Rhylin Images

Progect 365 (31) The Cosbys

noreply@blogger.com (Ray Eaddy) — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 06:24:00 +0000

This sweater kinda reminds me of the sweaters Bill wore on the Cosby show

Project 360 (30)

noreply@blogger.com (Ray Eaddy) — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 03:40:00 +0000

One of my favorite photos from yesterdays shoot.

Project 365 (29) Make Room

noreply@blogger.com (Ray Eaddy) — Sun, 16 Jan 2011 05:37:00 +0000

So here is the scenario, lady in truck is coming out as lady in car is coming in. Both are in each others way, neither will concede the right of way. They park their cars and hold up the ramp for 3 mins. Funniest thing I've seen in a long time.

Project 360 (28) Agent E

noreply@blogger.com (Ray Eaddy) — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 06:06:00 +0000

Working with my RayFlash ring light and a rim.

Project 360 (27)

noreply@blogger.com (Ray Eaddy) — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 04:47:00 +0000

This is a sample from a personal project I'm working on. A sneak peek as it were. There is definitely more to come

Project 360 (26)

noreply@blogger.com (Ray Eaddy) — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 03:25:00 +0000

I got to shoot the senior portraits as well as some class pics for the University of the District of Columbia Upward Bound Program. I've taken the students pictures quite a few times, but this time I wanted to try out some of the lighting techniques I've learned.

I chose to shoot in the conference room for two reasons. The first reason was that the moment I stepped into the room I saw the composition I wanted. The juxtaposition between the table, subject and computers was an instant win for me. Second was that I found that it would allow me to get more practice in balancing daylight with strobe. I still find myself struggling with it. I have to remember to find shade (especially in harsh noon day sun). It's a process that I will master in due time.

I hauled out my one of my Interfit EX150's in a 24" softbox positioned on camera right. I knew I wanted to fill in some of the shadows on the students right, but I didn't want to drag out my other light nor did I have my reflector on me.

What I did have was a dry erase board off to one side of the room. I drag it over and put it in place. I had my favorite worker sit to make sure I had the proper exposure. After I had my camera settings down I was ready to roll. Lighting diagram and a photo from the series are below.

Project 360 (25)

noreply@blogger.com (Ray Eaddy) — Thu, 25 Nov 2010 06:45:00 +0000

Big Ole' Kitten

Project 360 (24)

noreply@blogger.com (Ray Eaddy) — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 04:07:00 +0000

The holy Grail of photo equipment

Got this in the mail a few days ago.

Project 365 (23)

noreply@blogger.com (Ray Eaddy) — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 04:26:00 +0000

The Big Pineapple

Project 365 (22) The Rayflash review

noreply@blogger.com (Ray Eaddy) — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 05:15:00 +0000

I've had my RayFlash for a few months and I can safely say that it has become the go to modifier in my bag. It's quick to assembly and quite easy to use. E-TTL works great with it and the light quality is very nice. I haven't had the chance to use it in the way that David Hobby suggests, but I will be soon. This modifier is just what I was looking for, lightweight, quick to assembly, and will go almost unnoticed to most people. Here is a pic I took with the RayFlash.

Project 365 (21)

noreply@blogger.com (Ray Eaddy) — Thu, 11 Nov 2010 04:47:00 +0000

Grabbed this inside the Gaylord Hotel at the National Harbor, while attending the OpenText convention. This hotel is huge. It has a spa, restaurant and a few other things inside its walls. Needless to say this will not be my last time at this hotel. Next time I'll get a pic of the hotel room as I didn't get a chance to this time around.

Project 365 (20) The Weekend Getaway Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Ray Eaddy) — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 21:28:00 +0000

I've been to a lot of beautiful cities, but I don't think any have been as beautiful as New York. I want to start this off by letting you all know that the last time I was in New York was in High School. We spent the majority of the time at the hotel, with a quick trip to visit a team mates relatives. I did get to ride in a pretty posh (considering I was still in high school, a Lincoln Town Car was pretty posh) vehicle...Correction, I did make a trip into New York while working for the Upward Bound program, but it was only to visit a college...we stayed in Jersey (so that doesn't count). So now without further ado, here are my best and worst things about my trip.

Best things:

B&H Photo Super Store - This place is HUGE. It has to span at least half a DC block and rises 3 floors up. I stepped in the store and felt like a kid in a Toys R Us on Christmas. Conveyor belts ran over head processing orders, customers and sales associates talked shopped and there I stood in awe at all of it. I will admit that I was slightly intimidated by all of this simply because I am used to the neatly done website. To see most of the contents of the website sprawled out, in tactile goodness, had me at a loss for words.
Conway - Conway is like K&G for cheaper. It's the only place I know where I can buy 6 dress shirts for 31 bucks.
The bridges - There is something about old metal bridges that I'm drawn to. I don't know what it is, but I find them beautiful. I was literally surrounded by bridges. Bridges to the right, left, in front and behind me. Small bridges, huge bridges.
My host family - they gave me a nice (i.e. FREE) place to stay and I am very grateful for them for that. Oh they also let me drive them to Chinatown. More on that in a bit.
New York pizza - HUGE and delicious. That is all
The best thing about my trip to New York is the renewing of the love I have for DC. I was reminded of the wonderful things we have here (Carry outs, go-go, etc) and how lucky I am to live here.

