Embellishing a Portrait

A Kazakh eagle hunter holds his hooded golden eagle

Man and Eagle

Western Mongolia 2014

When you go on a tour for a special event such as the Eagle Festival held in Western Mongolia, or the Theyyam in Mangalore, India, your photos are specific. You may, as I did, shoot several hundred gigabytes of memory cards, but the variety of shots is limited.

I need to count, but when we shot a model in a 15th century bride’s costume, I filled my cards with hundreds of shots. Why? Well, you think of, or to be exact, someone thinks of a new angle…”shoot up with your wide angle…get in close…have her move into these grasses…hold your arms out…kneel…etc.” The model obeys and of course, you must get that shot, it may be the one.

Look at this handsome, old man. So photogenic. And he loved the camera unlike some of the younger men whose discomfort was displayed in their stoic faces. I have many, many photos of this man. What is to be done? as they say in Russia. Why you turn to Photoshop, of course.

Here I changed the sky from a clear blue to one filled with clouds and I added a mountain to complete the story. It changes the portrait by showing the environment. It’s my Jim Zuckerman “wanna-be “. Jim is an expert in Photoshop. Check out his site for ideas.

www.jimzuckerman.com

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