Beauty
Jul, 2016Views
237
Likes
Awards
People's Choice in Classic Beauty in Black & White Photo Challenge
Superb Composition
Peer Award
Outstanding Creativity
Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
The photo was taken on a backyard deck in Nashville.Time
It was about an hour after sunrise.Lighting
I knew the sun would be rising behind the subject and I really wanted to capture the golden glow around her face and hair.Equipment
Canon T5 Rebel. Standard kit lens.Inspiration
I must say I am quite biased as this is my four year old granddaughter. What grandmother doesn't want to take pictures of her grandchildren? Her innocent beauty is absolutely stunning. Her eyes are mesmerizing! I wanted to capture a "portrait" style photo of her showing her sassy personality. As with any young child, it took several shots to get this particular one. It was taken on a hot July day and she insisted on bringing her mermaid blanket with her. I let her use the blanket however she wanted. When she put the blanket on top of her head, I saw a flash in my mind of the iconic National Geographic photograph, "The Afghan Girl" by Steve Curry. I rearranged the blanket to look like a scarf and voila!Editing
I am a minimalist when it comes to post-processing. Originally, I really wanted photo that had a warm, golden glow radiating around her head. Once I began to look at the photo in LR, I wasn't happy with the results. Whenever I'm just "not feeling it" with a photo, I will look at it from the B/W perspective. BAM! Her features jumped off the page when I converted to B/W. The other post processing would be cropping the photo tight, adjusting the shadows, highlights, and contrast. Prior to changing the photo to B/W, I brightened her eyes in Photoshop.In my camera bag
As a relatively new photographer, I pack light! My Canon Rebel T5 with standard 18-55mm kit lens and 75-300mm telephoto lens, Tiffen Polarizing lens and tulip for bright days, a flashlight for night pictures and light painting, wireless remote shutter release, intervalometer, and lots of extra SD cards.Feedback
When working with young children, one must understand their attention span is very short. If you have a certain outdoor lighting situation you are striving for, make sure you plan ahead. For instance, I wanted to make sure my granddaughter had eaten and had a "bathroom break" prior to the shoot to prevent restlessness, all the while keeping up with the time of day and lighting situation. Engage the child to "help" you with the photograph. In this particular instance, I asked her to keep looking directly at the lens to see if it "blinked". This technique allowed be to get up very close and have her looking directly in the camera. She felt as if she were my helper in the photoshoot. Also, if they veer off subject as my granddaughter did and want to put a blanket over their head, let them! Sometimes the craziest, unplanned moments turn out to be the best caught on photographs.
