Erica and her friend (sorry; I forgot her name!) were in Times Square checking out the lights ahead of a Broadway show trip. She’s a Long Island native, hosting her visitor from Portland. I feel bad not recalling her friend’s name, as she was massively helpful holding the giant golden reflector to the right of this shot. That bounced back light from a giant video advertising board to the left of shot, at a neat 45 degree angle up.

As well as appreciating Erica’s taking part, she was hugely patient waiting for the video ads to scroll through – I was shooting without a flash, and only a couple of the ads were bright enough to light the shot. Thank you Aerie for an insanely bright peach/white advertisement that offered about two stops more light than the average, and about three more than Bank of America’s grim navy blue offering.

We did a quick run of shots looking up Broadway – first going for a neutral look. When Erica and friend reviewed them on the back of the camera, though, she said how much she’d prefer to be smiling, so we fired off a few more frames. This one was the best.

Erica – thank you again for being such a great sport, and agreeing to become Stranger #13 in my ongoing 100 Strangers Project.

In terms of processing, I’ve included a (near) SOOC version in the comments below. There were a few distracting highlights in the bokeh which I went on to correct in Photoshop, but the main change was to the white balance to give that slightly aqueous glow.