January Squares: Light at the End of the Tunnel

Ah, winter, who doesn’t love winter? Me. When snowdrops begin to appear it signals the beginning of the end:

ISO 400 f/11 55mm 1/100sec

This edited photo of snowdrops is available on my Picfair portfolio. As shown, it has been edited in Luminar with a film fade look applied. For the square version, I simply applied a crop:

ISO 400 f/11 55mm 1/100sec

This post is the last in my January Squares series. I’ve really enjoyed this challenge, so thanks to you all who have followed along or checked in over the month. My biggest thanks though is to Becky who graciously hosted this challenge. The challenge will run again in April, with the theme being announced in March. If you would like information about how the challenge works check here.

I posted all my images for this challenge also on Instagram, today’s is here:

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Spring is coming. #fridayfeeling #spring #snowdrops #januarylight

A post shared by Amy Maranto (@marantophotography) on Jan 30, 2020 at 10:30pm PST

Added to Day 31 of January Squares, also to Cee’s Flower of the Day.

Cheers!

 

January Squares: Goldenlight

You have to look up to see her, but she is quite dazzling:

ISO 320 f/11 21mm 1/1250 sec

This is Gëlle Fra, the golden lady, a memorial on Constitution Square in Luxembourg City, to commemorate the dead of WWI. Originally erected in 1923, it was pulled down by the Nazis in 1940 and then restored to its original appearance in 1984.

This file was taken with my Canon 80D and then edited in Luminar:

ISO 320 f/11 21mm 1/1250 sec

In addition to the crop, I corrected for lens distortion. I boosted the luminance of the orange and yellow. I slid the sky enhancer up and highlights and blacks down. I have also added a vignette.

The Instagram version is here:

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Golden. #januarylight #goldenlady #luxembourg

A post shared by Amy Maranto (@marantophotography) on Jan 29, 2020 at 10:49pm PST

Added to Day 30 of January Squares.

Cheers!

 

January Squares: Frosty Winterlight

It’s been chilly here but you can still find me outside:

ISO 25 f/2.2 4.15mm 1/143 sec

The light as shot in this photo tells the story of the cold temperature, but when it came to my square edit, which I did in Hipstamatic, I wanted to push that a bit:

Hipstamatic

The added filters are The Florence Lens and Irom 2000 Film. I think they add to the frosty feel of the original. Your thoughts are welcome in the comment section below.

The Instagram version is here:

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Frosty. #januarylight #morning #swan #hipstamatic

A post shared by Amy Maranto (@marantophotography) on Jan 28, 2020 at 11:41pm PST

Cheers!

Added to Day 29 of January Squares.

January Squares: Plague Dragon

The Middle Ages, wow what fun!  In Munich a dragon appeared bringing the plague:

ISO 320 f/7 29mm 1/100 sec

The more enlightened folks in town just washed their hands more frequently, but a dragon does make for a fun story and it’s remembered on the side of City Hall.

It’s an excellent work of art and I thought a square edit would be fun:

ISO 320 f/7 29mm 1/100 sec

In Luminar I dropped the highlights slider and then adjusted the whites, blacks, and luminance sliders. The filter “daydream” was added and dropped to 56%. I picked that filter mostly due to the irony of applying a daydream to the nightmare that was the plague.

The Instagram version is here:

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Plague Dragon. #januarylight #dragon #munich #travel

A post shared by Amy Maranto (@marantophotography) on Jan 27, 2020 at 11:36pm PST

Added to Day 28 of January Squares. It’s at this point that I confess photos for this challenge are supposed to end in “light” and enlightenment is really breaking pushing that rule.

Cheers!

January Squares: Dramatic Light

Some photographs are well suited for color or black and white. In my opinion, dramatic color images often translate well to black and white. When I took this image:

ISO 25 f/2.2 4.15mm 1/2137 sec

How would that look in black and white? was my first thought. I think it might have been the fact that the sign was almost in black and white already that made me think about that. For this edit, I used Hipstamatic:

ISO 25 f/2.2 4.15mm 1/2137 sec

The photo has the Eric lens and Aristotle film filters applied.

The Instagram version is here:

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Caution: Monday ahead. #januarylight #mondaymotivation #blackandwhite #signs #hipstamatic

A post shared by Amy Maranto (@marantophotography) on Jan 26, 2020 at 10:47pm PST

Added to January Squares Day 27.

Cheers!

January Squares: Late Afternoon Light

I was just in Strasbourg France for a few hours. Long enough to get this photo though:

ISO 25 f/2.2 4.2mm 1/1083 sec

Also, long enough to convince me that a trip back would be a good thing. For the photo above, I wanted to accentuate the glow of the summer afternoon:

ISO 25 f/2.2 4.2mm 1/1083 sec

So after cropping and straightening the photo, I added the Luminar look, Daydream, and set it at 79%.

The Instagram version is here:

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Daydream in late afternoon light. #summer #januarylight #sundayvibes #church #france

A post shared by Amy Maranto (@marantophotography) on Jan 26, 2020 at 12:22am PST

Added to Day 26 of January Light.

Cheers!

January Squares: Blue Boar

Blue Boar in the English countryside:

ISO 32 f/2.2 4.2mm 1/33 sec

Now more fearsome with some pop:

ISO 32 f/2.2 4.2mm 1/33 sec

Instagram version, social media likes galore:

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Blue Boar, Blue Light. Charging into the weekend like… #pub #januarysquares

A post shared by Amy Maranto (@marantophotography) on Jan 24, 2020 at 11:58pm PST

For January Squares and Six-Word Saturday.

Cheers!

January Squares: Sunlight in Flower Form

This photo is for the days when you drag sunlight inside and ignore the weather:

Didn’t save the original file!

This photo was created in Hipstamatic with the Jane Lens and Ina’s 1982 film filters applied.

My mistake here? I did not save the original file, so the photo specifications I usually put in the caption space are not available.

Instagram version is here:

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A bit of sun for your #friyay #sunflower #flowers #januarylight #hipstamatic

A post shared by Amy Maranto (@marantophotography) on Jan 23, 2020 at 11:32pm PST

Added to Day 24 of January Squares and Cee’s Flower of the Day.

Cheers!

 

January Squares: Backlight

My most common use of backlighting is for flowers and leaves. This scene caught my eye the other day:

ISO 25 f/2.2 4.15mm 1/506sec

The square crop is this:

ISO 25 f/2.2 4.15mm 1/506sec

I used Hipstamatic to create the square, but other than the crop, I let the photo stand as is. What is and is not in focus I found visually interesting, so I didn’t attempt to “fix” it.

The Instagram version is here:

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Backlit. #januarylights #backlight #leaves #gooutside

A post shared by Amy Maranto (@marantophotography) on Jan 22, 2020 at 10:56pm PST

Added to January Squares Day 23.

Cheers!

January Squares: Fairy Lights

A few weeks ago I walked through Audley End while it had it’s special Christmas lights display on. It was there that I found these fairy lights in a jar in the garden:

ISO 200 f/2.2 4.15mm 1/17 sec

Charming really. For the square edit I used Hipstamatic:

ISO 200 f/2.2 4.15mm 1/17 sec

It has the Jane Lens filter applied.

The Instagram version is here:

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Fairy lights 🧚 #januarylight

A post shared by Amy Maranto (@marantophotography) on Jan 21, 2020 at 10:36pm PST

Added to January Squares Day 22.

Cheers!