Ryan McNab Photography

Rocker, Glam & Beauty

2011-12-28T18:33:00.000-08:00

Hi All. I shot these a month ago but haven't had the time to post until now. I was feeling a bit creative and wanted to play with some lighting as well as pull out some old props I haven't shot in a couple of years. The beautiful and energetic Samantha from Ajax had contacted me looking for headshots but was open to any challenge I wanted to try out. I saw the opportunity to pose my ideas and as you can all see the final results came out awesome. So thanks to Samantha who was wonderful to work with. Hope everyone enjoys.....

The Splash Project

2011-11-14T16:17:00.001-08:00

Ok so I was surfing utube lately and kept coming across videos of high speed photography. It got me a little inspired to work on something without people for once. It's been quite awhile but it came back very quickly how I used to love little projects like this. Water is definitely one of those mediums that I will continue to shoot always. It's ever changing and there are infinite possibilities. The first three images I focused on capturing drops of water. Very easy to do once you know the process. No fancy equipment here. Just a dark room, a cooking pot full of water, one or two speedlights, a sandwich bag with a pinhole in it, my camera and a tripod. A macro lens is preferred but I just went with my trusty 50mm 1.4.

I filled the sandwich bag with water and hung from a boom on a light stand so I had a steady stream of drops into the pot. For this I had to use manual focus because the room was too dark. Used a length of tape which I had drawn a point to focus on. Since the water was about an inch below the tape line it made for a good guess as to where my drops might end up when frozen. Once focus was locked I removed the tape and started shooting. For camera and flash I did something a bit strange. I used a slow shutter (about 2 sec.) and used the speedlight in manual at it's lowest power. This gave the quickest burst of light. Since the room was dark no noise was introduced. It also made for some interesting effects. Notice the 3rd image has a blend of frozen motion on the main splash and the drops outwards have a bit of motion blur. Cool. Kind looks like a meteor storm. I thinks these were at around F4. Timing was everything. Being aware of the rhythm like a heartbeat or music really helped me get into the zone. The blue tint was actually food colouring. Also not much in post just some colour saturation and a little dodge and burn. A touch of highpass sharpening helps it pop too. Enjoy.

For this next set I focused on a clean look and again a very simple set up. The glass is suspended above a bucket (Tried not to make a mess). I did this in my kitchen using only my white wall as the background. Lighting was again with a speedlight (SB900) pointed towards the wall behind the glass. For this I decided to breakout the PW mini and flex and show off it's high speed sync. 50mm 1.4 set to F7 about 1/1000 to 1/1200 ISO 100. I used AFC and poured and pressed the shutter. Again not much in post. Just brightened the colours and added a little contrast. Also burned out the backgrounds a bit to keep a consistent white. Hope you all enjoyed just a little fun with simple items most of us have around the house. Till next time.

Creative Beauty Shoot

2011-11-06T16:22:00.000-08:00

I did this session back in August with the wonderful Valini of VDH MakeUp Artistry & Hairstyling.

She had helped me out for a couple of shoots in the past so it was time to return the favour. She wanted to update some more creative styles for her book and I was happy to help her out. She brought in three lovely models to try out a series of looks. These show my favourites. Our biggest challenge was time restrictions as we had to work around the schedules of 5 people, so at the last moment we simplified the number of looks for the first two models Saichyea and Natasha. The last model Meena was able to stay a bit longer. All three ladies were amazing to work with and gave great energy and beauty. It goes without saying that Valini created a beautiful concept and brought her A game as well. It was cool just interacting with each different personality. I believe it definitely influenced the vibe for each model and showed a unique view into themselves, which for these types of shoots I love to incorporate.

On a technical note I tried something new this time around. It was a two light setup with the key being a beauty dish on a boom approx. 45° above straight in front high enough so I could shoot through. This lit the T-Zone on each models face. I also had a table set up below with a large strip reflector as well as a strip of mirror angled slightly into the eyes. If you look closely you will see 3 different catch lights which really brought that extra pop to each concept. The second light I used as a back light towards the background which created some nice vignetting. As the day went on I also tried playing around with some mirrors as you can see above. It made for some interesting stuff. Well done to all and thank-you.

Swimwear Photoshoot With Meena

2011-10-31T17:20:00.000-07:00

Hello all. So this is my first post since the middle of summer. I thought I would get caught up. This photoshoot was taken early in september with the beautiful Meena. She wanted to get some swimwear shots before the cool weather came. We lucked out with a gorgeous day of sunshine. Since we got such an early start (6:00 am) we decided it would be best just to keep it simple, so no team this time around. On a tech note I used just a single light set up using a speed light (SB900) and a shoot through umbrella. It was also my first time using my PW mini TT1 and Flex (You can see in the first two images). The last three images were just natural light. I used my 70-200VR2 wide open for all. Meena did a great job and we both have stunning photos to show for our hard work that day.. Thank-you Meena.

Side note: That same day I was invited to tag along to cover The Buffalo Fashion Week Main Event with a great photographer Luis Enriquez of LouE. Photo. Needless to say it made for a very long day not getting home until very late....But well worth it.

Bird's Eye View

2011-07-20T19:46:00.000-07:00

These are from the last long weekend. My brother Dan and I knew of an Osprey nest by Young's Point just north of Peterborough. So armed with only my 70-300 we both stood under the nest hoping for a glimpse. We were lucky to see an adult guarding the nest. It was definitely aware of our presence and engaged us with those intense yellow eyes watching our every move. We didn't stay long as we didn't want to anger it too much. A little voice in my head was saying "you better leave soon or your camera will fly away with some pissed off bird... lol" Anyway enjoy everyone.

