focal length: 56 mm
shutter speed: 1/30
aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 500
flash: none

I’m trying out more monochromatic conversions these days. I think it’s good practice. The most challenging part about it is the fact that when I stare at the image for too long it starts to look strange. Especially when you compare the original colour version to the monochrome version, the converted image looks weird. Does that ever happen to you? I find it helps to do the conversion, close the image, putter around with other things and then open the converted image again and start with a “fresh” set of eyes. Is it just me or do you feel the same way?

Maybe I’m just getting older. My eyesight started failing when I was in grade 2, so you can imagine how bad they are now. I joke around saying that I see the world in bokeh when I’m without glasses.

Laura is a Vancouver wedding and portrait photographer. Visit laurahana.com.

*click image to download large size (1024×681)

Special thanks to Kirsten Geyer of Something Cheeky who took this awesome photo and kindly submitted it for today’s WYP. I’m so excited to work on this one.  It’s such a great photo with potential for countless different plays.  Looking forward to all your different takes.  Thanks again Kirsten!

Remember to link to your version by leaving a comment below. You are welcome to add any specifics about what you did in your processing (software used, adjusted values, cropping etc) to help us learn. Click here to get the complete details for What’s Your Play. Remember, all readers are invited to submit their own photos for manipulation by emailing a high res photo (preferably SOOC) to play [at] dolcepics [dot] com.

And, of course, a compilation of all your edits from WYP no. 3.  I smartened up and decided to just make a flickr account for WYP so I can easily set up this slideshow viewer from Pictobrowser.  Yay!

Laura is a Vancouver wedding and portrait photographer. Visit laurahana.com.

focal length: 70 mm
shutter speed: 1/80
aperture: f/3.2
ISO: 200
flash: none

Today I had the pleasure of doing a newborn shoot for one of our dear friends.  The baby boy was just a darling and cooperated during the whole shoot.  I set up a makeshift mini studio in their home with a simple black fleece blanket behind them and snapped away.  To make sure the black background stayed black, I used spot metering to properly expose the subject, resulting in a nice dark background. Here’s a sweet shot of baby holding onto his daddy’s finger.  He had such tiny fingers that stayed clenched the entire time.  I really love getting in close and capturing the details of a subject.  This one begged to be converted to a simple black and white.   I like simple.

Laura is a Vancouver wedding and portrait photographer. Visit laurahana.com.

focal length: 38 mm
shutter speed: 1/25
aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 500
flash: none

Photography is so fun. Especially when you empty your memory card contents into your computer, view your shots and get one like this. I just keep clicking away once I get started so it’s easy for me to miss seeing these moments that happen in a fraction of a second. It’s such a pleasant surprise to be able to see an expression like this on the computer screen frozen in time. It’s a moment that would have been lost and gone forever if it hadn’t been captured. So take that camera and snap away. Catch those moments that last for only a split second and cherish them forever.

She didn’t want the nectarine pieces I had so lovingly cut and pared for her. She insisted on eating it straight up.

Laura is a Vancouver wedding and portrait photographer. Visit laurahana.com.

focal length: 70 mm
shutter speed: 1/50
aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 500
flash: none

focal length: 38 mm
shutter speed: 1/30
aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 400
flash: none

I’m in a diptyching mood I guess. Although I used to throw two or three photos together in succession as a sequence of shots, I did it mainly to save uploading time on Facebook. But diptychs are a bit different. They force me to be more intentional with the images I choose to sit side by side. This time I went for “grunge” to fit with the messy-bed-head theme. I found a TTV texture (Through The Viewfinder - very cool and I will elaborate in a future post) here, inspired by Heather’s WYP this week, and used it as a bit of border separating the two images. Although, traditionally, TTV’s are supposed to be square (correct me if I’m wrong), I wanted to try it out. I don’t know if it works or not but I think it’s kinda funky. I like the messy black borders.

I just discovered a new room to shoot in.  The bathroom!  Whoulda thought there would be such a cool glow coming through the window?

Laura is a Vancouver wedding and portrait photographer. Visit laurahana.com.