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

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Julianna with her Canon 7D absorbing 2-hours of photography knowledge in St. Petersburg FloridaFinally, a cold front has passed through Florida again banishing the humidity allowing for a decent enough Florida winter morning for my first of four 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lessons with Julianna and her Canon 7D in downtown St. Petersburg.  Thank you to Kristin for referring Julianna to my photography lessons!

Julianna had a good amount of photography instruction in the past, and wanted a refresher on how to shoot in manual mode in particular.  I began the lesson though by showing her around her Canon 7D a bit so she can quickly and easily change the five settings necessary for making a well exposed and sharp shot in any shooting conditions, as well as confirming in the field the results of a shot.  The biggest piece of advice I perhaps gave her is that she should always (basically) use the lowest ISO possible until hitting the limits of aperture and shutter speed for the subject she is trying to make a photo of.  Thus, when shooting on a bright and sunny day like it was during our lesson, there was no reason at all to use anything but ISO 100, the lowest and thus cleanest ISO available on the Canon 7D.

For our next lesson we will focus on making creative and skilled shots with a 50mm lens.

Photography Tip use Christmas lights for portrait lighting

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In December (and even November) holiday and Christmas lights begin showing up hanging from trees, houses and windows.  Another use for Christmas lights is as portrait lighting.  As seen in the above example, I wrapped a string of Christmas lights around a couple from head to toe (but not over their faces) and also the mantle of the fireplace.  I used no speedlights and there was only the dimmest of ambient light coming into the living room.  In order to get enough exposure I used a shutter speed of 0.8 seconds with my camera tripod mounted.  I asked the couple to stand as perfectly still as possible as small movement would create blur with that long of an exposure.  

Portrait using Christmas lights for creative lighting - Nikon D300 tripod mounted with Tamron 17-50mm lens @ f/5.6 ISO 200 0.8 secSo for creative portrait lighting, try using Christmas lights.  Be sure and put a link to your photos in the comments below!

1-on-1 Nikon D3000 DSLR Photography Lesson #2 with Georgia in St. Petersburg Florida

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Georgia showing good form with her Nikon D3000 out at The Pier during our second photography lesson in St. Petersburg, FloridaI met Georgia on a too humid for December even for Florida morning for our second of four 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lessons.  Since our first lesson last week, she had the opportunity to photograph a friend's family and their great classic Cadillac convertible.  She learned that making photographs with just a little bit of pressure is a whole different thing than just walking around shooting for yourself.  I was pleased though that in difficult conditions for the most part she used appropriate settings, especially keeping her ISO at the minimum.  

We set off for The Pier to concentrate on shooting at 200mm and see what the pelicans were up to, which unfortunately was mostly lazing about turning their throats inside out.  Still, I gave Georgia some tips on how to turn a pretty good pelican shot into one that stands out just a bit more, but that little more makes all the difference.  We also covered some landscape photography composition tips.  

1-on-1 Nikon D5100 DSLR 50mm Lens Photography Lesson with Quincy in St. Petersburg Florida

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Quincy sizes up a shot of a colorful bike with his 50mm lens during a 1-on-1 photography lesson in St. Petersburg, FloridaFor our second 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson I met Quincy in downtown St. Petersburg, Florida on an overcast afternoon.  This weather was very welcome as we were set to use only 50mm f/1.8 lenses during the lesson.  The overcast skies made available light scarce even hours before sunset was to arrive.  We took a route through the skyscrapers of downtown passing by a few favorite spots with a small fountain, a grimey alley and different kinds of lights that can be used to make a great background bokeh.

More than the first lesson, I gave composition advice and how to find a shot with a 50mm lens.  With its large aperture of f/1.8, a 50mm lens can often make a shot out of nothing, which is of course much harder to see than shooting a landscape that is right there in front of you.  Using a 50mm lens requires being able to see how a shallow depth of field shot is going to look with your naked eye.  Background is often the key, though that is often the key for any type of photograph if you think about it!

Sweet & Sassy Tampa Birthday Party with Juliana

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Juliana lying across the laps of 25 of her friends at Sweet & Sassy Tampa - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th - Strobist: SB-800 in brolly to frame left & SB-600 in shoot through umbrella to frame rightOn Saturday I ventured to a most unusual place in Tampa called Sweet & Sassy to photograph Juliana's 9th birthday party.  Juliana and her family are returning clients.  I photographed her 7th birthday party and also made beach portraits of her family.  At Sweet & Sassy she was joined by 25 (!) of her friends for a spa treatment and runway fashion time.

