Attack of the Literal Demons

[StMarc]

My boss's wife bought a Nikon D100 a few weeks ago and he brought it in for me to look at yesterday. He even said, "Try it out, take it home, play with it." (My boss really likes me. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] ) So I did.

Since this was totally unplanned, the only time I had to shoot was between putting the kid to bed and my lovely wife falling asleep. (A narrow window, as those of you with young children undoubtedly know.) Not much time to arrange lighting and makeup. So I was more playing than anything else. But there was one shot that sort of Amused me.

When photographers get too literal:


I wanted to be able to control where she was looking, so I got this little toy from my daughter's toy chest, put it on the end of a stick, and told her...

(wait for it)

"Watch the birdie!"

To get her head right, I'd tell her, "Move your head and watch the birdie!" Then to move her eyes, I'd just tell her, "Okay, hold your head still and watch the birdie fly!" And when I wanted her to smile, I'd just start talking in the birdie's voice. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Eventually the birdie, who was quite a ham for being a chicken, wormed his way into the shot.

If I ever get desperate for a career change, I bet I have a bright future ahead of me in the field of Sears Portrait Studio work.

Anyway, the shot's a little blurred due to long exposure time, which was necessary because I was shooting available light, which wasn't very. For some reason the on-camera flash was unkind to any shot I tried to take, and I just didn't have the energy to drag out the other lighting equipment.

M