People Showcase ⇒ Pow Wow

[Bob Yankle]

One of the first times I really got into using textures was in a collaboration with my sister who had photographed a Pow Wow. The costumes were gorgeous ..... the crowds in the backgrounds not so much. In images 2 and 4 I actually re-introduced the crowd at about 3% opacity in the background layer, giving it a sense of ancestors watching over the celebration.

[Duck]

These are amazing. I remember a while back when the on demand printing started opening up all kinds of possibilities for photographers, one particular local portrait photographer offered high school seniors posters of themselves using simple background portraits. This is reminiscent of what he did but on a higher artistic level. I can definitely see these as large wall prints. Super cool.

[Ernst-Ulrich Schafer]

Wonderful image Bob. Love those textured backgrounds. Looks like alot of work.

[Ernst-Ulrich Schafer]

I had to come back this morning and look again!!! Would you give us some insights as to how you created these Bob? Thanks

[Bob Yankle]

These are amazing. I remember a while back when the on demand printing started opening up all kinds of possibilities for photographers, one particular local portrait photographer offered high school seniors posters of themselves using simple background portraits. This is reminiscent of what he did but on a higher artistic level. I can definitely see these as large wall prints. Super cool.

I had to come back this morning and look again!!! Would you give us some insights as to how you created these Bob? Thanks

Thank you Duck and Ernst. The hardest part when working with these Indian Dancers is creating a selection around the various tassels and feathers. The tool I use most often is the polygonal lasso tool ...... takes a lot of clicks (especially on curves), but lets me get in real close. I save the selection to a new layer, then create a new layer with the texture beneath the selected dancers. I use textured backgrounds from a program called Smart Photo Editor Studio, then on some, change the opacity of that layer to about 98% - this allows some of the crowd to show through, but so indistinctly to appear as ghosts. Finally I go to work on the top layer, enhancing the lighting and color values until they blend nicely with the textured background layer immediately beneath it.

[minniev]

One of the first times I really got into using textures was in a collaboration with my sister who had photographed a Pow Wow. The costumes were gorgeous ..... the crowds in the backgrounds not so much. In images 2 and 4 I actually re-introduced the crowd at about 3% opacity in the background layer, giving it a sense of ancestors watching over the celebration.

Very interesting and creative way to present these, and thank you for the detail on what you did. I am always flummoxed by what to do with pictures of native dancers because of the crowd being both close and surrounding the dancers, so that there is not angle from which NOT to have them. There's usually a lot of other intrusions since they're often set up right amidst vendor booths, parking areas, and all kinds of other stuff. The native events I photograph are 'Choctaw, so not pow-pows in the usual sense (their tribal law forbids it since it is not their tradition), but they do have celebrations where similar dances occur, and of course stickball. You have given me some inspiration!

[St3v3M]

Wow, these are wonderful and I really like the texture and the use of the 3% to invoke a little more. These are beautiful! S-