Night Photography Lesson with Jim in downtown St. Petersburg Florida

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Jim practices handheld night photography shots using a 50mm f/1.8 lens in downtown St. Petersburg FloridaIt has been nearly two years since I first had a 1-on-1 Photography Lesson with Jim.  That one was out in Sawgrass Lake Park.  Our second lesson was very different.  We met in downtown St. Petersburg in the late evening for a specialized night photography lesson, focusing on handheld shots using a 50mm f/1.8 lens.  Jim is a great fan of theme parks and often visits them at night when all the attractions are colorfully lit up.  Downtown St. Pete makes for a passable substitute as many of the restaurants and buildings along beach drive use their fare share of vibrant LED lighting.

Once the sun went down and it was truly night, the settings used for hand holding such shots get pretty set in stone, though not without some room for tweaking.  Basically I instructed Jim to use f/1.8 ISO 800 and 1/60th most of the night.  As some buildings and signs had varying levels of brightness, he could sometimes use ISO 400 and even a few times ISO 200.  Still, without a tripod, night photography even at f/1.8 is going to require high ISOs.

I look forward to seeing what colorful and creative night theme park shots Jim makes on his next trip over to Orlando.

Baptism Photography at St. John Vianney Catholic Church in St. Pete Beach Florida

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Young baby being baptized at St. John Vianney Catholic Church in St. Pete Beach Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/3.2 1/80th ISO 1600This past weekend I photographed a baptism for the first time.  I was referrred to the parents by repeat photography client Vanessa...thank you!  This was also my first time to shoot with significant flash restrictions, which is why you will see in the exif data under some photos ISO 1600.  Fortunately, the windows behind the baptism area were large and facing the noon sun to at least provide back light and some fill light.  I had no idea so much water was used during a baptism as seen in the large pitcher in the photo above!

Proud parents before their baby boy is baptized in St. Pete Beach Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 640 1/60th SB-800 @ 1/4 power hotshoe mountedBefore the actual baptism ceremony there were a few quick minutes I could use flash and photograph the parents with their baby boy.  Baby Oscar was a very good smiler.  

Baptism inside St. John Vianney Catholic Church St. Pete Beach Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 800 1/60th SB-800 @ 1/4 power hotshoe mountedI used significant lens distortion correction in this shot to make the mosaic appear as straight as it really was.  I also decided to split the parents allowing for a more balanced composition to the shot instead of both on one side of the flowers, or even blocking the flowers.

Mom and newly baptized baby at Don Cesar Hotel - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/9 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame right rearThe reception for the baptism was at the Don Cesar Hotel where I have photographed many past events.  It was a covered outdoor spot giving us still a peak at the water.  Here I could setup my speedlights on light stands for my preferred strobist style portraits.

Dad and newly baptized baby at Don Cesar Hotel - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/9 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame right rearThis is Dad's turn with baby Oscar having fun at the baptism reception at the Don Cesar Resort.  It was a pleasant spring Sunday out on the beach.

Parents in thought during child's baptism in St. Pete Beach - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/3.5 ISO 1600 1/60thI am always pleased when I have the opportunity to make a candid photo like this one showing the subjects in thought reflecting their emotion.  Baby Oscar knew what I was up to though!
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    • Photography Tip - Posing App for iOS and Android helps photographers

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    One of the hardest things about making a portrait is often the pose.  Now I like to make as candid of portraits as possible, but not every client has the personality for such a shoot.  Likewise, as a photographer it is not easy to memorize exactly a whole catalogue of poses, and even if you have done so, describing that in words to a client is not so easy.  

    This is why I really like the Posing App (available for iOS & Android).  It is a visual way out in the field for me to show clients how to get into natural and attractive poses that will result in great portraits.  The app breaks poses down by the number of people in a shot making it easy to find a collection of poses for the number of subjects.  There is also a tips & tricks section.  Just for how to better pose hands and arms the app is worth it.  

