1-on-1 Nikon D3100 DSLR Photography Lesson with Amy at Lettuce Lake Park Tampa Florida

in

Inside the visitor's center at Lettuce Lake Park with Amy & her Nikon D3100 for a photography lessonAmy and I planned to meet at Lettuce Lake Park in Tampa, Florida for the second of our four 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lessons this morning, but a deluge interrupted those plans, although perhaps for the better.  Instead of strolling on the long boardwalks in sunshine looking for birds to photograph, we were stranded inside the visitor's center the whole time.  Fortunately, since our first lesson Amy got an external flash, so actually being inside was more advantageous for practicing how to get the best use of it on camera.  

So in a setting of old bird photographs and lots of wood paneling (see photo above!), and in between a large group of school kids coming in, I answered Amy's questions from since we last met and then reviewed my 5-step process for getting a well exposed and sharp photograph in any shooting conditions.  

Then we put her new Nikon SB-700 Speedlight onto her Nikon D3100 and practiced photographing people indoors focusing on only changing the direction of the flash head as otherwise all our settings were locked in at indoor defaults of:  f/5.6 1/60th ISO 800 & 1/4 power for the flash.  Just changing the angle of the flash was enough to produce dramatically different results given the different ceiling heights in the visitor center, the location of the subject within the lobby itself, and also the type of background.  We plan on returning to Lettuce Lake Park for our third lesson to hopefully better weather!

Photography Tip - use a telephoto lens for subjects that are close to you, not just far away

in

Many of the 155+ photography tips I have posted on my site come from the over 300+ one-on-one photography lessons I have taught over the past five years.  From a photography student's question, or from something I teach in the field, I find things that can make for a photography tip blog post.  Such is the case with the subject matter of this photography tip.  During a recent 1-on-1 photography lesson I had a student switch from a wide angle lens to a telephoto lens to help fill the frame with a subject and to make the background disappear and become bokeh.  This is something that I have had every photography student do during lessons, but only upon reading email feedback from this particular student did it occur to me that it may not be obvious to use a telephoto lens to photograph subjects that are close or even very close to you.

Using a telephoto lens for subjects that are close creates bokeh easily and adds another use for a long lens.He told me that he had not thought to use his 70-300mm lens for subjects that were close to him before, but only rather for subjects that were far away.  He went on to say this changed his entire perspective on using that lens.  Thus, I decided to make it a photography tip so that in case anyone else has not necessarily used their telephoto lens for close subjects before can do so and get the benefits of using a lens with a long focal length on a subject close to the photographer.

In the above portrait example, the model was very close to where I was standing, but I still used the lens' maximum focal length of 200mm to create a more personal composition and also of course bokeh in the background.  So try going out this weekend with your telephoto lens and photograph close by subjects and let me know the results. 

1-on-1 Nikon D90 DSLR Photography Lesson in St. Petersburg Florida with Chris

in

Chris with his Nikon D90 during out 1-on-1 DSLR photography lesson in downtown St. Petersburg FloridaOn a rather warm spring morning I met Chris in downtown St. Petersburg for a 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson with his Nikon D90.  He has had the camera for four years, but was only mostly shooting in Program mode and other auto-modes.  He has a couple of significant trips coming up and wanted to make the best travel photographs possible with his Nikon, so getting him off of Program mode and onto Manual Mode was the first step in that process.  

Chris had two lenses allowing us to practice a variety of shooting techniques for making photos with a shallow depth of focus, moving subjects and also natural light portraits.  Using his Nikkor 70-300mm lens at a focal length of 200mm and f/5.6 I showed Chris how to make the background essentially disappear so that a busy background could be eliminated and not distract from the main subject.  This is just one example of the many specific and practical topics we covered in our 2-hour 1-on-1 DSLR photography lesson.  I look forward to meeting Chris for a second lesson in the near future.

Candid Kid Children Portraits in St. Petersburg Tampa Wesley Chapel Florida

in

CANDID KIDS FLORIDA PORTRAIT PACKAGES

Interactive -- Dynamic -- Fun -- Memorable -- Call 813-240-5357 today!

Full-time professional photographer Jason Collin makes the best kids portraits in the St. Petersburg, Tampa and Wesley Chapel areas using unique lighting techniques and years of shooting experience.  The results are strikingly vivid images that capture your kid's character, spirit and personality.  Reserve your kid's experience today.

RESERVE YOUR CANDID KIDS PORTRAITS WITH JASON TODAY!

