Social Media Portraits with Kevin in Tierre Verde St. Petersburg Florida

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Social media portrait with a puppy in St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/125th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 43" brolly to frame right & SB-600 @1/4th power in 43" shoot through umbrella to frame left

I will be working with new client Kevin on several photography projects.  The first of which was this social media portrait session.  Kevin wanted to have some good portraits of himself showing what he likes to do in his own home setting for social media and also for dating websites.  I have been trying to find a way for years to reach people who use dating websites who are trying to find their dream matches with horrible cell phone mirror photos of themselves.  If you are going to spend money on a dating website, and are serious about finding someone, then I think there is great value in having professional portraits of yourself made showing you having fun and doing things you like to do.  You will definitely stand out from 99% of the other profiles on any dating website just by having high quality and most importantly flattering images of yourself.

That is Kevin's puppy Dash with him above.  I had fun playing with Dash while I was getting my strobist gear setup as she was particularly fond of my light stand bag and tumbling over it!

Formal social media portrait with photos of his children in the background - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/125th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 43" brolly to frame right & SB-600 @1/4th power in 43" shoot through umbrella to frame leftKevin wanted one shot of him looking more formal.  It was his idea to have photographs of his children in the background.  I liked the idea also.  There was a challenge to overcome in not having any reflections from my speedlights in the photo frames on the wall, but after a few adjustments I was able to produce the glare free shot above.

Social media portrait showing pool & billiards hobby - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/125th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 43" brolly to frame right & SB-600 @1/4th power in 43" shoot through umbrella to frame leftThis photograph shows Kevin by his pool table which tells the story of one of his hobbies.  He is still the main subject of the photograph, but including the pool cue and edge of the table shows what Kevin likes to do for fun.

Social media portrait showing in kitchen cooking hobby - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/125th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 43" brolly to frame right & SB-600 @1/4th power in 43" shoot through umbrella to frame leftKevin's house had a great kitchen which I thought should definitely be featured in one of his social media portraits.  This shows him in an inviting activity where a person on a dating website might imagine they would like to visit sometime.  In the right background of the shot is Kevin's new Italian ice machine!  He can make his own sno-cones.  

Next I will be photographing Kevin's GT-R.  I am looking forward to it!

1-on-1 Digital Photography Lesson with Sony Camera in downtown St. Petersburg Florida with Harvey

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Harvey photographing a pelican coming in for a landing during our digital photography lesson in St. Petersburg FloridaI have been teaching 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lessons in downtown St. Petersburg for almost four years now.  In that time I believe I have only twice before taught someone with a non-DSLR camera.  My reasoning for that is that there is a uniformity to DSLRs even across brands allowing me to quickly show a person how to shoot in manual mode.  Non-DSLRs have no such uniformity and it took quite some time just figuring out how to change the aperture on Harvey's Sony digital camera.  Although it took more time than usual, I was able to figure out how to use the camera in full manual mode and thus began teaching my 5-step process to Harvey.

He kept asking me, like many people do, "which settings should I use for this and that," which I can never answer because unless I am looking at the same subject and light, I cannot really say.  This is why I stressed to him and to others that I teach a process that allows you to determine which settings to use on your own.  Of course there are basic default settings one can start out with in typical shooting situations, and those can be found in my photography tips section, but I cannot answer questions that contain the words "always" and "settings."

Eventually Harvey became a bit more comfortable, and accepting, of shooting in manual exposure mode.

50th Birthday Party Father & Daughter in Treasure Island St. Petersburg Florida

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Celebrating his 50th birthday party with his daughter on Treasure Island - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 1/250th ISO 200 - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightI went out to Treasure Island to photograph a 50th Birthday Party at the client's home.  It turned out to not be the usual birthday party photography, but more like a photobooth of people just rotating in and out of in front of my speedlights.  I was hoping to make some more candid and fun photographs of the actual birthday celebrator, and was glad to get in a few shots of him with his daughter playing around.  This was my favorite shot of the some 45 minutes I otherwise spent merely as a photobooth operator.
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    • Canon T4i 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson in St. Petersburg with John

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    John with his new Canon T4i during our 1-on-1 photography lesson in downtown St. Petersburg FloridaOn a surprisingly crisp Florida morning in May I met John in downtown St. Petersburg for a 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson.  His interest in photography has been growing leading him to purchase a Canon T4i making the transition from point-and-shoot to the DSLR world.  He had also starting reading up on photography before we met so he had familiarity with photography terms, but just needed help seeing how they all relate and also simply how to set them on his DSLR.  

