Clearwater

Clearwater Beach Candid Odum Family Florida Portraits

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Nikon D300 with Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens @ f/5.6 ISO 400 1/640th strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight on light stand to frame left triggered by Yongnuo radio remotes 

"Third time's the charm" is a cliche, I believe, yet it was true for the Odum family's candid Florida beach portrait session.  Originally scheduled for an early Sunday morning, that was promptly rained out.  A Monday evening plan was empathically rained out.  That left only a few hours of daylight Tuesday morning left to have the portrait session before they had to return to Georgia, and finally Florida's brilliant blue skies revealed themselves and photographs were made.

Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens @ f/8 ISO 200 1/250th Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight on light stand to frame left triggered by commander mode

 

It actually worked out well as Clearwater Beach is normally the most crowded beach in the entire area, yet on a random Tuesday morning it was as empty as it ever is.  At 8am, even the lifeguards were not yet on duty so their stands could be used as backdrops.  The sun was already fairly high in the sky, creating a hair light for young Jada.  

Nikon D300 with Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8 lens @ f/11 ISO 200 1/500th Strobist: Nikon SB-800 Speedlight on light stand to frame left triggered by Youngnuo radio remotesIt was a cloudless morning, so I painted the background of many of the shots with vivid blue, as seen above.  I used my trusty default Florida strobist sunshine shooting settings of f/11 ISO 200 and at least 1/250th shutter speed.  I use a light stand rather than a tripod for several reasons, but the major one is that my light stand can reach a hight of 9 feet, whereas a tripod cannot even come close to that.  For shots like the lifeguard stand, having all that height is necessary.

Nikon D300 with Nikkor AF ED 80-200mm f/2.8D lens @ f/8 ISO 200 1/1000th Strobist: NIkon SB-800 Speedlight on light stand to frame left triggered by Yongnuo radio triggersThis shot up on the Clearwater Beach Pier itself would just not be possible in the evening as it is packed with artisans selling their crafts.  I would not have even of been able to set down my light stand.  So again we were lucky in a way to have to wait until Tuesday morning for our portrait session.  The Odum family naturally took to this defiant stance at the entrance to the paid section of the pier.  I am very glad we were ultimately able to produce some photographic memories of their 4th of July trip to Florida. 
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    • Digital Photograph Editing Lesson with Danielle

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    Danielle's original jpg digital photo on the left, our edited version on the right using Photoshop Elements 8/CS5

    Some of my DSLR photography students have gotten to a point where their shooting is definitely improving, and it is time to now work on how to post process, or edit digital photographs.  Danielle is one such student.  I even wrote recently myself that one should develop shooting and editing skills simultaneously.  

    Danielle brought her laptop to the lesson loaded with Adobe Photoshop Elements 8.  I worked on my own laptop using Adobe Photoshop CS5 showing her step-by-step how I go about editing a portrait.  I typically use a workflow in this order: 

    1. crop the image
    2. correct the exposure
    3. color correct the image
    4. edit the subject's eyes
    5. remove blemishes
    6. clone out unwanted elements in the image
    7. sharpen
    8. save! 

    As you can see above, Danielle captured a very nice expression on the baby's face.  Since the right side of the baby's head was already over the edge of the frame, I decided to crop down the top as well.  The baby had a small cut on the inside corner of her left eye, we used the healing brush mostly to make that disappear.  

    The baby also had dark shadows under her eyes.  We chose a soft clone stamp brush, set it to lighten, set it to 40%, sampled an area just under the dark spot, then made a gentle brush stroke horizontally over the dark spot.  Then we used the dodge tool set to highlights and 30% and clicked once or twice on each white area of the eye to quickly and super easily brighten the eyes without making it look too fake.

    The last thing we did was remove some drool on her lips.  

    Danielle did a good job in camera of getting the image.  We then used editing to make the photograph more polished and professional looking.  With practice those editing steps only take about 10 minutes to do, or less.  Danielle learned and practiced those steps side-by-side with me and more as well in just a 2-hour lesson.  I am looking forward to seeing how she does on her own, and if she discovered any new editing tricks herself!

