Using Your Head

This is a scene that you'll probably never see in the United States--an elderly woman, carrying stuff on her head. That's why it's a great photo.

I've written quite a bit about about Antigua's charm in previous posts.

Of all the colonial cities in the Americas, Antigua is my favorite. The weather's fine, the view of the mountains, terrific.

Antigua is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the Mayan part of Central America.

Many people in Guatemala are descendants of the Mayan indigenous culture, a culture that has survived a tumultuous history.

Shooting for Color

Geeze, take a look at that color. Here's how I got those vivid robin's egg blue.

1. When I was in Antigua, Guatemala, I looked for buildings that were painted bright colors, that were in direct sunlight and that had some patina (aging marks).
2. I set my camera to Av mode (the mode where I determine the aperture and the camera determines the shutter speed). I set the aperture to f/8 (my camera reads 8 for that setting).
3. I set my exposure compensation (see your camera's manual to find yours) to -1 EV to deepen the colors (underexposing your shot in bright sunlight will deepen color.
4. I shoot : )
5. I download my shot to my computer.
6. I tweak the levels slider (Image>Adjustments>Levels) to lighten photo up a bit (slide right slider inward).

Viola, that's it!