Raymond Photography

Often, one image is enough to tell a story. Sometimes two images composed together can tell an even stronger story. These two love birds are an amazing couple and it totally shows in their images.

A shot from a recent teppanyaki birthday party. The chef was hilarious!

This is an orchid at work that seems to bloom non-stop and several times a year. Also, each time it blooms the flowers last for over a month before drying out! It’s the endless orchid.

Here’s one more fireworks image to mark Canada Day 2010.

Here are a few of my tips the next time you want to shoot fireworks!

1. ISO should be set anywhere from 400 or 3200 depending on how much ambient details you would like to add to your composition. In the shot above I used ISO 3200 because I wanted to include some color in the sky and the detail in the trees. Be prepared to change the ISO on the fly.
2. Lens choice again depends on the amount of ambient detail you’d like to include as well as how close you are to the fireworks. For the shot above I had “front row seats” so I used my wide 28mm lens (a true 28mm) to capture the fireworks in the sky as well as the reflection in the water. If I shot with an even wider lens, I would have captured more of the reflection as I was literally a few feet away from the water.
3. Tripod tripod tripod! Enough to say it’s essential. Ball heads are nice or even a pan head.
4. Your camera should be in Bulb mode so you can alter the amount of time the shutter is open according to the “show”. I find that when I’m shooting fireworks, after the initial set up, I just enjoy the show with my finger on the shutter. I just keep clicking away to time the shots with the fireworks display. That way I can enjoy the show too! BTW, the memory above took 1 second to capture.
5. Aperture should be set anywhere from f/8 to f/11. The memory above was captured at f/9.
6. Look at the back LCD screen every few shots to make sure you’re getting what you want and adjust as necessary.

Hope that helps and keep safe when enjoying fireworks my friends!

Raymond Photography © 2010

28mm
f/8.0
1.0 sec
ISO 3200
5D Mark II

Canada Day 2010 @ Ashbridges Bay

A photograph made and intended as fine art right from the beginning.

Raymond Photography © 2010

I’ve been shooting for several years now and the one thing that is always a work in progress is learning to light my subjects. I’ve used continuous lights, small strobes, sunlight, big strobes, and even flash lights to light my subjects in order to get the shots that I want. I believe there is always something to learn in lighting and the learning never stops. As a photographer, I’m always facing unique subjects to light and it really is all about getting what you can from what you have. Creativity plays a big part and you need to be on your toes because subjects don’t often like to wait.

For the most part, I have found small strobes to be the most portable and easy to implement in a wide variety of situations. There is even great power in simply using on-camera flash and bouncing it.

I will continue to learn to light anything and everything in my journey to let light shape the world around us.

Raymond Photography © 2010

This is simply an exercise in composition to create interest. Rule of thirds, leading lines, repetition, and a tonal range that would make Ansel Adams happy.