Business Headshot in St. Petersburg Florida home studio February 2013

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Dick wanted a headshot of him doing something he would actually do - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/160th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 43" brolly to frame right & SB-600 @ 1/4 power in closed shoot-through umbrella to frame left and aboveFor one of his two headshots made here in my home studio in St. Petersburg, Florida, Dick wanted one of the images to show him acting naturally doing something he would actually do.  So he did a little acting to look like he was giving a presentation.  He was actually very good at it and we made the shot above on only the second take!

He was photographed on a neutral gray background.  In Photoshop I removed him from that background and painted in a digital background using pure black, then adding a slight gradient.  It was a fun shoot!

Strobist Classroom Portrait at the Morean Arts Center

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Students of my Morean Arts Center photography class. Four speedlights (all the students) were used to make this group portrait. Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/320th commander mode triggered flashes (1/16th power)In this morning's photography class at the Morean Arts Center I introduced my students to off camera flash.  Since everyone in the class now shoots Nikon (after one coverted from Canon after the 2nd class!) and has a Nikon Speedlight of some kind, I was able to setup everyone's Nikons (a pair of D90 & D7000) to remotely trigger everyone else's speedlights (two SB-700, SB-910, SB-600) using the Nikon Creative Lighting System via commander mode.  That meant anytime anyone pressed their shutter, all four speedlights went off!  

Well, we actually started off with just a two speedlight setup with Anne volunteering to be a great model!  We concluded the class with my suggested 4-strobe experiment.  As you can see in the shot above, one speedlight was on a chair behind everyone, another speedlight under the table, a speedlight in a 43" shoot-through umbrella in front and another speedlight on a light stand to frame left.

I hope our fun strobist experiements encourages everyone to try off camera flash portraits before our next class!

1-on-1 Canon T1i DSLR Photography Lesson in St. Petersburg Florida with Jim

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Jim with his Canon T1i flashing my business card leaning against his Mini John Cooper Works

Jim cashed in his photography lesson gift certificate he received for Christmas this past Saturday.  I met him in the usual downtown St. Petersburg Florida spot for a 1-on-1 DSLR photography lesson with his Canon T1i.  When I saw him pull up in his Mini Cooper, John Cooper Works edition, I thought it would be great to use as the background for the portrait I make of each student as a lesson bonus.  

We began the lesson with me showing Jim how to get around his Canon in manual mode, being able to adjust the 5 settings necessary to make a well exposed and sharp shot in any given shooting conditions.  From there we made our way around the beautiful downtown St. Petersburg waterfront shooting while I offered instructions simultaneously, which I believe is the best way to learn photography.  

We also talked about cars and I enjoyed hearing Jim's story about how he got to drive his friend's Ferrari!

St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce 114th Annual Meeting event photography

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Handing out awards at the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce 114th Annual Meeting at the Vinoy Hotel - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 800 1/60th SB-800 hotshoe mounted @ 1/2 powerI continued my long standing relationship with the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce when I photographed their 114th Annual Meeting last night at the Vinoy Hotel in of course downtown St. Pete.  I have photographed several events at the Vinoy Hotel each time getting to see a new ballroom and that continued last night as well shooting for the first time in the Palm Ballroom.  It was not unexpected that it was as about as dark as it gets for indoor photography inside the ballroom.

It was packed inside & outside the Palm Ballroom of the Vinoy Hotel - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 1600 1/40th SB-800 hotshoe mounted @ 1/2 powerWhen I arrived I could hardly make my way through the crowd.  It was absolutely jam packed.  I found a small corner to unpack and get both my Nikons out.  That of course made it even more of a squeeze to get through the crowd with two DSLRs hanging off my shoulders.  In such situations I look for a bit of breathing room somewhere and stay put and photograph those that pass by instead of constantly moving through the crowd myself.  After a few minutes in a spot, I then move to another one.

