My son is just learning how to stand. He pulls himself up everywhere these days. It’s exhilarating. It’s exhausting. It’s wonderful. He loves to look out the window and see the world. And I love to see what he sees.

Of course, today when he was standing at the window watching the world, I gasped at the beautiful scene. The light was amazing and his little silhouette was so sweet. Luckily my camera was within grabbing distance, and I snapped off a few shots. The two photos here were my favorite from the bunch. I ended up going with black and white on the image I chose for my 30 Day Photo Challenge because I think it showcases the silhouette a little better. I love the photo below too, but it’s a little fuzzier because I lightened my son’s face just a bit and that gave his skin some grain. But his little look back at me to check if I was still watching was too sweet not to include.

Both images were taken with my Nikon D40X and 50mm lens. Photo above: f16, 1/25 sec, 400 ISO, converted to black and white in Photoshop CS2 and cropped square. I also added the black border to the top to balance the photo. Photo below: f16, 1/50 sec, 400 ISO, and then I ran one of my favorite actions on it (Pioneer Woman’s seventies) to give it more of a timeless feel. I also went with the square-ish crop on this one to eliminate some distracting clutter.

For more information and some great tips on taking silhouette photos, check out Stephanie’s articles here and here.