Bath Time

In work we formed a photo group that meets from time with a specific remit of submitting photographs for that evening. On this occasion "Bath Time" left me slightly unchallenged as I imagined most shots would be taken from lower than waist height looking up at the subject (who probably was slightly unenthusiastic having their private cleaning ritual brought up for technical photographic discussion) and covered from head down in soap suds.

I wanted something different. Whilst supervising our six year old India during bath time the inspiration finally came that all I had to do was change my viewpoint. Every photo book on composition discusses this (somewhere at the start). But where....?

Bath Time

Standing directly over India perched precariously on either side of the bath sides I stood and looked directly down. The uninteresting ambient overhead light made me think the overall result might be better in black and white. Its amazing what children will do when they are bribed... Focussing on the water rather than India has also made it slightly unusual. The picture evokes different reactions from everyone I show this to: from technically pleasing to downright sinister. It should be noted that no six year old died in the making of this picture.

Nikon D700 24-70mm f2.8 Nikkor lens @ 70mm. ISO 1250 f/2.8 1/80th sec.
Processed directly in Lightroom 3.6: converted to Black and White with a Lightroom preset (B&W Creative Look 2), mild noise reduction, sharpening and vignetting.

Learning Points:

1) Different viewpoints are possible often even when they don't seem obvious: below the subject, above the subject, beneath the subject with backlighting etc etc, its just a matter of thinking it through.

2) Black and white conversions can sometimes lift what would otherwise be a blandly lit shot.