Thunderstorm approaching St. Petersburg Stormy Sky

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Click image for larger 2000px version - 4-shot panorama stitched together in Photoshop CS5This is almost a real-time weather report panorama image as just a few minutes ago this massive thunderstorm was approaching St. Petersburg, Florida from the east.  In the time it took me to stitch it together and edit it in Photoshop it has began its pouring of a deluge of rain and striking of thunderbolts.  The rain is much needed here and hopefully the storm will pass quickly so Kiki and I can still go to the dog park as usual in the evening and I can play in the weekly ultimate frisbee pickup game even later in the evening!

Making a panorama image like this is not difficult in Photoshop CS5.  Using an 80-200mm lens, setting my exposure in manual mode, then locking in the focus, I took the four shots handheld using the gridlines in my Nikon D300's viewfinder to lineup the overlap needed between each shot.  Then using the Photomerge feature in CS5 it was just a matter of choosing spherical in the settings and letting my MacBook Pro's CPU do the heavy lifting.

Canon T3i 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson in downtown St. Petersburg Florida with Elizabeth

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Elizabeth with her new Canon T3i learning how to use manual mode & leave auto-mode behind!I met Elizabeth on a warm St. Petersburg morning for our first of four 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lessons to help her get off auto-mode and on her way to making photographs with complete control over exposure.  She brought with her a new Canon T3i and a pair of lenses (18-55mm & 70-300mm).  We begin with how to properly change lenses to minimize the amount of time the DSLR's sensor is exposed which could possibly lead to getting unwelcome spots on it that will need to be tediously cleaned using a special kit or taken to a pro for worry free cleaning.  I still take my own DSLR in to The Camera Cure when it needs a cleaning as I am of messing with the sensor.

Next I showed Elizabeth how to get around her T3i and change all the settings necessary for getting a well exposed and in-focus shot.  We stayed on aperture priority mode most of the 2-hour lesson as the T3i's meter did a pretty good job of selecting the shutter speed.  

Elizabeth would eventually like to make portraits for money, so the conclusion to this first lesson was touching on the basics of what lens, focal length, aperture, shutter speed and when to use and not use flash.  We will go into how to make portraits in much greater detail during our second lesson where I am very thankful she will be bring a model to practice on saving me from having to be both instructor and subject!

Strobist fun with friends & dogs

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Terry holding his dogs Lucy & Sadie with my dog Kiki frame left - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/250th Strobist: SB-800 in brolly to frame left & SB-600 on a chair to frame rightOn a recent visit to eldest friend Terry's house I brought with me a good bit of my strobist portrait gear planning to make some images of us with our dogs.  This involved not only getting the lighting and logistics correct for shooting in his living room, but also giving Terry some quick tips for how to shoot using my Nikon D300.  Once I got the above image of him with my dog Kiki and two of his three dogs, we switched players and I began coaching Terry how to first focus on my eyes and then recompose all while holding down the shutter halfway and shooting from a position lower than my eye level.  He learned fast, which should not be surprising as he was the valedictorian of our high school class after all!

Yours truly with Kiki & her best friend Sadie - Terry pushed the shutter on this one - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/250th Strobist: SB-800 in brolly to frame left & SB-600 on floor to frame rightHere is the image Terry and I created together.  This is all without mentioning the random element of the dogs and their movements, who were actually rather stoic for them.  Once Sadie laid down I got Kiki to come in behind her and I just rested on both of them, Terry was in position, and boom, we got the above shot.

Lucy kissing Kiki - background added digitally - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 800 1/60th SB-800 hotshoe mountedLucy was hanging off the sofa with peoples' legs in the background for the above shot, but I liked the kiss Lucy was giving Kiki so I took both dogs out of that busy background and then using Photoshop painted in a color sampled from Lucy's own hair color with a slight gradient added as the final touch to the digital background.

All these shots were done in just a few moments of time, just a fraction of the time we were there, but now thanks to a little photography know-how we will always have these memories of our dogs together.  

1-on-1 Nikon D90 DSLR Photography Lesson with Chris at The Pier

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Getting to eye level with your subject during a 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson with a NIkon D90 in St. Petersburg FloridaFor our second of four 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lessons Chris and I went out to The Pier in downtown St. Petersburg in an attempt to photograph birds in flight, in particular pelicans.  Well, there were many pelicans, but they were all only lazily napping or preening themselves!  Still, we were able to practice good composition skills, switching back and forth from shutter priority to manual mode, as well as AF-S to AF-C focus modes.  Now Chris will have both brown pelican shots in her portfolio and a cormorant too!

We also practiced basic landscape photography from the top of The Pier, which on a Monday morning we had entirely to ourselves.  Since Chris will soon visit the Smoky Mountains I pointed out that for landscape shots one does not always automatically use a wide angle lens.  If a mountain is very far away then using a medium telephoto lens like a 70-200mm could be the ideal lens to a landscape shot (see my shot of Mt. Fuji) featuring just the mountain itself.

Chris photographing a small bird during our lesson at The Pier in St. Petersburg

I look forward to seeing Chris' Smoky Mountain images, especially if she makes the effort to wake up an hour before sunrise and really capture some of that morning mist on the mountains!

