Archive for April, 2009
Nova Scotia
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on April 27th, 2009
I love Nova Scotia so much. My upcoming trip in July will be my fourth trip in three years. Besides the beautiful Maritime models, I’m going to be focused on taking two specific types of images during my visit: HDR and Panoramic. I’ve put together some quick and dirty examples from my previous trips to show you what I mean. The JPEGs are fairly large so you can examine the detail in them!
First up, HDR (High Dynamic Range) imaging, which usually involves mashing together half a dozen photos all shot at different exposures, and then tonemapping them to extract the most detail. There are tons of tutorials on these methods that you can find via Google, so I’ll spare you the details. This image was made from eight raw files and tonemapped in Photomatix Pro.
Peggy's Cove, one of the most photographed places on Earth
Next up, two examples of panoramic photos, which are long photos stitched together from a bunch of smaller ones. I used Photoshop CS3’s Merge feature to stitch the photos together.
Pictou, Nova Scotia
Lunenburg, Nova Scotia
Like I said above, these are just really quick and simple examples. The panoramic shots were done without the benefit of a tripod, so I’m going to redo them properly when I go back this year. Fingers crossed for good weather!
King of Disrespect
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on April 26th, 2009
On a cold rainy day last May, Paula agreed to roll around in the mud for me. She was a great sport, we had fun, and we finished the evening by scarfing down some Taco Bell.
Fast forward five months. I’m chatting online with my friend Marigold (not her real name), and we’d discussed shooting together for well over a year. Marigold is a sometimes-model and just graduated a college photography program, so was familiar with both sides of the industry. She showed me a photo of hers online and asked me to photograph her in a similar “natural artsy” style.
Whoa, nelly!
Natural? Artsy?
Said I:
“i don’t know if you’ve ever noticed or not, but most of my photos usually have a girl wearing not-too-much-clothing”
Marigold scurried off to look at my website at this point, though she’d seen it a dozen times before. Her reaction:
“ok im having second thoughts…. i need to think about it a little more. i suddenly have become very nervous”
When I asked her to expand on that thought, she was vague:
“i dont really like how some the girls are portrayed”
I questioned how the hell she conveniently forgot the way I portrayed girls. After a little more prodding, we got to the meat of the issue:
“i just really dont like the girls with dirt on their faces. i dont like it when women are portrayed disrespectfully”
And there it was. Curious, no? She took no issue with the nudity, had no problems with women as sex objects. But — dirt on the face? God forbid. Oh, and did I mention that a short time previous, she created a series of photos featuring female models covered with splattered paint?
I stopped the conversation at that point since I knew the online medium wasn’t best for the sort of heated back-and-forth that was about to ensue. We haven’t spoken since.
What do the blog readers think? Is my photograph above disrespectful? Or is Marigold batshit crazy? Sound off in the comments.
Best Swimwear Redux
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on April 26th, 2009
Last year I blogged about some of my favourite places to shop for swimwear. In a pretty short amount of time, that post somehow became number one on Google for the search term “slutty swimwear” (see for yourself).
The reason I bring this up is because the weather in Toronto today hit around 28°C and gave us our first real taste of summer. Inspired by the heat — or maybe confused by it — I did something I never do: I paid full retail price for a piece of swimwear. Shocking! But it’s a lovely one-piece purple number from H&M. Curiously, H&M’s Canadian website not only forbids online shopping, but they don’t even bother putting a catalogue of their goods online for us to peruse. Our European friends get the luxury of actually being able to look at the products before they leave the house, so I encourage you to have a look at all the H&M swimwear designs on their Dutch website. As I mentioned last year, the H&M designs are colourful, simple, and cheap, which is why I love them!
My gorgeous friend Samantha (seen here previously) is going to shimmy herself into this purple piece of magic later this summer for some photos. I can’t wait!
One More of Amanda
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on April 20th, 2009
This was one of the very last shots I did of Amanda. She knew instinctively what to do and how to do it — somehow putting her face in the exact position where the hardwood floor (unseen in this photo) was reflecting the most light. The light came from some large windows behind me and nothing else. Though I’d set up my Alien Bees strobes earlier in the day, the only reason I touched them during Amanda’s shoot was to constantly move them out of my way and let the natural light flow in.
Amanda hasn’t seen these photos yet as she’s jetsetting right now; currently in Panama and off to Mexico next week. I hope she likes them! Maybe when she comes back with a tan, I can convince her to hit the beach with me here in Toronto for some more photos.
Lingerie Update
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on April 16th, 2009
Two weeks ago, I showed off the preview. Now here’s the real thing!
First up, we have Amanda, a first-time model who did a stellar job despite having a little bit of trouble finding the studio. I’ll forgive her, though, as we got tons of stellar images in our 90 minutes together. Amanda must have studied her Victoria’s Secret catalogue before the shoot, as she was nailing poses left and right without much prompting from me.
Next up is Heidi, an old friend who previously shot for Playboy! Heidi comes and goes from my life on a regular basis, but the few hours we hung out taking pictures felt like we’ve never been apart. Heidi told me she likes her bum better than her face, but I’d say this photo makes a compelling argument for both.
All three shots were done with pure, simple, afternoon window light. No artificial light sources.
Marketing Lessons from This Weekend
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on April 12th, 2009
As mentioned in my last post, I attended the first annual Fitness STAR competition in Toronto, at the Palais Royale on Lake Ontario. It was a long day (nearly 11 hours) and I shot 975 images (worth 14.9GB of space on my hard drive).
Fitness STAR put a call out for photographers to come and shoot the show, on the condition that we give Fitness STAR a number of images they can use for promotion.
Late in the day, a photographer sat down next to me and asked what camera I was shooting with. This is a common question — photographers are constantly trying to one up another with their toys or the size of their lenses. I told him I was shooting with a Nikon D200. He then remarked, “Wow. If I’m not getting paid, I’m not going to bother bringing my good camera or trying very hard. That’s why I only have this XTi. [A mid-range Canon model]”
This struck me as odd. He was basically saying that he has no interest in making a good impression. What if the organizers are looking to hire someone to shoot the next competition, come across your lousy photos, and immediately dismiss you as a result? All because you weren’t getting paid. Which makes me wonder — why were you there in the first place?
Photography is a business like any other, which means that marketing is crucial. Some businesses donate money to charity, some give away coupons for discounts or free products or services, some partner with other local businesses… and it’s all done in the name of promoting your enterprise. Essentially you’re sacrificing something for the goodwill and sales that you’ll reap the benefit of down the road.
Right?
Above: Justine Munro in her first-ever fitness competition. She won in her category (Level 1 Athletic Tall).
Brandi Lee Latimer
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on April 12th, 2009
It’s not quite ready to unleash on the world yet, but Brandi Lee Latimer’s new and improved website is coming soon.
In the meantime, enjoy this photo of Brandi from Saturday’s Fitness STAR competition in Toronto. Brandi placed first in her category (Level 2 Athletic).
Twins!
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on April 8th, 2009
Meet beautiful Ava…
…and her brother Enzo (aka EJ):
Retouching Hell
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on April 7th, 2009
There’s a difference between photo retouching… and turning people into creepy dolls. This is the scariest effing thing I’ve seen in a long time: The Photo Enhancer.