Nikon D5300

Nikon D5300 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson in Wesley Chapel Florida with Reham

Reham practices setting the focus and recomposing with her Nikon D5300 in Wesley Chapel Florida during our 1-on-1 photography lessonOn a warm and humid Wesley Chapel Florida evening I met Reham for the second time at Shops at Wiregrass for a 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson.  We first met one week earlier where I taught her my 5-step system for getting a well exposed and sharp shot in any shooting conditions.  Between now and then she practiced in a variety of settings from an outdoor restaurant to a dark bowling alley!  This practice allowed her to come to our second lesson with specific questions and specific photos to ask.  This is exactly the way to make progress in learning how to become a digital photographer, by taking what is learned during the lessons, applying it in the field, then returning with questions before learning another photography skill.  I was pleased with Reham's practice and progress in just one week!

The photography skill we focused on this time, was actually setting the focus and recomposing as I noticed she centered the subject every time in all of her practice shots.  Putting the single focus point on the subject of the photograph, pressing the shutter halfway, and keeping it pressed halfway while slightly recomposing the shot is the technique needed to prevent boring, centered subject photographs.  In particular, when photographing a person, the focus should be set upon the eyes, and then recompose from there, as I did in the portrait of Reham above.  

I will meet Reham two more times next week to get her as ready as possible to make great photographs during her trip to Paris later this month!

1-on-1 Nikon D5300 DSLR Photography Lesson in St. Petersburg Florida with David

Dave showing great portrait orientation shooting form with his Nikon D5300 during our photography lesson in downtown St. Petersburg FloridaI met David in downtown St. Petersburg Florida for our 1-on-1 DSLR Photography Lesson on a February Saturday morning with very changing weather.  He received the photography lesson as a gift certificate present from his wife to help him get started in the DSLR world with his newly purchased Nikon D5300.  This was my first time with this very new Nikon DSLR and I would have to say I was disappointed by its lack of dedicated buttons.  Changing the ISO and the focus mode requires going into the menus.  The build quality felt like typical Nikon quality though.  Now that I think about it more, though, no 5xxx series Nikon ever had more buttons, but still I would like to see less menu reliance on a DSLR in that price range.

The lesson began as all first lessons do with me explaining to David in detail my 5-step process for getting a well exposed and sharp shot in any shooting conditions.  After this rain started to fall, but the breezeway in the front of the Museum of Fine Arts was plenty big enough to still practice all we would have had it been sunny.  In fact it allowed us to work on natural light portrait practice a little more than we would have otherwise.  I was able to show Dave the big impact composition has on the overall look of a portrait even with the subject staying in the exact same spot.

I look forward to seeing David's photos and his progress with his DSLR.