Every once in a while, a photograph I take stands out from all the rest. Sometimes it’s the composition, sometimes it’s the subject itself, sometimes it’s dynamic or interesting lighting, or sometimes it’s a strike of imagination that I catch off the cuff and I capture it. When I shot my friend’s twins’ 2nd birthday party at a jungle gym play place two weeks ago, this photo is a combination of all of those criteria in one.
Canon 70D Settings: f3.2, 1/40 seconds, ISO400, Bounce flash.
It was quick and off the cuff. The little boy jumped into the ball pit just once, and this idea struck me. I asked him to jump back into the ball pit from a specific point, and I captured this. As it happened, all of this, from the inspiration to his directions to punching in my camera settings to shooting this photo hit-or-miss, happened only over the course of about five seconds. The colors, his expression, his face frozen solid over the blurring from the slow shutter speed, and the direction of the lighting; it all comes together and it’s by far my favorite photograph I’ve taken in a long time.
Austin Martinez Photography 