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

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Janice shoots with her Nikon D5200 in South Straub Park in St. Petersburg FloridaOn a very warm June morning I met Janice for our second 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson in downtown St. Petersburg Florida.  She said she had only taken just a few shots of a rainbow with her Nikon D5200 since our first lesson almost a month ago.  Janice also claimed to have forgotten most of what we talked about in that first lesson, but as I suspected that was not the case.  A little helpful hinting helped her remember a lot of what we practiced in May.

In addition to teaching Janice how to shoot in manual exposure mode, in this second lesson I started to point out more composition tips and just things in general I look for when framing a photograph.  Some of those things were, including foreground objects to help a shot, framing the entire subject with a border to put more emphasis on the subject, etc.

I will meet Janice again next week for a third lesson before she is off for a trip to Europe!

Brown Pelican on a Post in St. Petersburg Florida Bird Photography

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Is this comfortable? Must be to this brown pelican - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/250thAt the edge of Tampa Bay in St. Petersburg Florida perched seemingly not so precariously on a narrow post I found this brown pelican relaxing.  To human eyes, this does not look like perhaps the greatest and/or safest of resting spots, but pelicans obvioiusly think otherwise.  

DSLR Photography Tip - adjust shutter speed first to fix exposure

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If you are photographing a still subject, you should be shooting in manual mode with your DSLR (if you do not know how, I offer 1-on-1 photography lessons that will).  Therefore, you have an aperture you want to shoot at in order to get the best DoF for your subject.  So if your initial shot does not have the exposure you want (underexposed or overexposed), then you should adjust shutter speed first in order to fix the exposure, not aperture or ISO.

In my example photographs above, both images are straight out of the camera at the exact same settings, save for the shutter speeds.  At 1/500th the image is underexposed, which is not surprising since at default daylight settings I only recommend 1/320th as a max shutter speed and today is very overcast with a tropical storm passing by (note the dock is almost underwater!).

I did not change my aperture as I want to maintain the DoF f/11 offers, and I did not adjust the ISO as I kept that set at the lowest in order to maintain the best image quality.  On pretty much every DSLR, even if it has only one dial on the camera body, in manual mode that dial defaults to shutter speed for a reason...because you change shutter speed the most often.  In the photo of the dock, I adjusted the shutter speed from 1/500th to 1/125th to get the exposure I wanted, leaving all other settings the same.

So remember when shooting still subjects in manual mode, adjust the shutter speed first in order to fix any exposure problems.

Malaysian Borneo Tree Frog at night

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Tree frog photographed in Malaysian Borneo in 2007 on a night trek - Olympus 5060 5 megapixel bridge cameraI went into my photography archives this afternoon and found this image of a tree frog I photographed in Malaysian Borneo way back in the summer of 2007.  This was before I entered the DSLR world, and still was shooting with my Olympus 5060 bridge camera.  At the time I was staying in a primative camp an hour's boat ride down a small river in the middle of the rainforest in Borneo.  This was the most remote place I have ever been.  The Malaysian guide took a small group of us on a night trek through the forest showing us all manner of creatures.  By far this tree frog was the most harmless of the ones he showed us (which included tarantulas and scorpions!).  

Since it was night and the tree frog on an isolated branch, the flash only lit up the subject creating an in camera pitch black background.

Nissan GT-R in white with 360 Forged Wheels Ybor City Tampa Florida Car Photography - part 1

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Nissan GT-R with custom 360 Forged wheels in Ybor City Tampa Car Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/15th tripod mounted with cable releaseI received a phone call last week from 360|Forged about photographing a Nissan GT-R in Tampa owned by one of their clients.  They make custom wheels and wanted a shoot of the GT-R focused on showing the wheels.  They saw my Lexus IS F shoot and liked that Ybor City location so the whole GT-R shoot came together quickly. (view Part 2 night strobist images)

A white Nissan GT-R custom photographed for 360 Forged wheels in Ybor City Tampa Car Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/3 tripod mounted with cable releaseI had done three previous car shoots at this particular Ybor City location that I found on my own during a scouting trip a few years ago for the IS F client.  I never like to repeat myself when I go out shooting, but having already made close to three dozen car photographs in this spot, I had to really look to find some fresh angles and backgrounds.  Luckily, there were still plenty of new setups to mine from that Ybor City location as the above shot I had never done before.  I utilized the ONE WAY sign in the shot, pointing in the opposite direction of course to create a more rebellious nature to the look of the image.  

