This, of course, is my daughter Rowan. Many of you actually know her (and her brother) by name now. She is starting to become a wonderful little poser just like her brother. Though her attention span is much shorter.
We got our new Tamron 28-75 lens on the Tuesday this challenge was going up (it's Wednesday right now as I write this). I had not planned on entering anything as there was little to no inspiration. I was farting around with the lens and our new flash set up (580exII master and 420ex slave on light stand with umbrella) and I started thinking that maybe a shot of Rowan with something might fly for New. I was thinking necklace or some sort of jewlery. I was searching through Aimee's jewelry box and came across this bracelet she had gotten while on her mission trip to Thailand this past July. I know Rowan loves it. I set up our velvet backdrop, put the bracelet on her wrist and posed her arms so that the bracelet would not only be in view but that it would stay in a steady position and look somewhat natural. I popped off a handful of shots - what I could in the few minutes she allowed me - and went to edit.
This shot of all of them struck me the strongest. The look on her face just had a strong feel to it. Not so much innocent, but strong. It wasn't until well into editing that the thought of her having no shirt on could be an issue. I mean, she runs around shirtless at home all of the time. It meant nothing to me when I shot it. But the thought did cross my mind. So I reshot with a shirt on. The pics were cute, but none had the power this one did. So I finished editing and waited for Aimee to come home.
Aimee saw it, suggested b&w (it was in color when I showed her) and then said she wanted a print of it. I told her my concern and she didn't see it. So in it went.
I have gotten a couple of comments in regards to the pose. She does look much older than her years (which was 2 at the time of the shoot - she turns 3 on Nov 5th) but that wasn't what I set out for. I am not the dad who wants to see my daughter in beauty pageants at the age of 5 that has had glamour shot style makeovers and all that crazy stuff. I wanted to capture a picture of my beautiful daughter in a classy way. I think I did that.
At the time of me writing this my score has moved up strong. I was at 6.1 earlier in the day and now I am here -
Votes: 75
Views: 130
Avg Vote: 6.5600
Comments: 9
Probably not ribbon worthy but maybe another top 10.
Editing steps - RAW conversion in DPP, levels, selective color and hue/sat adjustments (multiple times especially to tweak the blue and cyan channels to bring out the details in her eyes), more hue/sat adjustment layers to convert to b&w, crop, NI, resize, USM, border and then another round of levels to make the shadows even darker. I so wanted this to be advanced editing. I woudl have gone a little crazy with this one.
Statistics
Place: 9 out of 90 Avg (all users): 6.3555 Avg (commenters): 7.0000 Avg (participants): 6.4375 Avg (non-participants): 6.3408 Views since voting: 2499 Views during voting: 308 Votes: 211 Comments: 22 Favorites: 3 (view)
Looking through your portfolio and I found this lovely shot of your beautiful little daughter, with the strong look in the set of her jaw. The title was perfect, just a little girl trying on something shiny and special. This should be framed large in the family room, as one of those extremely fleeting moments. Really a great pose. B&W makes it.
I didn't vote on this challenge, but when looking at the results I think this is a beautiful photo, you captured part of her growing personality. I never noticed she had no shirt on until I read your comment.
Our new world has its advantages and disadvantages and reading some of the comments makes me wonder where is innocence gone?
On one hand, I like your image - the composition, lighting - all very good. On the other hand, my first thought when I saw this was...well...child pornography (sorry - just my intial thought). Perhaps too much on the news lately or the way the child has her arms crossed to "coverup"
Why so solemn? The look and the pose seem too mature for a child playing dressup ... makes this a little uncomfortable for me. Lighting is quite dramatic. Might like a little more negative space above the model to balance the space on the right.
Add photograph to your favorites
Add photographer to your favorites
Photographer found comment helpful.
