Black & White

I used to believe that converting my photos to b&w was a simple press of a key. But in time I came to appreciate the beauty and subtleties of monochromatic photography, and I wondered why MY  photos didn't and couldn't look like the great Karsh! 

Black and white photos don't attract your attention because of the many colours. They attract your attention because of more subtle aspects like composition and lighting. Indeed, remove the colour and you now see the composition and lighting and many subtle tones much more easily. This is what I love about black and white. 

There are so many beautiful tones and bringing out the right ones is really an art. There is black and there is white, but there are hundreds of tones in between. Softness, harshness, tone intensity, contrast, structure, tints, grain, hue, vignette. 

Black and White is far more then ......well black and white. 

And so began my quest to create stunning black and white photos. 

I have a ways to go but here is a start. 

One day soon this bridge will be gone and I will put this photo on a canvas and sell it for a million bucks. :) (in my dreams)  Here it is when we were still allowed to walk on it.

Corp shoot today, family tomorrow, baby next week..... The year is ramping up and this must mean that SPRING is on the way despite 4 more inches of snow out there!

Off to shovel the stuff AGAIN!!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Yes my birthday follows Norah's by one day. When she is all grown up the two of us will go out on the town together to celebrate but right now she is not quite getting the birthday thing. See yesterdays post.
But I do and I celebrated!
Had a photo shoot in the am - something I always love to do, an afternoon snooze and then supper at Carvers with my love!

Super dark in there - for you camera people I am shooting at a 6400 ISO and white balance set to K 2500. Then lots of noise reduction in LR4 Using a 50 mm prime at 1.4, shutter at 1/80th
and

tada....

How to take photos in a really dark restaurant.

Fresh clams and escargot to start along with my favourite Pinot Gris from Cedar Creek

 Rack of lamb for him,  prime rib for me... and David ordered a coconut, strawberry cheesecake to go with his coffee but not me. I had something special waiting at home....

 The Manz family dropped this off for me from Crave Cookies and Cupcakes on broadway.
And before they left the girls and I just had to sample the icing and add our own touch of decorating.
Which I think made this treat just perfect!

I shared it with Mr C. But I ate almost all the icing. :)
Had a wonderful day and enjoyed all the wonderful birthday wishes and phone calls.

Happy Birthday Norah

Norah turned one today.
Sigh...
Where has the year gone?

Beautiful Saskatoon

I know we are ALL sick of the snow. We have shovelled it way too many time this winter and we are in for some spring melt and a few flooded basement.

But sometimes....

yes

sometimes ...

It is beautiful!

Please click on the photo to see it larger cause it is much prettier that way. 

Here come the B&W's I warned you about.

ICE LIght

I said I would show you my newest addition to the photography collection and here it is. The ICE light - designed by Jerry Ghionis - a fabulous and amazing wedding and portrait photographer.
I tried it out this weekend and I think it's a keeper. I get another chance to try it out again next weekend.

I provides fill light that I have much more control over then a flash.
And it makes me feel like Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker. I get to make that sound when I pull it out of it's case. :)

I will try it out on a stand next time because without a stand I have to have someone holding it..... and sherpa isn't always there... (see yesterdays post)

:)

Quiznos with my Sweetheart

Because finding a moment in the day to share lunch is rare. So I grab a sub and head to his office for a 15 minute lunch. :)
I love this man. He works so hard and NEVER complains.
I think he likes playing with spreadsheets as much as I like playing with photographs. :)

Downloaded a trial of Silver Efex Pro 2 from Nik software a while back but didn't have the time to play with it. Today they kindly extended my trial for 2 more weeks. So expect a lot of B&W as I test drive this program.

Intuos 5 Wacom Pen

My Wacom pen was not working just right - pausing. So I thought I should pull it a part and see what was wrong.
BIG Mistake!

They should have instructions in big bold letter that say DO NOT TRY TO OPEN THIS PEN!!!

Now it really doesn't work at all. My very cool Wacom tablet doesn't work at all!
And no one in Saskatoon sells just the pen.

$74.00 later and I have a new one ordered and due for delivery in a week. :(

And in the meantime I have reinstalled the old mouse and got it working.
I will have to wait to do heavy duty Photoshop editing until the new pen arrives.

This was not in the budget this month. :(
Lesson learned.... leave the pen alone.

On another note though I love my faded white to black background sheet. It makes taking a photo of things like, oh, busted wacom tablet pens look rather cool don't ya think?

Smoke by Henry David Thoreau

               Smoke

Light-winged Smoke, Icarian bird, 
Melting thy pinions in thy upward flight, 
Lark without song, and messenger of dawn 
Circling above the hamlets as they nest; 
Or else, departing dream, and shadowy form 
Of midnight vision, gathering up thy skirts; 
By night star-veiling, and by day 
Darkening the light and blotting out the sun; 
Go thou my incense upward from this hearth, 
And ask the gods to pardon this clear flame. 

             Henry David Thoreau

Yellow

I love yellow. I hadn't really figured that out until I was decorating the condo in Yorkton and I found myself gravitating towards yellow. It is so cheerful and peaceful all at the same time.

Friends came for supper tonight and brought me these gorgeous flowers.
Yellow Lilies.
Perfect!

I have a birthday coming up and my sweetheart didn't know what to get me..... but I did. I went to Dons and splurged on an Ice Light. :)
I will use it tomorrow on a newborn session.
I will tell you all about it soon.
In the mean time I feel a little like Darth Vader.
:) Stay tuned to figure that one out.

Mexico

Look what arrived in the mail yesterday.
It is beautiful!!