White Nissan GT-R supercar photographed in Ybor City Tampa Car Photography - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 200 1/20th tripod mounted with cable releaseI knew for the photo above I wanted to make just a front quarter panel composition of the Nissan GT-R in a long shot using an 80-200mm lens.  I shot from downhill to further exaggerate the angle.  Quite a bit of distraction was cleaned up from the backround leaving just the white Nissan GT-R on red brick framed by white clouds.

Nissan GT-R (white) with custom 360 Forged Wheels in Ybor City Tampa Florida Car Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/13th tripod mounted with cable releaseI often shoot with a lot of extra space around the intended subject.  This was the case in the above photograph.  In the uncropped version the sky was visible as well as the intersection down the street.  I liked that shot as it was, but I decided to crop in and put more of the focus on the car and the red brick background.

Thank you to the GT-R's owner and his friend for assisting in lining up the car for these shots.  This collection of Nissan GT-R photos is just part one, all in daylight.  Part two will feature strobist twilight images.

Photography Tip - replace a busy background with clean sky Corvette Photography

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This Corvette is real, and the sky is real, but they were not really photographed together.

I went to a Corvette car show in South Straub Park this past Saturday mostly to meet the owner of the above customized Corvette.  I first photographed his car back in November.  He was not by his car at the time and only by chance found my photograph of it.  Since then I have been in regular contact with the owner, Bobby, about possibly doing a full shoot of his Corvette.  That still has not happened yet, but at least on Saturday I got a chance to go see him and say hello.  

This is the original image as made on site at a car show in St. Petersburg FloridaI have written several times that shooting cars at car shows often results in less than desirable images, if you want the focus to be on the car itself.  This case was no different as the trees in the background compete for the viewer's eye just as much as the Corvette.  The solution for a busy background?  Replace it with a better one!

Corvette cut out from the background using Photoshop Quick Select ToolIt was pretty straight forward to remove the Corvette from its background using the Quick Select Tool in Photoshop.  I kept the grass foreground as seen above.  I was careful to of course not select the inside of the window so that too could be part of the background replacement.

The replacement background used in the composite image.I went into my photo archives to look for a suitable replacement background.  Using actual objects is rather hard to do as proportions can be very difficult to match (car looks giant, buildings look tiny, etc).  A sky background is usually a good and easy replacement background subject.  I used one I made of Sunset Beach on Treasure Island, Florida.

The new background slipped right behind the Corvette, window included.Then it is just a matter of slipping the sky background layer behind the Corvette layer in Photoshop.  I positioned it taking into consideration cloud placement.  I did not even need to cut out the sandy beach part because that is all hidden behind the Corvette.  The above image is the final composite photograph which allows the viewer to focus on the Corvette as the subject.

Motion blur added to a more advanced edit of the Corvette composite image

After getting a composite image I liked, I experimented with even more Photoshop editing.  I added a motion blur to the grass and a radial blur to the tires to create the illusion that the Corvette is speeding along on the grass.  I darkened the window and put in a silhouette of my own head to show a driver inside to help complete the motion illusion.  What do you think of the motion shot?  Is it convincing or not quite there yet?

2013 High School Graduation Beach Party for Conor at Caddy's Treasure Island Florida

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Conor celebrating his high school graduation with friends at Caddy's Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/250th SB-800 @ 1/4 power hotshoe mountedFormer Morean Arts Center photography student Sue's son, Conor, graduated high school as part of the class of 2013.  She threw a graduation party out at Caddy's on Treasure Island, Florida for him and contacted me about photographing the afternoon event.  As the sign shows above, Conor is Clemson bound!

Generations celebrating a high school graduation on the beach at Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/7.1 ISO 200 1/400th SB-800 @ 1/4 power hotshoe mountedThere were multiple family generations at the party, including Conor's grandparents seen above along with his sister.  Shooting in direct afternoon sunlight is of course a challenge, so positioning everyone just so was extra important to minimize shadows as much as possible and also to try and pull some detail and color out of the background, though ultimately in the above shot I decided to convert it to black & white.

Volleyball fun at a 2013 high school graduation party Treasure Island Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/400th SB-800 @ 1/4 power hotshoe mountedMost at the party were Conor's classmates who did not seem to mind the harsh sunlight at all!