Jason

Custom F77 Porsche 911 in black Tampa Car Photography Ybor City

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Custom black F77 Porsche 911 Tampa Car Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 1/40th blended with another exposure (for the sky) tripod mounted with cable releaseBen called me up about photographing his custom Porsche 911 in Tampa Florida which I learned was done at Champion Porsche, as you can see by the 911 on the back being replaced by F77.  The Porsche 911 has long been my favorite sports car, since I was a kid, and I have not had the opportunity to photograph one for a client yet so I was very excited.  This shoot was a little different though as Ben wanted photos for selling the car!  Many of the shots I made for him were stylized, but a bit less so than I might normally making them more like the shoots I do for big auctions houses that just want the car show from all angles.  Thus, some of the shots you see here were edited just for my portfolio, and not necessarily included with the ones I sent to the client.

Custom F77 Porsche 911 photographed for sale in Ybor City Tampa - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseThe above shot was my first time to photograph a car from this above and behind angle, partially to show the vents over the rear engine hood on the Porsche.  This shot also features the custom "F77" badge.  Oh, and if this location looks familiar to you, this is the fifth car shoot I have done at this Ybor City location!  Clients see my previous images from here and want to have it for their own cars also.  

Porsche F77 custom black 911 on the streets of Ybor City Tampa Car Photography - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 7-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseThis shot I made black & white for myself, as I thought it made the 911 look even more agressive and menacing just waiting there in the middle of the street for any challengers.

Porsche 911 custom F77 model on brick street Ybor City Tampa - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/11 ISO 200 9-exposure HDR tripod mounted with cable releaseThis was the first time at this Ybor City location that there were no cars parked on the street, which allowed for just parking the Porsche in the middle of it and getting some new shots I have not made here before in the previous shoots.  That said, some dude did just show up and park his car right by our shoot!  Now this is a desolate area, and after 5pm everything is shut down for blocks around.  So we politely asked the guy if he could move his car, which he did.  Then he proceeded to walk way off to who knows where.  Why park here then??

Lights on modified Porsche 911 with F77 options Ybor City Tampa Car Photography - Nikon D300 Nikkor 105 VR micro @ f/8 ISO 200 1/80th tripod mounted with cable releaseHDR is not always needed to shoot in mixed lighting, as seen in the above shot.  No sky is featured in the shot, so I just let the shutter speed stay open until I got the exposure I wanted.  Shooting with my Nikkor 105mm VR micro f/2.8G lens, which of course is a prime lens, resulted in the starburst look coming from the headlights.

Stylized Porsche 911 Carrera S type 997 interior with manual shifter - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th - Strobist: SB-800 @ 1/2 power in 43" shoot through umbrella frame rightThis exact interior shot was my first attempt, and the lighting looked cool and dramatic, but not appropriate for the purpose of trying to show the interior for selling the car.  I liked the image for myself, though, and made it more stylized by converting it to black & white.  For the client, I introduced another speedlight on the driver's side to produce an evenly lit shot.

Yours truly (on left of course) with client Ben after the photo shoot of his Porsche 911 in Ybor City TampaI never remember to get a shot of me at my shoots, but this time the lights were already setup and I asked Ben if he would mind getting in a portrait with me and his Porsche.  Good luck selling it Ben!

Using a collapsible background to make a home photography studio St. Petersburg Florida

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Kiki & I in a self-portrait featuring my new Botero Collapsible Background - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/5.6 ISO 200 1/60th - Strobist: SB-800 in brolly to frame right & SB-600 pointed up at background with blue gel and HONL snoot (open)I am always looking to improve the range and quality of photography products I can offer to clients.  In the pursuit of this I invested in a collapsible photography background (view on bhphotovideo.com) that measures 5'x7' is neutral to dark gray and folds up like a car sunshade into a circle when not in use.  Such a background allows one to setup a small studio space virtually anywhere, including your own living room.  

My new home studio setup featuring a 43" brolly on a light stand, 5'x7' collapsible background & gelled speedlight (behind me)The collapsible background does not require any special holder or stand.  I simply took a canvas print off the wall and rested the background up against it.  It took a little fiddling and flipping it over to get it to stay in the space I wanted it too, but all-in-all a pretty easy setup.  The background is easily big enough for two people, and maybe three or more depending on how they are posed.

This self-portrait headshot took MANY takes to make!If you like to make portraits and do not have the space to maintain a dedicated photo studio in your home, then my photography tip is to invest in a collapsible background that can be used in any room in the house and easily taken over to the homes of friends and family too.

