Mike Spinak
pro member
This is not an especially recent shot (it was almost two years ago), but I recall that Asher was especially fond of it, so I thought I'd show it, here.
I. is the daughter of my dearest friend, and I have made a big personal project out of photographing her. Thousands of pictures. I try to show every step of her physical development and mental development, and show how she and her family interact, show the activities that fill her life, the new things she can do, and show the expressions and behaviors which reveal the development of her personality. And, when possible, I try to make meaningful compositions, too.
When this little girl was born, she and her family engaged my people photography interests for the first time. Since then, and through them... mainly through her ...my people photography interests have grown greatly, and even become a part of my business.
In this picture, I. is brushing her teeth. She's a little less than a year and a half old, here. Because I was so taken by how well she brushed her teeth for one so young, I wanted to include various elements that hint at her very young age, such as the footstool, the lock on the toilet seat, and the empty toilet paper dispenser. I also tried to include various elements of her nightly bathroom rituals, to tell the story of her brushing her teeth, and give it context... the hoodie bathrobe, her toiletries cabinet with the door open, and the faucet with the water running.
If I'm recalling correctly, this was shot with a 50 mm lens, set to f/5.6. Due to the combination of incandescent lights, fluorescent lights, and sunlight, in this bathroom, making good color a virtual impossibility, I felt that I had to overpower the ambient light with flash. Using a flash at a powerful setting, I then felt I had to carefully choose how to control its look for a desirable effect. The external flash was attached to the top of my camera, tilted back at about a 45 degree angle (toward me), with a Stofen Omnibounce diffuser attached. Behind me was a half open door, so that the flash bounced off the angled door (warmed and diffused), onto the mirror just out of view on the picture's right side, and off the mirror onto Miss I.
I hope you enjoy it.
I. is the daughter of my dearest friend, and I have made a big personal project out of photographing her. Thousands of pictures. I try to show every step of her physical development and mental development, and show how she and her family interact, show the activities that fill her life, the new things she can do, and show the expressions and behaviors which reveal the development of her personality. And, when possible, I try to make meaningful compositions, too.
When this little girl was born, she and her family engaged my people photography interests for the first time. Since then, and through them... mainly through her ...my people photography interests have grown greatly, and even become a part of my business.
In this picture, I. is brushing her teeth. She's a little less than a year and a half old, here. Because I was so taken by how well she brushed her teeth for one so young, I wanted to include various elements that hint at her very young age, such as the footstool, the lock on the toilet seat, and the empty toilet paper dispenser. I also tried to include various elements of her nightly bathroom rituals, to tell the story of her brushing her teeth, and give it context... the hoodie bathrobe, her toiletries cabinet with the door open, and the faucet with the water running.
If I'm recalling correctly, this was shot with a 50 mm lens, set to f/5.6. Due to the combination of incandescent lights, fluorescent lights, and sunlight, in this bathroom, making good color a virtual impossibility, I felt that I had to overpower the ambient light with flash. Using a flash at a powerful setting, I then felt I had to carefully choose how to control its look for a desirable effect. The external flash was attached to the top of my camera, tilted back at about a 45 degree angle (toward me), with a Stofen Omnibounce diffuser attached. Behind me was a half open door, so that the flash bounced off the angled door (warmed and diffused), onto the mirror just out of view on the picture's right side, and off the mirror onto Miss I.
I hope you enjoy it.