About the Image(s)

We were fortunate to have front row seats for the nightly Aarti ceremony on the banks of the Ganges. We had these seats because of the pull of our travel agency??”being only among a handful of westerners in a large crowd of Hindus. The five priests perform synchronized movements on their platforms using a variety of objects, including incense, conch shells, smoke pots and candelabras. (I wish I had been on the end to get all five priests in their routine) This was shot from about 15 feet away. I cropped in Lightroom and did some adjustments, increasing texture and clarity. On the smoke, I reduce contrast to make the smoke more visible.The photo was run through Topaz AI for denoising and sharpening and I accepted its recommendations. I used the dodge tool in PhotoShop to brighten the priests face, the smoke pot and his clothing. I darkened the top of the smoke, which was not blown out but was very bright

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