Lost in your eyes

When I first saw the thumbnail of this photo several weeks ago in the gallery, I thought - "Photoshopped enlarged eyes - ridiculous". When I clicked on the thumbnail and studied it, I then realized the eyes were real and was stunned - hit by a lightning bolt. The most stunning eyes I have ever seen on a child. The exposure, composition, lighting and cropping is top notch. Congradulations on such an honor. This is one photo that deserves it and I don't think there would be any argument about it.

Yeah, this shot does have a little of Kirsten-Dunst-in-Interview-with-a-Vampire in it. Very intense gaze, perhaps knowing beyond its years, from a perfect young girl.

 

It's a truly enjoyable shot on a number of levels. It has an immediately arresting effect, but it also rewards longer viewing with its subtle values and its intensity. The combination of the perfected skin and focused gaze with the wildness of the hair inside the tight framing all work well. I must admit, though, that the shape of the photographer reflected in the eyes, though it might be fun, detracts from the effect on longer viewing. But, of course, that could just be me. Overall very nice work. Enjoy.

I like the shot- to deScarify it you could dodge the dark areas under the eyes. The cropping forms an effective triangular compostition. Because the subject is your daughter, the reflection of you in her eyes isn't bothering me. This may be the inspiration behind the title. Overall, a very nice image and well chosen POW.

I don't know what to say anymore! I'm just totally overwhelmed!

First of all I just want to tell you that I've uploaded a downsized version of the psd file - so that those of you that are interested in seeing how I did the B&W convertion can download it. Download the psd file here

 

Really fun to hear the different ways you all react to the picture. I'm so happy you all took the time to write it down and tell me :) I've really been blown away by some of the comments. You've all been so very nice :)

 

The fact that some of you think the picture is scary I've found a bit amusing - but at least that means that the picture have made an impact. And that's really awesome. (Hehe - and you don't see her with her pigtales or when she talks with her little girlyvoice and looks anything but scary either ;)

 

Thanks once more to you all!

 

:) Nina

Could not add more about the many ways in which this shot is beautiful. Just wanted to make clear I do think its beautiful before I take a technical turn...

 

This is a digital exposure, Color converted to Black & White. I am accustomed to film, in which you get so much less contrast in color that converting color images to black & white makes them "flat." Even if you stretch the values in photoshop, all you've done is stretch values - *you haven't put the detail back into the photo*. Since most of the visitors here seem to be digital, can someone help me understand this process in digital, and in particular this photo?

 

In this case, I expect it helped the photographer get the soft look, as Black & White film would've have added much more skin texture that would have to have been removed to get this look.

 

*IF* I remember correctly, ability to record/observe contrast:

Real life eyes: @10,000:1

Black & White film: @1,000:1

Color film: @100:1

Can someone fill in the blank for digital? Same/different?

 

No one can say anything but that this is beautiful, just trying to understand some of the technicals of how it got that way.

 

cheers,

What's a scary eyes? Her eyes frighten me! I think I don't wanna get lost in her eyes.

 

Great Picture!

Brent, the points you make about digital conversion aren't true. I've been desaturating images for years from a variety of color media, and desaturating digital capture holds no inherent advantage over performing the same process with color neg or slide - once those images are all in the digital domain. I can think of many print films that would yield a higher midtone gamma than the typical 10D image posted here. Plus, due to the rather subdued nature of color saturation with digital capture it can be a disadvantage over color slide given channel mixer treatment.

 

I can't entirely agree with the other points you made about black and white. Kodak TMY 400 would have likely yielded a bland image from this same lighting, and TMY along with many other B/W films hardly have 10:1 contrast advantage over print film. More like, 2.5:1 in the case of Tri-X vs Reala. I can think of a number of conventional B/W films this image would have looked nice with and yielded very smooth skin tones, namely Delta or HP5, but would have required medium format to match what I know the 10D is capable of. The only technical consideration that matters to me is Canon really did an incredible job on that CMOS sensor to allow it to capture a photographer's vision so cleanly. I could get a very similiar tonal range with a number of B/W or color films, provided I was using MF, but Nina achieved this image with a lot less fuss, and I'm sure that's fine with her.

Gorgeous picture, I loved the expression in her eyes.

Keep shooting and live long.

Very nice and well done!

If anything maybe a slight crop to peel some off the left side.

Nina- love the photo. Those eyes are intense! With the zoom you used, where abouts in the range were you with this pic? Due to the eyes being larger I assume closer to wide angle, but the reflection of you in her eyes looks like you're back a bit and not right in her face. How close to her were you?

Scott: I was pretty close. Not sure exactly how close though... hmmm... maybe 50-60 cm away from her face?

And the size of the eyes isn't just the lense... This picture is taken with the Canon EF 100 mm Macro: http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=2057616 - as you can see her eyes are still big ;)

Nina. Very intense photo, excellently done. A minor critique, which I believe is easy to resolve (if you choose to).

 

The shadows under the eyes are so pronounce that it is distracting. It does look as if she had makeup applied, or two black eyes :), obviously an effect that is enhanced by the choice of black and white. Perhaps using a reflector or some concealer under her eyes might help? Or simply lightening the area in PhotoShop might be the best and easiest choice.

