Men of God

Men of God, a photo by Tony DeSantis Photography on Flickr.

My dear friend was ordained as a Catholic Priest over the weekend. The service was beautiful and possibly a tad bit long but it was a great time for self reflection. I am very blessed to have him in my life as a brother of Christ. Right now he is home until the middle of September and then he goes back to Belgium to complete his studies.
He is a true man of God and has a great heart to serve. By the way he is 2nd from the left with the balding head.

I think I am starting to get down some post processing consistency in my technique.  I think that is, maybe I shouldn't think and just go with the flow of the photo.  Anyway here is the post processing.

I was trying to go for a more painterly look in the robes and surrounding area but not in the faces or skin of the subjects.  I also didn't want to over saturate the image and purposely tried to keep it with a more traditional look.

The Shot:
Hand Held, Standard 3 shot HDR +3, +1, -1, ISO 400, F/7.1, 24-105L @60mm

Post Processing:
>3 Raw files brought into Camera Raw
  >Removed Black
  >Removed Sharpening
  >Adjusted Color Balance
  >Added Noise Reduction
  >Saved all as tiff's

Photomatix:
>Detail Enhancer
  >Default
  >Adjusted to taste
  >Saved as 16 Bit tiff file

CS-5:
>Topaz Adjust-Bring back detail and some color
>Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0
  >Pro Contrast
  >Tonal Contrast
  >Bleach Bypass 12% Opacity
  >Glamor Glow Masked out subjects
>Adjustment Layer-Hue/Sat-removed red in faces
>Non-Destructive Dodge and Burn-Darken and Lighten parts of robes to give more depth and texture
>Nik Color Efex Pro 3.0-Glamor Glow entire image and lowered opacity to taste
>Vignette added
>High Pass Sharpening
>Framed and sized for posting