Now on the things I would have liked to have avoided (in no particular order):

New York traffic (especially around the shopping district) - Me and traffic don't mix too well. But I had to brave the storm to get to B&H and I'd do it again in a heart beat.
Parking charges - ya'll have lost your ever loving mind. It has never cost me 24 dollars to park somewhere for an hour. Highway robbery at it's best. I bet they make a killing on tourist daily. You won't catch me again. Next time I'm catching the subway (more on that later)
The family dog - didn't seem to like me at all. Every time he saw me he would bark his little punk head off. That's ok though. I'm going to get me a dog go back and beat him up. This is raw spelled backwards.
New York streets - there are more one ways than a little bit and the high overhead traffic lights make recovering from a bad lane adjustment extremely difficult. Which leads me to my last itme
Driving the family to Chinatown - Yes I was grateful to have a chance to drive a Lexus truck and take on the mean streets, but I was hindered from really enjoying the ride. Now I'm not a passive driver by any means. The only time I actually use a brake is when I absolutely have to stop, but I found myself chained to the brake most of the drive. Couldn't even get the truck above 60 without getting a slow down from the back seat. Needless to say I declined driving back home...besides there were too many sites to capture to be bothered driving.

Now for the things I wish I could have done while I was there:

Ride the subway - I've been to New York 3 times before this time and each time (except for 1, but I forgot what it was like plus I had an escort.) I used street level transportation (either a car or on a bus). I really wanted to take a crack at navigating the subway system.
Visit Adorama photo store - my quick visit and patience for the traffic didn't afford me enough time to make this store, but I plan on getting there some time soon.
Visit some more parks. I did get a chance to run in on one of the parks in Chinatown while the car was being brought out of parking. While on the subject, that brings me to the photo of the day. I took this one of some of the park visitors as they played what looked like a favorite of the park goers (there was a least one game being played on each table) I snapped this just as the guy looking into the camera made a decisive move as you can tell from the expression of the other guy. It made me interested in knowing what this game was and how to play but this was the last pic before I noticed the family making their way to the car.

More to come.

Project 365 (19)

noreply@blogger.com (Ray Eaddy) — Sat, 09 Oct 2010 03:17:00 +0000

Put my truck in the shop on Thursday got it back Friday evening. Good to have him back

Project 365 (18) The resurection

noreply@blogger.com (Ray Eaddy) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 05:34:00 +0000

It's been awhile since I've produced an image for my project. I'm going to challenge myself to go out and just shoot. I wanted to make this a project of new images and I thought I would be able to find tons of things to photograph, but alas it was not to be.

So to start I'm going to use a picture I took at the Finance Forum hosted by the brothers of Phi Beta Sigma Inc. Gamma Lambda Chapter. I'm sure that the students gained a wealth of knowledge as the three panelist were well informed in each of their perspective areas.

I'm not going to write a long drawn out blog tonight. It's late, I'm tired and I have an early appointment with a mechanic in the morning.

More to come

My first slideshow video

noreply@blogger.com (Ray Eaddy) — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 06:38:00 +0000

Project 365 (17)

noreply@blogger.com (Ray Eaddy) — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 05:41:00 +0000

I haven't been as consistent as I would like to have been on getting pics on here. I will do better, but enjoy the new post.

Saw these huge plants on my way to lunch. You would think I would have noticed them considering that they are as tall as I am. I call it "In the Jungle"

To Ray Flash or not to Ray Flash

noreply@blogger.com (Ray Eaddy) — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 15:30:00 +0000

After the incident with security last week, I've began thinking that I need a more compact solution for my portraits, especially when I plan to shoot in and around monuments. I admit that my equipment was light weight considering what I like to use.

That night I had my Canon 580 EXII inside a Lastolite hotshoe softbox with my Pocketwizard FlexTT5. I was using a minimum amount of equipment but enough to draw attention from the "authoraties". According to the gaurd I can and have to fill out a form or request to shoot any professional shots on monument property, and while it's free I have no way of knowing how long it will take to come in and sometimes like my style I like to get in and get out. Waiting has never been a strong character trait of mine. It's also a matter of knowing when you want to do it but not being able to on that day. If you read my blog post on the subject, you will know what I mean, guerrilla style as it were. So now I'm in need something that is more guerrilla style.

