New Blog!

shayne gray learns photography has been a really great experience - the community out there is strong and supportive and the encouragement and interaction it's led to has been very encouraging.

So with that, the blog is migrating over to shayne gray photography - not that the learning ever stops!

Please keep in touch and check out the very first post on some Moustache-y Movember-y goodness!

Thanks for everything and hope to see you there.

Sequence Photography!

Jumping pictures are always fun...but even more fun off the jumping rock, of course! And what better way to capture the fun than by trying out a little sequence photography?!

The $4000 Necklace: What do YOU think?

We're going to interrupt our regularly scheduled programming this week to ask you what YOUR thoughts are on Shayne Gray Learns Photography:

Is it possible that the name dooms the product? In other words, in your opinion does "...Learns Photography" take away from the value of past, present and future work posted here no matter how good it might ever get?

Capoeira Mâles - Part I

Recently I had the opportunity of working with a really great Capoeira group in the city, Capoeira Mâles.

There are some crazy skilled people in the group and as such...keeping up with the speed in low light can be a bit of a challenge....

Bocce Ball!

Wow! Things have been pretty crazy busy for the last little while and I'm trying to work through some of the backlog like this Bocce Ball image I took with my Dad on Father's Day and sister (who's actually holding the ball and sadly got edited out - for more on masking in photoshop for this sort of effect, see the Matrix post or the levitation post). For more on vintage effects, click here.

Aside from working on some music for an upcoming short film, I'm excited to be working with Capoeira Malês - more from that project coming soon....

Happy Canada Day!!!

©2011 Shayne Gray all rights reserved

Happy Canada Day!!!

...and Happy almost 4th of July to our neighbours down south!

Mel's Tea Party

Click any image to see it larger

We recently caught up with Mel in Toronto's Music Garden with her Gloomy Bear, amazing dress & mini-hat and picnic basket that we found at the last minute on the street (full of really great colourful plates, cups & cutlery).

And what a perfect day to pull out the brand new 5D Mark II with a 50mm 1.4 for some golden hour goodness! (Scroll down a little further for some more fun with off-camera lighting composites and to see how the tea party ended!)

Vintage and Cross-Processing

Tres Chicos, Havana, Cuba (click image to see it larger)

Lomo, lomography, faux-lomo...whatever you want to call it, it's become extremely popular in recent years. In fact, we now have our own Lomography store here on Queen St. in Toronto.

The easiest way to achieve the effect is, of course, by going to http://www.lomography.com/ and buying yourself a camera. But since I haven't gotten around to that just yet, here's how you do it digitally....

Chihiro Noda starring in "A Change of Plans"

Chihiro Noda

Update: Thank you to Ardean Peters for the fun behind the scenes coverage!

Maria is a wonderful makeup artist. Together we've been planning one particular idea for maybe two months now, maybe longer, but it involves a sunny day and a chaise lounge. We've already had to cancel it once because of rain. This time around it was looking promising until about an hour before we were supposed to start. Too late to cancel again, so...what do you do¿? Make lemonade and hope it at least stays dry.

Lux and Hani featuring Mid-Day Sun

Shot with my new (!!!) 5d Mark II (with 50mm f/1.4)
Click any image to see it larger

This week's project was a little last minute at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre with Lux and Hani. I arrived not expecting to shoot in mid-day sun and...wound up shooting in it anyway. On top of that the different skin tones between the two models made for some very difficult conditions to shoot in.

Read on for some creative solutions....

Melodie of Movement

Hula Hoop! (Click any image to see it larger)

I mentioned in last week's post that the cheery blossoms were just in bloom - a little late this year. Nevertheless we took full advantage and met up with Melodie of Movement in Toronto's High Park. Last week I also promised some hula hooping goodness, so here it comes....

Levitation Photography and working with Textures

Die Fliegende Französin: The Midnight Craving

Last weekend I convinced a good friend of mine, Tess, to do a levitation for me. What a great sport! I really need to get a large stool or step ladder to do more of these, but she said she'd have some around the house.

I got there and she said, "how about this one or how about this or this?" I might have been pushing it a little, but she knows I'm looking out for her safety and said, "how about this one on top of that one?"

Next thing I knew she was teetering on a laundry hamper on a stepping stool. Awesome....

Workshop with Zack Arias!

See setup shot below

The CreativeLive workshop with Zack Arias last week was absolutely worth the 3-day commitment. We just had the chance to get out there and give some of it a try.

I've been scouting for a location for a project next weekend and came across the vacant lot you see above. I asked Cristy if she would come out and model with a prop. She chose the accordion - awesome choice....

Night at the Opera-backstage

Behind the scenes: you can see a woman on the left of the frame -
she's standing pretty close to centre stage

Happy Easter! Bokeh Hearts - more fun DIY

Happy Eastertine's Day! Setup shot at the bottom of this post.

I've seen heart-shaped bokeh images like this before, and this is probably the most widely used shape for making pictures with a custom bokeh, but I was never quite sure exactly how to do it. I was also excited to try and see if it would work first before trying out some more creative and elaborate shapes....

Amazing....

Time Lapse - Set up for Michael Gayden Shoot and balancing the subject/ background Exposure

Joe McNally and David Hobby (The Strobist) at the Flash Bus Tour in Buffalo

Thanks for the Twitter shout outs Joe McNally and the gang at Flash Bus! Glad you like the picture - we had tons of fun and laughs and you guys...well...I think the photo speaks for itself....

Cheers!

Shoot with Michael Gayden

Click images to see larger view

Update: Check out the video!

Mike Gayden is a male model from Rochester, New York, who came up to Toronto to do a photo shoot with us. When he said "editorial" I thought of my 50mm 1.4 and my reflector set, but then he said something about "fashion" and I thought I should haul out the lights and find a couple of suitable locations. I thought this would also be a good opportunity to follow up a little more on experimenting with mixing natural and artificial light from last week's Liddle Red Writing Hood.

Mixing Ambient & Artificial Light

Liddle Red Writing Hood

Update: for more on mixing ambient and artificial light, see this post and this post.

I wanted to experiment this week using my speedlights in late afternoon/early evening sun, but...realized that I really should have been out there a little earlier.... The sun looked like it was in the right place in the sky to give us another hour of light or so, but unfortunately at my chosen location it was already just sinking behind a row of houses.