Kane in the Japanese style

[Manfred M]

Kane is 11 months old today, so my daughter dressed him up in traditional Japanese clothing. His father is Japanese, so I hope the "cultural appropriation police" are okay with this.

We put him on the stairs and tried to put a Japanese fan into the shot; it's the coloured thing lying at the bottom left part of the image. This is purely an existing light shot, no flash or reflectors. It's raining today, so the light coming in from the window (camera right) was quite diffuse. My 70-200mm lens is in the shop right now (onboard electronics board problem), so I shot it with the Nikkor f/2 105 DC lens.

[Dave Humphries]

This is purely an existing light shot, no flash or reflectors.

You picked a good place to shoot - one where those 'extras' weren't really needed. The angle and direction of light is good, the contrast between lit and 'unlit' sides is nicely controlled by the wall (which I assume is camera left) or some effort in PP. Looks like there might be some light from above/behind too.

I think with the pose adopted, the fan wasn't really necessary either, but perhaps it has some cultural significance of which I'm unaware.

Will you clone out the fan when back home?
Or perhaps (for family at least) leave it as a reminder of the shoot?

The slightly warmed WB*, works for me.
* over what might be called technically correct for the sky outside at the time


The skill of 'seeing the light' (that's potentially good for portraits) within domestic environments is a tough one to acquire, especially when you factor in the need for simple backgrounds. Sometimes a reflector (white or black) can help improve ratios, but other times, a carefully chosen location can fulfil our needs.

Cheers, Dave

[bje07]

Nice shot, cool light.
If it were mine I'll remove the "small thing" at the LHS bottom corner, not enough present to explain what it is (even with your explanation).

[Manfred M]

Thanks for the comments Dave and Jean:

I am at home again, Dave so I have all my editing tools here.

The fan is used frequently for both men and women when people are wearing traditional Japanese clothing, that is why I originally left the part that was showing in, but the shot is cleaner as only a sliver of the fan was actually showing in the shot. So I have cloned it out and added the appropriate shaded area.

As for the warming of the colours, I tend to use that with most of my Caucasian subjects, but find that with Asians, who already have a bit of a warmer skin tone, it quickly starts looking like a bit of a colour cast. Kane's skin tone is almost exactly between his Caucasian (German / English) mother and Japanese father. I tried it here, but at about 1/2 of the intensity that I usually use.

[Mike Buckley]

It's the choice of colors in the stairs and clothing that complement each other so nicely that make the image so appealing for me. If you have an image with more space on the subect's right, my vote would be to allow the shadow considerably more room to "breathe."

[Manfred M]

It's the choice of colors in the stairs and clothing that complement each other so nicely that make the image so appealing for me. If you have an image with more space on the subect's right, my vote would be to allow the shadow considerably more room to "breathe."

Thanks Mike, I actually didn't have any more room on the right (or left), I framed the shot so that the white base boards are just out of frame and in fact cropped a bit off the top to get rid of a bit of base board that did sneak into this shot. The biggest challenge was shooting a baby who moves a lot.

[rpcrowe]

Good looking young fellow Nice portrait, I am sure that it will be a family heirloom in the years to come!

[Shadowman]

Nicely done.

[Javier]

Excelent¡¡¡

[IzzieK]

He is so cute! Now, if you will remove that blue little thingie at the top left hand corner of the frame, this will be perfect. Cultural shots are a must for children. You will make many of them as Kane grows up.