File:The bluest eyes (14087933693).jpg

Trisha was selected as the Student of the Month for May and I applied the lessons we learned regarding portraiture to take this photo of her. She posed on the steps of the Zetmeir building, under the shaded portion, but turned toward the bright light in the parking lot. I helped her tilt her head, drop her one hip, and place her hand on her dropped hip to give a relaxed, natural look to her pose. The light was spectacular in her eyes that day, so I chose a shot that I was able to crop to maximize the emphasis on those beautiful blue globes. I love the texture and lines of the limestone and glass behind her. I cropped the photo using the rule of thirds, and her eyes became an even greater focal point after doing so. I used a moderately large aperture (6.3) and a fairly fast shutter speed (1/160). ISO was 200 because there was plenty of daylight, so there was not a need to increase the sensitivity. The large aperture opening gave a nice shallow depth of field to highlight her face, while making sure that every feature of her face and hair were in perfect focus. I had her hold a white card before we got started to set the custom white balance in the camera, and it was much easier to edit the resulting photos.