December 2015 - New Jersey, Philadelphia, NYC Personal Branding, Commercial and Editorial Photographer

Testing, Testing, 1,2,3, DIY LED Lights

December 8, 2015/0 Comments/in Photo Gear, Photography Business, Uncategorized /by Deirdre Ryan

So I’m always looking to expand and find new and different ways to photograph my clients other than the standard headshot on a white or grey background with a strobe set up. I’ve been wanting a Kino Flo set up a few years, but, hey. Those things are uber expensive, but I understand why. They’ve been used by the tv and film industry for a long time, I know because my husband is an editor, and also he’s uber handy. Did I use the word uber again?

Okay, so Kino Flo is actually a company based in Burbank, CA, which is close to where we used to live and they started around 1987. They’re main lighting are fluorescent tube lighting that don’t flicker because of a high-frequency ballast tubes, and which contained a number of special phosphors designed to eliminate tints in the magenta-green spectrum which are present in most domestic fluorescent lights. So basically they are daylight balanced lights that are lightweight, and easy to carry around that are perfectly suited for filming. If you go on a tv set, you’ll see them hanging.

Now, LED lighting is all over the place, they last longer, and aren’t made of glass. So, David, the handy guy I married, made one panel of LED “Kino Flo” lights that have a high-frequency ballast type of system. I don’t know too much of all the work he did with it, or the technical details, but he and I are pretty happy with the results we got. We still need to tweak the system a little, but here are some test shots:

A Printed Portrait Speaks Volumes To Those In Need

December 8, 2015/0 Comments/in Families and Children, personal, Portraits, Volunteering /by Deirdre Ryan

Over the weekend I had the honor to volunteer at Chosen 300, at their soup kitchen on Spring Garden in Center City Philadelphia, PA. The event was for Help-Portrait, is about giving people who otherwise couldn’t afford photography a portrait, a print to take home with them. This event happens once a year in December, a global event, put together by photographers, makeup artists, hair stylists, and countless volunteers and donations. I had heard about this a while ago and I could finally make it this year.

My husband was able to join me, so we drove into the city from NJ. We met in Center City and lived on 15th and Locust, so coming into Philly is like home to us.

When we first arrived, we cleared out the tables and chairs to set up our photo stations. People donated their photo printers, snacks for us to eat, and many of us(myself included) brought in frames to put the printed images into. Then once we set up, we all tested our lights on each other.

Photo by Kristina White.

This is me being shot by Jaleel King, photo by Kristina White.

This gentleman was my first client, and he was a HUGE Cowboys football fan in Eagles country!

We had to have some fun by putting some Eagles in the photo, and of course, The Eagles won the very next day!

Here he is with the photograph in the frame that I took and he chose. Looks great! Photo by Kristina White.

This gentleman had never had a portrait of himself wearing a suit other than the uniform he wore when he was shipped out to Vietnam.

Photo by Kristina White.

This is me with my client with the image he chose in a frame. Photo by David W. Ryan.

In between clients, I got some quick shots of some behind the scenes.

This is Jaleel King showing his client the portrait he just took on the back of his camera.

Makeup artist Niki Brennan making a mother of two feel very pretty.

Cathie Berrey-Green of BG Productions working her fun station to making the kids and mom have great portraits.

When Carrie showed the mother the printed portraits, she cried, because she loved them so much. We all were crying, it was very emotional, that is why we do this.

This spunky little 3 year old young lady was such a treat! She was a little shy at first, but I got her to warm up to me.

Especially after asking if I had stinky feet, and she said yes! Then I asked if her grandmother had stinky feet, and she said, yes! I got her giggling lol

This young man was quite and reserved, but I could tell that he loved to be outgoing and friendly.

He was 6’7 and I’m 5’0, I tried a few with him standing but I preferred the ones I showed here. Photo by Kristina White.

This gentleman was also 6’7, so I had him sitting down too. He lost everything he had to a house fire, including family pictures.

I had a quick moment so I shot this portrait of one of the photographers who was there.

At the end of the day, we all got together to take a group photo. Photo by Kevin High. I am so happy that I could participate for this worthy cause to give back, make new friends, and meet new people. Plus, we were able to get back home in time to see our little girl play in her first basketball game of the season, and her team WON!

Thank you everyone!!!!

Foggy Autumn Morning Along A NJ Creek

December 7, 2015/0 Comments/in personal /by Deirdre Ryan

On December 2nd, 2015 it was very foggy, and chilly with a just the right touch of humidity in the air. The conditions were perfect, so much in fact that it stayed this way for a long time. Best of all, it was my husband’s 44th birthday so we got to spend some time together that morning after dropping our child off at school.

I had my Canon Mark 5D III and my Canon EF 20mm F2.8 and while shooting I saw something out on the water. So I told David to go back to the house, and grab my Canon 70-200mm F2.8 non IS L lens and my Manfrotto Monopod. We only live just up the hill, and I was worried about the fog burning off, but it really didn’t. It was difficult to decide if I wanted these to be in colour or in black and white. I love editing certain images like I did in a traditional black and white fiber based darkroom. It was silent except for that awful traffic sound in the distance. I miss the days when 295 wasn’t there, even though it is necessary…..

All images are Copyright Deirdre Ryan Photography, do not screen capture. That’s stealing and bad karma will come your way. Thank you 🙂

I had my Canon Mark 5D III, Canon EF 20mm F2.8 and while shooting I saw something out on the water. So I told David to go back to the house, and grab my Canon 70-200mm F2.8 non IS L lens and my Manfrotto Monopod. We only live just up the hill, and I was worried about the fog burning off, but it really didn’t. I wanted to capture the above image because to me it was just so perfect and still, with the webs and dew.