Good Vibrations - Photography/Video

Moving to the groove

"Good Vibrations." Worshipers at a synagogue in northern Israel at the Succot "Feast of Weeks" services circle a Torah scroll upon a dais, as they wave the bundled "Four Species" (etrog - citron, hadass - myrtle, arava - willow, and lulav - palm branch).

I shot this on a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra in Expert Raw Mode using the software-based ND (“Neutral Density” - sort of like a polaroid sunglasses lens) filter at 128 (about equivalent to 7 stops) to emphasize the lively moment and the steadfastness of the Torah in comparison.

There’s a useful explainer about the use and functions of on ND filters the Samsung Community board, here.

There’s a good video on using this option here:

And a wider focus on using Expert Raw, overall:

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I lowered the brightness and vignetted in Lightroom Mobile to accent the worshipers' stately movements around the ornately gilded case and craft a non - "smartphone snap.”

There's a gallery overlooking the area; I'll try to get a wider shot from that higher angle during the remaining intermediate days of the seven-day festival, which concludes Thursday evening.