Dan Heath co-author of SWITCH was the keynote speaker - Nikon D80 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 800 1/100th SB-600 hotshoe mounted @ 1/2 powerDan Heath gave a very entertaining keynote speech.  What I will remember from it is that teenagers make about 29% good decisions, roughly the same percent as businesses do!  There were several other speakers before him.  It actually takes many shots to get one of a person speaking where the person does not have some kind of unflattering facial expression.  Many.

Mingling during the St. Pete Chamber of Commerce 114th Annual Meeting inside the Vinoy Hotel - Nikon D80 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 800 1/100th (no flash)It was a fun event to photograph as I got to see many of my networking and Chamber friends in the crowd and as often happens when I photograph events, I got to run in circles I would normally not be found in.  Makes me feel like an insider!

Nikon D7000 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson in St. Petersburg Florida with Anne

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Anne with her new Nikon D7000 in Vinoy Park during our 1-on-1 photography lessonThis morning I met Anne for a 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson in downtown St. Petersburg.  Currently, Anne is also taking my photography class at the Morean Arts Center.  She started the class with an older Canon DSLR, the only Canon shooter of the five students.  When her 18-55mm lens broke, and no doubt with a little suggestion by all the other Nikon shooters in the room, on my advice she invested in a Nikon D7000, a Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens (I own this lens myself) and the Nikkor 70-200mm VR lens, oh and a SB-700 Speedlight too!  

Having made this ecosystem change and wanting more in-depth 1-on-1 instruction, our 2-hours this morning were focused on suring up what we had already discussed in the group lessons and helping her get more familiar with Nikon as well.  In this style of learning, Anne caught on rather fast allowing me to introduce composition tips as well.  As we made our way out to Vinoy Park, I showed Anne the benefits of having a S-curve in the frame and how to use lines in general to move the viewer's eye across a photograph.

Anne is also learning how valuable it is to take just even ten photographs a day, as per the advice I gave everyone in the Morean photo class.  The goal of that is not to make portfolio shots, but to start memorizing the layout of your gear and to make adjusting for correct exposure instinctual rather than requiring concentrated thought.  I look forward to seeing Anne's progress next Tuesday in the classroom.

Photography Tip - think of ISO like a pair of sunglasses

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Over the past few months I have started to describe ISO to my photography students like a pair of sunglasses.  You have sunlight hitting your eyes.  When wearing sunglasses your eyes feel all nice and comfortable even with all that sunlight.  However, if you take off your sunglasses, the same amount of light is hitting your eyes, except now it hurts and you squint.  There is a cost to taking off your sunglasses.  

It is the same thing with ISO.  There is a certain amout of light hitting your DSLR camera's sensor.  If you increase the ISO setting, the same amount of light will hit the sensor, except now the camera's sensor with a higher ISO is more sensitive to that same amount of light.  This is just like your eyes getting more sensitive without sunglasses.  The tradeoff with no sunglasses is squinting.  The tradeoff with high ISO is introducing noise, grain and artifacting into the photograph.  

This is why I usually only increase ISO last when trying to get the correct exposure.  Most of the time I will use the largest aperture possible with the slowest shutter speed possible.  Once I hit those limits, only then do I start to increase ISO because I want to maximize image quality as much as possible.  

Colorful pelican profile views St. Petersburg Florida fine art photography

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Brown Pelican looking very colorful in profile St. Petersburg Florida fine art photography - Nikon D300 Nikkor 105mm VR micro @ f/4 ISO 200 1/4000thSome more examples of one of my favorite subjects to photograph in St. Petersburg, Florida -- brown pelicans.  The males, like the one featured here, are actually rather colorful in their plummage.  I thought the line of buoys in the background matched the colors around the bird's beak and eyes.  

Brown Pelican looking eye-to-eye in St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 105mm VR micro @ f/4 ISO 200 1/4000thPhotographing a pelican straight on always produces a weird looking shot.  It kind of makes me uncomfortable even now looking at the pelican in the eye!