I always tell people, the location of the photo doesn’t really matter…its all about the light. Give me good light, and I can make a good photograph. When I took this image, we were just about to head outside for some playtime. My daughter (4 1/2) dresses herself every day and came out looking exceptionally cute for a run around the backyard. “Please let me take your picture!” I pleaded…”you look so cute, I have to show Daddy”…that line always gets her. I had her stand right in the doorway where the light was bright and soft, perfect for a portrait. She leaned against the door-frame and gave me one second of eye contact…and I was ready.

 SOOC (straight out of camera)    +  pullback shot  

Once I imported the image to lightroom, I ran my favorite matte preset (which I developed myself) added a little custom tweaking, then finished it off by burning the area to the left of her until it was completely dark. My final step was applying an unsharp mask in Photoshop.

Final Image

Doorways are one of my favorite spots to shoot because they are usually shaded overhead, allowing lots of light to come onto your subject from the front, but not so much from the top (which creates “racoon eyes”). So go out and shoot in some doorways! See the light!