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We spent this week at Center Parcs, which was a great break after the last few weeks of writing from dawn till dusk, and while I'm now physically tired, I'm feeling mentally rested. We did all the usual stuff while we were there: swimming, bike riding, a meal at the pub, and so on, but we also celebrated Harmony's sixth birthday. She's the fabulous sister on the left in this shot :)

Other than photographing her birthday though I didn't have any other time for photography so will need to get out over the weekend to shoot some new material. I'm not quite sure what yet, but may try and grab some shots with my new Lensbaby.

And I would write more, but a) I can hardly keep my eyes open this evening, and b) Libby has written about our trip on her blog, so rather than struggle to replicate the details I'll just point you at her latest entry instead :)

captured
camera
lens
focal length
aperture
shutter speed
shooting mode
exposure bias
metering mode
ISO
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RAW converter
cropped?
10.41m on 3/2/09
Canon 1Ds Mark II
EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM
60mm
f/2.8
1/30
manual
n/a
evaluative
100
580EX II
RAW
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3x2 + children [portraits]
comment by Jason Wall at 07:01 PM (GMT) on 6 February, 2009

how poignant. ;)

I'll save the composition breakdown, because in this case i don't think its very useful. the biggest thing about this photograph that I like is the inverted focal point. You expect it to be on the girls, specifically Harmony, but its not, it is instead on the card with the big "Sister" on the front, which paradoxically draws your attention to both. I ran into the use of this principle in a song lyric a friend had written just the other day. and on that note, Harmony is cute as always. I love that tight lipped grin. ;)

(a random observation, but recently I've been noticing how much cross over and shared principle there is between the photo and image processing and the poem/sound processing. apparently principles are true of art across the board, and signals processing is signals processing.)

comment by Jennifer at 07:05 PM (GMT) on 6 February, 2009

Ahhhhh now - that's more like it ;-)

comment by Ilan at 07:07 PM (GMT) on 6 February, 2009

Beautiful and clever use of DOF. That background tells us the story and the postcard explains it to us.
In my humble opinion the photo might need some more contrast, the black/white seems a bit milky, but it's only my opinion :)

comment by Mirko Herzner at 07:12 PM (GMT) on 6 February, 2009

A very nice shot fopr the toning, composition and DOF. Amazing. Maybe I would have processed it a tiny bit darker though...

comment by djn1 at 07:13 PM (GMT) on 6 February, 2009

Jason: yes, she does have a rather recognisable grin.

Jennifer: :)

Ilan/MIrko: my first version of this one did have more contrast, but I decided that a softer version worked better.

comment by L'hurluber.lu at 07:20 PM (GMT) on 6 February, 2009

Precious shot. Love your use of dof and tones/light. Bravo !

comment by Craig at 09:14 PM (GMT) on 6 February, 2009

A nice cheerful image, the focus on the card takes it out of the ordinary. Glad you've had a good rest (well the brain at least:)

comment by [ PIXEL VIKING ] at 10:49 PM (GMT) on 6 February, 2009

I really like the 'softness' in this. Seems to be a trend...

You have been blessed with some really cute girls too. They always look happy... :)

comment by Briony at 01:33 AM (GMT) on 7 February, 2009

such a sweet shot

comment by Kristian at 12:11 PM (GMT) on 7 February, 2009

The focus point is clever indeed. Excellent!

comment by Kevin at 01:25 PM (GMT) on 7 February, 2009

Oh my God - I zoomed over to the blog. I can't believe it. It's full of normal pictures - I didn't think you guys could take anything but ultimately perfect pictures. ;)

Gorgeous picture above as always.

comment by Kevin at 01:41 PM (GMT) on 7 February, 2009

Thanks Dave - I hope you didn't take that the wrong way. I'm just
constantly in awe of what you do. It's strangely refreshing to see
earthly pictures on the website like that. :)

Have loved the tutorials and really appreciate you sharing your
process with us - I've learned so much.
Cheers,
Kevin
** PS - I tried replying to your email address twice and your qmail keeps bouncing it back as undeliverable. I can send you the header if you need.

comment by jelb at 12:44 AM (GMT) on 8 February, 2009

Bonsoir,
A sweet and soft charming photo..bravo!

comment by David Chabashvili at 05:23 AM (GMT) on 8 February, 2009

Sweet..very sweet shot! Excellent!

comment by micha at 07:46 PM (GMT) on 8 February, 2009

A kind of fairy tale dream image. Lovely! She is so beautiful!! Happy bday Harmony!

comment by will pattison at 08:51 PM (GMT) on 8 February, 2009

beautiful! i love the low contrast.

did you get the new lensbaby composer? it came out about 6 months after i bought my 3.0, and i immediately wished i'd waited, but it's still pretty cool. a lot tougher to use than i expected, though!

wp.

comment by Dan Kaufman at 03:37 PM (GMT) on 9 February, 2009

SUCH a wonderful picture, the stories it tells !!! just the right amount, of course, of focus and depth of field, all brought together with a spoonful of softness!

comment by Uwe Noelke at 06:09 PM (GMT) on 9 February, 2009

Very cute little girls. I like the scene very much. The softness gives the image the right tone.

comment by anton at 10:20 PM (GMT) on 10 February, 2009

very nice photo. like the moment of concerntration.

comment by mooch at 11:17 PM (GMT) on 11 February, 2009

Great shallow DoF, post processing and particularly framing. Your children really fill the frame but also provide the frame as well really focusing attention on the card.

comment by WAK-Design at 05:43 AM (GMT) on 12 February, 2009

A very nice shot and a soft charming photo

comment by Mark at 12:22 PM (GMT) on 13 February, 2009

great capture of a special moment. Like the framing and DOF. Her expression is adorable..

comment by flo g at 08:17 PM (GMT) on 13 February, 2009

very nice composition.. like the blur.. perhaps a little bit more density ..;)

comment by Olivier Jules at 09:22 PM (GMT) on 13 February, 2009

nice shot

comment by djn1 at 09:24 PM (GMT) on 13 February, 2009

Thanks everyone :)