Here's some background info on the pics on the previous page.
Full size cut-out of my favorite pic 205. Sep 19, 2005
I painted out the background because I felt the shiny bits of Playstation behind her were just too distracting. I did not make any changes to Nicky's face (never mess with perfection ).
The picture was taken with the focal point set one click too far, to add a bit of a soft 'romantic' effect. Note that a slightly high camera position used here combined with
the right lighting makes her facial expression extra sweet.
Lighting consisted of diffused natural sunlight coming from the right side, with sunlight bounced off a sheet
of white cardboard filling in the left side.
Another close-up. Sep 19, 2005
Compared with the picture above, the facial expression is quite different, caused only by slightly lowering the camera position. This time the focus is set on her face.
Looking unhappy. Aug 22, 2006
Sometimes an outfit just doesn't seem to work. The purple blouse looks lovely on Nicky but she kept looking unhappy no matter what I tried, so I gave her something else to wear.
My desk
The most suitable place for taking pics is on my desk, next to a south facing window. Unfortunately the place
is a bit cramped. The following pics show Nicky in her usual spot behind my desk.
Warm summer day session, Sep 19, 2005
standing among the computers on my desk. Jan 28, 2006
celebrating New Year. Jan 1, 2014
About my camera
In September 2007 I bought a Nikon P3 and started using it rightaway, alternating between fully automatic mode and one of the semi-manual modes.
The little P3 has very effective vibration reduction and its autofocus is much more capable than that of the 4300, so now one or two pics of a single pose will do and I'm relying on autofocus most of the time.
I used to use a Nikon Coolpix 4300 (3x optical zoom, 4Mpix) digital camera in manual mode. I often shoot pics holding the camera in my hands.
Although this usually results in spoiling quite a few pics with motion blur, it has the benefit of being able to vary the camera position
and angle with much more ease. I tend to shoot some 10 to 20 pics of a single pose, discarding and re-doing the blurry ones during the shoot
and selecting the best pics later.
Some things to note when using a digicam like this are related to the limitations of the LCD viewfinder, which can not show intricate
details during the shoot. Two things in particular that take some practice are getting the right parts into focus and making sure
your subject is looking into the lens instead of straight past it.
Never ever use the built-in flashlight of the camera or use a strong light source placed behind the camera position, this will reduce the
facial features, making the face look plain and unrealistic.
).
The picture was taken with the focal point set one click too far, to add a bit of a soft 'romantic' effect. Note that a slightly high camera position used here combined with
the right lighting makes her facial expression extra sweet.
