The Life and Times of Lynda Ray

Website Summer Special

2011-07-05T13:07:00.000-07:00

If you need a website now is the perfect time to get one! I'm having a summer special and my prices wont be this low again. Just make a 50% payment up front with the remainder due when the website is completed with a turn around time that is usually 2 weeks! It really depends your content and website needs.

The smaller websites have a much faster turn around time with a full eCommerce site usually taking 4-6 weeks with testing and integration. I'll also show you how to run your own shopping cart online so you wont need to pay me to do it for you every month, unless that's what you want to do. Email me at lyndaray@lyndaraydesigns.com if you're interested in a website build.

Beach Portrait Special

2011-07-05T13:02:00.000-07:00

It's the perfect time to book your beach portrait session! I'm having a great special. Contact me today to book your date! Click on the flyer below for package details. If you are a model looking to expand your swim suit portfolio, I will offer you the same rates for the summer.

Summer Portrait Special

2011-07-05T13:00:00.000-07:00

I will meet you at a location within 10 miles of Upland where you will have a 1 hour photo session. You will get to choose your favorite 3 Hi Resolution images that you'll get on a disk along with a digital proof sheet of all your images.

You can order prints of any of the photos from this session online at any time for an additional price. Contact me to book your session! Click on the image below for more information.

Newest Fashion Photos

2011-05-21T20:47:00.000-07:00

I worked with an amazing crew to create these new images. Erica Lopez was my MUA, Sandra Hang was my photography assistant, and Amanda Perez was my beautiful model. Here are some of my favorite images from the shoot. I'll be posting a behind the scenes video later today.

Interested in a Test Shoot?

2011-05-21T15:29:00.000-07:00

If you are a Model, MUA, Hair Stylist, or a Wardrobe Stylist interested in Test Shoot, please contact me with your information and what type of shoot you are interested in. I'm booking several days for trade during the summer to get some fresh looks for my portfolio.

My definition of a Test Shoot (also refereed to as a photographer's test shoot and Time For Prints [TFP] shoot) is when a photographer wants to try out a new creative idea, test some new equipment or film, wants to build the photographer's portfolio, or just wants to practice and figure out how to take pictures, he sets up a photo session. In the case of a fashion or people photographer they need a warm body to put in front of the lens. This is where the volunteer model comes in.

This can work out well for both parties. The photographer does not want to pay for a model and the model does not want to pay for a photographer, so by trading services both get images for their portfolio and gain experience. In some cases the photographer might give you a couple of prints for your services, in other cases you may have to pay for prints. In all cases you will not get the original images and don't even ask to "borrow" them.

New Logo Design

2011-03-23T17:16:00.000-07:00

Here is a new logo design I created for a client. Make sure you visit my website www.LyndaRayDesigns.com to see all of my portfolios. All image on this blog and my website are protected by copyright and are not to be used, sold, or distributed without my express permission.

The-Crucible.Org is complete!

2011-02-24T11:06:00.000-08:00

I finished building The-Crucible.org and I'm very excited about how it turned out. Stop by the site and check it out.

Helicopter Photo Shoot

2011-02-24T11:00:00.000-08:00

I got to shoot more images for 360WeProtect.com yesterday. We didn't get to fly this time but I got some amazing images.

Tiffany Kaelins Photo Shoot

2011-02-24T10:58:00.000-08:00

I got some great images of Tiffany Kaelin in studio. I was using this as my environmental portrait assignment.

New Website Design

2011-02-09T08:38:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a great holiday. I've been working hard on a lot of different projects and haven't been updating my blog as much as I should have been. One of the biggest projects I was working on was the new website design for LyndaRayDesigns.com. Make sure you visit the site to check it out.

I will be adding photos from the Ballard Valentine Photo shoot soon. Here is a preview just in time for Valentine's Day.

I'm also working on a new website The-Crucible.org which is a hunting skills and survival website. The site is still under construction but here is the logo I created for the site. Stay tuned for more info.

Perfect Day for Making Christmas Cookies!

2010-12-19T16:49:00.000-08:00

It's been raining pretty steady for the last few days but today takes the cake. The rain brought it's close friend fog along for the ride and the streams of water pouring down my window makes me want to take a nap with my dog. But I know I don't have time for a nap today since it's cookie making day!

Every year I make cookies for my friends and family for Christmas. Some of whom are already getting restless and asking for an ETA on their cookies. It makes me feel good that so many people enjoy my cookies. Early on in my cookie making days, there were some unsuccessful cookie creations that have since been scraped from my cook book. My sons call them my "experiments".

To make my life a little easier this year, I have narrowed my list of cookies to 4 maybe 5 if I'm feeling frisky. I'm making Hungarian Kifli's, Snow Balls, Peanut Butter Kisses, and Chocolate Dipped Sugar Crescents. I might make Hungarian Butter-horns on Christmas Eve just for my family. They are more like a breakfast pastry than a cookie anyway.

I'll update this blog post later with photos of the cookies as I complete them.

Update: My large oven died today so I've been making small batches of cookies in my convection toaster oven. Here is a photo of the snow balls.

