April Squares: Top Shots, The Stuff of Legends

ISO 400 f/11 1/1600sec 35mm

Day 20, find other responses here.

Date and Location of Photo: April 7, 2019 Tintagel. This shot taken near Tintagel Castle represents to me the beauty of the landscape in Cornwall. It’s easy to see why such a place inspired the legend of King Arthur.

Thoughts on the Edit: Taken with my larger camera, the original file is underexposed, so the first two steps were to bump up the exposure and then use the custom white balance eyedropper to make some basic corrections. The edit has the Luminar Look, Morning Fog, added to it.

April Squares, an Explanation:

When Becky announced that the April Squares theme was going to be “top”, I thought it over and then sent her a message, then pitched my idea. She was open to my theme within the theme and the result is my response to the April Squares challenge.

I move a lot and I have a move pending. I’ve lived here in England for about four years and will be heading to the United States. Exact dates to be determined, given the current world situation, details have yet to be worked out. My April Squares is a “top shots” reflection on the last four years. Each square represents some moment or place that was meaningful to me. They are in chronological order moving forward in time. I’m attempting to post every day. All photos will be edited in Luminar 3. I hope you enjoy following along, I’ve enjoyed the process of creating. Your comments and thoughts are welcome below.

Cheers!

April Squares: Top Shots, Take to the Skies

ISO 25 f/2.2 1/100sec 4.2mm

Day 19, find other responses here.

Date and Location of Photo: December 24, 2018. Prepping for a flight from Germany to England. A summary of my years living here in England requires a mention of Easy Jet, the budget airline I used most and referred to as “Squeezy Jet” by certain teenagers of my acquaintance. This particular shot was taken in Berlin on a cold Christmas Eve morning.

Thoughts on the Edit: Keeping with the transportation theme, I’ve added the Luminar Look, Subway, to this edit.

April Squares, an Explanation:

When Becky announced that the April Squares theme was going to be “top”, I thought it over and then sent her a message, then pitched my idea. She was open to my theme within the theme and the result is my response to the April Squares challenge.

I move a lot and I have a move pending. I’ve lived here in England for about four years and will be heading to the United States. Exact dates to be determined, given the current world situation, details have yet to be worked out. My April Squares is a “top shots” reflection on the last four years. Each square represents some moment or place that was meaningful to me. They are in chronological order moving forward in time. I’m attempting to post every day. All photos will be edited in Luminar 3. I hope you enjoy following along, I’ve enjoyed the process of creating. Your comments and thoughts are welcome below.

Cheers!

April Squares: Top Shots, Malta

ISO 3200 f/9 a/30sec 18mm

Day 18, find other responses here.

Date and Location of Photo: July 23, 2018. St. Paul’s Cathedral, Mdina, Malta. The wonder of Malta in my opinion is its history. Seemly everyone has traipsed over the island. The apostle Paul was shipwrecked on the island, others arrived in a more deliberate fashion.  We came for both the history and the sunshine and were not disappointed.

Thoughts on the Edit: The ISO was set high as a way to compensate for the dark interior of the cathedral. The resulting noise was left in. I tend to leave noise in my photos, this is just a matter of personal taste. The photo has the Luminar Look, Too Cool for School, added. On another layers I added the golden hour filter and the Orton effect.

April Squares, an Explanation:

When Becky announced that the April Squares theme was going to be “top”, I thought it over and then sent her a message, then pitched my idea. She was open to my theme within the theme and the result is my response to the April Squares challenge.

I move a lot and I have a move pending. I’ve lived here in England for about four years and will be heading to the United States. Exact dates to be determined, given the current world situation, details have yet to be worked out. My April Squares is a “top shots” reflection on the last four years. Each square represents some moment or place that was meaningful to me. They are in chronological order moving forward in time. I’m attempting to post every day. All photos will be edited in Luminar 3. I hope you enjoy following along, I’ve enjoyed the process of creating. Your comments and thoughts are welcome below.

Cheers!

April Squares: Top Shots, Bury St. Edmunds

ISO 64 f/2.2 1/33sec 4.2mm

Day 17, find other responses here.

Date and Location of Photo: June 9, 2018. Bury St. Edmunds, England. I visited this town several times and I took a variant of this photo every single time because I think it is funny. Bury, as it sometimes called, has a lot to do and see including a cathedral and brewery.

Thoughts on the Edit: Sometimes I pick a Luminar Look based on its name, and I thought Yowza was a fitting choice, in homage to angry townspeople everywhere.

