Archive for category Uncategorized
Odds & Ends
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on June 16, 2010
My favourite printing company, MOO.com, is offering up another discount for first-time users only. Use coupon code 99VUFD to get 10% off your order. Expires June 30th! They offer a wide range of unique printed products, like miniature business cards and sticker books. Love.
My first printed book from AsukaBook arrived this week. Yes, they’re expensive. But yes, they’re totally worth it. The best part were the included white cotton gloves (don’t want fingerprints on the shiny new book) and FREE CANDY! Yeah. Free candy. Asuka rocks. It’s a shame they use UPS exclusively for shipping, though, as those idiots screw stuff up time and time again. Case in point: my box arrived with a gigantic hole punched in the top. It looks like another much heavier box fell on mine. Luckily the Asuka peeps packed the book well (bubble wrap and styrofoam peanuts) so nothing got damaged. The shipping from Oregon was extraordinarily fast — I’ll give them that much.
Lastly, I just want to say how much I love my Sima SL-20LX video light which is what I’ve been using lately for additional lighting on the Night Nudes series. It’s a 20-LED super-bright light designed for video, but I’ve been using it handheld like a flashlight during long exposures to paint light where I want it. It’s compact, rechargeable, and awesome. Buy one. Buy seven.
One Year Ago Today
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on July 27, 2009
One year ago today, I spent a lot of time with some of my favourite people.

Nina and Claire
Kristen Preview
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on July 27, 2009
While in Nova Scotia recently, I went to the beach for a photoshoot with my new best friend, Kristen. Here’s a little video preview of our antics.
Photos from the shoot coming soon!
Something Darker
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on July 26, 2009
Last time Amanda was seen on this blog, the images were light and bright and she wasn’t wearing very much. We got together for our second shoot at the end of June for something that was a little darker, and with more clothing.
Shot with a Nikon D700 and 85mm f/1.4 lens.
Ed Hardy Swimwear Fashion Show
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on July 2, 2009
On Tuesday night I photographed an Ed Hardy swimwear fashion show at Karma Lounge in Oshawa, Ontario. Using the Nikon D700, I shot almost everything at ISO 6400 and f/1.4 due to the very low lighting in the club.
I also experimented with the Nikon 17-55mm f/2.8 DX lens on the D700, which is a full-frame (FX) body:
There’s never a shortage of interesting people to shoot at a club:
And that brings us to the swimwear models. You might be wondering, “Ryan, why did you make all these photos blue?” Answer after these:
One major issue with club photography is the very, very strange patterns, colours, and colour temperatures of lights that are used. This is one of the major reasons I shoot raw-format photos (instead of JPEG) — so that I have full control over white balance after the photos are taken. White balancing via the auto function of the camera, or trying to do it manually at the club is an exercise in frustration. Check out the example below of Ashley.

The photo on the left is what the camera decided the correct white balance should be in automatic mode (4450 degrees kelvin). The photo on the right is after correcting the white balance in Lightroom to the maximum allowed setting of 50,000 degrees kelvin (and also setting the tint to negative 150 to combat some of the pink hue). So now instead of looking purple, Ashley looks closer to a regular human again. The problem, if there is one, is that both versions look kinda cool. So rather than trying to pick one, I compromised and just tossed out all the colour and made the selenium toned versions you see above.
Letter to a Young Writer
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on June 18, 2009
Brandi in the Studio
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on June 17, 2009
A couple months back, Brandi needed some photos for her new Nutrabolics blog. While we were shooting, I decided to make a time-lapse video using my Nikon D200′s intervalometer. I set the camera up on a tripod in the corner of the studio and shot at 8-second intervals. The 284 images were then glued together into movie form using Apple QuickTime Pro.
Here’s a simple headshot we did with ghetto clamshell lighting:

Hasselblad H3D, ISO 100, f/11
Check out more clamshell lighting examples at Lighting Essentials.
Nuria
Posted by Ryan in Uncategorized on June 15, 2009
I found Nuria working at a kiosk at the mall. We shot these near the lake, right before a ridiculous rainstorm.
















