Project 365: B&W and bokeh all over

This wasn’t the most exciting week from a photographic perspective. The 365 project is like that — day in and day out, some days are just going to be better than others!

As I mentioned a while back, I got an SB-600 flash for my birthday, but haven’t had much of a chance to play with it. I’d asked a couple of different salespeople whether there was some way to get the flash off the camera, and kept being told there were no options for the D40, I’d have to upgrade to the D90. (Sigh) Then last Saturday, with a couple of Henry’s birthday gift cards burning a hole in my pocket, I stopped in to buy a replacement memory card and asked one last time, and the guy said, ‘Sure, you want one of these!” and pulled out a cable. Yippee!!!

I feel like I’m learning photography all over again with the flash, but it’s fun to play with! I think maybe the flash is a little too harsh here, and I should have diffused it more, but I love the way it brings out his beautiful eyes.

Flash photography and b&w are both a bit of a mystery to me yet, but I’m learning to experiment more outside my comfort zone. This is the alternate shot of the day, and I dialed back opacity of the b&w layer in photoshop, so you can see just a hint of colour bleeding in.

This picture goes with my underlying theme of the week: the chaos of three kids. (Can you tell I’m fresh off three weeks in the house with EVERYONE?) Even though this is my favourite way to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon, I honestly can’t remember the last time I sat down like this.

This is the Connaught Building, a gorgeous old building that has housed Customs operations since the days when they’d bring their entire horse-drawn wagon through giant doors and right into the first floor of the building. It also happens to be my current office building and I’ve been trying to find a way to do it justice since I started my 365 project. I think the screen of purple flowers gives it just the right romantic feel, doesn’t it? The building should be a little bit more out of focus, I think, but I had the wrong lens on the camera for that.

I’ve been stalking this tomato in the garden for quite some time. No signs of ripeness yet, but I’m trying to be patient! I used a wide-open aperture and backlighting to make the little hairs on the stems stand out like that.

Speaking of green and wide-open apertures… I actually already have a nice bokeh shot of the morning dew glistening on the grass from earlier this spring, but Lucas and I went on a long walk on morning not long after sunrise and I couldn’t resist the sun gleaming like gemstones on the dewy grass. All those circles in the top part of the frame are just out-of-focus dew drops. Kewl, eh?

And more fun with focus on this one! Actually, this was almost an out-take. I noticed the Coronas in the ice bucket and liked the repeating pattern and the way the light was hitting everything, but I didn’t realize I had my aperture wide open. When I first looked at the image when I was sorting things at the end of the day, I almost discarded this one, then realized that the out-of-focus beer kind of tells its own story!

This is my favourite shot of the week. Again, it was an intentional play with focus. I love the details in the powder on his fingers, the perfect crescent-shaped bite, and how his lips are smacking in the background!

Baby’s first doughnut. It’s all capturing about the milestones!