focal length: 24 mm
shutter speed: 1/200
aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 200
flash: none

Would you believe I took this shot blindly? The bottom of the bell is only a couple feet off the ground so I just positioned my camera close to the ground, pointed up and shot. Luckily my auto-focus caught it correctly. It’s funny since this photo turned out to be my favourite from my shoot that day. Why don’t you take a chance and try a blind shot and see what you come up with!

We went to visit our university to see all the changes they’ve made since we graduated. Boy, do I feel old!

Laura is a Vancouver portrait photographer. Visit Dolce Life Photography.

focal length: 27 mm
shutter speed: 1/100
aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 200
flash: none

I always encourage parents to get down low to be at least eye level with their little ones when taking a shot. How about getting down even lower and taking one with more detail? I took several shots this day and from all the different positions I captured, something about this one spoke to me. It spoke of innocence and humble beginnings. So try wild and crazy angles and capture something that we normally can’t see except in a photograph.

I love chubby knees too!

Laura is a Vancouver portrait photographer. Visit Dolce Life Photography.

focal length: 32 mm
shutter speed: 1/80
aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 200
flash: none

I love a good black and white conversion. There’s just something about the monochrome effect that can give a photo extra drama and a sense of timelessness. To get this look, I used Adobe Lightroom and adjusted the exposure a bit before using the “Creative - B&W High Contrast preset”. I increased the blacks for more texture, hit the vignette a bit more and then added another preset called “General - Punch” for more definition. That’s it!

I love Sophie’s chubby little hands. Sometimes I call them little “big” hands because they look like they belong to a much older child!

Laura is a Vancouver portrait photographer. Visit Dolce Life Photography.

*click to enlarge

focal length: 50 mm
shutter speed: 1/250
aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 200
flash: none

Last night, we had the most amazing sunset. It started out pink, red and purple and as the sun set lower we had a blast of fiery omnipotence. I rushed outside with the camera into the middle of our street and took a few shots before the darkness took over. To get this silhouette look, try lowering your exposure compensation. I set mine to -1.0 so the houses and trees in the foreground became much darker, leaving the sky more ominous. In post processing, I increased the blacks ever so slightly just to darken the foreground a bit more. I also had to remove a large power line that ran across the center of the shot. I simply cut the bottom half and moved it up a bit followed by a little erasing and cloning to blend the two sections together.

Do you ever run like a kid to grab your camera when you are taken aback by the awesomeness of something? You should try it sometime. It’ll bring up your energy level for sure!

Laura is a Vancouver portrait photographer. Visit Dolce Life Photography.

To wrap up the series of articles on compositional guidelines, here is your one-stop-shop to improving your photos before you press the shutter release button. Keep in mind that there are always exceptions to the “rules” but these are the ones I found most helpful to me. Just click on the header of each tip for a more in-depth article of that particular compositional principle.

Click to read the rest of this article »»

Laura is a Vancouver portrait photographer. Visit Dolce Life Photography.