david_l._forney

No apologies.  The background is a waterfalls. It is a bit distracting.  I had replaced the background with an ocean scene, but it doesn't look that great. 

Thanks, Gail and Michael.  She is a particularly beautiful young woman. Not a model, but one of my friends here in Charlotte. Her eyes and smile are true to life. 

Thanks so much all for your comments. 

Emmanuel, I used a Canon EF 70-200 f/2.8L IS II.  Focal length was at 70mm in this image. Among the post-processing treatments, I adjusted the vibrance slider in Lightroom to the negative.  That slider is intended to adjust saturation while protecting skin tones and has a nice effect when pushing it to the negative.  It has the effect of muting most colors, but leaving traces of the skin tones.

Thanks for your nice comments, Tricia.  It's nice to hear from you.  Have been busy, and am about to get busier again. Moving, work, classes, etc.  Hope all is well with you.  David

Thanks so much, Gail.  Nice to hear from you again. I'll be moving in about 3 weeks from Charlotte, NC to Bethesda, MD.  The second part of my masters program begins again in 2 weeks, work is . . . , etc.  So I'm about to get busy again.  I found a few moments yesterday to post some images.  Hope you are well.

Thanks for the kind words, everyone.  I removed the shadows from the bars per your comment, Gregory.  Thanks for pointing that out. The resulting shadow still needs work, but at least that major problem has been resolved.  David

Indeed!  Thanks.  Didn't see that. I'm new to compositing work.  I inverted a picture of my son, and someone had to point out to me that the lettering on his shirt was inverted.  I hadn't noticed.  David

Thanks, Michael. The orientation of the soldiers along the central perspective of the image was meant to present the question of what they were looking at.  (After all, they moved about 300 yards to take a look.)  The names on the Wall perhaps?  I think the little girl.  Her presence needed to be very subtle, in part to match the mood of the day and in part to give her the appearance of an apparition from within the Wall.  I did not want her visage to appear too prominent.  Although central to the image, she is only part of the larger image and theme.  When viewed larger, she becomes more apparent.  Thanks again.  David

BEST VIEWED LARGER. This is a composite of three images. The first

is of the Veterans Memorial Wall, a one point perspective leading up

to the Washington Monument, which I shot in early spring of this year.

The second was of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial – Three Soldiers,

which is about 100 yards away, near the Wall, which I shot the same

day. So there are three monuments (or memorials) in this image, the

Wall, the Washington Monument and the Three Soldiers. It was pouring

rain the day I took those images, which created the opportunity for

reflections along the walkway and in the Wall itself. I composited

the Three Soldiers onto the sidewalk next to the Wall in such a way so

that it would appear as if they were looking at the Wall. In doing

so, I had to create their reflections on the sidewalk and in the Wall

itself. What is particularly special to me about this image is the

little girl. Her eyes are so beautiful and haunting. I used Vanishing

Point to blend her eyes and a rough outline of her face into the wall

so that the Three Soldiers would be looking directly at her, and she

at them. For me, she is symbolic of the many children who died in

that war, surely far more in number than the names on the Wall. I

created this image for a project in the SVA Masters Program for

Digital Photography, and I thought I would share it here. My

instructor of the Photo Illustration course for which I created this

image, Mark Beckelman, died a few weeks ago of cancer. Without Mark’s

expertise, I would have had no idea how to create an image like this.

I dedicate this image to Mark.

Xixi is one of the most beautiful little girls I have ever

photographed. Her natural innocence is almost palpable. Post

processing was limited to B&W conversion in Lightroom with tonal and

shading adjustments in both LR and PS. (I also removed a set of

playground bars behind her head.) The spot on her nose is actually a

birthmark, which I had removed in many of her other photographs. Best

viewed larger. David

Xixi is one of the most beautiful little girls I have ever

photographed. Her natural innocence is almost palpable. Post

processing was limited to B&W conversion in Lightroom with tonal and

shading adjustments in both LR and PS. (I also removed a set of

playground bars behind her head.) The spot on her nose is actually a

birthmark, which I had removed in many of her other photographs. Best

viewed larger. David

I actually like it. I like the graininess and the muted color treatment and the cropping is nicely done. Perhaps the contrast could be toned down just a little, and I find the light strip in the lower left a little distracting. It is otherwise very nice.

Sisters - A lovely moment for them. I asked the girls to look serious

for a moment, and this is what I got. I just could not resist the

expression of Joanna (the little one). It made this a better image

than the others in the group (that didn't clip off the ends of her

fingers). Hope you enjoy. David

Ah!  I understand perfectly.  I often do that myself, but I almost always do so with people who have green, blue or other color eyes and not with those whose eyes are already so dark.  I can see its application here as you suggested.  Thanks for the tip.  David

Alain,  Thanks as always for your thoughtful and honest comments. I do admit that I like a stronger statement with eyes.  I do see here how you could interpret the adjustments as a little too much, probably in her right eye. I was paying attention to my predilection of going overboard, but I think that my preferences are what create the difference.  I post a pre and post version of the eyes for your interest.  The pre version is straight out of the camera, with no contrast or any other adjustments or enhancements applied (flat, as you would expect). If I were to do it again, I might tone it down.  Thanks again.  David

Calvin,  It is always a pleasure.  I appreciate your thoughts. I am exploring a lot out of my original comfort zone.  It's fun.  David

Thanks Antoni.  It's good to hear from you.  David

Thanks so much Gail.  I am sorry for my absence, but it can't be helped.  Actually, I have a lot of images, but just can't get to them. Too many projects - but that is good, because I believe I am becoming a better photographer.  Thanks again. David

Beautiful Joanna. The retouching may appear a little heavy, but it

was for a particular project that called for it. Hope you enjoy her as

much as I do.

Thanks for your comments, Rajat. Sorry for my absence.  I'm quite under a lot of time pressures with work and my masters program. I can only find time to stop by once in a while.  Hope all is well.  David

Such a beautiful Japanese child. I could photograph her all day long.

Here, I used a new B&W conversion technique I came up with. It's a

hybrid B&W starting with desaturation using the vibrance slider in

Lightroom 3, followed by luminance and other tonal adjustments in

Lightroom 3 and then in Photoshop CS5. The "Vibrance" adjustment

slider in Lightroom was intended to protect skin tones on the way up

but it has a very interesting effect on the way down, as here. It

produces a muted color image, or described differently, a black and

white image that retains very subtle skin tones.

I didn't put the lipstick on.  I photographed this family, including Joanna, before.  This was a picnic and her mom knew I would be there with my camera.  My guess is that mom did it. Thanks for the note.

I agree with Pierre.  Very nicely captured from foreground to background.  Nice context, good exposure and of course a special smile.  Thanks for sharing.  David  (Shylee's hair is getting longer!)

Yes . . . she was wearing lipstick. Takes my heart away every time I

look at her. David