Mayan Shaman - Dom Pedro

[Manfred M]

We spent the day poking around the town of St Pedro la Laguna, Guatemala and I had the chance to photograph the well-known Mayan Shaman, Dom Pedro in the yard of his house. The lighting was terrible (totally backlit) and the shots were totally natural light without the help of any light modifiers.

Given the very difficult shooting conditions, I was pleased with the results.

[AB26]

I was expecting something to drink.
Very well done! You got reason to be pleased with the outcome.
No fill flash at all?

[James G]

Manfred, beautiful capture. The gentleman's 'presence' is very clear. What time of day was it taken? the warm tones are really subtle. James

[Mike Buckley]

I would prefer a photo like this showing expression over all the photos combined that are better lit but not showing expression. It's a difficult lighting situation and you handled it exceptionally well.

[Shadowman]

Very nice.

[Manfred M]

Manfred, beautiful capture. The gentleman's 'presence' is very clear. What time of day was it taken? the warm tones are really subtle. James

Thanks - the shot was taken at around 4:15 in the afternoon. The lighting situation was we were in a covered part of the yard, that was open to the street. So the only frontal lighting was reflected light from the ground and the bare cinder block walls of neighbouring houses. The patterns in the background are the gate that leads to the street.

I was suspecting I would have some difficult lighting that day, so I had my 1 degree spot meter in my bag, so I metered to get his face properly exposed and shot on manual. I wish I had thrown my flash into the bag...

[NorthernFocus]

You should be pleased. Nice job.

[deetheturk]

Great capture Manfred!

[Manfred M]

Working my way through the images, I did another image of the Shamen, Don Pedro. This one (as per Mike Buckley's suggestion I try some B&W conversions), I find works equally well in both colour and BW. Just like the first one, this shot is strongly back-lit and I relied on the ambient light bouncing around to light him from the front and I basically blew out most of the background. To accentuate the blown out effect even more, I applied a slight white vignette around the subject.

[Paniaa]

Love the expression in his eyes in the first image, and the pose in the second, though I think the background doesn't do it justice. The lighting, challenging though it was, did not prevent a good capture. Cheers.

[Manfred M]

Love the expression in his eyes in the first image, and the pose in the second, though I think the background doesn't do it justice. The lighting, challenging though it was, did not prevent a good capture. Cheers.

I actually prefer the blown out background. It was the yard of the Shaman's house and was rather messy, so by blowing things out, it not only hides the messy looking background, but also simplifies the scene, making it more compelling.

[RustBeltRaw]

The most recent greyscale shot works, but I would add some clarity and contrast to his face. As it stands, the most eye-catching, highest-contrast area is between his pants and the background.

[IzzieK]

As always, nice capture Manfred...I like both the coloured shots though the B/W treatment needs a bit more contrast(?) but what do I know???...(I am just getting back to the hang of things and still have my jetlag bothering me...ha! I would be glad to get my sleep back...)