving subjects.  The latter we practiced much more this time on passing cyclists and also yours truly as you can see Ria & Bill preparing to do in the photo above.  They are both using my suggested hand holding technique for portrait orientation, with the DSLR grip up in the right hand which allows the left elbow to become a point of stability against your body.  They lined up side-by-side like that on their own, it is a candid image!

I look forward to seeing what shots they make with a second round of photography knowledge.

Pentax K-5 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson in St. Petersburg Florida with Heather

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Heather with her new Pentax K-5 during our first 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson in St. PetersburgHeather contacted me about my 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lessons for help with her new Pentax K-5 DSLR.  Like many of my past students, she had upgraded from a point and shoot camera and tried studying using books and videos, but there is nothing like getting direct, real time feedback for learning DSLR photography.  We met in the usual downtown St. Petersburg spot and had all the sun we wanted from mother nature.  Soon, I will have to only have lessons from 9am as the midday sun will just be too strong.

Heather had done some research into photography terms and what not, which was helpful when I explained my 4-step process for setting up a well exposed and in focus shot.  Since she had just a 18-55mm variable aperture lens, I advised her that for now all she needs to worry about are apertures f/5.6 f/8 and f/11 and when shooting in broad daylight like we were mostly, for still subjects, stick to f/11.

Actually Heather is having doubts about whether to keep her Pentax K-5 or switch to a Nikon D7000.  I like some of the ergonomics of Pentax bodies, but after a few minutes of searching both for a button and in the menus I could not find a way to change the drive mode, which I had never failed to do before with any of the dozens of DSLRs I have hands on during hundreds of lessons.  

Today was just our first of four lessons, as Heather chose the discounted 4-pack of lessons so I will be seeing her again soon.  I look forward to seeing the photographs she takes of her young children between now and then.

Seashells in Black & White Macro fine art images

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Nature's spiral black & white seashell macro image - Nikon D300 Nikkor 105mm VR micro @ f/32 ISO 200 2.5s tripod mounted with cable release Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight @ 1/4 power in 42" brolly to frame left using Yongnuo radio triggersPhotography is mostly about observing.  To be a good observer, I believe one needs to practice silence in mind and body.  The seashells featured in this photo story would not found along a quiet beach where I was taking a contemplative stroll.  They were, in fact, found in the middle of the chaos of my neighborhood dog park, but since my mind was silent, I was able to observe them.

This seashell reminds me of an anklyosaurus - Nikon D300 Nikkor 105mm VR micro @ f/22 ISO 200 1.6 sec tripod mounted with cable release Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight @ 1/4 power in 42" brolly to frame left using Yongnuo radio triggersBy the newly installed water station there is a ring of seashells, not crushed, but small and mostly whole.  As I pushed the nozzle to let Kiki drink, I observed this unusual fact.  Mostly one finds crushed seashells used in landscaping purposes so to see a bed of intact seashells surprised me.  You have to bend over quite a bit to trigger the water flow allowing me to notice the details in the shells.  I thought to myself, "I will take a few home to make macro photographs of."

Into a cavern of a seashell opening - Nikon D300 Nikkor 105mm VR micro @ f/22 ISO 200 1.6 sec tripod mounted with cable release Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight @ 1/4 power in 42" brolly to frame left using Yongnuo radio triggersIt fascinates me to think that such objects once resided untold miles away at untold depths in the sea.  Where were they from?  How old are they?  Of all places they end up in a dog park, albeit one very close to the sea.  In fact, you can see a part of Tampa Bay from the park.  Now these seashells have journeyed a few more miles to inside my apartment.  They have felt air conditioning.  However, I shall return them shortly to the dog park and their water fountain resting place.  

How did you get cracked seashell? Nikon D300 Nikkor 105mm VR micro @ f/32 ISO 200 2.5 sec tripod mounted with cable release Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight @ 1/4 power in 42" brolly to frame left using Yongnuo radio triggersPHOTOGRAPHY TIP:  always be observing, and you will always be improving your photography