    Thank you Danielle for letting me publish your photograph. 

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    • Father's Day Photography Promotion for Tampa Clearwater St Petersburg

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    Candid Father's Day Promotion for Tampa Clearwater St Petersburg Florida

    Jason Collin Photography is offering a Father's Day Photography Promotion because we want to be a part of giving fathers in the Tampa Bay area a gift they will love this Father's Day and everyone one after that.  Ties, golf balls, a gift card?  Those are tired Father's Day presents.  Make your dad smile this Father's Day and reserve a Candid Father's Day Photography package today!

    Anhinga with bokeh in Clearwater

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    anhinga in Kapok Park Clearwater Florida - Nikon D300 Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G VR with 2x teleconverter @ f/8 ISO 640 1/500th

    I have heard Scott Bourne call bird photography the most difficult kind there is.  I do not know if I can necessarily agree with that, as anyone who has tried to photograph a wedding on a super hectic schedule might have a legit disagreement, or done underwater photography, but no doubt when you consider the serious kit you need to even get within range of most birds, it is not a type of photography to enter into casually.  For example, this anhinga actually was just standing on the edge of a short pier.  Even with a 70-200mm lens and 2x teleconverter on my D300's 1.5 crop sensor, for an effective focal length of 600mm, this is only as close as I could get doing no cropping.  The anhinga was maybe 25 feet away.  Nikon's true 600mm lens is a $10,000 piece of kit!  The lens and teleconverter I borrowed from a friend itself is not that cheap, about a $2,200 solution.  

    anhinga ruffling up - Nikon D300 Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8G VR with 2x teleconverter @ f/8 ISO 400 1/400th

    You might be wondering why was I shooting at f/8?  Why not shoot closer to the lens' maximum aperture of f2.8?  Well, first, the 2x teleconverter automatically makes a f/2.8 lens a f/5.6 lens.  Then, I could not get a sharp shot at all with an aperture larger than f/8.  It was my first time ever to use that lens as well as the teleconverter, and I was handholding that huge setup, so on at least a monopod I might have been able to stop up a bit.

    The anhinga is a very showy bird always willing to dry out its wings for you or, as seen above, flex up.  If you do like to do bird photography, Florida is a great place to live, and even Scott Bourne winters here for over a month ever year.   

    "New Visions" f8 Consortium Photography Exhibition

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    My three photographs are on the left, all from my time in JapanTonight was the opening of the f8 Consortium's "New Vision's" photography exhibition at the Menaul Fine Art gallery.  This was the third time in six months my photographs have been featured in an exhibition in Florida (1st solo, 2nd), and the second time that all the photographs were from my Japan collection.  

    A very respectable crowd turned out to see over nine different photographers' works ranging from HDR to digital art to sequential photography.  My photographs were not the only ones from abroad as Europe was represented as well.  I actually enjoyed talking to several people about the stories behind my shots, especially of "Coming of Age in Vivid Kimonos," one of my top five photographs from 2009.  I finally got to meet Brenda Knoll in person also, as well as her husband.  We had been Internet friends for awhile.  

    There were many gallery wraps (right) in the exhibition, which are photographs printed on canvas

    I cannot take any credit for this exhibition's great opening.  All that goes to other f8 members like Bob Kroll, Scott Menaul, Marc Norton, Patti Krumeich and all the others here.  Thank you everyone.  And thank you to everyone that came out to see our photographs and helped support local artists. 

    Candid Child Photography Promotion Spring 2010

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    Candid Child Photography captures your child being a child - available in greater Tampa Bay area

    Jason Collin Photography introduces a new limited time only candid child portrait photography package.  Jason believes in photographing children as they play, have fun and act like children.  Playgrounds, beaches and sports fields make great locations.

    CANDID CHILD PHOTOGRAPHY PACKAGE -- please refer here for current packages