Scary and beautiful at the same time. Very nice.

This is fantastic. What a look in the eyes!

This is beautiful.
How do you manage to get this whites, withouth "burning" the image???
This is what I've tried to do with my kids, and have not succedded at.

Dave, other that the technical, this image is wonderful because her expression is so natural, and the focus draws you (as always) to her eyes... Man, you would make me so happy if you told me how you did this!

How is the little one?

Excellent picture.

:-)
Very Rhowan. Happy birthday!

i think you need to break down and finally buy her some dental floss. that finger's not gonna do the trick.
:)

she does not look happy! no longer the baby.

At that speed and the pic is not blurry ? wow, i imagine she was very quiet.
Beatiful pic, saludos :D.

So adorable :) Waiting for an answer to Velviaspix' question. Or questions, both of them :).

Beautiful pic, even if she's not a happy bunny! As always, it's in the eyes!! (Oh and I am also intrigued as to the set up/processing to get this high key shot as clean as this!)

Excellent picture, i love the facial expression and the high key effect, very nice.

i really love this shot, the white background is great and the expression of the eyes is perfect. GREAT, as usual!

I too love this shot in most aspects: the composition, her expression, the moment captured -- they are all perfect. While I do like the white background, I also believe that her face, hair and hand are too light, seeming somewhat unnatural. That said, it is still a stunning shot that I really like.

Velviapix, bmoll, Neil: this was taken in our lounge, on a cream coloured sofa, in a north facing bay window with net curtains, and all I did was set the camera to overexpose by 2/3 of a stop. This blew out the background but retained the detail in her clothes, face and hair. I then converted it to black and white using the channel mixer to extract the red channel (just open the channel mixer and select the 'Monochrome' button in the bottom left of the window). Using the default setting biases the image towards red tones, in this case lightening her skin. I then used a Curves adjustment layer to further lighten the image (almost blending her left cheek with the background) and added a little more contrast.

Thanks Dave!
I truly appreciate the response! I will try it as soon as possible (remember, I too have a newborn, so I time is also scarce over here)
;-)

A 'thank you' from me too :). Although I haven't got any newborn here, I'll try the method:). It means quite a lot for an amateur to learn 'some tricks' from the professional.

Thanks!

Wow.
That's spectacular!

What a wonderful shot! A question, though, if you don't mind. She was sitting with the bay window behind her, so the light was coming in from the left, right, and behind her, but not in front, correct?

Priceless! Excellent photo! Such a different face from the one we're used to :)

Good stuff.

Diffused window light is great for this type of shot. The high key approach works beautifully. The finger in the mouth feels a tiny bit contrived, but I'm nit picking...

Judith: yes.

Simon C: the 'finger in the mouth' is one of her normal poses; i.e. not contrived. The best I can manage with Rhowan is to get her to look in my direction – she won't pose to order yet ;-)

She's a beautiful model for your pics! She's perefct in all her moods. I love this shot and I think the B/W is great.

WoW ... very very Good ... nice shot !! ;)
have fun !!

Nice bright white, the eyes again look good, interesting pose.

This is one of my favorites, beautiful!

Great natural Hi-Key David. Inspirational.

Terrific shot. This is a wonderful portrait! Thank you so much for the answer on how to do this, I would love to recreate it sometime soon.

Excellent. Her expression is a sign of things to come. Tomorrow she'll be a teen. ;D

that's just beautiful. the production is spot on. i love the unusual expression. it's very far from the cliched baby/toddler images that we see in advertising.

This is great, David. Perfect high-key lighting without looking overblown.

Great photo David. Super post processing.

I love this picture David! absolutly one of my favorites man!
- and don´t tell me that kids only are cute; she´s scary!
hehe, but wonderful as always! great work

very cute photo. I enjoy it a lot. hehe.

hey i just saw about the european photobloggers meetup... can't really make it there. but what a complicated site - will there really be a meetup in london on those days?

i like the contrast between soft tone and hard look in this picture....

Your children are all born to model !!

i love the neutral tones.
the expression is priceless! :D

Excellent shot Dave. Great expression, and wonderful post processing. A classic Chromasia image.

Thanks everyone. This is definitely one of my recent favourites.

hi, new to the world of blogs and my word, what a visual feast i discovered here. the pics are so evocative, whimsical and at times...moving (like this one).
will be making a more detailed search of your archives later in week. you have a probing eye that captures the quirky idiosyncracites (spelling??) of the brits at play, work, leisure, etc.

i go to bed with a smirk on my face at the randomness of stumbling on this web site, sorry blog - never been so much into the techie stuff...more the visualness of photography/web design so apologies if i come across as ned ludd.

Now that's what I'm talking about! I love it. This is what I come to Chromasia for -- the quirky and wonderful subject and composition, the amazing processing. Intense, elegant, wonderful. Wow.

Ciao.

Now that's what I'm talking about! I love it. This is what I come to Chromasia for -- the quirky and wonderful subject and composition, the amazing processing. Intense, elegant, wonderful. Wow.

Ciao.

Sorry for the double post. I ran into some setting regarding not being able to post another entry immediately after a previous entry? Well, I thus assumed that my first attempt didn't go through, and resubmitted. Eh.

Ciao.

that's a wonderful photo!
I hope the party was generally happier though!

Good luck with the hosting.

Your children are something really special. So many faces! Or you're a good photographer ;)

This shot defines your site for me. When I think Chromasia in my mind... this is the picture I see.
Outstanding high key that says so much. This is a keeper for sure!!

Fantastic work... and GREAT choice for your gallery thumb.