Vietnam Hill Tribe Children Photo Story

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Laughing at my numbers jokes on a lunch break in Vietnam 2002 - Olympus 2040Z 2 MP digital cameraWhen you travel with your camera, fun things happen.  The photographs you make with your camera help you remember that fun years down the line.  In July of 2002 I spent a few weeks traveling in the northen areas of Vietnam and met a lot of people and especially kids.  My style of traveling is very slow paced, spending days just hanging out in random places.  I am a shy person by nature, but whenever I have travled in SE Asia, if I just sit somewhere, inevitably people will come up to me and start talking.

In the above photo I was on a small guided tour doing homestays with hill tribe peoples in the Sapa Valley (perhaps the most pure place I have ever been).  We did not stay with this family, only having lunch there.  It was a restaurant really and rather busy.  My backpack developed a rip in it and I asked this woman if she could sew it.  While she did that I had my lunch with her and all those kids.  While in Vietnam, I learned how to say numbers in Vietnamese, which allowed me to make a series of jokes about buying some of their farm animals, etc.  It was a fun time with them and thanks to my trusty Olympus 2040Z, one of the first digital cameras, only capable of a 2MP image max (1600x1200), I have this photo to help me remember that time.  

"Hello, candy?" was my greeting from these girls - Olympus 2040Z 2 MP digital cameraI was hiking down into the Sapa Valley on my own, as the pace of the guide with the three much older members of the group were taking involved way too many breaks.  I was feeling the thrill of exploring an enchanted place and could not stop.  Along the way I met these two girls who greeted me with, "Hello, candy?"  This made me laugh.  I told them sorry I did not have any candy with me.  I think we shared some raisins together though.

Jason with two Black Hmong children in Sapa, Vietnam - Olympus 2040Z 2 MP digital cameraTo make this group shot with yours truly in it I set the camera on my bag with the self timer on.  These kids belonged to the Black Hmong hill tribe and were tending to a water buffalo, who did not want to be petted, unfortunately.  I still regularly wear the shirt and pants you see me in above, although in my increasing width, the shirt is seemingly shrinking.  The G-Shock watch I am wearing, along with the Olympus camera that made this photo, were both, sadly, stolen when in Miami in 2003.  

Plastic bottles were in high demand in northern Vietnam - Olympus 2040Z 2 MP digital cameraAnother very surprising thing was the high interest in collecting plastic water bottles (empty).  Whenever our transport vehicle would stop, kids would ask for any empty water bottles we had.  You could also buy food and full water bottles from right inside the vehicle.  As soon as you stop, boom, arms are through the windows and snacks are literally right under your nose for purchase!  Very convenient!

She spoke near fluent English, self taught in Sapa, Vietnam - Olympus 2040Z 2 MP digital cameraThis photo story is revealing a significant secret of mine, which is my feelings about the Sapa Valley in northern Vietnam.  It is an absolutely incredible place.  It is just so pure.  The Earth seems younger there.

I spent about two hours just chatting with the girl above while I waited for my train to leave Sapa.  Her English was amazingly good.  She said she just learned by talking to tourists.  I was impressed as none of my students back in Korea could speak English like her!  She was talkative and I enjoyed listening to her tell me how she makes the crafts she does and just about her life in Sapa in general.  I cannot remember what I bought from her.  Perhaps a bracelet?  I am very glad to have this photograph to remember her by.

Heading to the post office on a rope bridge in Vietnam - Olympus 2040Z 2 MP digital cameraThese boys were on their way to the post office proud to have the responsibility of delivering a postcard.  I had to keep retaking this photo as more boys wanted to get in the shot.  They went on to the post office and I continued on into the Sapa Valley. 

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    • Jumping Matrix Style with help from layer masks

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    Yours truly leaping a chasm! This is a blending of 4 different action shots using a simple layer mask technique.In case you missed it last week, I do take time away from being behind the camera to continue my love of rock hopping and leaping objects (see here).  I made the leap over the above chasm-ish span several times each time trying to go further.  I did not actually move fast enough to be seen multiple times in 1/500th of a second.  How I made the above image was to combine four of the shots taken in one burst of shots on my Nikon D300 (capable of 6 frames per second).  Since the DSLR was on a tripod all the background matched up perfectly, as does the exposure since that was set manually.  The only thing moving over the series of shots was me.  Then, it was just a matter of using layer masks in Photoshop to produce the multiple exposure, or Matrix, looking image.

    These shots layered on top of each other produced the above shot.Using layer masks to blend multiple images is not a difficult type of digital photography editing.  I have written a tutorial on how to use layer masks here.  Give this photography tip a try and post your results in the comments below!

