From the Archives: Ghost Girl, originally uploaded by pmarkham.

I’m still learning about how to take good pictures of humans. One of the hardest parts is getting the lighting I want and the exposure I want. The other is having a natural looking expression on their face. I have had a lot of fun photographing my nieces and nephews as they play, as that usually solves the problem of a natural looking expression.

This shot is one of my nieces playing in the hayloft of the barn out at the farm. In the late afternoon, shafts of sunlight will stream down from the window at the top of the roof. It always makes for interesting, ghostly photos if you step into the shaft of light.

The white specks that are floating around her are just airborne dust — something there is a lot of in the hayloft.