    After I showed him around his Canon T4i we walked around the waterfront area practicing how to use the meter to get a baseline exposure, and then how to read the histogram after making the shot to see how the results really came out.  I showed John how to control DoF with aperture and focal length and then concluded the lesson with a little shade versus direct sunlight portrait practice.  

    Photography Tip - get close, then get closer for higher impact images

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    Getting in very close on this photograph of Kiki showing her viewpoint and thoughts.Getting in close to your subject is one way to immediately add more impact to the photograph.  Once you think you have gotten in as close as you should, try going in even closer.  This is especially true for portraits, as seen above in the portrait of Kiki seemingly in deep thought.  The framing only reveals her right eye and some of her head leaving all else a mystery to the viewer.  

    It helps to use a macro lens to make this kind of shot.  Another good way is to use a long focal length (200mm+).  

    Get close, and then closer even for group portraits to capture more emotion.The get close, and then get closer composition style also works for group portraits, not just single subject portraits.  In the above example showing the groom and groomsmen head to toe is a fine shot, but the viewer feels distant from the subject.  Zooming in and composing a much tighter shot reveals each person's individual character more and makes for a much more personal experience for the viewer.

    Try getting much closer than you normally do in composing your shots and let me know in the comments below what the results were.

    Two Chefs Commercial Headshots on digital white backgrounds Belleair Bluffs Florida

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    Chef Scott & Chef Erwin posing for an updated look - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/160 - Stobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 43" brolly to frame left & SB-600 in 43" shoot through umbrella to frame rightThis morning I drove over to Belleair Bluffs (surprisingly little traffic) to photograph two chefs.  Networking friend Allen who works in marketing referred this job to me, thank you! (if you need marketing, see his site)  The chefs needed updated headshot style photos for new marketing materials, including a billboard!  So if you are driving around Belleair Bluffs keep a lookout for these images!

    Chef Scott individual promotional shot Belleair Bluffs Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/160 - Stobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 43" brolly to frame left & SB-600 in 43" shoot through umbrella to frame back rightI photographed them inside the restaurant itself, but all that was desired by the client was a final image on a clear background.  To make it easy to cut them out of the shot I setup a white background.  The white background in these images here was added in Photoshop.  The client though can add any color or type of background as needed.

    Cheff Erwin individual promotional headshot Belleair Bluffs Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/160 - Stobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power in 43" brolly to frame left & SB-600 in 43" shoot through umbrella to frame back rightI have photographed with clients with glasses before, and have had some challenge getting know glare or reflection showing up.  This time the challenge was a bit more than usual.  I think I learned a tip for eliminating glare/reflection in glasses, have the subject look down slightly.  That was how I was able to make the above photo of Chef Erwin with signature glasses on.

    Harley-Davidson 50mm Motorcycle Series St. Petersburg Florida Photography

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    Harley-Davidson in downtown St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 50mm @ f/2.8 ISO 200 1/250thI like to photograph motorcycles with a 50mm lens.  I saw this Harley-Davidson parked in downtown St. Petersburg Florida.  Using a 50mm f/1.8 lens lets me select only a part of the motorcycle to show in focus by using a large aperture creating a shallow DoF.  I like this style for motorcycles where the bike is shown in ever increasing blur from front to back.  

    Shooting motorcycles with a 50mm lens - Harley-Davidson - Nikon D300 Nikkor 50mm @ f/2.8 ISO 200 1/250thUsing a 50mm lens up close also means the whole motorcycle cannot be fit into the frame, which I think is a plus.  It is much easier to get creative with composition with focal length restrictions.