April Squares, an Explanation:

When Becky announced that the April Squares theme was going to be “top”, I thought it over and then sent her a message, then pitched my idea. She was open to my theme within the theme and the result is my response to the April Squares challenge.

I move a lot and I have a move pending. I’ve lived here in England for about four years and will be heading to the United States. Exact dates to be determined, given the current world situation, details have yet to be worked out. My April Squares is a “top shots” reflection on the last four years. Each square represents some moment or place that was meaningful to me. They are in chronological order moving forward in time. I’m attempting to post every day. All photos will be edited in Luminar 3. I hope you enjoy following along, I’ve enjoyed the process of creating. Your comments and thoughts are welcome below.

Cheers!

April Squares: Top Shots, Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery

ISO 25 f/2.2 1/651 sec 4.2mm

Day 16, find other responses here.

Date and Location of Photo: May 28, 2018. Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery. I have published several photos from my time along the Normandy Coast. This one is a detail shot from the Dieppe Canadian War Cemetery, which is a bit off the beaten path on a small, quiet road that has several fields nearby. A spot worth seeking out. The Cemetery is well cared for, beautiful and sad.

Thoughts on the Edit: I wasn’t sure if the square format was going to work with this particular file, so that was a bit of an experiment. Once I decided on the crop, I then boosted the details and luminance before adding the Luminar Look, Expired L11, which is an expired film look. The look has a texture overlay which is a bit too strong in my opinion so I edited that part of the look.

April Squares, an Explanation:

When Becky announced that the April Squares theme was going to be “top”, I thought it over and then sent her a message, then pitched my idea. She was open to my theme within the theme and the result is my response to the April Squares challenge.

I move a lot and I have a move pending. I’ve lived here in England for about four years and will be heading to the United States. Exact dates to be determined, given the current world situation, details have yet to be worked out. My April Squares is a “top shots” reflection on the last four years. Each square represents some moment or place that was meaningful to me. They are in chronological order moving forward in time. I’m attempting to post every day. All photos will be edited in Luminar 3. I hope you enjoy following along, I’ve enjoyed the process of creating. Your comments and thoughts are welcome below.

Cheers!

April Squares: Top Shots, Alhambra

ISO 1600 f/13 1/500sec 15mm

Day 15, find other responses here.

Date and Location of Photo: April 7, 2018. The Alhambra in Granada, Spain. A beautiful cultural site. The Alhambra is sprawling and there are a few different ways you could approach your visit. We chose the audio guide, which was probably best considering how many photos I wanted to take. I have many lovely landscape images but for this challenge I chose a detail shot instead.

Thoughts on the Edit: After applying the square crop, I bumped up the details slider. I have added the Luminar Look, Authentic Randy, and a vignette.

April Squares, an Explanation:

When Becky announced that the April Squares theme was going to be “top”, I thought it over and then sent her a message, then pitched my idea. She was open to my theme within the theme and the result is my response to the April Squares challenge.

I move a lot and I have a move pending. I’ve lived here in England for about four years and will be heading to the United States. Exact dates to be determined, given the current world situation, details have yet to be worked out. My April Squares is a “top shots” reflection on the last four years. Each square represents some moment or place that was meaningful to me. They are in chronological order moving forward in time. I’m attempting to post every day. All photos will be edited in Luminar 3. I hope you enjoy following along, I’ve enjoyed the process of creating. Your comments and thoughts are welcome below.

Cheers!

April Squares: Top Shots, Musée d’Orsay

ISO 25 f/2.2 1/319sec 4.2mm

Day 14, find other responses here.

Date and Location of Photo: February 14, 2018. Musée d’Orsay in Paris, France. Before you go thinking, how romantic Paris on Valentine’s Day! I’ll let you know that it was over a term break. School scheduling dominated our travel dates while living in England. Also, just in case you get the wrong idea from this photo’s location, I know almost nothing about art other than if I like a certain work or not. Musée d’Orsay ended up being my favorite overall art museum in Europe. Bonus, the building itself is stunning.

Thoughts on the Edit: The original file had very little color, however I boosted what was there and then used the detail enhancer slider to boost the small details. I then added a custom look that I had created that replicates a black and white pinhole camera. I’ve found that for certain black and white edits, exaggerating things like color first before converting to black and white can make for a very nice final edit, even if the color edit on its own seems gaudy.

April Squares, an Explanation:

When Becky announced that the April Squares theme was going to be “top”, I thought it over and then sent her a message, then pitched my idea. She was open to my theme within the theme and the result is my response to the April Squares challenge.

