Photography Lessons

1-on-1 Canon T3i DSLR Photography Lesson in Curtis Hixon Park Tampa Florida with Sara

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Sara lines up a shot with her Canon T3i in Curtis Hixon Park during our 1-on-1 photography lesson in Tampa FloridaI met Sara on a bright sunny Tampa morning in Curtis Hixon Park for a 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson with her newly acquired Canon T3i.  She has always taken a lot of photos with a point & shoot camera and her iPhone, and now wanted to build on her photography resume with learning how to shoot with a DSLR.  She was enthusiastic about learning my 5-step process for making a well exposed and sharp photograph in any shooting situation.  Despite not having any photography term knowledge previously, she was able to remember the 5-steps from memory by the end of our 2-hour lesson.  Well done!

Curtis Hixon Park provided us a very good variety of spots all within a small area that had plenty of subject matter to practice on from controling the background DoF, photographing moving subjects to making portraits in the shade.  It was my first time to have a lesson at that park and probably will not be the last for students wanting lessons in Tampa.  

I may be meeting Sara again before she heads off to college at the end of the summer.  I look forward to continuing to help her improve her photography knowledge and skills.

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

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Amy users her Nikon D3100 during our 1-on-1 photography lesson in Lettuce Lake Park Tampa FloridaIt was decidedly drier for our 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson this morning in Lettuce Lake Park.  When I met Amy three weeks ago there was a deluge the entire time that kept us in the visitor's center.  The sun was out in full force and so were we with 50mm lenses during this third of four photography lessons.  We walked out onto the boardwalk intending to create shots with shallow DoF using the large aperture ability of a 50mm f/1.8 lens.  I instructed Amy that we would not be shooting using the set the focus the recompose technique we had been with wide angle lenses.  Since teh DoF is so shallow with a 50mm lens at even f/2.8, we must first frame the shot how we want then move the single focus point over onto the intended subject.  

While out on the boarkwalk we were greeted by a number of turtles and even a snake . . . exciting!

We finished the lesson changing lenses and shooting at 200mm in low light practicing how to get the exposure right in such conditions.  For our fourth lesson we may go indoors and work on editing and workflow and thus have no worries about weather.

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

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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!

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

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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.

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

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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.  

1-on-1 Canon XS DSLR Photography Lesson in St. Petersburg with Sarah

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Sarah with her Canon XS in Vinoy Park during our 1-on-1 DSLR photography lesson in St. Petersburg Florida

Sarah and her family not so long ago moved to Florida.  She recently also got her first DSLR.  So on Friday morning I got to introduce her to both her Canon XS and the beauty of the downtown St. Petersburg waterfront.  It was a warm spring morning with plenty of sunshine, but we started out in the shade of the Museum of Fine Arts where I explained all the photography terms Sarah will need to know in order to shoot in manual mode with her Canon.  

Even for a total beginner like Sarah, by the end of the two hours using my 5-step system, she was able to use the meter to help her manually get the exposure correct for both still and moving subjects.  We even concluded the lesson with a little portrait practice.  Sarah said she has already ordered a new camera so I look forward to helping her continue to advance her photography knowledge when that comes in soon.

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

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Lisa returned to Florida this time for a 1-on-1 photography lesson with her Nikon D5200 in St. Petersburg Florida

I first met Lisa back in October of last year when she visited St. Petersburg Florida and wanted sunset portraits made.  She told me she visits Florida regularly and we stayed in touch in the meantime and thus we setup a 1-on-1 DSLR photography lesson for this morning.  She got a Nikon D5200 in December and had only been using the automatic modes for making her nature and sunset landscape shots.  Lisa did have a lot of photography knowledge though, and really wanted to learn what was essential and how to apply that to actually using her camera.  In this way I taught her my 5-step process for producing a well exposed and sharp shot in any shooting conditions shaping her existing photography knowledge into a system she can use every time she presses the shutter.

We concluded the lesson with a demonstration of how her 55-300mm lens is much, much better than her 18-55mm at producing a photograph with a shallow DoF and very nice bokeh.  It is just about choosing the right lens to produce the desired stye of shot and not forcing something to do what it is not good at.  I look forward to seeing Lisa again on her next visit to Florida and how her photography improves between now and then.