By Scott Shephard

Is forgiveness easier to get than permission? I hope so. I didn’t ask Deb if I could share this photo today. Here’s why this is risky: 1) she doesn’t really like having her photo taken 2)she doesn’t really like to have the “spotlight” placed on her and 3)people of a certain age (myself included) don’t really crave high resolution and relatively close-up photos of their faces on display.

But here’s my defense: 1)Deb asked me to take a somewhat formal portrait of her and 2)at age 67 3/4 she’s still beautiful. (She certainly won’t like that I just said this.)

So is she “Photoshopped?” Just a little - I applied a very subtle soft focus to the photo. But in defense of that, I would do the same if a subject - male or female - were 18 years old. The real trick here is that I found the best direct, soft and natural light in our house and had Deb turn directly towards it. Here, she is sitting at our dining room table, which is adjascent to glass sliding doors leading to our our upper deck. Perfect! And to add character, I turned one lamp on in the living room behind her because I knew that the warm color of the incandescent bulb would add character to and help separate Deb from the background.

So Deb, if you are seeing this, forgive me. But you’re still my best subject ever. And for the sake of comparison, how about a replay of the first portrait I think I ever took of you? I’m biased but I think the years have been kind.

Canon R5 1/60 sec f/4.0 ISO 1000