Here is a quick cam phone photo of the peanut butter kisses that I'm making. Only have 24 cookies done so far. Gonna be a long night.

I finally got a majority of the kifli cookies done. Still have to motivate myself to continue. Making small batches in my toaster oven is taking its toll on me.

My Christmas Wish List

2010-12-18T19:39:00.001-08:00

Thank you all for following my blog. I hope you all have a happy and safe holiday season this year.
If you'd like to send me a little gift, click here to view my Sephora wish list.

Happy Holidays!
xoxoxoxo
Lynda Ray

Final Project COLOR!

2010-12-18T19:38:00.000-08:00

I had my friends from Dirty Hands come through the studio and help me work on my color portraits for my final studio lighting assignment.
Here are some of my favorite images from this shoot featuring Dre, Roman, and Hassan.

The Shiny Object Project

2010-12-18T19:33:00.000-08:00

I had a lot of fun with the shiny object project. I had been working on a concept for this project for several weeks to get everything just right when it came time to actually shoot this. Here is the image I turned in for this assignment.

In Studio Fine Art Family Portraits (Mendez Family)

2010-12-18T19:26:00.000-08:00

The Mendez Family came into the studio this semester and it was a pleasure to give them some new images with their new baby boy. Here are some of my favorite images from the session.

My Photo Session with Actor Hassan Johnson!

2010-12-18T19:22:00.000-08:00

I had an awesome time shooting actor Hassan Johnson in studio during the semester. I used my speed lights and set up two lights on the background and used two soft boxes for the main lights.

He was great to work with and brought lots of wardrobe options for this simple shoot. Here are some of my favorite images from this shoot.

Multi Light Fine Art Family Portraits (the Plazola Family)

2010-12-18T19:17:00.000-08:00

During the semester I brought in friends and family to the studio to work on my fine art portraiture. This day I used multiple hot lights and got my friend Karen and her two children in the studio. Here are some of my favorite images from this shoot.

High Key Images

2010-12-18T19:14:00.000-08:00

The High Key Assignment was probably one of the more difficult I have to say. Getting the exposure just right is harder than it looks. Here are some of my favorite images from this shoot. I used my son Victor again. Having children gives you built in models.

Soft Lighting using Strobes

2010-12-18T19:08:00.000-08:00

I made my son Julian be my model for this assignment. He hates to take photos so this was a good excuse to have some fun with my son and gets some photos of him at the same time.

Everyone in class loved my boys so he had a lot of fun being there. I used soft boxes with this assignment and three or four lights total.

Julian was having fun with my classmate Sandra in this image. They are silly.

Now on to Strobe Hard Lighting

2010-12-18T19:02:00.000-08:00

For this assignment I wanted to step it up a notch and I got an amazing makeup artist Lexxi Belle and a great model named Saree. I used a beauty light for this session and speed-o-tron strobe lighting.

Here is a photo I took with my camera phone of the actual setup.

Here are some of my favorite images from this shoot.

The Chair Assignment

2010-12-18T18:49:00.000-08:00

Our instructor decided to give us a little extra credit assignment during the semester that ending up being harder to do well then expected. We had these very basic chairs in our studio that he wanted us to photograph with all the techniques we had learned so far while showing as much detail and making it as interesting as possible.

It took some assistance from my classmates Sandra and Phil to help me get the shot that won me the extra credit A for this shot. If anyone needs product photography, I think I'm pretty good at it.

Multi Light Still Life

2010-12-18T18:44:00.000-08:00

I also had to work on a still life project using multiple lights. I didn't need to use all 5 lights this time but got pretty close. The thing that I had the most difficulty with was finding objects that I had to shoot that were not shiny.

It's harder than you think to find objects that are not shiny. So I had these gloves and had some fun with it. Here are some of my favorite images from this assignment.

Multi Light Assignment

2010-12-18T18:40:00.000-08:00

I know I've been a bit behind on posting my work. Here is the multi light assignment I did during my studio lighting class.

Five lights are required for this shot (as seen in the image below):

Main (key) Light: sets the mood and exposure of the shot.
Fill Light: puts light in the eyes helps to fill in the shadows.
Kicker Light: accent light to show the edges.
Background Lights: creates depth and puts light on the background.
Hair Light: creates separation in the hair and gives shine.

Here are some others images from the same shoot.

Happy Holidays to All of my Readers!

2010-12-16T21:56:00.000-08:00

Hard Light Portrait Assignment

2010-09-17T21:27:00.000-07:00

I had so much fun shooting my classmate Amanda for the hard light version of my first in-studio portrait assignment. Amanda worked perfect for this assignment since I wanted to capture an old school Hollywood type of image. I used I hard light with the spot light directly on her face creating butterfly lighting. I still want to experiment with this type of imagery on a larger scale.

I was also able to capture a profile image of her casting a softer light on her face. I really like how she looks very siren in this image.

Than I just wanted to have a little fun and took another image from the shoot and created a more artistic approach and colored her eyes blue and made her lips red and made the image more dramatic. I hope you enjoy these images as much as I do.