Shigmo is a colorful energetic festival of Goa. Its falls around Holi time – sometime in March/April. It is the way Goa celebrates Holi. I have been attending this festival for the last 3 years. Shigmo is what I look forward to every year. The roads are closed to traffic, people line up the roads. Roads become the stage where teams of performers perform some of the most energetic dances as you can see in the images of the festivities at Shigmo 2017.
There are women in colorful saris performing stunts with ease. They make formations while holding big pots on their heads making you feel as if pots are a part of their body. One of them then holds two lamps in her two hands and walks on backs of the other women who are bending with pots still on their heads.
There are Gods on palanquins from temples around whom the dances take place. The drum beats that announce the beginning of the festivals can take you to a trance. The festival ends with a parade of floats depicting scenes from mythology and sometimes from social life.
Shigmo across Goa
Shigmo takes place in most towns in Goa. The schedule is published in all newspapers across the state. So, if you are in Goa around this time, I strongly recommend you to experience Shigmo. I prefer to watch it in Panaji, in my own town. 18th June Road that passes through the busiest quarters of the city turns pedestrian.
This year I watched the procession from the VIP pavilion on 18th June Road, thanks to Goa Tourism.
I let my better half take videos and I stuck to clicking with my new Asus Zenfone 3s Max. After clicking a few regular pictures in auto mode, I experimented with the effects mode of the phone camera.
Surprisingly, I had tried HDR Modes, Super Resolution Mode and taking the panorama, I noticed the effect mode that I had never tried till then. There are 11 sub-modes in this feature that let you create instant effects on your images.
Come with me to explore these modes as I shot the procession of Shigmo 2017:
Default – Auto Mode – Shigmo 2017
This image was clicked in default Auto Mode with a focus on the dancer in the middle.
Lomo effect with Asus Zenfone 3s Max
This turned out to be my favorite mode for this mobile photography. It kind of adds texture and character to the image. There is a drama that is added to the image albeit at the cost of realism. Having said that, do we not like drama over reality at times.
Grey Scale effect
The Grey Scale is essentially our good old monochrome mode. A lot of us turn our colored images to monochrome in post-processing. This mode lets you shoot in greyscale and the image is ready to be shared. We all know that some frames get a classic touch when they are shot in greyscale rather than color scale.
Hue effect with Asus Zenfone 3s Max during Shigmo 2017
This effect adds a greenish-yellow filter effect on the image. In this image, Reds take the tone of Yellow. This can be used effectively to enhance the quality of nature shots. Of course, you can always change the colors around you with this.
Pencil effect
The Pencil effect mode is another favorite of mine. It instantly converts the image in front of you into a pencil drawing. I loved the way it captured the audience on the right and left in their silhouettes. The light rays from a lamp in the middle become a sketch. The attire of the man holding the flag remains distinct – retaining the essence of the image.
Edge effect
This is the most dramatic effect. It creates a negative image so the elements of the image come out as edges or line drawings. On a lighter note, I think this can be used to add a mystery element or even a supernatural element to the images. Imagine, something that can scare your friends with this effect.
Cartoon effect with Asus Zenfone 3s Max
This effect adds a granular layer of black dots around the edges of the elements in the image. I am still thinking about how this can be used effectively.
Sepia effect during Shigmo 2017
Sepia is the color of nostalgia or color of memories. It is the color that old paper takes – check out the old books in a library and you would know what I mean. The sepia effect in images adds an element of time – as if the images belong to a bygone era and not the current times. I use it to effectively add age to images of old monuments and sometimes in festivals like this one to tell you that they have been there for some time now.
Romantic effect
Do I need to explain, how you can use it? Express your love using this effect.
Negative effect
Remember the good old film negatives. This is how they looked. It was only post-processing that we could see the real images. Celebrate the era of film photography with a negative effect.
There is also a Pixelize & Vintage that I would try some other time.
So, have you explored the various effects on this new mobile phone?
Note – All the images in this post have been clicked using Asus Zenfone 3s Max. They were clicked exactly as you see them here – no editing has been done on them except reducing the size and adding our watermark to manage the size of this page.
Read More – A Day in Sharjah
Beautiful pics from Shigmo Festival.
Loved photo effects #AsusZenfone3sMax
Thank you, Rupam.
very nice image for falls very beautiful
superb..Thanks for sharing your experience with us. it’s very attractive story.
Next time definitely attends this function. That much this story inspired me.
Glad you liked it, Katherin. Hope to see you in Goa next year.