I got to know this little girl shortly after she was diagnosed with cancer at only 18 months. At such a young age she greatly impacted my life. Over the years I got to watch her miraculous story unfold.
This is her now at 7 years old, happy and healthy. An unquenchable light that survived a dark place. She has been a light to me in dark times and I wanted to create this portrait to help tell the story of what she has meant to me over the years.
To take this photo I put her up in to a tree. The lamp was actually not lit when we took the shot, but I knew I would light it up how I wanted in Photoshop so I wanted to lighting to be positioned properly. First I set up a backlight coming from the left and below to imitate the light would be coming from the lamp. I used a high power with an open bulb to try and get the look you would get from having a light so close to her face. I then put a second light in the front and also from the left with a softbox to help the lamp light more realistic and also to get her face properly exposed. I wanted her to have a peaceful but serious face to help tell the story I wanted to write with this photo.
In Photoshop, I brought the lamp to life and used some dodging and burning to get the light coming from the lamp to look just how I wanted it. This is probably the most special photo to me that I have ever taken.
5DmkIV
85mm 1.2
1.4, 100 ISO, 1/160
Thank you! Me too!!