Raymond Photography

Learning Style

ray — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 00:57:51 +0000

Lately in my stylized post-processing, I’m really falling in love with split toned photos with cream tones or the aged look. Eliminating the distraction of the variety of colors and focusing more on shape and composition is really empowering and making me a lot more strict with my editing — which is a good thing.

(By the way, this was shot in a Toronto sports bar.)

Engaging Sequences

ray — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 00:38:59 +0000

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.

Cooking by Fire

ray — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 02:46:01 +0000

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

Endless Orchid

ray — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 13:27:08 +0000

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.

One More Time

ray — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 12:36:21 +0000

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

Fireworks Tips

ray — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 01:39:56 +0000

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

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.
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.
Tripod tripod tripod! Enough to say it’s essential. Ball heads are nice or even a pan head.
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.
Aperture should be set anywhere from f/8 to f/11. The memory above was captured at f/9.
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!

Canada Day 2010 Fireworks

ray — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 23:32:34 +0000

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

Canada Day 2010 @ Ashbridges Bay

Ink Buds

ray — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 12:11:10 +0000

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

Pink n Purple

ray — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 02:38:51 +0000

My Journey in Learning to Light

ray — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 02:39:10 +0000

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.