I've been reading and seeing Youtube videos of photographers using a light modifier called a ringflash. It's used most often in fashion photography, but it's making it's rounds in portraiture right now. It gives photos a really distinctive light, which I probably wouldn't notice right now if I tried but the thing that really made me take a lot at it was that fact that the light goes around the lens of the camera. You can see it in the video below (note: a long video but well worth a look)

I knew that a ring flash would be just what I needed to run and gun, get in and out or to play the bumbling new big camera purchaser that doesn't know how to use his camera yet. Either way I figure it won't bring too much attention in my direction. Now the models will very likely bring attention to us but hey I don't know how to use my camera and my cousin, sister, friend what have you is being VERY patient with me.

My next thought was that while the bigger ring flashes produce more light, the inherent need for an external power supply would a. add weight to my equipment and b. bring undue attention to me and the model (i.e. not very guerrilla style) what if there was a ring flash that uses regular AA batteries that was compact and easy to use. I knew the answer to my question the minute I asked it. The answer is of course the RayFlash (even has part of my name in it. how cool is that). I was able to create this effect in a similar fashion with 2 umbrellas in a calm shell configuration but again compact and good light are more important to me at this junction. Click to find more info about the RayFlash

So to answer the question in the title of this post the answer is simple. Of course RayFlash. I will order it soon and will provide some pics once it comes in.

Project 365 (16)

noreply@blogger.com (Ray Eaddy) — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 04:39:00 +0000

There is something about clouds and sky that I just like

Project 365 (15)

noreply@blogger.com (Ray Eaddy) — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 02:54:00 +0000

I had a shoot with Kelli today and we had a ball. My assistant really had my back, as I was kinda brain locked with poses. After the incident yesterday with security, I wondered if we would be able to shoot at the location I had picked. But in the middle of shooting a security guard came around and to my surprise, it was one that I knew. We made pleasantries and it was back to shooting. We got a lot of amazing shots and I got to try out a technique I picked up from David Hobby. It was a fun shoot! Here is one of my favorite shots from the session.

Project 365 (14)

noreply@blogger.com (Ray Eaddy) — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 18:42:00 +0000

The photo of the day comes with some interesting lessons. The first lesson would be that with this hobby you have to be very flexible. Rigidness will not help you at all. So here's the story, I started a project for myself and the first, model and location was picked out. The location was scouted and ready to go. Well the day of the shoot was met with massive setbacks that caused us to have to reschedule. We picked a new date and was forced to rescheduled again. We finally got a date to stick and after some problems with traffic we made it the location.

No sooner had the model finished in makeup, (next lesson having an assistant that can help with makeup is awesome) and got in a few shots we were stopped by security. Seems like we needed a permit to shoot where we were and if we wanted to shoot with that building in the background we would have to do so on the city streets. No problem just moved the shoot to the street right next to the building and got some great shots. We started later than I had wanted and missed the good light, but thanks to security i ended up with shots that I like a lot. I am drawn to low key, contrasty images and so the way the light hits the subject and the lights play in the background suits me just fine.

One next lesson I learned last night is that...I'm pretty good at focusing manually with little light. Last lesson having crazy friends makes doing photography a blast. A big shout out to my model and assistant for making this memorable experience.

So here is one of my favorite images from the shoot. (Also the last one we took before we had to relocate)

Project 365 (13)

noreply@blogger.com (Ray Eaddy) — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 17:50:00 +0000

While I was waiting on a coworker I noticed this lady. She was in her own world enjoying the weather like a lot of the people were today. I couldn't help admiring her outfit so I tried to take a pic. I guess she knew what I was doing and turned her head before I could take the pic...so I got this. It was a quick shot but I like how this came out (even if you can't she the entire outfit). I enjoy days like this where I can walk outside and enjoy the weather. So here is Lady in Waiting

Project 365 (12)

noreply@blogger.com (Ray Eaddy) — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 02:44:00 +0000

Today I was treated to an awesome dinner of porkchops with apple slices, collard greens and corn bread. I also got a lesson in eating meat with a knife and fork. It was interesting but I ate my dinner rather slowly. I'm feeling the itis take over me as I type this so here is the pic lol

Project 365 (11)

noreply@blogger.com (Ray Eaddy) — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 02:48:00 +0000

So sat I helped celebrate one of my best friends birthday and while I spent most of my time there trying to get some food it was really nice seeing her for the first time in years. I snapped this photo of some folks at the b-ball game while waiting for her and her friends to fish taking photos at the photo booth

Project 365 (10)

noreply@blogger.com (Ray Eaddy) — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 01:57:00 +0000

Lunch of champions

Project 365 (9)

noreply@blogger.com (Ray Eaddy) — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 03:13:00 +0000

Payday