Sunset in Siesta Key
This photo was taken 2010 with my Nikon D40 when I was 12 years old! I was on a family summer vacation in Florida but it was the first time I had my very own camera, so I had a lot of fun taking pictures. The original photo was a vertical image with a very dark dark foreground and a blown out sky. Since I’ve learned how to post-process my photos really well now in Lightroom, I was able to unlock the full potential of the original photo. After making all the standard adjustments in Lightroom, I applied some presets that added bright colors and gave me a chance to play with some light leaks. I usually don’t use light leaks very often but since this was more of a fun “family beach photo”, I decided to play around with light and cross-processing filters. My goal here was to give the image a playful vibe that would put a smile on people’s faces reminding them of their own fun memories from past family beach vacations.
Carnival Lights
This photo was taken late at night at a small town fair. While walking around the place, I came across this really cool booth. What caught my attention were this bright, flickering lights. They reminded me of the kind of lights that you would see on an old fashioned theatre where they would show what movies were playing that day. I decided to put a little spin on things because a quick snapshot wasn’t gonna do it for me.
I decided to twirl my Leica X1 and did my best to focus on one center light. That took quite a few tries 🙂 Out of several shots, this image was my best capture. In my post-processing I decided to apply a 60s/70s preset with film grain and everything to create the right color tones that would fit the old-fashion mood I was going for.
Delray Café
While staying in Fort Lauderdale last summer, my family decided to go somewhere that we haven’t really checked out before. We drove up to Delray Beach, a small but popular place to go to. It was actually pretty great with a couple parks with unique sculptures, a beautiful beach, and some very nice restaurants. While walking down the sidewalk, we were passing this café and noticed some very unique elements about it that I hadn’t seen passing by the other restaurants. I saw canopy of greenery with lights in it, an amazing graffiti wall and bright eye catching yellow flowers at the centre of every table. Within seconds of looking at the scene, I knew I could get a really beautiful shot by implementing bokeh into my shot. Due to my limitation of subjects I could choose from, I decided to use flowers in a glass vase in the foreground that at least stood out from the rest of the background. This shot was taken with my Lecia X1 at f2.8 and though the f-stop doesn’t seem very low, I was pretty happy with the bokeh that my Zeiss lens on the X1 was able to produce.
Charleston Cones
By mid-August of last year, I had own my first Leica camera for several months and was a having a truly amazing experience. My last summer trip before school started was in Charleston SC. I have been there a few times before and loved the experiences I had there. The city is such a fun and happening place and there are many little gems to find in this city if you look in the right places. While walking up Market Street, I walked inside this really cool new candy store. What grabbed my attention after only seconds of being inside was their ice cream bar. However, for the first time it wasn’t the ice cream that caught my attention, but the huge, very uniquely decorated waffle cones. They had a variety of differently decorated ice cream cones on display that looked absolutely delicious – and they were 🙂
I went up close to the cones with my Leica X1 and rested my arm on top of the glass over the ice cream flavors to keep from blurring the image since I was inside and the lighting was dim. I focused directly on the M&Ms sticking to the waves of chocolate syrup wrapping around the ice cream cone as if it was a Christmas present. In my post-processing, looking at the color image I had taken looked delicious, but I was going for a different mood for my photo. Instead of saturating the colors to make a tasty looking image, I decided to go for a more thought-provoking approach by eliminating the sense of color and emphasizing the texture and artistry of the ice cream cones. The monochromatic tones and values create a more intimate scene that focuses on the quality of the savory and delectable appeal of the hand-made and decorated waffle cone. This avoids the simple thought of looking at something and just thinking about how good it looks and quickly wanting to eat it.
¹ Reflections of…
While walking down Ocean Blvd. in Miami South Beach, I was admiring many of the incredible looking cars parked along the street. While photographing one of them, I decided to do something a little out of the ordinary. I focused on one of the headlights of the car and only that. By doing this I captured a reflection of one of the really cool art deco buildings directly in the headlight. In my post-processing, I eliminated all other distractions in the background by vignetting everything around the headlight. I was so happy with the result and knew it would be one of my many unique shots from Miami.
