My friend Derek and his 2 week old little girl, Zoe.
This pic was a "test" shot during a session I was doing with Kerri, Derek, and Zoe. In between setups and letting them get ready, I was firing off some shots, getting flash bounce and intensity levels tweaked.
...this turned out to be my favorite shot of the day.
I chose this as my Best of 2009 for a few reasons:
1. I was pleased with the final image (generally rare, overall)
2. I felt it captured and expressed both Derek and Zoe in a beautiful light
3. I've never been comfortable shooting people. I don't do portraits, I don't do candids, in fact I prefer if people aren't around to watch me shoot. This was my first experiment in dabbling with this type of photography... I think I really enjoyed it.
4. This was my first time working with a flash or artificial lighting of any kind.
For those four reasons, I felt this image was the Best of 2009. I liked what I created and I really pushed my envelope of comfort.
Tech Details:
* Single image HDR (-1, 0, +1) in Photomatix v3.x
* Noise Ninja, USM, Dodge, Burn
* Resize, Convert to 8-bit/sRGB
Statistics
Place: 144 out of 445 Avg (all users): 6.0600 Avg (commenters): 6.8333 Avg (participants): 6.0410 Avg (non-participants): 6.1273 Views since voting: 1118 Views during voting: 429 Votes: 250 Comments: 28 Favorites: 1 (view)
@Nuzzer: Thank you (much delayed, I know...) for the detailed critique. It is very much appreciated.
@Dr.Confuser: Thank you, as well, for your vote of confidence and evaluation.
@All: I found all of the comments regarding the "tough guy" rather amusing as Derek is one of the most gentle and softspoken people I know. He's a big softie... He's just rather sizeable and happens to have a lot of ink. The carp, btw, are representative of himself and his wife, Kerri. Since this picture was taken, he has a new outline of a smaller carp in the works on his left forearm for Zoe... :-)
First impressions are that this is a great shot. Composition is fantastic, DOF perfect, the B&W processing is spot on. The one thing that stands out as holding it back is the tat's at the right seem to be such a main element. This is of course something that the subjects and those that know them will love but for DPC I suspect a lot of voters saw that as a negative.
This deserved a 6.x and it got that. I think it deserved higher but that's just my opinion.
Though I'm a fan if high contrast, I feel a little less would have been beneficial in this image. To me it seems a little hard on the eyes. Love the concept however.
great tenderness and wonderful (in this case is what makes the photograph) contrast between the tattoos and the little creature that is held in his arms... a great photograph, you have to be proud of this. 8
A contrast in ironies/stereotypes and emotion is what this photo captures best. The tough guy with the imposing tattoos which make one think of the rough crowd or gangster. Then the tiny life of the small baby; an innocent a helpless little one in need of protection. This tough man gently cradles the small baby a look of affection in his features and his body posture. The child reaches out to touch the heart of this gentle giant of a man - this man who pledges to be this child's protector. All the technicals aside (lighting, composition, and detail are perfect btw) this is a very strong human interest photo. An absolute 10.
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