Right Place; Right Time

One of the best things you can do when trying to instagram, is walk around. Even if you only have 15, 10, or even 5 minutes to spare. Walk around, look around, and snap away. One of the best things about digital photography, is that you can delete anything you deem unworthy.
One of my more popular photos came around because I had an extra 5 minutes to spare before heading home from work. I took the opportunity to walk a slightly different path and really pay attention to my surroundings.

I walked by the TD Centre in Toronto snapping away at different angles of the buildings and the people walking about as well. Part of the reason I decided to walk this particular way is because I know the TD buildings frame the CN Tower well. Luckily for me, just as I was setting up my shot, a single person walked into my frame. In my opinion, making a nice picture a really good picture.

The photo I use is of the CN Tower framed by two of the TD Towers. There is also a great shadow in the front and the one lone person. To play up the shadows, I take the photo into Snapseed. I really like using this app to make sure my photos are straight but my favourite feature is the ability to alter the contrast of the RGB components on the image in black and white. Playing with it allows me to find the best way to make the photo pop.

Since I only want to highlight the shadows in the image, there is no need to take this image in any other app and I am ready to upload.

 

This particular photo as well received and was even chosen as the photo of the day by gf_Canada.

 

 

Collaborative Effort

Today’s image is a little different than anything I have ever done before. It is my first collaborative effort. Djae Outlaw X (@djaeoutlaw) has made several of his images available for anyone to use (please remember to give credit where credit is due). Simply go to his website (www.djaeoutlaw.com/freeforall), scroll through the images, and choose whichever one you wish to edit. The photos are spectacular on their own but it can be fun to take something and turn it into something completely different.

I chose the image of the person holding a yellow umbrella in the middle of a field.  I love the large expanse of sky and had a very specific idea of what I wanted to do with it. The first thing I do is take the image into VSCO Cam. It has some preset colour/black and white combinations. For this image, I choose colour set 6. It adds a lightness to the sky. Other than this, I close out of the app.

 

Next, I open the image in LensLight. This is one of my favourite apps when applying sun effects. If you scroll through my gallery, you will see many examples of its use. Originally, I wanted to add the Rain effect. Unfortunately, it looks fake no matter how I adjust Brightness and Image Visible. 

 

Abandoning that idea, I move on to something else. I play around with other sun effects and settle on Sun Beam with the “sun” located directly over the umbrella. The reason, it leaves a sun trail down to the umbrella. The image is now taking on a bit of a sci fi feel.  Now I know for sure where I want the image to go and it’s actually different than my original idea.

 

Next App I open, is Picfx. I scroll through directly to the Space set. After trying out a bunch of different looks, I settle on the Nebula sky effect.  I play with the intensity until I am happy with the look. Time to save!

At this point, I am pretty happy with the image and am read to upload to Instagram.

 

Looking Up: Scotia Plaza

Today’s photo features architecture. For this photo, I choose to edit it in AfterLight. There is no special reason why I choose Afterlight over any other App. I try to use many different Apps.

To start with, I increase the Clarify level to about 60 so the building is a bit more in focus. Next, I decrease the Brightness by about -30. I want the darker tones to stay dark. I also increase Contrast to about 50 to sharpen the shadowing. Having seen the difference the increased contrast has done to the picture, I want to play up the light and dark parts of the image. At this point, I am also unsure if I am going to make the image black and white or leave a bit of colour so I decrease the Saturation level to about -35. I increase the Exposure though to 45. This will dull the image a bit. I also change the Shadow tone to focus on Green. It plays up the maroon in the closest building. I also increase Sharpening to 35 to try and keep the image crisp. I am not ready to crop the image, nor do I want to use the filter effects available in this program so I just save it at this point.

 It’s best to save the image at Max resolution and save to the Camera Roll.

I’ve decided I am happy with the image as is, so I take it into Instagram. I did not crop it so I can now pull the image in to a crop I like. I also decide the image will be more interesting rotated.  If you have applied other filters to your image, it does not mean you cannot use the Instagram filters available. 

 

I poke around and see what effects these have on my image. Ultimately, I am happiest without the extra filter and upload.

First Canadian Place: Passing By

I take a lot of photos indoors. One of my favourite buildings to photograph is First Canadian Place. I will not be surprised is photos from there are featured a lot here. Today’s photo was taken on the main level, by the elevators. There is a neat art piece hanging right now, called SCULPTURE by Katharine Harvey. I wanted it to be in the background with the elevator banks framing the shot. All I needed to do was wait for someone to walk by. I really enjoy using symmetry in my photos so I wanted one person, or a group of people clustered together in the middle on the shot. After a few minutes, and a few attempts, I finally had the photo I wanted.

  

Once I have a photo I am happy with, I am not always sure how I am going to present it. For this photo, first thing I do is take it into Snapseed. I use the Straighten tool to make sure it’s even. Then I use the Details tool to boost the clarity of the image. I want the detail in the art display to come through. I want to be careful. I want it to look naturally clearer and not grainy. Next, I crop the image using the Crop tool. The grid is helpful as it allows me to centre the person and the art display. I also use the opportunity to place the main focus of the image in the top centre portion of my frame. The carpeting along the bottom is meant to draw the eye up towards the main focus of the image. At this point, to help further draw the eye in, I will use the Center Focus tool. I often do not deviate from the pre-set value (feel free to play around with it to find a setting that works best for you and your image). Once my centre focus has been set, I save the photo to the camera roll. For this particular image, I am now down with using Snapseed.

  

I next open the image in Picfx (to get the image you want, use as many apps as you want and as many styles too). For this image, I want a Light feature, specifically Flame 4. I love the Rotate option and often use it to get the effect just right. For this image, I want the light part (of the effect) to be along the bottom of the image. I also lower the strength of the effect to about 65%.

  

At this point, I am pretty happy with the image and am read to upload to Instagram.