The subject of today’s photograph – my niece Abbie – turned 6 yesterday, which is hard to believe as it doesn’t feel that long ago that I was photographing her as a baby when she came on her first visit to us in Dublin. She’s been one of my most cooperative models since then, and was happy to pose for me once again last Sunday as we strolled in the sunshine around Killarney National Park.
The whole thing was made more of an adventure thanks to a couple of walkie-talkies that my parents had gotten her, and as her brother Matthew walked with one she was able to radio ahead to see if the coast was clear to progress further.
Meanwhile I had just come from taking a photograph of Matthew out in the open, with the bright sun, cloudless sky and my lack of a flash requiring me to improvise to find a fill light. For the photo of Abbie I wanted to try to get out of the direct sunlight and into an area of open shade, where the light would be indirect and somewhat diffused, making it software.
As we walked along the road I found this spot:
Not entirely shaded, more a speckled kind of light, but still it was better than the harsh sunlight. As walked over to it to take the photo above Abbie had followed me, so I asked her if I could take a photograph. I prompted her to talk into the walkie talkie, and took the photo you see up the top.
While the speckled light wasn’t exactly what I was after, I was able to use it for much the same purpose as open shade by orienting Abbie so that the light was coming from behind her. This gives a more even exposure across her body and face than would be the case if we were out in direct sunlight as there is some natural fill from light that is bouncing around, albeit a bit inefficiently. More importantly than the evenness of the light, it meant that I could expose for her and not blow out the background – yes the sky through the trees is blown out, but the exposure of the trees is much the same as for Abbie.
One effect I could get from the speckled light was to position Abbie so that it cast a highlight on the top of her hat. It’s subtle, and you might not even notice it if I didn’t mention it, but it acts as a little bit of extra separation between her and the background. I could have done without it – the difference in colour and the use of shallow depth of field gives me separation anyway (i.e. she doesn’t blend into the background) but as I had that speckled light I thought I might as well make use of the highlight.
After we were done it was time to get back on the path and time for Abbie to radio ahead to Matthew to let him know we were coming.
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