Shutter Sisters

Capturing the Warmth of a Moment in Sepia Tone

By

My daughter’s been on an indefinite hiatus from piano lessons, yet just recently she expressed an interest in making music again to her teacher/grandmother. “I’m going to play in the recital!” she announced one morning after returning home from a sleepover at Mama Sue’s house just a couple of weeks ago. And from that point forward (with no prompting from me), she practiced her “Christmas Waltz” each day to prepare for her moment in the spotlight.

It’s a familiar cycle. The entrance, exit, and return of inspiration. The birth of a vision. And the decision to make it real. Acknowledging the need to practice and prepare for the moment when we’re meant to stand in the spotlight. Assuming that courage will sustain us despite the presence of fear. I was so proud of her at this moment, I almost forgot to click.

Most of my favorite documentary moments are captured with my super wide 14-24mm lens because it gives me the ability to capture more than less of an experience. This image was shot at 14mm with an aperture setting of f/8 and ISO setting of 200. I used my Nikon Speedlight 900 and fired the flash to bounce off the wall behind me to balance the harsh light streaming in through the windows in the back of the room. Then, in Aperture, I applied a subtle amount of Sepia Tone (something I don’t normally do) to soften the bright red Christmas dresses in the audience, and put more visual emphasis on the warmth and gestures of the moment.

Spread some warmth with your sepia tone experiments and discoveries in the comments.

Comments

  1. Lovely shot. Lovely blog.

    The moment often distracts me from my photography too. Sometimes I just wish to immerse myself and forget about the camera!

  4. Aw, that is one heartwarming image!

    I don't think I ever thought of sepia tones as either cold or warm, but if asked, I would probably have said they were cold. For instance, sepia tones seemed to fit perfectly for this image of a cold winter's night in the city:
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/85057042@N00/5270947669/

    Going to try and use sepia tones for warm images now – thanks for the change in perspective!

  17. I love using sepia, but it definitely requires a light hand. I love how well you executed it here. My favorite places to use sepia are when I having too many bright colors going on in the image, just like you did to temper the bright red dresses.

    I personally have not messed much with wide angle lens, probably because I've not had much use for them. in previous shoots, but I may need to create some reasons to experiment.

    Beautioful

  22. This is so lovely. I almost never shoot wide… I almost always default into closep mode. This inspires me to try something new. Thank you!