focal length: 32 mm
shutter speed: 1/160
aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 200
flash: none

Uh, didn’t I talk about avoiding border mergers before? Gasp! I cut off her head! Well, sometimes, for artistic reasons, it’s ok. But keep in mind the old adage, you have to know the rules to break them. I actually shot this as-is, without cropping. Focusing on her hands holding onto the keys with just her open-mouth-expression clearly told a story. “Uh Oh! Am I not supposed to play with these?” So today, I broke some rules and feel pretty good about it! Do you have any photos to share where you broke a rule and it still worked?

I must be one of those laid back moms. I like let her ‘explore’ as much as possible.

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

focal length: 50 mm
shutter speed: 1/60
aperture: f/2.5
ISO: 200
flash: fired

Whoa! Another shot with flash! I know… hard to believe isn’t it? Yes, this is one of the few shots where I have used my external flash. Why do I avoid it? Well, there are a few reasons. One is that my external flash makes my already heavy camera even heavier. Also, I need to get new AA batteries for it because right now, my wireless mouse has stolen them. And lastly, I need to read up on flash work some more. All those reasons aside, I do feel that using a flash effectively can be a great asset in your photography arsenal. For this shot, my subjects were about 6 feet away from the wall behind, which helped to prevent any shadow. I aimed my flash at the ceiling at an angle so the light would bounce off and down onto my subject. I quite like how it turned out considering only one lowly lamp was lighting up my whole living room.

My dad and his granddaughter. So loving, caring and thoughtful he is. Words alone cannot describe how wonderful he and my mom are. Happy Father’s Day Abba!

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

focal length: 29mm
shutter speed: 1/125
aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 200
flash: none

Paige over at Shutter Sisters pointed out the harmony of three and encouraged us to share our examples. In photography, you may have noticed that objects grouped in a triangular fashion proves to be pleasing to the eye. Three vertices, golden triangle, rule of thirds… are you seeing a pattern here? Next time you’re out shooting, try to find a well balanced subject in thirds.

I was trying to think of what to shoot, camera in hand and suddenly saw this! Can you guess what it is?

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

focal length: 18 mm
shutter speed: 1/1600
aperture: f/3.5
ISO: 200
flash: none

I took this photo in Korea a couple years ago, back when I used to shoot only in JPG and barely processed my photos. So I took another stab at it using Lightroom to give it an old world feel. After working exclusively with the RAW file format, I can now see how much better it is compared to JPG. RAW file format contains so much more information than an in-camera compressed JPG so that when it comes time to processing, with RAW data, I’m able to recover a lot more detail. White balance is definitely easier to adjust as well as exposure. If you don’t shoot in RAW, try it out sometime and see the differences for yourself. I should add though that you do require software to process RAW files. If you don’t have one, a quick Google search will find you some free ones. Most PC’s don’t have a built in RAW file viewer either. Apple computers have no problem viewing them and processing them with their own built in iPhoto or even Preview software.

I always thought it amazing how quickly Korea developed. I love how there are solid remnants of ancient Korea still in existence among the hustle and bustle of the business district in downtown Seoul and other highly urban areas.

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

focal length: 55 mm
shutter speed: 1/100
aperture: f/4.5
ISO: 640
flash: none

I wish I had a macro lens for up-close-and-personal food shots but for now I’ll have to settle with getting in as close as I can with what I’ve got. I used a smaller aperture (f/4.5) so that I would have a greater depth of field. A greater depth of field means that more of the photo is in focus. Too much bokeh can actually get distracting when it comes to close ups on food.

I actually took the time to make some homemade kim bahp today for lunch. Deceptively filling these things are!

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