 

Just my two cents. You have a beautiful daughter, and my suggestions are only meant to help improve the image, not her! :) I just found myself losing contact with her fabulous eyes, and studying the circles under her eyes instead. Hope this helps.

"Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes."

 

Nina, I think the difference between 40mm and 100mm is quite noticable, but what both images have in common is the angle of the face. It forces her to look up to see the camera which reveals a fair amount of white areas below the eyeballs. I'm not saying it looks forced or unnatural, just that it draws our eyes to hers and seems to make them bigger.

 

Thank you for uploading supporting images in this and other uploads.

Nina I really love your work, I swear you should teach

a photshop class, because your good. Did you teach yourself the things your able to do. I aslo own a 10D, and I swear your pictures give me the stenghth to keep taking pictures. Thanks.

ok, I'm going to be the bad guy, since everyone else seems to be raving about this photo. I find that the dead center compostion with the girl facing straight ahead creates a fairly prosaic image. Her bangs on the left side of her face help disrupt the symmetry, but I don't think that creates enough visual interest. I agree, the eyes are very striking and interesting, but I find my eyes pulled away by the blown-out areas in the bottom corners of the frame. I think that if just a tiny bit of detail could be burned in it would make the photo much stronger. Just the Devil's Advocate's 2 cents.

Very intense...beautiful shades of color in the hair..

congradulations

I agree, it is a striking photo.

 

I find the childs skin looks plastic. Whether this is due to overexposure or to excessive retouching doesn't really matter.

 

Personally I would have adjusted backed the levels down a bit until some detail could be seen. It's a fine line and one that is easy to cross.

 

Cheers,

This is by far one of the most excellent portraits I've seen in a long while. This is a superb shot - you have effectively made me stare at the picture and wonder what makes me so drawn to the photograph. Just maybe, JUST maybe you could try to brighten up the dark areas around her eyes? Just to see how it would look differently. All in all, you've done a FINE job!

"Nina I really love your work, I swear you should teach a photshop class, because your good.

-- Denneco Pruitt , February 18, 2004; 06:34 P.M. Eastern "

 

Denneco, she does! She is one of THEE most talented photoshop artists I have ever seen. You should visit the photoshop website that she runs! Its very informative, great support through her msgboard, and she has about 2 dozen really fun tutorials! I will let Nina provide the link, I am not sure she wants to advertize it here or not (Hey nina, "holycow" here from your site!)

 

Congrats on POW! Awesome work as always.

Technically, excellent. But aesthetically, I don't see what others see in it. The child's eyes are given a look of desperation, much like that of Gollum/Smegal in the Lord of the Rings. My first reaction was an unpleasant feeling.

Wow...

Where to start?

 

For those of you who wonder about the technical aspect on how I convert my digital pictures to black and white I have a tutorial on my site that might help some of you some: How I convert my pictures to B&W

Ive also added so Diffuse Glow to get the soft look on the face and lighten the skin. (No extra blurring needed).

 

Some of you think that her eyes are scary. Well that means at least they had an impact on the viewer :) Ive attached a picture further down where Ive taken back the details in the white jacket + Ive dodged the dark areas under here eyes to you can compare youself. And yes in that version she looks less scary but the picture loose some impact. At least on me it does. You can tweak a picture like this in so many ways but this time my favorite is how it was from the beginning

 

Now you can judge for yourselves :)

http://www.eyesondesign.net/images/martine_hettejakke_compare.jpg

 

Denneco Pruitt: Yes everything I know about Photoshop and photography Ive learned by myself by trial and error + Ive read numerous articles on the net about both topics :) Thank you so much for your kind words as well!

 

Ariel Lopez: Having another opinion doesnt make you the bad guy ;) Thank goodness not everybody thinks the same about everything what a boring would it would be

 

Ian Greant: I actually like the skin the way it is now for this particular image. I have lots of other pictures of her where I havent touched the skin at all. This time I wanted to do something else I guess. Were all sitting in front of different calibrated screens as well. What might look good on one screen might look completely different on another.

 

Brandon H.: LOL You cant go around saying stuff like that. People might believe you :D

And I dont teach classes. I just have a Photoshop site online that has been a dear hobby of mine the past 4 years (I had to come up with something fun to do while I was home with my daughter after she was born guess Im not the regular housewife type of girl.. lol).

And sure I could post the link: www.eyesondesign.net

 

Hans P. Graver: Tusen hjertelig takk! :)

 

/Nina

Hi,

Slightly disturbing.

regards

Robert

Yas I Lost in her eyes....just cant move my eyes from this child.If Im not wrong then you've snap it in day light, Right? Oh yas, your all other photos are also very natural & temting also.Keep on.....

I love the details of the person and window in her eyes wonderfull

 

THX

Nina, I would like to start by saying that I disagree with those that think your beautiful daughter is scary in anyway, the first thing I felt when looking at this photo was that I wanted to give her a hug and tell her how precious she is, it truly tugs at my heart strings when my children look at me in a similar fashion.

You did a wonderful job on this photo and I can't tell you how many times I have went back and looked at it. You deserve the credit that you are recieving and I truly want to thank you for sharing this photo, it has inspired me to do a series of my children and I can only hope that I can get one equal to the quality I see in yours.

 

You've stirred my spirit!!

 

Corey