How to Photograph Fireworks - 4th of July Fireworks St. Petersburg Florida 2012

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4th of July Fireworks over downtown St. Petersburg Florida 2012 - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/11 ISO 200 10.5 sec tripod mounted with cable release covering lens frequently with a cardThere is an art and methodology to photographing fireworks that if you have the necessary gear is pretty fun.  To photograph fireworks properly you need:

  • DSLR camera with bulb mode
  • Lens with appropriate focal length for your location
  • Very stable tripod
  • Cable release
  • A stiff card large enough to cover the front of your lens

Other tips for shooting fireworks:

  • Choose a spot with a clear open view (obviously!)
  • Choose a spot that is upwind (so smoke does not blow into your shots)
  • Include foreground elements (do not just shoot the fireworks themselves)
  • Do not record overlapping fireworks (will just look blown out in one spot)

4th of July Fireworks in St. Petersburg Florida 2012 - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/11 ISO 200 27.4 sec tripod mounted with cable release covering lens frequently with a cardThe actual process for making and recording a multiple firework image:

  1. While still light out focus on something where the fireworks will be
  2. Set your focus to manual focus so you do not have to worry about autofocusing in the dark
  3. Use manual exposure mode set to bulb mode and f/8 or f/11 & your lowest ISO
  4. Hold the shutter open with your cable release when seeing a streak going into the air
  5. Cover the front of the lens quickly & carefully with the card
  6. When the firework explodes remove the card for a split second
  7. If another firework explodes in a different spot, remove the card again
  8. Repeat step 7 a few times then release the shutter

4th of July fireworks finale in St. Petersburg Florida 2012 - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/11 ISO 200 28.8 sec tripod mounted with cable release covering lens frequently with a cardI also try to avoid removing the card for fireworks that are just bright balls of light as these tend to overexpose and just look like all-white blobs.  Overly bright fireworks can also reflect light onto smoke in the sky ruining the shot.  The ideal is to catch a streaking firework trail going up, a low firework explosion, a middle one, and then a very high one.  This evening they tended to explode in the same spot like three times in a row, which is no good as the overlapping makes them start to again look like an all-white blob.  If you are patient, study the patterns of explosions, and use good technique exposing the front of the lend with the card, then you will give yourelf the best chance at creating a satisfying fireworks multiple explosion image.  

Post a link to your fireworks shots in the comments below!

Honeymoon Island State Park Family Beach Portraits Candid Sunset

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Candid Family Beach Portrait at Sunset on Honeymoon Island State Park - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/200th Strobist: SB-800 in front of subjects & SB-600 behind & to the right of subjectsThe streak continues for photographing past clients.  This time it was DSLR Photography Lesson student Angela's family for sunset beach portraits out at Honeymoon Island State Park.  We had to reschedule our candid portrait session three times due to various weather, including tropical storm Debbie.  There was a bit of a time issue as well as one of Angela's daughters was soon off to college!  In the end we had perfect weather for the entire shoot.

Family Beach Portrait on a swinging bench on Honeymoon Island State Park - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/7.1 ISO 200 1/200th Strobist: SB-600 to frame left & SB-800 to frame right

This bench swing was the first and only prop we used during our photo session.  With a little careful arranging the entire family of five were able to (comfortably?) fit on the bench.  To make the image more candid and natural I had them actual swing back and forth, capturing this image as they swung farthest forward.  This also helped solve a problem with shadows coming from the beams holding up the swing.

Trying out new poses during this family beach portrait session - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/9 ISO 200 1/200th Strobist: SB-600 to frame left & SB-800 to frame right

Using a handy new iPhone posing app, I showed the family exactly how I wanted them to arrange themselves for a more together looking portrait than if they were all just sidding side-by-side or even in a standard two-row pose.  This was Angela's favorite photo from the session.  

A 60's sitcom promo inspired shot - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/80th Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame right

The above image is also an entirely new shot I never made before.  I asked if everyone was willing to lie down on the sand.  Everyone agreed and we were thus able to make this fun photograph that somehow reminds me of The Monkees or other such 60s era type of promo shot.  Since they were wearing white shirts and the sand was off-white, I decided to convert the image to black & white as there was little color in it.

Sisters having fun on Honeymoon Island State Park - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/200th Strobist: SB-800 next to camera & SB-600 behind to the right

We had a theme going of giving piggy-back rides which the three sisters continued for their siblings only shot.  This is yet another uniquely composed beach portrait staggering height rather than depth, creating a vertical look in a square framing.

Moon rising over Honeymoon Island State Park family beach portrait - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/80th Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightAs we were finishing the family beach photo session, I noticed the moon rising and a great purple sky.  Now I have made a shot very similar to this one before a few years back much further south near the Tradwinds Resort.  Surprisingly similar as I myself look at them both side-by-side right now.  I was glad that Honeymoon Island State Park provided such a variety of backgrounds for what I consider one of my very best family beach portrait sessions ever.  I have to give a lot of the credit to Angela and her family for their relationships with each other and how well they all interact and can simply just have fun and be themselves, even though I am surrounding them with speedlights and pointing my lens at them.

1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson in St. Petersburg Nikon D90 with Chris

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During our 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson Chris had a chance to photograph these ducklings!On a not too hot St. Petersburg morning I met new DSLR Photography Lesson student Chris for our first of four 1-on-1 photography lessons.  She had taken a photography class about a year ago, but soon after reverted to using auto-mode again so in our lessons I will help her get off of that once and for all and learn to love manual mode!

She has a Nikon D90 and a pair of lenses to go along with her already acquired photography knowledge.  We started with a tour of her DSLR and how to change the four (or five if in manual mode) necessary settings for any given shot.  The D90 has two dials and a top LCD making it pretty quick to be able to do a wholesale set of changes.  For anyone wanting to be serious about shooting in dynamic situations, I highly recommend a DSLR with that feature set, otherwise it will take much longer to change settings than you will most likely have.  

Toward the end of our 2-hour lesson it was a nice surprise to come across a mama duck and her three ducklings.  They provided a very fun subject matter to practice photographing moving subjects.  The key of course is setting the focus mode to AF-C (Ai Servo) and then using good tracking technique to maintain a focus lock on the moving subjects by always keeping the shutter pressed halfway down.

For our second lesson will we head out to The Pier to photograph pelicans and other wonders.