The plan was simply to get a good shot of my daughter's eye. I had no other expectations, but she's not exactly patient. After a few minutes of trying to get her still enough for a sharp photo, she was already in meltdown mode and cranked up the waterworks. She didn't get much sympathy... "Ooh, ooh! This is great! Yeah, keep crying!" It was really just one tear, but it offered a nice touch on an otherwise overdone cliche shot.
I used the full frame Canon 5D, a Sigma macro lens AND an extension tube for razor-thin DOF. I had a 60" shoot-through umbrella behind me to the right, and a 36" gold umbrella to the left of her face.
Processing: Convert from RAW for maximum iris definition, levels, slight shadow/highlight, HSL, and USM. Most of the work was in HSL. I found that the hair and iris were mostly in the yellow channel while the skin and background were mostly red, so I just played with saturation and lightness on those channels with some slight hue shifts to really emphasize the iris. The reddish hair in the background became grainy with the shifts, so I ran Noise Ninja on the 640px file, which provided a nice additional sharpness boost.
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Might be a "cliche shot" as you say but it has to be done well to pull it off and you did excellent, even if you are a mean father and made your daughter cry to "get the shot". I agree with Jacko, "gotta love that lens", so I finally ordered mine. Hope I can do it half the justice.
Wow, now that's shallow! Your shot. Not your insensitivity to your poor little daughter's tear. Although....now that you brought it up.... ;)
Excellent capture and congratulations on your ribbon.
Perhaps not the best picture for this particular challenge but this is terrific. On second thought, it isn't bad for this challenge either. I can't help but give it a 10.
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