The Ancient Wall of Khiva
Uzbekistan 2012 The wall of Khiva
Khiva was once an important site on the Silk Road and was of particular interest to both Russia and England during the era known as “The Great Game”. Both countries were determined to have influence over India and all of its resources. Spies from England and Russia traveled incognito through Central Asia, trying to contact the Emirs and to curry favor for their government.
I had seen photos of the walls of both Khiva and Bokhara on the internet before going to Uzbekistan. I put those sites on my list of ‘must have photographs’. Those photos showed the walls glowing in the light of the setting sun. I didn’t have golden light when I saw the wall of Khiva. I had morning light…boring, gray, overcast light. And I had several cars blocking the view of the wall. If it were a slide, I’d have pitched it.
But I have Photoshop and I was easily able to remove the cars with a tool called the ‘patch tool’. All you do is select the object you don’t like and select a place that you do like. Photoshop’s little elves go to work and soon the car or person or garbage can disappears and a new section of wall appears in its place. I had several cars to get rid of but I left this man because I like the way he is looking back at the mother and child in the distance.
I had to super-saturate the color to get this golden look. I did use Nik Filters here: Nik Color Efex Pro 4. It is so much fun to see what Nik can do. If you have an idea, Nik can make it happen and if you don’t have an idea, Nik can stimulate your creative instincts.
Photography has changed so much in the last 10 years. Of course, National Geographic would not consider a photo that has been doctored the way this one has, but photographers don’t feel limited by what the camera sees anymore. We can make our visions come true if we want to.