Bob Scott  


Divali, Lake Hiawatha, NJ. by Bob Scott

November 2023 - Divali, Lake Hiawatha, NJ.

About the Image(s)

Our house is across the street from a Hindu Temple and each year we are invited to Divali with the great offerings and wonderful food. This year’s theme was New York City with the skyline in blue. There was a Spanish block with a taco place and tacos in front and a sort of Times Square with a little ball. The fake Wall Street feed had things like Jealousy -3.75 with things that were up in Gujarati. Technically, there are two holidays. One is Sharad Poornima, This celebrates the birth of Gunatitanand Swami (1784-1867) and the other is Annakut Mahatsov, which is the fourth day of Divali. The name means mountain of food. That includes 3,000 homemade suites piled into pyramids.

The camera was a Nikon 7 ii with a NIKKOR Z 14-24mm f2.8 lens at 14 mm.
When I looked at the settings, I was astounded. I don’t remember setting them like this and probably would not, thinking they would not work but they worked and this was handheld. ISO160 f/2.8 1/15. This was run through Topaz Denoise and Sharpen and yes, the Blue is that saturated. Started of with basics in Lightroom and over to Photoshop. But outside of cropping and working to correct the wide angle distortions there was not much editing.


This round’s discussion is now closed!
2 comments posted




Howard Frank   Howard Frank
Lots of good detail and color to attract the eye. Good idea to crop as a pano. the blue is picked up in the monks faces, and you might want to color correct them to a more neutral color.   Posted: 11/18/2023 20:58:50



Ricarda Dudek   Ricarda Dudek
Bob: The colors and the details are the first thing(s) that caught my eye. There is so much going on in this photo I am overwhelmed. Because this photo reflects customs and traditions associated with two holidays that I am not familiar with, I can only appreciate the image from a viewer's eye that does not understand what is going on. The focus is outstanding from the lotus in the front to the 3,000 homemade suites piled into pyramids. Your ability to capture everything and maintain focus is amazing.   Posted: 11/27/2023 19:50:17