I move a lot and I have a move pending. I’ve lived here in England for about four years and will be heading to the United States. Exact dates to be determined, given the current world situation, details have yet to be worked out. My April Squares is a “top shots” reflection on the last four years. Each square represents some moment or place that was meaningful to me. They are in chronological order moving forward in time. I’m attempting to post every day. All photos will be edited in Luminar 3. I hope you enjoy following along, I’ve enjoyed the process of creating. Your comments and thoughts are welcome below.

Cheers!

April Squares: Top Shots, Prague

ISO 125 f/2.2 1/33sec 4.2mm

Day 13, find other responses here.

Date and Location of Photo: December 18, 2017. Pinkas Synagogue in Prague, built in 1535. Currently its walls have the names of 80,000 Jewish victims of the Holocaust from Czech lands. It’s beautiful and sad this memorial, but I was so grateful to be able to visit. Over the last four years I have had the opportunity to visit many sites related to WWII and it has helped inform my view of the war in a way that reading history books has not, reading and seeing are two different things certainty. Speaking of reading, I just finished and would highly recommend, When Time Stopped by Ariana Neumann, it’s a family memoir of the war years and makes mention of this particular synagogue in an unexpected way.

Thoughts on the Edit: I kept this edit simple. It is a custom vintage edit.

April Squares, an Explanation:

When Becky announced that the April Squares theme was going to be “top”, I thought it over and then sent her a message, then pitched my idea. She was open to my theme within the theme and the result is my response to the April Squares challenge.

I move a lot and I have a move pending. I’ve lived here in England for about four years and will be heading to the United States. Exact dates to be determined, given the current world situation, details have yet to be worked out. My April Squares is a “top shots” reflection on the last four years. Each square represents some moment or place that was meaningful to me. They are in chronological order moving forward in time. I’m attempting to post every day. All photos will be edited in Luminar 3. I hope you enjoy following along, I’ve enjoyed the process of creating. Your comments and thoughts are welcome below.

Cheers!

April Squares: Top Shots, Trip of a Lifetime

ISO 25 f/2.2 1/1538 sec 4.2mm

Day 12, find other responses here.

Date and Location of Photo: December 8, 2017. I took this photo within the Ngorongoro Conservation Area in Tanzania. A somewhat unexpected development while I was living here in England was that I had the opportunity to go on a safari trip in Tanzania. I jumped at the opportunity as this was something I had wanted to do for a long time.

Thoughts on the Edit: This edit has the Luminar Look, Enigma, applied at 67%. The initial edits did require lightening the shadows quite a bit.

April Squares, an Explanation:

When Becky announced that the April Squares theme was going to be “top”, I thought it over and then sent her a message, then pitched my idea. She was open to my theme within the theme and the result is my response to the April Squares challenge.

I move a lot and I have a move pending. I’ve lived here in England for about four years and will be heading to the United States. Exact dates to be determined, given the current world situation, details have yet to be worked out. My April Squares is a “top shots” reflection on the last four years. Each square represents some moment or place that was meaningful to me. They are in chronological order moving forward in time. I’m attempting to post every day. All photos will be edited in Luminar 3. I hope you enjoy following along, I’ve enjoyed the process of creating. Your comments and thoughts are welcome below.

Cheers!

April Squares: Top Shots, Remembrance Sunday

ISO 25 f/2.2 1/192sec 4.2mm

Day 11, find other responses here. November 12, 2017.

Date and Location of Photo: Shot at the Remembrance Sunday, or Poppy Sunday service held in my village. The artwork for these yearly services are done by young people who live in the village and they are usually quite evocative, but I found this one particularly so.

Thoughts on the Edit: For this edit I applied a black and white filter with a red filter. I then added a bit of the red and green back into the image. This image was cropped tightly to show more of the detail of the art and to crop out the people standing nearby.

April Squares, an Explanation:

When Becky announced that the April Squares theme was going to be “top”, I thought it over and then sent her a message, then pitched my idea. She was open to my theme within the theme and the result is my response to the April Squares challenge.

I move a lot and I have a move pending. I’ve lived here in England for about four years and will be heading to the United States. Exact dates to be determined, given the current world situation, details have yet to be worked out. My April Squares is a “top shots” reflection on the last four years. Each square represents some moment or place that was meaningful to me. They are in chronological order moving forward in time. I’m attempting to post every day. All photos will be edited in Luminar 3. I hope you enjoy following along, I’ve enjoyed the process of creating. Your comments and thoughts are welcome below.

Cheers!