Super Moon or Perigree Moon Over St. Petersburg Florida May 5 2012

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Super Moon or Perigree Moon May 5, 2012 over Smacks Bayou St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/8 ISO 200 5-exposure HDR mounted on Induro CT214 tripod with cable releaseWhat is sure to be one of the most photographed subjects of the year is the so-called Super Moon or Perigree Moon that rose in the twilight sky tonight on May 5, 2012.  Luckily for me I had a good vantage point of the Super Moon right from my back patio allowing me to make the HDR image above.  I chose to center the moon between two palm trees.  Uncharacteristically, I did not try any other compositions, so I hope I wake up tomorrow still liking how I framed this shot and not regretting trying a simpler framing!

Did you photograph the super moon tonight?  

Canon 60D 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson in St. Petersburg Florida at Dali Museum with Julie

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Julie with her new Canon 430 EX II Speedlight & her Canon 60D during our photography lesson at the Dali MuseumI chose the new Dali Museum as the location for the fourth of four 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lessons with Julie, who since our last lesson got a new external flash, the Canon 430 EX II Speedlite.  I was glad to hear that Julie has been regularly practicing her photography and even had a chance to make maternity portraits of two of her friends.  She told me that photographing people is hard!  I cannot disagree, but I also think photographing people is the most interesting and one of the best ways to really push yourself as a photographer.  

We started this morning's lesson with more 50mm lens practice using the great tree in the rear ground of the museum.  The tree has ribbons all tied to it with messages (see third photo from the top here).  Julie really liked the tree.  It makes for a very interesting subject both from an abstract shooting standpoint and also as a prop when making a portrait.

Then Julie attached her 430 EX II to her 60D and we went over to the Mahaffey Theater where I showed her how the angle of the light from the flash effects how portraits turn out.  Even in those outdoor conditions, although in the shade, it was very apparent that being able to bounce the light off of a side or rear wall produced the best results, as compared to pointing the flash directly at the subject.  

Julie is interested in learning off camera flash so I look forward to seeing her for another four lessons over the summer.  I will be looking forward to it!

Try street photography for making memorable shots of cities

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Street photography portrait of a girl on the streets of Takadanobaba, Tokyo, Japan - one of my personal favorite shots of all timeThe above photograph is one of my personal favorites that I have ever made.  It is the kind of photograph that may appeal only to the photographer who took it.  The reasons I can give for why it is a personal favorite would be, after all, personal.  I do not know the girl in the photograph.  I will never return to the city I made this photograph in.  However, they combine to make a photograph that reminds me of my time in Tokyo more than a photo of even Tokyo Tower.  Much of my time in Tokyo was spent out on the street.  In that city you walk, a lot.  You are also always surrounded by people on the streets.  In my last year there I bought my first DSLR and often had it with me.  I then realized I loved street photography.  I made this street photography portrait on one of the very first times I used my newly obtained Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens.  It was the first time to have a f/2.8 lens and immediately I was blown away by the bokeh it could make at f/2.8 and 200mm, and in particular the bokeh in this image.  I can still recall seeing this photo first pop-up on the review screen on the back of my Nikon D80.  It was the beginning of my street photography career.

So my photography tip is this:  to help you remember the city you are traveling or living in, try street photography.  Those images may come to have more meaning to you in the years that follow than the best landmark photograph you took. 

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    • First Communion Celebration at Don Cesar St. Petersburg with Isabella

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    Isabella dancing at her first communion celebration at the Don Cesar St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/200th Strobist: SB-800 with diffuser cap @ 1/4 power to frame rightPhotographing Isabella at her First Communion Celebration at the Don Cesar in St. Petersburg, Florida was a lot of fun and allowed me to make what I am sure will be one of my ten best images of the year (above).  Last week it was my pleasure to have two returning clients within a few days of each other.  I really appreciate clients who continue to choose me as their photographer, and from a shooting standpoint, it is great to have that already existing familiarity with the client.  This time, however, instead of just shooting Vanessa during one of her professional flamenco dancing performances (dance 1, dance 2), as mentioned above I was able to photograph her daughter Isabella and the rest of her family as well.

    Isabella (center) and friends with the Don Cesar in the background - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 250 1/200th Strobist: SB-800 with diffuser cap @ 1/4 power to frame leftThe Don Cesar is a great location to shoot at, although at the time of the event (12:30pm to 1:30pm) the midday Florida sunshine was as it always is, harsh and unforgiving to photography.  Further, to keep things simple and quick for the girls in the photo I used only a single speedlight (SB-800) with a diffuser cap on a light stand to make these shots.  Can you spot the ones that were made in direct sunlight and the ones that were made in the shade?

    Isabella showing off the back of her pretty first communion dress, Don Cesar in the background - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/13 ISO 250 1/200th Strobist: SB-800 with diffuser cap @ 1/4 power to frame leftVanessa wanted a photo of the back of Isabella's pretty dress so I tried to make it a kind of model shot by having Isabelle look back at me over her shoulder.  I composed the shot to use the curb as a leading line along with the railing choosing to have more foreground than blue sky background.

