Nikon SB-910 Speedlight 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson at Lettuce Lake Park Tampa Florida with Mike

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Mike using the Nikon Creative Lighting System Commander Mode to trigger his SB-910 Speedlight with his Nikon D7000 at Lettuce Lake Park, Tampa, FloridaI met Mike for a second 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson once again in Lettuce Lake Park, Tampa, Florida this past Saturday.  Since our first photography lesson on the 4th of July he has invested in a Nikon SB-910 Speedlight which he got for a great price.  We met in the visitor's center which provided not only a cool, climate controlled space, but also one very much like a regular private home indoor lighting situation.  There were dark corners as well as large windows letting in lots of light.  We started off with seeing just how powerful his speedlight was, and found it to be very powerful.  After locking in camera and speedlight settings, then it was largely a matter of how to angle the speedlight head.  I showed Mike that even just a centimeter one way or the other can have a pretty big impact on how the photograph looks.  

We then moved over to the large windows to show how to balance the exposure in a backlit situation.  I had Mike first set the shutter speed to get the windows to look well exposed.  Then we dialed in the speedlight power and angle to illuminate the subject to match, with that subject of course being me!  Without a speedlight it would have been impossible to see outside the windows and the subject, one or the other would have to be a silhouette.  Thus, a speedlight is a very necessary photography tool for photographing backlit subjects, as well as many other situations.

For the last practice we went outside and found the limits of the Creative Lighting System and Commander Mode.  In order to get his Nikon D7000 to trigger the speedlight, as you can see in the photo above, the speedlight needed to be twisted toward the camera.  I recommended that Mike invest in a pair of radio triggers that can work in direct sunlight no problem, and also from much further distances.  I look forward to seeing his off camera flash (strobist) results!

Creative Professional Headshot in Wesley Chapel Florida Home Studio with Austin and son

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Creative business headshot made in Wesley Chapel home studio - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/7.1 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 in a snoot to frame rightIt was a bit of a long time in the making setting up this creative headshot shoot with Austin in my home photography study currently in the Wesley Chapel area.  We first discussed it in April.  Often times as a professional photographer persistent following up is required if a client does not have immediate availablity.  

A wardrobe and background change for this creative headshot in Wesley Chapel Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/8 ISO 200 1/250th - Strobist: SB-800 & SB600 to frame left & rightAustin wanted a more creative look to his headshots, and liked some of the ones I did in the past with just one speedlight creating a lot of deep shadows and a black background.  After a wardrobe change I added a second speedlight and placed each one more on the side of him, rather than front and back.  That created the lighting look in the shot above with the white background.

Austin brought his son with him, so after the headshots I suggested we make a quick father & son portrait in my Wesley Chapel home photography studioHe had brought his son with him, so after Austin's two headshots were finished, I asked if he would like to get a quick portrait with his son while all the lighting was still setup.  His son joined him and I sent the portrait above as a free bonus along with his two headshots.  

Photography Tip - be careful using slow shutter for waterfalls in daylight

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A waterfall in Japan I photographed a decade ago, long before my skills were competent....this was a 0.8 sec shutter speedA photography student recently asked me about photographing waterfalls and specifically about getting that soft cotton look to the water.  Well, to do that, it is rather easy, if you have the right gear and conditions, otherwise it is rather tricky.

The ideal gear to have would be:

  • tripod
  • neutral density filter
  • cable release

Obviously of course you need a DSLR too with an appropriate lens to frame the waterfall.  So if you can mount your camera on a tripod, attach a neutral density filter to the lens, then use the cable release to eliminate camera shake, all is good.  What if you do not have all of that?

The same waterfall with 0.6 sec shutter speedThese photographs were made when I did not really know what I was doing back in November of 2004.  I had a pretty good digital camera that had manual exposure abilities, but I did not understand aperture properly as these shots were all like at f/3.5!  Should have been f/11.  At least I had a tripod.  If you do not have a tripod, then there is no chance as no one can hold a camera for 0.6 seconds steady.  So you at least need a tripod.  If no cable release, then you can use the self-timer to have your hands off the camera as the shutter opens.  

The problem with shooting long exposures during the day is that it is very easy to overexpose the shot.  Very easy.  So the waterfall shots here do not look as good as they could because I could only get away with a 0.8 sec shutter speed.  Of course if I had used f/11, then I could have used a much slower shutter speed.  Either way, if I had a neutral density filter, essentially a very strong pair of sunglasses for your lens, then I could have left the shutter open for nearly as long as I wanted to get the ideal look to the waterfall without overexposing the rest of the shot at all.  So if you find that you like making these kinds of waterfall shots, and long exposures in general, do yourself a favor and get a good tripod, a cable release, and a good neutral density filter.  

Yours truly circa November 2004...whoops, missed the focus due to using too large of an aperture, something I would never do now.I took the time to even make a self-portrait.  I initially thought I back focused and because of using such a large aperture, I was out of focus, but I now realize it might have just been because I moved some during the 2 seconds the shutter was open!!  If you can believe it, I still wear that same hat everytime I go hiking and now trekking here in Florida.  I actually wore that shirt just last week too!  The photo was from November 2004 in a forested mountainside in Japan.

