Portraits done a little differently - Portrait Photography

In the last post I was talking about lifestyle photography. Today I wanted to talk about portrait photography.  I know that some look at portraits in a very traditional way.  I, on the other hand, have a bit of a different view.  I guess you can call them more candid, or lifestyle... I find that a traditional portraits can be really beautiful, I like to add a little extra emotion or story.  Some may not call these portraits at all.  I like to engage the subject in a conversation, and during our dialogue take the photographs.  We usually joke around, which allows for the genuine smiles to appear.  I also like to include elements from the environment, which then really becomes an environmental portrait.  All these names, in reality do make a difference.  Here are some examples of what I mean.  Enjoy!

The Wait Is Finally Over!

I am sure, you remember me mentioning a few times over the winter (Missing Summer Skies.. Part 1 and Missing Summer Skies.. Part 2) the fact that I have been missing the beauty of summer skies.  It's been such a long time, since we have had something interesting to look at during daytime hours as well as mornings and evening that when I saw what was happening outside yesterday I was up and about with the camera enjoying myself immensely.  The warm temperatures brought with it fluffy clouds yesterday afternoon and I took our puppy for a walk in a neighborhood off leash park hoping to capture some of them.  Oh, what a gorgeous walk it was!! I was hoping that the sky would cooperate during sunset as well and guess what! It did!! We didn't have much time to go in search of a location and decided to use "our" field close to the city. The melted snow left a huge puddle at the edge of this field and it happen to beautifully capture reflections of the sky, of which we took a great advantage ;D.  Here is a few shots of yesterday's beauty.  Hope you guys find it as enjoyable as did I! Kasia

Romantic B&W Couples

There are times where B&W photography is almost a must.  Times where the world around us is devoid of color.  Like this set.  I find that taking images of couples is very rewarding.  My approach is very hands off.  I find that having a couple be themselves, leads to the best images.  I might throw in a word or two, but mostly I just let them be.  Enjoy!

Lifestyle Photogaphy in B&W

I always like b&w photography.  There are certain situations that cannot be expressed better than in b&w.  This lifestyle session was one of them.  It was a cold cold day, and I was impressed that the model was able to pull this off.  Quite amazed.  Enjoy!

Waiting....

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As fall is almost over, here on the Alberta prairies I decided that I needed a little break from a windowless office, and go for a little ride.  Didn't have to go far.  Found this little side road from the main gravel road, and ventured in.  Almost right away, I found a couple of old farm buildings.  I stopped and spent maybe 15-20 minutes walking around.  Since there are no colours to be seen right now, and sun was hiding behind heavy clouds, I decided to make these b&w.  Enjoy.

Trudy

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Relaxing time in your own home.... there is nothing better.  Trudy allowed us to capture that time. Enjoy!

Some mornings....

Some mornings are in black and white, with a dash of color.  Sometimes it's the reverse.  That morning it was mostly black and white.  There was a little color once the sun rose above the horizon.  It was cold, and wet.  It's interesting how photos reflect the mood of the time you took them, or edited them.  Making them very personal, specially if you are shooting for yourself.  Here is that melancholy morning with a little smile.  Enjoy.

Beauty on celluloid

I was invited the other day for a quick, impromptu photo session.  Didn't have much time to think what I should take, so I took most of my gear.   Better be safe (and tired) than sorry, I guess.  For the fun of it, I packed my Pentax film camera with me as well.  We didn't have a lot of time to shoot, since the sun was going down, but we made the most of it.  The digital shots need to be processed still, but I managed to develop the film yesterday.  Enjoy!

Tilt in the Mall

Hip shooting is a lot of fun.  Specially when your camera has a fairly quiet shutter sound, and the lens that you are using is in manual focus.  So I tried hip shooting this time wiht my new tilt/shift lens.  Again just to get familiar with it.  So here are the results.  Enjoy.

Hospital Stories part 2 Ghosts

I guess every hospital has it share of stories, scares, and ghosts.  Walking the corridors today was specially fright full.

Kristina and Landon Part 2

Here is continuation of my favourite photographs from Kristina and Landon's engagement photo shoot.  Enjoy!

Kristina and Landon

A month ago I had a pleasure of photographing Kristina and Landon.  We met up in downtown Edmonton, and here are my favourites shots from this engagement photo shoot.  Enjoy!

Edmonton Streets in Black and White

Street photography, for me, is not an easy task.  I'm afraid of people.  That's why having a long lens makes a big difference.  With the 100-400mm zoom I can take shots from across the street, and people are none the wiser what I'm pointing my camera at.  Too bad the lens is white, and it sticks out like a sore thumb.  To my surprise, people here in Edmonton are very friendly towards photographers, and usually do not mind at all having their picture taken.  Some will actually try to "strike a pose", which is nice, but it does not go along my view of "reporter" style photos.  Here are some shots of unsuspecting people around Edmonton downtown. Enjoy.

Revisinting

I thought I would revisit some of the old photos I took. This one is very old, more than a year ago. One of my first shots I took with my DSLR.

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Finally had some time to go through some of the older pictures that were never touched. This one I took, while on a little weekend trip to downtown Edmonton.

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Took this picture while on the trip yesterday. She wasn't easy to catch, and had to crank up the ISO, to get a good shot with the 100-400 lens. There were not a lot of colors in the original so I though a black and white would look a lot better. Thoughts?

Practicing

It was a horrible weekend. Weather wise. We got dumped on, and I mean really dumped on. The snow started Saturday morning and it's still snowing, on Monday morning. It hardly let up. Got about 30cm of snow, plus wind and cold. But that is not the object of this post. My lovely wife, agreed to do some practice shots!!! I wanted to test out my Fong again, and different light conditions at home. I must say, that even though my wife does not like her picture taken, she actually liked the pictures. Here are two of the best.

The whole reason for doing these, is to get more comfortable with people. I was asked to photograph a wedding of a friend. This being pretty important, I don't really want to screw it up. I'm hoping I'll have more opportunities like this to get some people in front of the camera. Thoughts?

Got me a Fong

At the advise of a friend and after reading some reviews, I got myself a Fong. Basically it's a very cool light diffuser for your flash. The design allows for the flash to be dispersed around, giving a nice uniform light around the subject. It's made out of soft plastic with a lid that snaps on top. You might compare it to one of those tupperware containers. Inside it's not smooth but little ridges, which allow the flash to throw the light all around. So far I'm impressed with the results, and I know I will use my flash more often. Here is what this looks like. Little Sebastian was gracious to give me this pose.... then it was "no more picures daddy" :)

Asking for opinions.

Another challenge is coming to the end, and I need your opinions. The challenges are "Centered Composition" and Homemade Landscape" Here are some examples for "Centered Composition":

Here are "Homemade Landscape":

Thoughts, comments, please?

Free Study Revised

I lied. Ultimately the picture that I posted to the Free Study challenge is this one:

I was advised that the Sun Worshippers will not do well in the challenge as the crop made the picture a bit too wide. Apparently people are merciless when voting in the Free Study Challenges. I must say that my revised submission picture is doing ok. Right now it's sitting at a 5.46 average vote out of 10, after 75 votes. I was hoping for a bit higher score, but then again I'm not really objective. What would you have given it?