Juliana celebrating her 9th birthday in a most unusual way at Sweet & Sassy Tampa Florida - Nikon D80 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 800 1/100th SB-600 hotshoe mounted at 1/4 powerApparently having mud put on your face and cucumbers on your eyes is something done on purpose.  I am not sure if I would ever willingly try it, but it sure makes for an interesting photograph of Juliana that her mom can no doubt use to embarrass her at her 29th birthday party!

On the runway during her birthday party at Sweet & Sassy Tampa - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 in brolly to frame right front & SB-600 in shoot through umbrella to frame right backAfter the spa treatment and makeovers, it was time to hit the runway.  Each girl got several changes to walk the runway and strike a pose.  There was just enough space for me to set up two of my speedlights to get a strobist shot like the one above, which allowed for soft and directional lighting.  With the speedlight on camera, this of course would not have been possible.

Karaoke singing at Sweet & Sassy Tampa during her birthday party - Nikon D80 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 800 1/100th SB-600 hotshoe mounted at 1/4 powerAfter the runway out came the mic for three karaoke songs.  To my own embarrassment, and a blow to my punk rock cred, I knew all three!  I believe the first was called "You Don't Know Your Beautiful," the next was "Call Me Maybe," and the last was a new catchy Taylor Swift song about never, ever getting back together, apparently.  

Juliana with glitter makeup during her birthday party at Sweet & Sassy Tampa - Nikon D80 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 800 1/100th SB-600 speedlight hotshoe mounted @ 1/4 powerThere was sparkling glitter everywhere!  So much that I had to be careful what I leaned up against and where I set my photography gear down.  Juliana can be seen in the above photo with a glitter tattoo as well as a hairdo covered in glitter.  

Mother and daughter during her 9th birthday at Sweet & Sassy Tampa - Nikon D80 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 800 1/100th SB-800 hotshoe mounted @ 1/4 power

Mom and daughter together for a quick portrait before Juliana went back to having a blast with her friends helping her celebrate her 9th birthday.  I am thankful that I continue to be her family's photographer for their life events.
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    Ferrari F430 Spider in Yellow Tampa Florida Car Photography

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    Ferrari F430 Spider in yellow photographed at Tampa International Jet Center - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/125thAt the 2012 Cars & Couture event in Tampa, Florida I had the opportunity to photograph this stunning Ferrari F430 Spider in Modena Yellow.  It was parked next to four other Ferraris fortunately at the end of the line so I could make some clean photographs of it.  As you can see it also happend to be sunset time making for an ideal backdrop.

    Rear diffuser of a Ferrari F430 Spider - Tampa Car Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDRI liked how the yellow line on this airport runway added a detail to the rear view of this Ferrari F430 Spider, and it was doubly nice that it was also yellow!  I cropped in tightly to accentuate the presence of the line.

    Jets waiting behind a Ferrari F430 Spider - Tampa Car Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDRIt was a very pleasant 20-minutes I spent all alone with this Ferrari far away from the busy event taking place in a hanger a few hundred yards away.

    When should I increase ISO for handheld photography shooting?

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    If you are shooting handheld, still subjects, with a wide angle lens like this Ford GT supercar stuck in traffic on Beach Drive NE in St. Petersburg, Florida, my advice for when to increase your ISO to get the best exposure is as follows . . .

    Only increase your ISO once:

    • The shutter speed is at 1/60th
    • The aperture is at the largest or near largest for your lens (typically f/5.6)

    In the photo above, you can see in the exif data I had not yet come close to the above parameters for increasing my ISO, so I had my ISO set at 200, which is the lowest for my camera.  If those settings were producing an underexposed shot, I first would have gone to 1/60th of a second.  If it was still too dark, then f/8, then f/5.6, then f/4.  My wide angle lens is an f/2.8 lens, but I know it probably will not be its sharpest at its largest aperture of f/2.8 so once I got to f/4 and 1/60th and was still getting an underexposed image, then I would have started to increase my ISO gradually until I got the exposure I wanted.

    This is just one scenario for when to start increasing the ISO on your camera, there are many others that will no doubt be the subjects of future photography tip blog posts.  However, the process for thinking when to increase your ISO is always the same, it is just that the minimum thresholds for aperture and shutter speed will not always be the same.