VIP EYE CARE St. Petersburg Customer Appreciation Event May 2013

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VIP Eye Care boutique in St. Petersburg Florida hosts another customer appreciation event in May 2013 - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 800 1/60th SB-800 @ 1/4 power hotshoe mounted

I returned to VIP Eye Care boutique in the downtown St. Petersburg area to photograph another one of their customer appreciation events.  VIP has been my most frequent photography client, in addition to my optomology needs (contact lenses).  This time the event happened while it was still light out letting me use some of the available natural light for different looks to shots.

Trying on a new pair of glasses at VIP Eye Care St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D80 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 800 1/60th SB-600 @ 1/4 power hotshoe mounted

This is a photograph of a reflection above, with the light from my SB-600 sidelighting her as seen in the reflection.  I always like to try out new tricks when possible in order to create new event photographs for clients.

Glasses replacing glasses at VIP Eye Care St. Petersburg Florida event photography - Nikon D80 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 800 1/100th SB-600 @ 1/4 power hotshoe mounted

Such a purposefully overexposed shot was never possible at the other events I photographed for VIP after the sun went down.  I thought it was interesting she kept her old glasses on her head while she tried on a new pair.  

Showing off a pair of sunglasses at VIP Eye Care St. Petersburg Florida event photography - Nikon D80 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 800 1/60th SB-600 @ 1/4 power hotshoe mounted

I asked this sunglasses rep to hold out a pair of them as far extended as he could as I wanted to make a shot with just the sunglasses in focus and him and the background the bokeh.  

Visit VIP Eye Care for a very friendly staff that will take great care of your vision and a business that regularly shows its appreciation for customers.

Jason Collin radio interview on Picture This WTAN Clearwater Florida

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On Sunday May 19, 2013 I was a guest on the Picture This radio show on WTAN.  It is a weekly radio show discussing photography hosted by Jeff Donald.  I met Jeff soon after I moved back to the U.S. in early 2009 by joining one of his many photography meetups.  Though I do not attend many photography meetups anymore due to shooting professionally full time, we have stayed in touch and he asked me if I would like to go on the air and talk about my photography history and career.  I really enjoyed it!  Thanks Jeff for inviting me.

Photography Tip - manage the background for less distraction

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This week's photography tip deals with the background of photographs.  The background is one of three things that makes or breaks any photograph.  In the examples above, I sat in the exact same spot to make each photograph.  In the top example much of the background is visible and in varying degrees of focus.  The subject is sharp and well exposed, but despite that the background still distracts from it.  Plus, the subject is not big enough in the frame either.

For the second shot, I used a different lens, different settings, and different composition to make the background as much of a nonfactor as possible, and for the background to even try and complement the subject.  Having a clean background allows the viewer to focus only on the intended subject of the photograph.  

How the difference was accomplished: 

  • 17-50mm f/2.8 lens switched to 50mm f/1.8 lens
  • 38mm focal length to 50mm
  • f/8 to f/2.8

About this subject . . . it is a large light bulb that I found floating in the water behind my apartment one morning.  It is encrusted with barnacles.  It fascinates me how something as fragile as a light bulb could survive in open water long enough to number one become barnacle encrusted and second to not simply have shattered.  I keep it on a bookshelf in my living room as a reminder of how interesting the world is and how such extraordinary things are possible.

Rainbow over Smacks Bayou Snell Isle St. Petersburg Florida HDR

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Rainbow as seen from Smacks Bayou Snell Isle St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDRI rushed home from a networking event to pick up Kiki and get our usual evening dog park time in before an imposing storm on the horizon passed by.  Basically, as soon as we got to the dog park a deluge opened up.  After even a huge live oak could not provide adequate shelter, we headed back home.  Naturally, as soon as we parked the rain stopped and the sun was out.

The storm that birthed this rainbow did wash out dog park time, but at least I got to make this photo - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDRSo back on went Kiki's collar and leash as we headed out for a walk.  That is when I saw this rainbow appear vividly over Smack's Bayou.  Still we walked on and I let Kiki run around in a soccer field (see lower right corner of the above image for where we were earlier).  I just hoped the rainbow would stay visible by the time we got back.

There was actually a double rainbow visible shortly, but not possible to capture by this time - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDRIt did.  So I mounted my Nikon onto my tripod quickly and was able to make the above photos.  I could see a double rainbow with my eye, but getting it to come out in a photograph was not possible due to a number of factors.  Still, I was glad that even though our usual plans got washed out, at least I was able to add another rainbow photo to my archives.

Ferrari 458 Spider in yellow on white background St. Petersburg Florida Car Photography

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Selected crop & edit of a Ferrari 458 Spider photographed in St. Petersburg FloridaGoing through my unedited car photography archives, I found this straight on view of a yellow Ferrari 458 Spider.  It was originally photographed at the Grand Prix Gala inside a office building's lobby (see below).  The background was of course busy and full of people.  To put the focus on the car itself I decided to cut it out of its original background and place it on a digital white background.  Below is the digital photo editing process for making the final image.

I cropped the Ferrari above its bumper to give it a kind of peaking up at the viewer look.  

1-on-1 Nikon D5200 DSLR Photography Lesson with Janice in St. Petersburg Florida

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Janice with her brand new Nikon D5200 during our photography lesson in St. Petersburg FloridaOn a sunny Tuesday morning I met Janice with her brand new Nikon D5200 in downtown St. Petersburg Florida for a 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson.  This was my first time to get hands on with the Nikon D5200 and the most noticable upgrade to this new model is the much improved graphics on the back LCD screen.  Shutter speed, ISO and aperture are all very prominently displayed visually and numerically.  I wish my old Nikon D80 had such a menu system back when I was learning!

Janice had a Nikon D60 for many years, but only ever used it in auto-mode and she did not want to continue shooting like that with her new Nikon D5200.  For someone only ever shooting in auto-mode, Janice was one of the fastest students I have had to pick up on my 5-step system for making a well exposed and sharp shot in any given shooting situation.  She also learned her way around the camera body quickly to adjust the necessary settings as well.  I was impressed!

She has Nikon's great 17-5mm f/2.8 to pair with her D5200 body as well as the Nikkor 70-300mm lens and a 35mm f/1.8 lens too.  During our first lesson we only had time to practice with the first two lenses though.  I think Janice will be able to progress very quickly and I look forward to our next lesson.

1-on-1 Nikon D3100 DSLR Photography Lesson with Carol in St. Petersburg Florida

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Carol with her new red Nikon D3100 during our 1-on-1 photography lesson in St. Petersburg FloridaOn a stormy Florida evening I met Carol for a 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson along the waterfront of downtown St. Petersburg.  She had very recently gotten a snazzy looking red Nikon D3100.  Her reason for making the jump to the DSLR world was sparked by simply wanting to pursue photography as a hobby and be able to make great photographs.  I think that is a pretty good reason!

As we walked around the waterfront under overcast skies I taught Carol my established process for making a well exposed and sharp shot in any given shooting situation, and how to use the meter and histogram together to determine how to get better results.  Being a photographer is not a matter of getting the first shot perfect each time, it is getting that second or third attempt perfect.  Once you can get the results you want in your images, and be able to repeat that process in different shooting conditions, then you know you have gotten the hang of photography.

A few rain drops did chase after us toward the end of the lesson, but not before we had a chance to practice a little landscape portrait shooting utilizing the pop-up flash.  Even using the limited pop-up flash we were able to get pretty good results out along the waterfront.  I look forward to seeing Carol use what she learned during our lesson as she photographs dragonboat racing!