    Isabelle twirling her first communion dress at the Don Cesar - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 250 1/200th Strobist: SB-800 with diffuser cap @ 1/4 power to frame leftThe above shot was a rather tricky one to execute, that took quite a few takes, but I am glad we stuck with it and made the photo exactly as I previsualized.  First, Isabelle was standing in complete shade while most of the background was in strong sunlight.  I again used just my single speedlight to put light onto the subject and adjusted my shutter speed to expose the blue sky in the background.  A little Photoshop dodging helped balance out the foreground.  Then it was just a matter of capturing Isabelle spinning exactly centered between the two columns with her dress flowing in a good look.  As I mentioned, a tricky shot, but it turned out better than I thought as Isabelle appears to be still herself while her dress has the appearance of motion creating an unusually dynamic visual.

    First communion dress & veil at the Don Cesar St. Petersburg, Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 105mm VR micro @ f/8 ISO 250 1/200th Strobist: SB-800 with diffuser cap @ 1/4 power to frame leftThis photograph is one of my favorite kind to make incorporating a veil in the wind (actually held up by her mom out of frame, shh!) and the subject looking into the distance with a contemplative look.  I asked Isabelle to look to her right and think of her future.  The result is the above image.  This photograph paired with the top image in this post cover a wide range of emotion that I hope Isabelle and Vanessa and the rest of her family will find valuable when they look back at these photos in 10, 20 years from now.  I want Isabelle to wonder what she was thinking at that moment.  I wonder if she will be able to remember . . .  

    Business Headshot in St. Petersburg Florida on Location with Al of Bayprint

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    Business headshot done on location in Bayprint - St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/9 ISO 200 1/100th Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 42" brolly to frame left

    This morning I had a very fun business headshot shoot with Al of Bayprint.  I have known Al for sometime now first meeting him through the Third Tuesday networking event he hosts every month.  Nowadays I also see him once a month as he hosts a small business roundtable discussion.  As you can see, Al is very generous with his time and is a great networker.  

    I went to his print shop in St. Petersburg and used the blank wall right in the breakroom for the background for the above shot.  The goal for that particular shot was to include the Bayprint logo on his shirt in the frame and overall have the headshot not look too corporate, which is why Al is not looking straightahead nor directly into the camera lens.

    A fun headshot Al will use on his blog - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/9 ISO 200 1/100th Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 42" brolly to frame left - gray background added digitallyFor the last shot of the headshot session, Al wanted one with his arms crossed kind of looking intimidating to use as a fun image for his blog, etc.  I used the Quick Select tool in Photoshop and then the Refine Edge function to cut Al out of the background you see in the top image and placed him on an empty background.  I then added a new layer under the cut-out image of Al, painted it black, then added a single gradient diagonally to create the new background in the above shot.  This is how I am able to make shots on location right in an office and still offer the client any choice of background.  

    Thanks Al and I will see you at future networking events!

    Family Beach Portraits Sunset Beach Treasure Island St Petersburg Florida

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    Vivid family sunset beach portraits on Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 200 1/250th Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightIt was great to see the Martineau Family again, who I first photographed back in the summer of 2010.  They were once again visiting from Pennsylvania with their three children.  We met at the same beach on Treasure Island, Sunset Beach, my favorite beach in all of Florida.  This is a great place for family beach portraits, and also skimboarding!

    Pulling light from the sky long after the sun went down - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 640 1/60th Strobist: SB-800 to left & SB-600 to rightI was looking forward to seeing how much the children had grown in the past two years.  The most noticable growth was of course with their youngest, and the fact that he could now talk and his favorite words appear to be "alligator golf."

    Cartwheel sunset beach skills! - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightBeing a Thursday evening in late April Sunset Beach was mostly free of tourists and locals as well so we pretty much had the entire half-mile strip of beach to ourselves.  The only passersby were some water birds.

    Family running on the beach having fun - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 500 1/500th natural lightLast time we made a very similar shot to the one above with the family running and laughing down the shoreline.  The biggest difrerence this year was that it was a cloudless sky, whereas two years ago a storm was just upon to fall on the beach providing a dramatic cloudy sky for a background.

    Siblings having fun on the beach - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/80th Strobist: SB-800 to left & SB-600 to rightThe cloudless sky helped me be able to make shots well after the sun went below the horizon and still pull some color out of the twilight sky.

    Family beach portrait watching the sunset - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/100th Strobist: SB-800 to left SB-600 to rightI was very glad to be able to continue to be the Martineaus family photographer on their Florida visits and I look forward to their next visit!

    Motion blur for creating background interest - Japanese temple statue

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    Using a slow shutter speed to create motion blur in the background - Nikon D80 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/2.8 ISO 400 1/40thI made the photgraph above three and a half years ago, still early in my DSLR photography career while I was living in Tokyo, Japan.  I noticed the wind catching and spinning this fan around like crazy.  I knew I wanted to juxtapose the stillness of the statue with the manic motion of the fan.  To accomplish this I needed to set a shutter speed slow enough to blur the fan blades, but not too slow that I could not handhold the camera steady enough to keep the statue looking sharp.  

    I found that 1/40th of a second shutter speed produced enough motion blur in the fan without camera shake causing overall image bluriness.  If I had a tripod with me it would have been a simpler shot to execute.  It was actually lucky that there was a lot of shadow in this part of the temple garden which allowed me to use f/2.8 to try and produce a little bokeh, even though I was using a wide angle lens.   

    So this weekend my photography tip and homework assignment is to go out and see if you can find some background object to catch in motion blur while maintaining a sharp, in focus subject.  Put a link to your photos in the comments below! 

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