The Colorful Alleys of Antigua

I couldn't get enough of the textures and colors in Antigua. It was like being a kid surrounded by chocolate at every turn. My buddies thought I was nuts taking photos of all these walls, doors and shop fronts...but I couldn't control myself....

No Texture Needed

I didn't add any textures to this photo, but this would be the type of wall where I would get up close and take a photo for a texture to use in other photos. This would be a good archaeology experiment...how many coats of different paint were used on this wall, and how many years separated each coat of paint?....scientists in years to come will be studying this wall...ha ha....

Another Guatemala Portrait...A Tutorial

I did some work on this photo. I love the result. I will tell you what I did as I think it will help you enhance your portraits...the original is the bottom photo.

*Note: You might think I am "faking it", and I am...the finished image is really nothing like the original...but isn't that what we do as artists? We fake it? Sure is fun to play...

1. The original photo, as you can see, was cropped big time. With an 18mp camera, I have that luxury...after cropping, I still had a 10mp image...plenty big enough for a nice sized print. I usually don't crop this much...in fact, I try to get the composition correct in camera the best I can. However, in this situation, I didn't want to get right in this guy's face to take his photo. I asked him if I could take his photo, and he let me, but I kept my distance so I could get a more natural expression on his face. I find that once you get permission to take a photo, and you get close, they start to "pose", and no longer look natural...so, I backed off with my 35mm lens knowing that when I got home I could crop closer for a nice portrait...but it is not really a good idea to make this a habit...try to get it right in the camera.

I also cropped using the "rule of thirds" for a more pleasing composition. Took out the blue on the left as well.

2. After cropping, I liked the contrasting colors in the background, but thought it lacked texture...so, I went to my collection of textures (I have around 300 or so now), and added two textures. Changed the blend mode of those two layers to overlay, and masked out the textures on the man and the ground.

3. I then saved the image, and went back to LightRoom. I added a vignette to darken the corners a bit, darkened the shadows, and increased the saturation just a tad...you have to be careful increasing the saturation as you don't want to turn the skin tones to something that looks un-natural.

4. I reopened the image in Photoshop, and applied Unsharp Mask at around 150%. Then masked the entire sharpening out, and painted in the man's face, hat and clothes, then reduced the opacity slightly. If you are going to post your images on the web or print them for your wall, you must over sharpen...they won't look very nice on your monitor, but the web and printing will soften the image.

Have a great Weekend!! See you back here on Monday!!

The finished image...

The original photo...

Guatemala Man

This guy just screamed character...his clothes, his hat, his smile...he should be the Guatemala Poster Guy.

Need A Clay Pot?

There were so many pots on the ground, I didn't know how you could pay for one....what do you do? Throw your cash across the pots to the three guys sitting in their chairs? What if you wanted a pot in the middle of the pile? Would be tough to reach it....

Busy At The Market

You think of your own job, and the routine you follow every day...that is what I was thinking when I saw this market...I was wondering what their routine was every day...grab some flowers at 3:00 in the morning, dress in your most colorful outfit, bundle up all your stuff, and head to the market...gotta get there early to get the best spot on the stairs...be sure to have small money for change....

I wonder if they take a break for lunch...and if they do, who watches over their flowers and fruit? Maybe the same women sit in the same spots day after day...I wonder if their is a pecking order for the best spots? Ah, the questions of life...

Textiles

Sorry about no post last Friday. I am back to work again...boo hoo...vacation over. It's now back to the routine.

Continuing with my Guatemala photos...this was at Chi Chi Market where everyone and their sister were all trying to sell me a blanket...the last thing I need in tropical Indonesia, but the colors are sure nice!

Exchange of Smiles

Through out all my travels, I have found that people are basically the same everywhere. We have different cultures, like different foods, have different ways to make money, but when it comes to providing for your family, emotions, laughing and looking for fun...we are all the same. So evident in this photograph...

Walking In Antigua

My buddies and I taking a walk in Antigua. I had to photoshop myself into the photo...hehe...as there was nobody around to take our photo...how bout dem textures, heh?

Basket of Corn

Not sure why this basket of corn is sitting in front of the door...but it was the colors and simplicity that attracted me to this little scene.

A Surreal Look At Lake Atitlan

Pretty surreal, heh? This is an HDR made from a single RAW file...the Leica files have so much dynamic range, it makes it quite simple to create an HDR from a single file.

The Rock Never Touched by Humans

I wonder how many thousands of years this rock has been sitting here in the middle of this river? Just past this rock is the entrance to a cave where the river disappears for 300 or so meters underground...we were told no one has ever entered the cave and lived to tell about it...

The Street Artist

I always wished I could paint...I think it would be a nice hobby to just sit in some tranquil spot, and paint a scene. I guess photography comes as close to that as I can get...

In My Element

That be me standing next to some great textures...in my element. If you are into textures, colors and cool doors, then Antigua is the place for you...

High Walls of Antigua

We really enjoyed Antigua...we liked it so much, we decided to stay there for two more days at the end of our trip. You could explore this town for weeks, and still find some hidden treasures behind its walls. But it was the walls themselves that really inspired me...just full of colors and textures.

Cahabon River

This was one of my favorite spots we visited in Guatemala. We had to take FWD vehicles to get to this spot in the mountains...the journey was almost as fun as the destination. The river is raging, and falls underground (just beyond this photo) for about 300 meters. On top, there are these series of pools that you can swim in (bottom photo)...at the far side of the pools, you can see the river re-emerge from underneath....a truly amazing spot in nature.

This was not an easy shot to get. I had to walk out onto a ledge that hung over the river...one wrong move, and I am dead...just beneath me the river goes underground, and I was told that no one had ever made it out alive if you fell in...that will certainly get your attention. I had to take five exposures because of the wide dynamic range. If I didn't shoot this as an HDR, you would not see any detail under the ledge...it took me some time to post process this shot, but I like the way it came out.

The above photo was taken at the far left of the pools below...

These are a couple of the pools people were swimming in...the river rages below these pools...

Full Of Character

This guy was just full of character...wish I could speak Spanish...

The Walls of Tikal

Tikal reminded me so much of Angkor Watt. I liked it better because the time we were there, we had the place to ourselves...unlike Angkor Watt where there are thousands of tourists these days. The walls were just oozing with colors and textures. It was so nice to be in a place where I could just wander by myself with my tripod and ipod...one of those perfect days!!

Guatemala

Thanks for waiting!!

I am back from my trip to the States and a trip to Guatemala...Guatemala was fantastic!! If you have not been, I can highly recommend this incredible country. The weather during our stay could not have been better...especially when there were record breaking heat waves in the States...the temps in Guatemala were San Diego like every day....so nice!!

I am slowly going through my photos, and have processed a couple (like the one below). As usual, when I get back from a trip and go through my photos, I am disappointed. It takes a few times going through my library on Light Room before I find a few that I like. If I have 10% that are good, that would mark a good trip...looks like I will have about 10% that are keepers....but that means 90% are crap...hehe...typical. In any case, I will be sharing some of my better ones in the days to follow...it is good to be back!!