Holi - revisited

[Manfred M]

I am into my final week of a printing master class and as the final class assignment we have to produce two fine art prints in at least A3+ (13" x 19") format. As well we have to do an artist's statement (modern genre) describing what we are trying to show through our work.

My first image is one I took just over 2 years ago in Nandgaon, India during the three days of Holi (Hindu Festival of Colours) featuring a young boy framed by others. The third day, when this picture was taken. is when everyone is sprayed with coloured dye; reds, oranges and yellows. It was taken on the top floor of the Nand Bhavan Temple.

I've completed my test prints and have a touch more cleanup to do, but I this is the first time I have been quite satisfied with this image.



From a technical standpoint, I am slowly transitioning to Capture One as my main raw convertor. I find that the image quality is superior to what Lightroom and Photoshop produce, but the underlying structure of the processing engine is not ideally suited to my Photoshop workflow.

[Shadowman]

Nicely composed.

[pschlute]

I like the image. Shame I cannot see the printed version.

Interestingly the dye that has patterned his face gives the portrait a "painting" quality to it which I find very effective.

[Antonio Correia]

These kind of festivals frighten me for a couple of reasons.
The coloured dye comes in not only the camera and lens specially if they are zooms, but also in noses, eyes and ears.
I am a rather adventurer guy, but that is a little bit too much in what concerns the eyes...
Have you had any problems with the camera or were you using a water housing ?

The photo is great ! However, isn't the ribbon on the turban of the boy, a bit overexposed ?
You may have (I am sure you do have) overcome that small problem in print...
Natural light ?

[Manfred M]

These kind of festivals frighten me for a couple of reasons.
The coloured dye comes in not only the camera and lens specially if they are zooms, but also in noses, eyes and ears.
I am a rather adventurer guy, but that is a little bit too much in what concerns the eyes...
Have you had any problems with the camera or were you using a water housing ?

This is me during that shoot. Full rain cover on the camera that was taped in place on the lens hood. Obviously, I had a clear filter on the lens.






This is me during the shoot. All the clothes were thrown out at the end of the day. We were covered head to toe with coconut oil to reduce the risk of the dyes staining our skin. The temperatures were running at close to 40°C at mid-day, so the clear plastic parts of the rain cover were covered in condensation from our hands and arms. We couldn't really see through either the lens viewfinder or screen on the camera, so the shots were best guesses in terms of framing.

This is a shot of me towards the end of Day 2.

The photo is great ! However, isn't the ribbon on the turban of the boy, a bit overexposed ?
You may have (I am sure you do have) overcome that small problem in print...
Natural light ?

This is metallic cloth, so what you are seeing are the specular highlights reflecting off the cloth. Being a clear, cloudless day in natural light, there is not much I could do in capture. While you can't see it in the post, I have burned those areas down to a very light gray to ensure ink is deposited in these areas during the printing process.

[Antonio Correia]

Oh !... so it is you the man in the coloured avatar... now you have a more "serious" one.

That is a way to avoid dust !
But using coconut oil wasn't worst than nothing ? All the powder was sticking on the skin...
What about your ears ? Eyes ? Mouth ?

I see you were with more people. I would like to have one of these experiences... but not under this scenario.

Thank you Manfred for all the detailed explanation !

[Manfred M]

Oh !... so it is you the man in the coloured avatar... now you have a more "serious" one.

That is a way to avoid dust !
But using coconut oil wasn't worst than nothing ? All the powder was sticking on the skin...
What about your ears ? Eyes ? Mouth ?

I see you were with more people. I would like to have one of these experiences... but not under this scenario.

Thank you Manfred for all the detailed explanation !

We saw the whole group the next day as we headed back to New Delhi by bus. Those of us that had used the coconut oil on our skin had pretty well gotten rid of the dye on our skin. The soles of my feet were quite orange as I did not put any oil on them and we had to go bare foot in the temple. Others that did not put the oil on were still fairly red.