This past Valentines Day I was in Portland, Oregon. And while shooting some Street Photography during the weekend spent in the Rose City, there was plenty of Valentines vibes in the air. Some decorations were more weird than others, true to the motto of the city. I originally intended to save those “love is in the air” street photos for a Valentines post next year, but they are also the perfect fit for today, which marks my 26th wedding anniversary.
After yesterday’s coffee photo (a vice I admit adhering to) here is one with a bit of smoke. Like coffee drinkers, also smokers claim they can relax over a cigarette, although I personally can’t find why that is, with all that smell. But I do admit, a passerby puffing steam can make for an interesting street image. And this lady sure looks relaxed, as she is studying real estate offers in a shop window in Genoa’s old town.
I thought of converting the photo to monochrome, but eventually decided against, as the blue-yellow-blue sequencing of colors makes for an eye-catching color combo (as blue and yellow combined always does). Also, her blowing smoke (and looking) towards the upper left corner and her body shape angling towards the lower left adds a triangular component to the composition. And there is a story, as you would wonder what she might be looking at (in case I hadn’t told you before).
Taken with my Olympus OM-D E-M1 and the mZuiko 12-100mm F/4 – image specs 1/50 sec @ f/4 and ISO 1600, 100mm focal length.
Those commuters for sure seem totally ignorant about that love attack from their right side. Or maybe nobody dares to look anymore? I took this is the new subway station below the Oculus near the new World Trade Center. Image specs are 1/125 sec @ f/4 and ISO 250. After RAW conversion I corrected the white balance in Lightroom CC, so it correctly shows the white marble of the station, not the yellowish color that the automatic white balance gave me. A good example why shooting RAW makes so much sense, when it comes to correcting the white balance in post processing. No chance to get this straight in jpg. While the AWB typically does well outside, indoors with artificial light in often is lost.
Another point fo discussion in this image is whether to clone out the tubes of the roof construction that are visible in the top right. Cropping does not work here, as you would lose the leading lines of the walkway and the electronic billboard. So either leave them where there are, or take the work laborious approach to clone them out, without disrupting the lines of the marble tiles. I decided to leave them. Although a bit of a disturbance of the otherwise clean composition, the eye doesn’t really notice them. I would be interested in your opinions, leave them in the comment section.