06-01-10 Reprise: Helping Hand

I am enjoying a short hiatus from my "Photo A Day" blog and am showing you a few of my favorite posts from the last year and a half. I'll be back on the job with new photos from London and Portugal in a couple weeks.

03-06-09 Helping Hand

By Scott Shephard

03-06-09-helping-hand

My nephew's new born son Ethan was only a few weeks old when we visited him for the first time. I wish all portraits were at simple as this one - both subjects were easy to pose.

I intentionally used a narrow depth of field so that most of the photo would be out of focus. I shot this in available light in Derek and Alicia's kitchen. An assistant (my wife?) held a white sheet of paper to the left of the hands to provide a little more light. I also used a soft focus action in Photoshop to make details in the photo less distinct. Finally, I applied a sepia action to the picture.

I am told that this picture has considerable meaning and symbolism but I guess I'll admit that all I was trying to do was to get Ethan's grip reflex on his father's finger.

Canon 5D f1.2 1/640 50mm 1.2L iso640