Crowne Plaza Tampa Hotel Event Photography July 2014

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A guest talks with a featured speaker at the Crowne Plaza Performance Series event in Tampa Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 50mm @ f/2.8 ISO 200 1/60thVery early I woke up for a 7:30am start time to photograph an event in the south Tampa area at Crowne Plaza hotel.  This was so early that there was not even any traffic yet on I-275 so it was actually a pleasant morning cruise down the highway.  The event itself was very straightforward with a series of speakers all speaking in the same room with only an adjacent room for food breaks needing to be covered.  

Attendees were asked to play a clever game with Xs and Os at Crowne Plaza Tampa event - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 800 1/60th SB-800 hotshoe mountedI was told by the client that this 6.5 presentation had been done in several cities before so tons of photos of the speakers themselves were not necessary and that I should instead focus more on the attendees interacting with the activities called for during the presentations.  Above you can see two people working on an X and O strategy puzzle.  

Having fun while speaking at Crowne Plaza Tampa Performance Series event - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 800 1/60th SB-800 hotshoe mounted 

The speakers all did a very good job making it seem like it was the first time they were ever giving their presentations, which to me is the sign of a good speaker.  They mostly spoke about strategies for improving the hotel business, not something I normally read up on, but even I was entertained by how they presented ADR, etc.  I always like learning new inside jargon for a particular industry too.  ADR!

Learning new methods for improving her hotel at Crowne Plaze Performance Series event in Tampa Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 50mm @ f/2 ISO 800 1/60thIt was not all just fun and games, there were actual nuts and bolts tutorials on how to better use the mountain of data collected on hotel guests for establishing room rates and more.  

Leading a game of hotel business Jeopardy at Crowne Plaza Performance Series event in Tampa Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 800 1/100th SB-800 hotshoe mountedThey even found a way to make hotel business trivia work for a realistic Jeopardy tournament complete with red buzzers!  I noticed that the front row tables were either stacked or trigger happy as they were the first to buzz in the most.

Getting surprising results during an exercise at Crowne Plaza Performance Series event in Tampa Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/4 ISO 800 1/60th SB-800 hotshoe mountedI enjoyed my time listening to the speakers, learning about the hotel industry and finding creative ways to photograph a group of people who were for the most part, basically just sitting around tables.  

Professional Business Headshot done in office in Tampa Dale Mabry Florida with John

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Business Headshot made on location in the Dale Mabry area of Tampa - Nikon D300 Nikkor 80-200mm @ f/6.3 ISO 200 1/200th - Strobist: SB-800 in 43" brolly & SB-600 in shoot-through umbrellaI packed up my portable photography studio equipment and headed to the north Dale Mabry area of Tampa to make an on location headshot of John in the lobby of his office building.  I was sent examples of headshots other staff members already had made and was told to make his headshot as close to that as possible.  The examples were not shot on a photography background of any type, just using existing walls or areas.  So we went out into the large atrium/lobby in his office building and I arranged my lights and produced a headshot very similar in look to all the others already on the employee page of the company website.  For the shot above, I cut out the darker background and placed the subject onto a digital white background to compliment the modern style of the over headshot.

Nikon D5200 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson with Krista in Lettuce Lake Park Tampa Florida

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Krista lines up a shot with her new Nikon D5200 in Lettuce Lake Park Tampa Florida during our 1-on-1 DSLR Photography LessonHaving recently been to Hawaii, and already planning a return trip, Krista wanted to make sure she could make the best photographs possible with her newly acquired Nikon D5200.  So we met for a 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson in Lettuce Lake Park in the north Tampa area this past Saturday morning.  She had read the Nikon manual for her camera several times already, which is a very good thing to do, but of course the manual does not tell you how to in a practical way make a well exposed and sharp shot in any given shooting situation.  Fortunately, that is exactly what my 1-on-1 photography lessons do so after introducing Krista to her Nikon and showing what buttons are needed to do what for my 5-step process for shooting in manual exposure mode, we left the air conditioning of the visitor center and headed out onto the boardwalk.  

As I showed Krista how to be aware of the sun position for getting the best results, and how to use AF-S (One Shot) focus mode to be able to recompose and not have to center the subject all the time, we were also treated to a good bit of wildlife spotting.  At one of the boardwalk end points using my water bottle I showed Krista how to control depth of field so that if desired the background could be made to disappear (create bokeh) leaving only the intended subject in focus.  I look forward to seeing Krista's photographs from her next trip to Hawaii!

Photography Tip - a cloudless sky is the enemy of the landscape photographer

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Clouds add a lot to a landscape photograph mostly by making the sky interesting -- Mountains in Yamanashi Prefecture JapanA bright blue, cloudless sky sounds like part of what would make for a very beautiful day, does it not?  Well, if you are a landscape photographer nothing could be worse!  I have heard it put that, "a cloudless sky is the enemy of the landscape photographer."  If there are no clouds in the sky, then it is just an expanse of a mostly solid color with no visual interest, especially if it is a middle of the day plain blue sky.  Even for sunset portraits, I definitely prefer to have some clouds in the background even though the sky is all orange, yellow and red.  

So the next time you are thinking to make a landscape photograph, make sure there are some good clouds to add that extra element of interest to you image.