Saddleworth Whit walks and Band Contests

Terrywoodenpic

Terrywoodenpic

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Terry
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Once a year on whit Friday Saddleworth Celebrates Whitsuntide With all the christian church congregations marching with bands and banners, from the town and from the outlying villages to the park in the centre of Uppermill for an open-air service to mark Pentecost.
Some years it rains, some years like this one in bright sunshine. This year The vast turn out filled the playing field.

In the afternoon There is a series of band contests in all the villages. the bands come from all over the UK and many from other countries. Unusually for a contest they do not pre-book, but just turn up in their busses on the day, and do a circuit of the various village contests. There are cash prizes to be won at each contest and also prizes for overall winners.
The contest goes on into the early hours of Saturday morning when the last bands complete their circuit. The volunteers can then pack up and make their weary way home.
Thousands of people throng to the celebrations from miles around for a long and very special day.

I include a few shots of the day taken with my XT30. The light was so contrasty that they were some what difficult to process, as the shadows were unusually deep compared to the bright sun lit areas,T30X4422web.jpgT30X4427web.jpgT30X4413web.jpgT30X4432-web.jpg
 
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garryknight said:
A nice set of documentary shots that would look good on a museum wall, Terry. And a good choice of using a bit of a higher dynamic range to bring out the detail.
Click to expand...
I tried to use the new Ai based masking, but it left halos around people, so was unusable. They do not seem to have given a way to shrink it. So I masked it all the long way with the brush. I hope it is not too obvious. My tremor is no help. As to the lightening, it seems that the amount is very critical before it becomes overly visible. I aim for the point where a non photographer would probably not notice.
 
Thought I would show a Before and After. It was shot in raw but the SOC is a straight conversion to Jpeg . The Other is adjusted with a shadow mask applied and with other colour and tonal adjustments. There is no way a SOC Jpeg would have been optimal at any camera setting. The processing probably took five or six minutes as the masking had to be done by hand. I can see a few parts that need further adjustment but even in full processing mode I have to draw the line somewhere. it also needs a little straightening up. I did that to some of them but it seems not this one.T30X4427-soc.jpgT30X4427web.jpg
 
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I love Whit Friday in Saddleworth. The best day of the year and this year with the glorious weather it was absolutely fantastic. Wonderful crowds and bands from different countries including an Aussie band who couldn't believe the experience. They loved it. A truly heart-warming and affirmative day.
 
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