Dramatic Portrait Techniques ... and accidents

I have been very interested in the dramatic portrait lately. I have been skimming books at lunch hour on the subject as well as browsing sites that might help me improve my skill when it comes to creating a dynamic portrait. Part of this involves using a flash off camera set at the correct setting so as to illuminate the subject properly whilst adjusting the ambient exposure to be slightly less than normal - thereby creating a contrast. The key is to create just the right amount of contrast to have the right visual (and emotional) impact.

I decided to try my newfound technique on Erich. What you see below is the result.


Sometimes, accidents also turn out to be great portraits. Here, my shutter went off unexpectedly capturing a blurry image of Erich running down the sidewalk. Oddly enough, it works (much better so than had it been in focus).

Taking inventory

So I just spent most of Saturday dragging out samples of baby product and photographing them in my makeshift "studio". Basically this involved kicking Erich and Karen out of the house for a couple of hours, laying down some paper, setting up some "studio lights" (a.k.a. old flashes set on slave), an old laptop and a whole lot of patience. Once I got everything set up, it was quite easy to photograph things.

Of course when Erich came home, I couldn't resist taking a few shots as he wondered into my "studio"... turned out quite well actually as some of these "white room" shots eventually became part of my sister's birthday present.

Self Portrait in the Park

For day trips, it can often be inconvenient to lug around a digital SLR. So quite a while back I bought a Canon Powershot G2 (for Karen) on the used market for a very good price. It takes great pictures, has a wide array of manual controls and takes the same flash and battery attachments as my SLR. As such, it makes and ideal point and shoot companion as I can interchange parts with the EOS system.

One feature I really like about it is the ability to take self portraits using a remote. Shown here - Erich and I having fun in the park while Karen attends Renee's baby shower. :-) Erich sure makes me smile!

Beautiful Sunsets

We had a beautiful sunset the other day. Seeing as Vancouver hasn't seen much sunshine of late, I made sure I captured it. It was also a great time to practice my flash/natural light mixing skills. :-)

Check out these interesting links:

• Strobist

• One Light Workshop

Flower Power

It was a nice spring day, so we decided to take some photos by the flowers. By the way, the best time to take photos of spring flowers is just after a rain shower. The clouds diffuse the light nicely and the water left on the flowers give it a nice crisp feel.

Erich evidently enjoyed the flowers.

Go Canucks Go!

I am by no means an avid hockey fan. But now that the Vancouver Canucks are in the playoffs with a decent chance of winning, I have, well, sort of jumped on the bandwagon and watched a game or two. The other night, I was watching Game 4 of the first round in the Western conference between the Vancouver Canucks and the Dallas Stars. As Linden scored the winning goal, I cheered with a loud "Yay!" and raised both my arms in the air. Erich, who was playing with his Lego at the time stopped, and looked at me inquisitively. I explained that we had just won the hockey game. He smiled and proceeded to lift both his arms in the air. Now whenever we say "Yay!" he lifts both his arms in the air. :-)

Fun at Brentwood Mall!

Isn't this just the cutest picture? We brought Erich to one of his favorite indoor playgrounds today at Brentwood Mall in Burnaby. After returning the rented truck (to move all of the baby stuff), we took our Mazda5 in for its one-year servicing. It was close to Brentwood, so the Karen, Erich and I got a chance to hang out at the mall playground. Erich loves this playground - there are so many interesting shapes to play with! Mommy and Daddy love it too because it is very soft, so no bumps on the head to contend with.

On a slightly different note, I was less than impressed with the car servicing. Because we knew that we were going to need to be in Burnaby today, instead of going to our normal dealership (Morrey Mazda of Vancouver), we had arranged to have our vehicle serviced at a sister dealership (Morrey Nissan of Burnaby). We were told they would be just as capable of servicing our vehicle for the minor tuneup we required.

As part of the so-called VIP package that we purchased along with the vehicle, we get "free" lifetime oil changes and car washes so long as we own the vehicle. Therefore, we requested that the car be washed with the servicing. We were horribly disappointed with the lack luster (pun intended) job that was done. As you can see in the picture (taken shortly after the service when the vehicle had enough time to dry off), there are huge spots of dirt still present on the vehicle. Furthermore, brush marks can be seen in the dirt where they had superficially attempted to clean.

Such inattention to detail makes one question whether they put the same amount of effort into actually servicing the engine of your car. I can understand if they don't have time to do it, but then why bother even trying to do it? I'd much rather they told me that I'd have to bring it back in order to get it done well rather than a very poor job done indeed.

Back when I owned my Acura, customers were never treated this poorly. Whenever I brought the car in for servicing, the car was serviced, washed, AND vacuumed, as part of their standard service - and I wasn't even the original owner! No "VIP" package necessary - and they always did it with the utmost quality.

Needless to say, Morrey Nissan's servicing department falls short, and will likely be receiving a letter to that effect from yours truly.

Baby Crazy!

Be careful what you pray for, because sometimes, it just might come true....as the old saying goes.

Karen and I (mostly Karen :) has gone a bit baby crazy over the last week. An opportunity came up to purchase the entire inventory of a baby store kiosk! I spent most of the morning moving the stuff from its previous owner to our house. (Thanks John for helping unload!)

Karen is really excited about the potential business opportunities this may bring about, but right now, we're just a little overwhelmed by all of this stuff in our bedroom! (And what you see here in this picture is only about 3/4 of it!) We're going to be spending the next little while taking inventory of it all, then we will start trying to booking places to sell.

So, if you're expecting or if you are looking for gifts for someone who has children ages 0 to 4, come on down and shop! Have we got a deal for you! :-)