    Canon T3i 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson in St. Petersburg with Jahaan

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    Jahaan composing a landcape shot with her Canon T3i during our 1-on-1 DSLR photography lesson in St. Petersburg FloridaEven though it is still only mid-April, my first 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson with Jahaan and her Canon T3i felt like the first lesson of the summer!  Jahaan likes to make cakes and was not happy with her photographs of them.  She felt they were not preserving the memory of her baking efforts properly.  So she took a general photography lesson with me to learn how to use her Canon properly in manual mode.  She can then take those skills and not only apply them to photographing her cakes, but anything else as well.

    Jahaan had heard of most common photography terms, but did not know how they worked together to make a well exposed and sharp photograph in any given shooting conditions.  Having taught hundreds of 1-on-1 photography lessons, my methodology for teaching how to do this step by step is very refined and possible to be understood by even a total beginner.  Of course having some prior photography knowledge helps!

    Jahaan was quick to learning her way manually around her DSLR and using the meter and reading the histogram to see how well a shot came out in the field.  I look forward to seeing her cake photographs!

    Chrome Nissan GT-R at Festivals of Speed 2013 St. Petersburg Florida Car Event Photography

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    Chromed Nissan GT-R at the Festivals of Speed 2013 event in St. Petersburg Florida, highly stylized & editedAt the Festivals of Speed 2013 car event in St. Petersburg, Florida, there was no shortage of cars getting a lot of attention.  However, a chrome Nissan GT-R was getting more than most.  Anytime you chrome out a car, it is going to be eye catching.  Whether such a finish to a car is to your taste or not, you cannot help but stare at it.  Since this GT-R was surrounded by people, I had to do a lot of editing in Photoshop and other apps to get a final result I liked.  Below I show the process.

    I chose to completely replace the sky because that was much, much easier to do than to edit out the people and trees in the existing background.  This way I only had to select the car and foreground and then place that on a new layer and slip in behind it a blue sky I had in my archives.  The choice to go infrared was because of how black it made the sky, and in contrast how shiny the car looked in comparison.  Editing out the reflections in the car was just a tedious process that needed to be done to complete the look.

    Photography Tip - use your speedlight external flash at 1/4 power manual mode

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    I use my speedlights at 1/4 power most of the time in manual mode.Speedlights, or external flashes, are great tools and in my view absolutely necessary for every photographer to own.  They are actually very easy to use for the most part.  Current speedlights have TTL (through the lens) modes which are basically automatic modes.  You connect the speedlight to your DSLR's hotshoe, and the camera's meter determine's the power used by the speedlight.  This sounds great, and is convenient, but the problem is often too much power is used resulting in black images.  Why?  Because speedlights need time to recycle their charges between flashes.  The more power used, the longer the time.  

    This is why a majority of the time I use my speedlights at 1/4 power and always in manual mode.  At this quarter power setting the speedlight can take a small burst of shots (3+ in a row) allowing me to capture action in events, group shots, etc without having one of those frames be pure black because the flash did not fire due to a long recycle time.  

    Try using your speedlight in manual mode at 1/4 power and then compensate for any exposure needs using the settings on your DSLR.  You will get more consistent results and your speedlight's batteries will last longer too!

    St. Petersburg Florida fine art panorama photograph 50 inch print

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    This afternoon I personally delivered a client's order of a 50 inch x 25 inch canvas gallery wrap fine art print.  This was my first time also to see this image in print.  I originally featured this photograph in this blog post.  After the client decided upon this particular image, I had her measure the space she was planning on displaying the image to get an idea of what sizes would work best.  50 inches on the width is the largest canvas to date a client has ordered.  The single image holds up just fine at that large print size preserving details in the image even when viewed close up.  

    In addition to this image, I have a large catalogue of unique images of St. Petersburg, Florida and the surrounding area available as fine art prints or for commercial license usage that show St. Petersburg's character far beyond what stock images do.