Coptic Christians at Mass
Lalibela, Ethiopia 2013
The people attending mass were scattered over the hills on the serpentine dirt paths that wove among trees and across deep gulleys. Their white cloaks gleamed in the rays of the rising sun. Hundreds of worshipers, men, women and children, wrapped in the shamma, concentrated on their red leather prayerbooks.
Later, when I looked at my photos, the white figures were too scattered for my vision. I wanted my crowds to look crowded. Once I got the contrast and color to suit me, I began to crop, then distort the figures. This gave me a focal point by emphasizing the rather majestic woman in the center of the picture. I added some crowd feeling by cloning in a few more figures at the top of the photo. Lastly, I gave the photo a painterly look by using some brush strokes from Alien Skin’s Snap Art 4…those brush strokes disguise my hasty cloning. Sneaky.
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