Photo of the Week

This is an image of a Powhatan ceremonial statue from Jamestown Settlement in Virginia. The detail of the face shows several layers of paint in various states of cracking and decay. I remember these statues from when I was a child visiting Jamestown in the early 1980's, so these have been around for a while. Notice how the older layers of paint appear to have a more reddish hue? I wonder if they covered up the red paint to be more politically correct. The image was shot with a Canon EOS XSi with the kit 18-55 zoom lens at 55 mm, f/5.6, 1/60", ISO 250. The point of focus is the eye closest to the camera. As with all portraits, the eye is the most important part of the face to keep sharp. The background lighting was overexposed, so I adjusted the curves to darken the highlights. I also added a slight vignette to darken the edges and add an old feel to the photo.