Colorful India

I just arrived in India for a photo tour here. I haven't started shooting yet because my group haven't arrived, so I'm posting a picture I set up on my last tour. This is my wife, Dia, in a sari we bought for her posing in front of a spectacular door in Bikaner. Many photographers like photographing great doors. In my opinion, architecture is usually enhanced with the addition of the human element. This is only true, though, if the person (or people) add something artistic or compelling or dynamic to the composition. You can't just stick grandma in front of a beautiful door and take a great picture. That might be fine for a selfie and to keep as a memory, but it's nothing more. Introducing people into a shot has to be thought out and carefully planned. That's why we bought the sari -- to use it with a striking background. My settings were 1/80, f/4.5, and 250 ISO, and I used a 24-105mm lens. The diffused light I had to work with was ideal in making the colors really pop.