  

 SPECIAL CANDID FLORIDA KIDS PORTRAIT PACKAGE -- $199*

  • up to 30-minute portrait photography session
  • 6 professionally edited images (artist's choice)
  • 1 location with up to 2 kids
  • Secure online gallery for quick viewing, printing and downloading

reserve special candid kids portrait session

 

DELUXE CANDID FLORIDA KIDS PORTRAIT PACKAGE -- $299*

  • up to 1-hour portrait photography session
  • 12 professionally edited images (artist's choice)
  • 1 location with up to 4 kids
  • secure online gallery for quick viewing, printing and downloading

reserve deluxe candid kids portrait session

 

GRAND CANDID FLORIDA KIDS PORTRAIT PACKAGE -- $499*

  • up to 2-hour portrait photography session
  • 20 professionally edited images (artist's choice)
  • 1 location with up to 10 kids
  • secure online gallery for quick viewing, printing and downloading

        reserve grand candid kids portrait session

 

PAY FOR CANDID KIDS PORTRAITS BY CREDIT CARD:

Packages
Add notes for the shoot
  

 

CANDID FLORIDA KIDS PORTRAIT PACKAGE OPTIONS & PRINTS**

reserve options with your candid Florida kids portrait session

* $100/$150/$250 special/deluxe/grand nonrefundable deposit required & total pricing dependent on location and date, subject to change

**physical products require 7% sales tax on total purschase

Follow jasoncollin on Twitter

Audi R8 Clearwater Car Photography on digital orange background

in

Audi R8 supercar at Crown Audi in Clearwater - Nikon D300 f/11 ISO 200 5-exposure HDR - orange background added digitallyWhile photographing an Audi A3 premiere event at Crown Audi in Clearwater, I took a moment to make a photograph of an Audi R8 supercar that was also on site.  It was parked just outside the greenhouse like showroom, which made for a pretty good background, but when I was shooting it I already had in mind I would remove it from the existing background and put it on a digital one.  

Below is the existing background HDR image.  Despite the complexity of the background, it was not too complicated to use the Quick Select tool in Photoshop and cut out the Audi R8 onto an empty layer.  I chose an orange gradient digital background as recently I am starting to really like that color (also used for a headshot).

The same Audi R8 as above in its original setting at Crown Audi in Clearwater Florida - 5-exposure HDR

One day it would be nice to be able to just shoot a car in a large studio with an existing white background for an even easier and more efficient editing process.  

Silver Lake Recreation Area Brooksville Florida

in

Kiki and I in front of Silver Lake in Brooksville Florida after a 90 minute trek through scenic green woods - self-portraitVenturing far inland, Kiki and I went to Silver Lake Recreation Area in Brooksville, Florida seeking new trails and a deeper forest experience.  There were positives and negatives about this area of the Withlacoochee State Forest, but enough of the former so that I can recommend trekking there along the Low Water and High Water trails.

Silver Lake Brooksville Florida panorama - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/60th 3-shot panoramaUpon arriving at the area and paying the $2 entrance fee, the road funnels you right to Silver Lake.  There were almost no people around.  Dogs are allowed in all the day use areas, leashed of course, and even far out on the trail I kept Kiki leashed as well as sometimes an actual road would appear right in the middle of the forest with cars flying by.  

Amazing cypress tree grown into a natural arch in Withlacoochee State Forest on the Low Water Trail near Silver Lake - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 400 1/60thThe best find during our 90-minute 3.55 mile trek was this cypress tree.  It was enormous and its based formed a natural arch.  We stopped at the foot of this towering tree for water and a snack.

The view from the other side of the cypress tree looks other worldly - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 400 1/80thThe view from the back of the cypress tree offers an otherwordly look into the forest itself.  I did not dare pass through the arch for fear of coming out into another dimension.  Kiki showed no desire to pass through it either.

Cypress knees floating on greens in Withlacoochee State Forest Brooksville Florida - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 400 1/60thSoft green grass grew throughout the forest floor providing an ethereal feel.  The beginning of the High Water trail is too close to I-75 with far too much noise pollution to help one lose thoughts of the human created world, however, once out on the Low Water trail, one could feel the age of the Withlacoochee Forest. 

Kiki is a very good outdoors-dog at home on the trails and in the forests - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 400 1/60thFinding out about these trails and how to get to them took some doing.  There is no good website to point you too (this one was a starting point at least), just basically search for Silver Lake Road in Brooksville Florida and Google Maps points you almost exactly at the park entrance.  From I-75 take exit #301, then make for Silver Lake Road.  

Johns Pass Village Florida DSLR Photography Lesson with Jenn & Canon 40D

in

Jenn (center) and daughter visit from Canada and take a DSLR photography lesson at Johns Pass VillageVisiting all the way from Canada, I met Jenn & her daughter at Johns Pass Village for a very enjoyable DSLR photography lesson.  They definitely perpetuate the idea that all Canadians are very nice people!  We started out talking about how to set their Canon cameras to shoot in manual mode and why one wants to shoot in manual mode in the first place.  They had been bouncing around using the various scene modes and sometimes semi-auto modes like aperture priority without really doing it on purprose.  I assured them that those scene modes could be left behind and demonstrated that by checking out the supposed "sports" mode.  It set the camera to shutter speeds ranging from 1/320th to 1/400th of a second!  That is way below the minimum 1/500th needed to freeze sports action.  Hence, scene modes are useless and not to ever be used.

Coming down off the boardwalk we found an egret that did not mind being photographed (see above) and it allowed Jenn & her daughter to practice both changing settings (we were photographing fast action before) and how to get in best position to photograph a subject.  

They will be in Florida for over another week so I may meet them again for a second lesson.