    Edward Medard Park and Reservoir Trees HDR & Jumping

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    Live Oaks showing their roots in Edward Medard Park - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 7-exposure HDR tripod mountedIt had been too long since a couple of old college friends and I had one of our outdoor adventures together.  That was remedied by a recent visit to the surprisingly amazing Edward Medard Park and Reservoir in Plant City.  They said it had hills, so I was expecting some modest plain grass covered round and soft hills.  I never expected to step into an alien environment where live oaks sat perched upon angry hills of clay-like dirt with all their roots exposed in a display of their might.

    A fearless tree climber in Edward Medard Park - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm f/8 ISO 200 1/40th tripod mountedAfter a few handheld shots with my 80-200mm f/2.8 lens, I quickly relized that was not the setup ideal for photographing this environment and switched to my 17-50mm f/2.8 lens and mounted my Nikon on my Induro carbon fiber tripod the rest of the day.  Without that wide lens I would never been able to capture one friend who is an avid tree climber surprisingly high up in the branches of this long limbed live oak.

    uprooted tree in Edward Medard Park - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/8 ISO 200 7-exposure HDR tripod mountedEdward Medard Park has more traditional looking Florida outdoor areas by the reservoir itself offering shady live oaks, with roots all neatly underground, well, save for one that was uprooted long ago.

    Jason performing trademark "Liu Kang" leap - Nikon D300 Tamron 17-50mm @ f/2.8 ISO 800 1/800th tripod mountedJust to show you I did not spend the entire time behind the camera, in the above shot you can see yours truly performing my patented "Liu Kang" method air leap over some roots perfectly shaped like hurdles on a tricky downslope.  Some of you who have know me well will already have seen my debut of this move, which was over a much more dangerous gap.  I set up this shot with my Nikon D300 mounted on my tripod with all the settings dialed in.  

    photography tip:

    As you can see shooting an action shot into the sun required some very unusual settings.  My DSLR photography lesson students should be able to see I used settings I have told them probably never are needed, such as using f/2.8 on a wild angle lens.  In order to expose the subject (me) enough, a long shutter speed is needed especially shooting into the sun like this.  However, to freeze the action, a fast shutter speed is needed.  The solution to this is to go ahead and set the needed shutter speed, 1/800th of a second, then adjust aperture and ISO until there is enough exposure to show me and not worry if the sky gets blown out.  So that is my photography tip for action shots into the sun!

    Using the tripod all day did not slow me down, but rather freed me much more to make the photographs I wanted to and still enjoy all the action with my friends.  Shooting on a tripod is not physically demanding and the setup is pretty easy to carry, so I did not get tired from having a camera hanging off me all day.  Plus, since I did not have to constantly keep taking a camera strap on and off, but rather just let the tripod stand up on its own, it was really easy for me to switch from photographer to adventurer.  I just had to leave the camera standing where it was on the tripod then explore the area as I liked.  

    As you can see Edward Medard Park, despite the unfortunate name, is a great place for photography and adventure!

    --official website and directions 

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    • DSLR Photography Editing & Workflow Lesson with Kamila in St. Petersburg

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    This afternoon I visited Kamila at her very nice new home for another DSLR Photography Lesson focusing on workflow, editing and also getting the exposure right for very specific shooting conditions.  As you can see, Bob the Yorkshire Terrier was an integral part of the lesson as well!  Kamila had a list of questions ready (good idea), the first of which was deciphering what all the symbols and buttons on the back of her Nikon SB-700 Speedlight mean.  This piece of Nikon gear is not very intuitive at all, not that really any speedlights are.  Although there are way more dedicated buttons on the back of the SB-700 compared to the SB-600 model it replaces, the SB-700 actually seems more difficult to use, at least at first.

    Once the mysteries of the speedlight were solved we moved on to DoF (depth of field) issues, specifically making sure both father and baby are in focus during a tightly framed portrait using a 35mm f/1.8 lens.  After checking the photo in question's exif data, and seeing the aperture of f/3.2, it was easy to diagnose the problem as being the result of too large of an aperture.  I advised Kamila to use f/8 or even f/11 to insure the in focus plane is large enough for both sets of eyes.  We practiced this by using two stuffed animals on her sofa to produce an image with no DoF problems.

    We concluded the lesson discussing what computer hardware and software would help improve her workflow, which now is rather disjointed and definitely not as efficient as it could be.  She mentioned maybe getting a new Mac soon, which I said was a great idea because then she could use the excellent Aperture 3 to process, organize and edit all her RAW images (once she makes the switch to shooting in RAW).

    I look forward to our next lesson which will be about using off camera flash, possibly even two speedlights, and of course to seeing Bob again too!