Gelug-pa (a.k.a. Yellow Hat) monks at Spituk Monastery

[Manfred M]

Three Gelug-pa monks. They are often referred to as "yellow hat" monks; the reason should be obvious from the image.... I took this image at the Spituk Gustor festival, at the Spituk Monastery near Leh, Ladakh, India.


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[bje07]

stuning colors, wow

[rpcrowe]

Good selective focus isolating the monks from the busy background...

[Manfred M]

Good selective focus isolating the monks from the busy background...

Isolating the subjects (generally costumed monks in masks) was extremely challenging in this shooting environment. I had the opportunity to shoot at festivals in Bhutan, when we visited there just over two years ago, and had the same issue; it was extremely difficult to isolate the subjects. In Bhutan, there were many foreign tourists visiting the festivals.

I had hoped that shooting in the middle of the winter would keep the tourists away, and it did. However, the place was absolutely packed with locals, so the shooting environment was just as challenging. Shallow DoF can only do so much when the background is busy.

[NorthernFocus]

Another excellent shot, Manfred. I have to say that the yellow hats do keep attention diverted from the pointy toed shoes

... Shallow DoF can only do so much when the background is busy.

Oh so true. Which means you did a good job of picking your spots/timing because BG on this and other shots have not distracted at all from the subject.

[John 2]

You could equally say that shallow DOF can do a great deal when the BG is busy as you have so ably demonstrated here. Good photography Manfred.

[Shadowman]

Nice capture.

[madcrow]

Beautiful image and colours, love the DoF. Nothing to distract in this image.