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chromasia.com

This is the first real entry of our youngest (there was one of her foot and another of her eye) and was taken after a walk a few days ago. She sometimes falls asleep in her buggy after we’ve been out, and she looked so angelic that I couldn’t resist taking a few pictures.

This shot uses the technique I’ve used quite often before: duplicate the background layer, gaussian blur it by around 12px (on the full size image), then set the blend mode to overlay – it does a good job of simulating a soft-focus filter and really suits this sort of portraiture. The only other change I made was to add a slight blur to her coat. The G5 has a ridiculously large DOF and, other than blurring in PS, there isn’t any alternative if you want to partially isolate a subject.

camera
capture date
aperture
shutter speed
shooting mode
exposure bias
metering mode
ISO
focal length
image quality
white balance
Canon G5
3.52pm on 18/4/04
f3.0
1/60
aperture priority
+0.0
evaluative
50
28.8mm
RAW
auto
 
4x3 + children [portraits]
comment by claire at 02:48 AM (GMT) on 20 April, 2004

No words! Amazing picture, amazing child! Thanks for that :)

comment by Tom B at 03:33 AM (GMT) on 20 April, 2004

I am almost speachless. What a wonderul shot.

comment by Judith Polakoff at 03:59 AM (GMT) on 20 April, 2004

Wow, what a shot.... I can't get over those eyelashes! :)

comment by SonsMelody at 05:25 AM (GMT) on 20 April, 2004

Gorgeous! What little work of yours that I have seen has so inspired me. You are a great photographer. Thanks for the needed inspiration.

comment by alan at 05:36 AM (GMT) on 20 April, 2004

Sublime! beautiful!

comment by p23e at 06:23 AM (GMT) on 20 April, 2004

_-_-_-__OUTSTANDING__-_-_-_

__SHE LOOKS LIKE AN ANGEL__

F-A-N-T-A-S-T-I-C PICTURE!

comment by james m at 08:09 AM (GMT) on 20 April, 2004

Haven't been here for a while and on my return I am greeted by an angel.

comment by davide at 09:34 AM (GMT) on 20 April, 2004

really sweet and full of love

comment by Maria at 01:09 PM (GMT) on 20 April, 2004

Beautiful! :)

comment by David at 02:36 PM (GMT) on 20 April, 2004

Oh wow. This is amazing.

I have a G5 too, and I'm continually amazed at what you seem to be able to do with it.

comment by Mando Gomez at 04:51 PM (GMT) on 20 April, 2004

So cute!!!

comment by sookie at 04:58 PM (GMT) on 20 April, 2004

this is very interesting.

ive never been able to produce such picture with my G5 before :/

comment by Kjetil at 05:37 PM (GMT) on 20 April, 2004

Perfect.

comment by 'daisies at 06:13 PM (GMT) on 20 April, 2004

This is incredibly beautiful .. wow, what a great photo to have for her!

comment by jane at 07:26 PM (GMT) on 20 April, 2004

Wow!!!! As perfect and unique as one beautiful snowflake...

comment by Zero at 07:39 PM (GMT) on 20 April, 2004

Ok, I'm gonna have to go along with the crowd this time and say, "Wonderful Photo". And good PS techniques.

comment by Sandra Rocha at 10:31 PM (GMT) on 20 April, 2004

just too beautiful for words

comment by lara at 12:56 AM (GMT) on 21 April, 2004

either you or your wife pass down very good eyelash genes, i see. :)

beautiful.

comment by ian at 02:54 AM (GMT) on 21 April, 2004

absolutely gorgeous.

comment by myla at 05:52 AM (GMT) on 21 April, 2004

Your best to date.

comment by djn1 at 09:17 AM (GMT) on 21 April, 2004

Wow, thanks. I like this one too :-)

comment by Em at 01:10 PM (GMT) on 21 April, 2004

One of the nicest pictures, she looks gorgeous :)

comment by Matt at 07:09 PM (GMT) on 21 April, 2004

nothing much more I can say, just blown away. This photo is really awesome!

comment by Vitor at 07:17 PM (GMT) on 22 April, 2004

one word: beautiful

comment by Daniel at 07:38 PM (GMT) on 30 April, 2004

Beautiful shot, absolutely beautiful.

comment by Vitor at 05:23 PM (GMT) on 17 May, 2004

Just wanted to say that I´ve used your photo on my site: www.vitorazevedo.com

If you dont agree please say something.

Regards,

Vitor

comment by Juan Manuel Lopez at 10:56 PM (GMT) on 28 May, 2004

I got a three years beautiful boy, but after see this picture i think angels really exists. Great shoot my friend.

comment by Beth at 05:00 PM (GMT) on 17 June, 2004

Stunning. The first word that came to mind was angelic. And those eyelashes are to die for!

comment by wen yen at 04:00 AM (GMT) on 29 June, 2004

hi...this is really a very good picture. She looks very angelic. Do you mind if I take the image to put in my upcoming website? I will send you the url for the website when I am done with it if you want and of cos you will be credited in my website...

comment by caitlin at 12:43 AM (GMT) on 2 July, 2004

I absolutely LOVE this shot. She looks so peaceful and innocent, the colours in her face are lovely, and the coat frames her face so nicely. LOVELY!

comment by Joyce at 09:02 AM (GMT) on 26 September, 2004

First time here, your site was posted in my weekly newsletter.
(The Cool Tricks and Trinkets Newsletter)
I went through your photo's and they are lovely to say the least.
You are very talented.
But this one of the baby.....exquisite!!
She caught my eye. She looks like a sleeping angel.
This is the best photo by far.
I've noticed that your best works are of people.

Also, I'm in quite a few psp groups online, and will be sure to send your link to them. (if you don't mind)
Keep up the great work.
God Bless**

comment by Hikari at 08:03 PM (GMT) on 27 May, 2005

This photograph could not be expressed in the English language. It is too beautiful for words.

I could express this though: Your daugters are truly the children of light.

comment by Louis at 10:14 PM (GMT) on 13 September, 2005

Hey David,

I'm not sure if you get notified of comments this far back, I just wanted to make sure that it's okay if I use this photo in my gallery, you'll be fully acknowledged in the caption (© David Nightingale or something) and I'll use the existing title.

I didn't want to use "beautiful", it seems to be a recurring theme, but this is a really beautiful picture, makes me fell all soft and paternal even though I'm only 17 :p.

Thanks

comment by Priscilla at 02:54 PM (GMT) on 17 October, 2005

Speechless.

I, too, have a collection of my children sleeping. It is when they are awake that their true personality emerge. ;)

Kudos to TIME for listing your site for me to find! My daughter starts school next year to major in photography. She is awe inspired by your work. Thanks for sharing.

comment by Christine at 12:47 AM (GMT) on 17 November, 2005

I love this.