Treasure Island

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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    • Treasure Island Sunset Beach Family Portraits with Elizabeth

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    Elizabeth & her family on Sunset Beach Treasure Island, it was actually freezing! - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightOn perhaps the coldest evening of the year, I met Elizabeth and her family on Sunset Beach on Treasure Island for a family beach portrait session.  Not only was it cold, but it was also very windy with clouds of sand at times sweeping down the shoreline.  However, her family was great and braved the cold.  As for me, I was fine . . . inside my windproof Mountain Hard Wear jacket!

    Teen romance on Sunset Beach Treasure Island portrait photography - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame right & SB-600 to frame leftYou can see the sand at their feet blowing in the wind.  I never experienced that before on Sunset Beach or any other Pinellas County beach.  I thought though it made for a cool photo effect shooting with a long focal length.

    Watching the sunset on Treasure Island Florida family beach portraits - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/160th - Strobist: SB-800 frame left & SB-600 frame rightThough it was frigid and windy, at least Mother Nature also provided a great sunset as a backdrop to our family beach portrait session.

    Treasure Island Large Family Beach Portrait on the Jetties Sunset Beach Florida

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    14-person family beach portrait on Sunset Beach Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/7.1 ISO 200 1/100th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/1 power in shoot-through umbrella to frame right & SB-600 same setup frame leftI was contacted by Kristen about a large family group portrait.  14-people large, with seven of them young children!  She wanted just one single portrait out on Sunset Beach on Treasure Island, Florida.  It went much smoother than I expected getting the shot on only about the seventh take.  Also to my surprise there was basically no wind at all out on the beach so I was able to use shoot through umbrellas with my speedlights softening and expanding the light on everyone in the big portrait.  Kristen wanted to shoot on the jetties and did not want the sun in the background.  After setting up my two lights I found that everyone had already pretty much settled into a good spot.  I gave a few suggestions for moving a bit this way or that, and then boom, 14-person family portrait made!

    A silly faces version of the family portrait on Treasure Island Sunset Beach Florida - settings same as above photoThey asked if they could make silly faces after we got our more formal shot finished.  I see that stretching your mouth open sideways is a popular funny face to make!  I really liked how it turned out.  

    Sunset Beach Engagement Session Treasure Island Florida Candid Portraits

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    Engagement portrait session on Sunset Beach Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/125th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightThis past Saturday I photographed one of my family members professionally for the first time!  My cousin whom I have not seen in over a decade due to living in different parts of the country moved down here to the Tampa Bay area.  She got engaged and contaced me about an engagement shoot on Sunset Beach in Treasure Island Florida.  I said sure, sounds great, you bring the romance and I will take care of the rest!

    Candid portrait during an engagement shoot with my cousin on Sunset Beach Treasure Island - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/200th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame right front & SB-600 to rear frame rightThey did their homework and had several photo ideas they wanted to try out, which is fine with me as I am always looking for new shot ideas myself.  It was a frigid day, actually the coldest of the year, but they dressed Florida style anyway and were real pros!

    Sun melting engagement photo on Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightAs requested, they brought the romance allowing me to make candid portraits like the one above.  I wanted to have the sun melt through the couple in this shot adding to the impact of the overall image.

    Dramatic sunset background engagement shoot on Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/125th - Strobist: see setup in photo belowBesides being cold, it was incredibly windy, but at least Mother Nature also provided a classic dramatic Florida sunset to use as a background in the photographs.  I prefer there to be clouds in the sky as well, as I feel it adds more interest than if the sky were cloudless.

    My unique two strobe setup for making my signature sunset portraits on Treasure Island FloridaI remembered to make a quick shot of my strobist setup this time.  As you can see, I use two speedlights in my off camera flash technique for sunset portraits.  There are just diffuser caps on the strobes as it was far too windy for an umbrella or anything like that.  

    Getting a kiss from their dog during our candid portrait session - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/200th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightMy cousin and her fiance brought their dog, Bear, who was a good boy and watched patiently until it was his time to be in front of the lens where he immediately started dishing out big kisses!

    Engagement shoot in Florida, but wedding in Rhode Island! - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/200th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightMy cousin, like me, was born in Rhode Island and will have her wedding actual up in the Ocean State.  It was great to reconnect with her, and her mom (my aunt) made a surprise visit too!  It was a real reunion and a very fun engagement portrait session.

    Sunset Vistas Treasure Island Florida Family Portraits February 2013

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    Sisters having fun on Treasure Island Sunset Beach Florida in this candid portrait - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/160th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/4 power to frame left & SB-600 @ 1/4 power to frame rightTwo families were coming to Florida for a warm winter vacation from their homes in Pennsylvania and contacted me about getting family beach portraits.  They were staying at Sunset Vistas on Treasure Island, Florida and wanted to use the beach their as the backdrop for their family portraits.  I had never been on that stretch of beach before, but I pretty much knew what to expect as virtually all beaches on Treasure Island look the same.  The biggest variable was the weather, but we were pretty lucky.  The day before the shoot was all day rain.  The day after the shoot was arctic and super windy.  Our shoot day was perfectly sunny with only a slight chill in the air.  Lucky!

