Katie
Jun, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
The photo was taken in a hotel room in Guernsey, Katie was turned towards the window just enough to light her face on the side closed to me. The room had a yellow colour scheme which helped with the tone of the image.Time
The shot was taken in the afternoon just before 4pm.Lighting
I had positioned Katie just in from a window which had a heavy curtain which limited the light and a net curtain that softened the sunlight beautifully. I had her move very slowly to get the light to fall across her face just as I wanted it.Equipment
It was shot on a Nikon D5200, handheld at 100 ISO, f5.6, 1/100.Inspiration
Outside the light had been too harsh to shoot, it was August and there was a clear blue sky with a very strong blue tone to the sunlight. We had gone inside and realised the light coming through the window was much more appealing and I was trying to get an image that made the best of this difference.Editing
The image has been desaturated and I did a little work on the background. I took out a couple of stray hairs but otherwise Katie is as she was on the day.In my camera bag
I carry a Nikon D750 and 24-70 70-200 f2.8 lenses. I just upgraded to it and love it to bits. I was shooting mostly on a D7000 before that which is also a great camera.Feedback
What made this image work was catching the light at just the right time so that it fell perfectly across her face for what I had in mind. The net curtain diffused the light very nicely and by turning Katie to just the right point I got enough light onto the near side of her face and didn't blow out the highlights. The best advice with this kind of shot is pick the time carefully, we took more at different times on other days to experiment a little, and make sure you only make subtle adjustments before each shot. It didn't hurt that Katie was in just the right mood so the expression is also very natural.
