Line, Shape, and Form: Enjoying All Three On A Recent Cincy Photo Walk

Hi Everybody,

I thought I would drop by - see how everybody's doing here at DigitalProTalk today. This past weekend we took a short photo walk with some friends in Northern Kentucky.  Our walk took us through downtown Covington, KY and then across the John Roebling Suspension bridge to downtown Cincinnati, OH and then back again. BTW the bridge was modeled after the Brooklyn Bridge – see the resemblance?

Line, Shape, and Form: Enjoying All Three On A Recent Cincy Photo Walk

I thought I would share with you a few the images I made during our two hour trip. The weather was perfect the subject matter was cool and colorful and I think I got some nice images. Let me share them with you in the order in which they were captured.  All images were made with my “fun” camera, my Canon PowerShot SX50 HS Digital Camera which I love for just these kinds of things. BTW, all post processing was done mostly in Lightroom 5 and a bit in CS6.  On to the photographs…

1. This image is of three drums I saw in a pawnshop as we passed walking down Main Street in Covington, Kentucky. I just love the bright colors and repeat of the bright greens in this image.

2. In the next image I was taken by the shadows on the wall against the venetian blinds. I tweaked colors a bit in Photoshop and Lightroom 5 and then added a little spherical distortion with the Lens Correction tool to get this final result.

3. In this next image as I looked across the street I saw this unusual reflection in the mirrored pane glass of the storefront. I thought the bright colors and the curvature of the space made for an interesting photo walk grab.

4.  As we continue down the main street I saw a “sign” – a real sign - so I had to photograph it. I love the bright yellow against the dark blue sky. It's a wide-angle photograph that's just kind of a fun compositional juxtaposition. 

5. The next image is a really simple image of repeating rectangular elements of a parking lot. But I love the curved power line running in front of it. I thought it offered a interesting contrast to the otherwise horizontal/vertical lines of the composition.

6. The next image of this tall building with this blue accents I found really appealing. I positioned the light post against a solid part of the building to create the finished composition I wanted. This was actually one of my favorite photographs of the photo walk.

7.  This next image of the red grid work was again one of my favorites from Sunday's photo walk. It was actually a black grid when I started and it was actually vertical but after colorizing it to the bright red and rotating it 90° I like how it gives us a cool overhead feel.

8.  The suspension bridge crossing the Ohio River in Cincinnati, OH  is one of the most interesting architectural features of our area. As I mentioned earlier it was designed by John Roebling who also designed and started the building of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York.

In this image I love the curved lines of the cables push both upwards and downwards.  I filled the frame with all the curved elements and shot away.  I think this arabesque dance created quite a interesting composition.

9. This next image is just an exercise in contrasts. The shadows were getting long and I thought they looked cool playing against the bright, sunny sidewalk. As I said I love playing around with my design lines.

10.  After crossing the suspension bridge we happened upon a public fountain in which we found several small children enjoying themselves. I captured several photographs to get just the image I wanted.  I love seeing this little boy splashing exuberantly in the spraying water. Nice way to cool off!

11. On the way back across the suspension bridge which is really tied together with these huge bolts holding together the cables themselves, I thought a close-up of one of those huge bolts as the sun was reflecting would make an interesting composition in this image.

12 and 13. As you know as a DigitalProTalk reader, I'm a big fan of lines and shapes. These next two images are of one of the office buildings on the Kentucky side of the Ohio River.  The building provided an interesting subject matter I was looking for. The colors and densities were enhanced in Lightroom 5 to my desired result.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

14. Continuing our photo walk I was given yet another “sign” so I had to photograph it ;~)  Once again, I love the bright yellow against the blue sky with the Suspension bridge in the background. I happened to be a big fan of wide-angle lenses and this was done with a 24 mm lens shooting up from a very low vantage point. Again it was just fun and I just like the composition.

15.  This image I was playing with as I was shooting with my Canon PowerShot SX50 HS Digital Camera and I really enjoy using it’s articulated viewfinder to make this photograph. That means I didn't have to lay down on my stomach to take it, I just lowered the camera to the ground pointed the viewfinder up to my eyes so I could create the composition I wanted and shot away.

I have to admit, I meant for the yellow line to run to the center the building in the distance but that was not the case.  Since I missed the centering slightly, I did have to modify it ever so slightly in Photoshop CS6 to get the effect I wanted.

16. This last image is of our group of photo-walkers which I made with my iPhone 5 set to Panorama mode.  I have to say I don't know how Apple works that panorama into that camera but it is so seamless and so cool to play with I thought I would just throw one in here at the end of the post.

___________________________________________________________

Hey gang, that wraps it for me today. I hope you enjoyed the post – quite colorful and diversified.  I really like to get as much variety as I can on these fun little photo walks.  They just give a boost to those creative juices flowing through your brain. 

I know it's been a while's since I posted at DigitalProTalk but I have to admit, I'm enjoying my slower paced lifestyle but at the same time, I do miss writing for the DPT blog.  I think maybe I’m going through a DigitalProTalk mid life crisis or something ;~) 

Anyway, I do have a few more articles planned for the future.  One in particular features Lightroom 5.  I'll try to get it up maybe next week because I think it will be a really very helpful article for all you new Lightroom 5 users. I’m planning to point out some of the new features and shortcuts you may not be familiar with even with all the tutorials currently on online reviewing the new features. Anyway I'll do my best to get it up probably for Technique Tuesday next week so check back - give it a peek and I hope you enjoy it.

Hey gang that's it for me today. We got big plans this weekend so check back again on Friday and I'll fill you in.

Adios, David