    The above shot was my favorite of the session, featuring two sisters doing as I suggested, just be sisters.  It may end up in my top ten images of 2013 as my favorite candid portrait, we shall see.

    All hands on dad in this family sunset portrait on Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/160th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightSince there were two families in this hour portrait session, I had to work twice as fast.  There were several group shots with everyone, but otherwise I setup a shot with one family and then quickly had to get the next in place for their turn, all of course with the sun providing its own countdown timer!

    Two families watching the sunset on Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/100th - Stobist: SB-800 @ 1/1 power frame left & SB-600 @ 1/1 power frame rightThis was my first time to make this type of shot with so many people.  I had to use both speedlights at max power and a relatively large aperture of f/5.6 to light everyone with the sun that low.  

    Another great Florida sunset at Treasure Island backlights this family portrait - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/160th - Strobist: SB-800 to front frame left & SB-600 to rear frame rightEven though each family had four members and were photographed in the same spot and time was ticking away, I still tried to add as much variety between shots as possible, in the case above using a different pose and moving one of the speedlights behind the family.  Compare this shot to the second photo from the top to see how the light changes at sunset time in just 3 minutes.

    Family Beach Portraits at Sunset Beach Treasure Island Florida - Demiduk Family

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    Watching the sunset as a family on Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left rear & SB-600 to frame right frontOnce again I had the opportunity to photograph a client I already knew as DSLR Photography Lesson student Kristin booked a Family Beach Portrait session for Sunset Beach on Treasure Island.  As I have mentioned before, it is always a plus to photograph people you are familiar with, and of course as a pro photographer it is flattering that a client would give you repeat business.

    Baby Naomi was in constant motion when not being held close by her parents!Kristin's nearly 2-year old daughter was a very talkative little girl, and as one might expect a very active one too.  I usually recommend that parents hold their child as the best means of keeping them in the frame!

    Having family fun in front of tall beach grass on Sunset Beach Treasure Island FloridaThe whole family had a lot of personality which made it fun to photograph them as they were never at a loss for smiling in front of the lens.  A willingness to get a bit sandy allowed us to make the above shots in front of Sunset Beach's tall grass dunes.

    2-year old preparing to be a ballerina - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th Strobist: SB-800 to frame center right & SB-600 to rear rightUsing a mound of sand that was the remains of a castle, Naomi practiced her ballerina moves as I framed her with the dusk sky out over the Gulf of Mexico.

    Gliding down the shore black & white family beach portrait - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 500 1/400th natural lightKristin has two more photography lessons with me where I will help prepare her to be able to make her own family beach portraits in the future!

    Treasure Island Sunset Beach Florida Large Family Group Portraits Lemle Family

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    Young family and baby candid beach portrait on Treasure Island Sunset Beach St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/100th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightI returned to Sunset Beach on Treasure Island in St. Petersburg Florida once again this time for a large group family beach portrait session.  Normally I work with no shotlist on family beach portrait shoots, but due to there being six adults and two children composing three family groups and three generations I did ask the client to provide one to make sure we got all the pairings desired.  The shot above features another new pose I have not done before.  I asked the family if they were willing to get a bit crazy and they say yes for sure so with the will to lay down on the sand there, we were able to make this shot which was my favorite of the evening.

    Large group family beach portrait on Sunset Beach Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/160th - Strobist: SB-800 to left & SB-600 to rightThe key to reducing and even better eliminating shadows when making a large group family portrait on the beach is to have the family not stand in a concave line as seems to be everyone's natural instinct, but rather a convex or at least straight line so that the people for example in the far right of the above image do not cast a shadaw on the people next to them.  I start by setting up a shot like this by having the person in the center be the anchor, and then placing everyone else around that person.

    Another vivid sunset on Treasure Island St. Petersburg Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/125th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightWhen working with essentially three different groups with the every present sunset as a countdown timer, the photographer has to work even more efficiently and try to provide as best as possible variety in the shots, but of course an entirely different image cannot be made for each group each time within a 60-minute session.  This was really my first time to work with this many pairings on a family beach portrait session and I was pleased with the variety of shots I was able to make, though as you can see there was only time to work with one camera and lens where I usually shoot with at least two and sometimes three lenses.

    Tall beach grass family portrait on Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/100th - Strobist: SB-800 to frame left & SB-600 to frame rightThis is the same grass location as her sister's family, but a different pose makes for a very different feel in the final image.  I also shot from a different angle and a bit wider.  Luckily, Sunset Beach's tall grass has survived well despite the recent tropical storm.

    Large group family beach portrait walking at dusk - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/80th - Strobist: SB-800 in front & SB-600 to front rightThis semi-complex group walking shot was made on the first take which was great as you can see the sun was already below the horizon and light was fading fast.  My advice for this type of shot is for everyone to start walking with the same foot forward, while holding hands and continuing to walk even after I take the shot to maintain a natural look to the image.