Simple Fun With Nature

2011-07-11T18:04:00.000-07:00

Finally took a bit of a break from shooting people and got back to some colourful nature. Nothing really technical about these, just picked up my camera and away I went. The first two were taken at Edwards Gardens back in May. It was actually the day after the Clothing Show (which I spent the full day shooting runway). I figured my shoulders and back were not quite sore enough so my brother Dan (who is a very talented photo hobbyist as well) decided to spend a couple hours shooting the gardens. As always a good time. The rest of the photos were taken in Niagara Falls at the Butterfly Conservatory. Enough said. Hope you all enjoy....

Seduced By A Vampire

2011-07-04T17:12:00.000-07:00

This is the second half of Corina's Photoshoot back in April.

Again.. an amazing job to all. I had this vision in my head for quite sometime and finally found the right people and pulled together a great concept. I know these day's we have so many teen type references, but as I was developing a lighting storyboard, and even during the shoot I found myself drawing inspiration from more the early 90's movies such as "Interview With A Vampire" or "Dracula".

As you can see the results were satisfying. Another shout out to the awesome Valini from VDH Makeup Artistry and Hairstyling for a wonderful job. Also thanks to David for jumping in as the victim for the completed series. Not much to say for technical notes except we shot in almost complete darkness and gridded both key and back strobes. If I remember correctly I shot around F20 with a tripod.

Fashion Shoot With Corina

2011-06-29T16:12:00.000-07:00

So this is my first post in awhile. I'm finally caught up with my shoots and over the next couple of posts I will reveal all the hard work I've done for the last 3 Months. So this was a location shoot back in April with the beautiful Corina. In our first conversations we were working towards a Vampire concept (which I will post soon), but she wanted to also add some fashion into the mix, which I'm always up for.

Corina did an amazing job. She nailed down each look with ease and at the end of the day I had so many photos to choose from. These were some of my favourites from the shoot. As far as a technical note I wasn't really sure what to expect so I just brought everything from a large octabox with grid to a 22" beauty dish. I even tried out a Ray Flash (ring flash adaptor for speedlights). I got some good results. For back lights I used a 7" Reflector with grid. Lens of choice was Nikon 24-70 2.8 (So sharp).

A special thanks to Valini from VDH MakeUp Artistry and Hairstyling for joining me on this project. As always she did a fantastic job.

March 20 - Fashion

2011-04-07T14:33:00.000-07:00

Model - Melissa Dale-Hicks

MUA - Synthetic Perfection

Hair - Shred Perfection

Photographer - Ryan McNab

Editorial/Fashion Lingerie Shoot

2011-03-06T10:08:00.000-08:00

Model - Kai Mukoro

Makeup & Hairstyling - VDH MakeupArtistryNhair

These are some photos from one of my latest shoots.

More to come soon!

Something New

2010-12-04T18:49:00.000-08:00

Creatives

2010-11-30T20:27:00.000-08:00

Credits: Model - Marion - MUA - ShenicaD

Behind My Own Lens

2010-11-21T15:30:00.000-08:00

Trying some new lighting techniques here. Just a single strobe (AB800) with an umbrella.

As well as an SB900 for my edge light. Decided to blow the dust off my old D80 so I can use my MC-DC1 Remote, and too my surprise had some great results.

Not bad for 45 Minutes work including post. Now here's hoping a model will show up next time.

Furry Animals

2010-11-20T15:42:00.000-08:00

Last Photos Of The Summer

2010-11-08T19:24:00.000-08:00

I thought I would do something I haven't done before and share a couple words. These photos are just a couple of my best from last of the warm weather. The first two were taken at Edwards Gardens. A great place to relax a take a some amazing photos. For these I had rented a 70-200 F2.8 VR2 for the weekend and had an extra day so what better place go. The lens was very heavy to lug around but has amazing Depth of Field and it's super sharp & very fast. If only I had the money. I also used this on my previous post of fashion runway shots. The rest of these photos were taken in the Distillery District. I haven't been there before these were taken and was pleasantly surprised. Enjoy.

The Clothing Show Fall 2010

2010-10-24T16:45:00.000-07:00

Children 2010

2010-10-14T16:49:00.000-07:00

iModelExpo 2010

2010-10-05T17:06:00.000-07:00

iModelExpo 2010

Mandy Monroe

Fall Photoshoots

2010-09-30T19:15:00.000-07:00

Renée Ishlove

Stylists: Carlton Ellis / Odelia Benabou

MUA: Renée Ishlove

AnneMarie Vaughan

Back To Nature

2010-08-25T19:22:00.000-07:00

June Photoshoots

2010-07-19T16:16:00.000-07:00

Outdoor Shoots - Summer 2010

2010-06-13T07:20:00.000-07:00

Jordan

Indoor Photo Shoots

2010-03-27T19:18:00.000-07:00

Angela

Angelyne

Marion & Angie

Angie

Marion

Night Photography

2009-10-06T16:37:00.001-07:00

Abstract & Motion

2009-10-03T07:22:00.001-07:00

Animals & Nature

2009-10-03T07:13:00.000-07:00

Portraits

2009-10-03T07:11:00.001-07:00

Children

2009-09-26T06:42:00.000-07:00

Fashion

2009-09-26T05:59:00.001-07:00

The Clothing Show Fall 2009

Elle Canada Fashion & Beauty Event

The Clothing Show

Be The One - Fashion Show

Toronto Fashion & Design Festival

Architecture

2009-09-20T15:37:00.000-07:00

The Rape of the Sabine Woman by Giambologna in the Loggia dei Lanzi - Florence

The Temple of Antoninus and Faustina in the Roman Forum - Rome

Tower of Pisa

Dedicatum San Carolo - Milan

Ponte Vecchio - Florence

These were all taken at various locations in Italy.

Although I had a lot to choose from, these were some of my favorite.

Black & White

2009-09-17T19:03:00.001-07:00