This father-and-daughter abbreviation (below) features a little girl who was loaded with personality. I normally would not raise someone’s chin, but when it is done in such an expressive way without sacrificing the eyes, the personality that comes through is just amazing.
The True Soul of My Subject
I constantly look for the true soul that represents my subject. I did not pose Dad like this; we were in between poses and this little girl gave me something special, so I pushed the button. This goes back to my “capture, adjust, and refine” approach.
The Moment Trumps the Details
Having Dad in the facing-page photo is an asset because he is framing her. Sometimes you capture the secondary person in a way that is not ideal, but you sacrifice for the primary subject. Here, I might have wanted Dad to come around a little bit more, but with him resting his chin on his daughter’s head and his soft smile, I knew I had a great photograph.
Being able to capture this moment trumps all of the little details that I might have wanted to include; this was simply a captured moment. There was no need to refine or adjust it. I did not want to lose the spontaneity or sacrifice the realness of the pose and the child’s expression.
When an image captures the heart of the person, I’ll go the extra mile in post-processing to make it work. Sometimes, this is done with extreme cropping. Here, the image has a tight composition because I eliminated stuff I did not want in the final version.
Lighting
I do not choose light because I like it; I choose light to help me accomplish my art and style. When I am photographing relationship portraits, especially with small children, I use large softboxes very close to my subjects (3 to 4 feet from them). This ensures that the light will still be acceptable and flattering when they turn their heads. It gives me a level of forgiveness.
Additional images from the same session.