The Harpist

Thank you Matthew. This angle highlighted the harpists hair which was one of the decisions in using this shot.

I focused on the eyelashes. My normal policy is to focus on the eye but since it was shut, I went the next best thing.

After you mentioned this I went back to the shot and had a closer look. You are right that the hand is on the same focal plane as her eyebrow. And that was an accident!! I was over the top of her almost and from what I can tell the focal plane has been created from high to low (vertically) rather then right to left along the horizon. It is a pretty mindblowing accident considering I was using a wide-open aperture to deal with the indoors and the fact that I only used ambient light and hand-held the camera.

Thank you so much for the feature. Appreciate it!

Thanks Rajeev. It was a pleasant surprise seeing this shot featured.

Thanks. I love her hair but that is just me! The harp is a pretty instrument!

Thanks Matt.

Thank you very much for your feedback Jeff

Yes yes, which makes my job easy!!

Thanks Iroof

Thank you linaji. That is quite the compliment. If this helps, I photographed in doors and only in natural ambient light with a 50mm lense. So light-metering was important metering off her skin-tones and I think I most likely would have switched to full manual and maintained the same settings throughout.

Thanks Chris. What the harp lacks in volume (in an orchestral setting anyway) it certainly makes up in “elegance and ornateness” as you point out! Michelle was great to work with too.

Can I make a tiny suggestion. This may be the musician in me talking but I think you can see the harpist connecting with her instrument… kind of like they are melded together rather then separated therefore giving the viewer an insight into this musical moment…just a thought… somewhat philosophical but this is what I think about when I revisit this image. Thanks for your comment.