Serendipity…

In Italy an adorable older lady sat on a bench in front of a sign that read the town name.  She screams Italy and the sign screams the town name.  The sense of place couldn’t get any better.   I took a few shots of her and kept noticing more little things.  It’s always the little things that add to a photo.   First it was an empty chair beckoning someone to come sit with her.  Then I took another moment to step back and look at everything and there was the red Poste box!  Red, Yellow, and Blue all together – talk about a happy coincidence.

I also loved the different levels in the scene.  Being staggered items on a vertical plane did not show as much depth as it would have if they had been staggered horizontally, but the staggered vertical levels gave the scene a rhythm for an added level of interest.  A bit later her friend came up with some dogs and sat down in that beckoning chair, color coordinating of course!  They chatted and, since it is Italy, you wait and the hands start moving to the rhythm of the words.  A few photos of that (ok, more than a few)…  I started out on the left side angled toward them then adjusted to straight on and ended to the right, just to see if it might be better from somewhere else.  Straight on was definitely the best, but since digital eliminates any picture limit and in Italy they don’t have the time limits, it was a win-win situation.  In the end an older Italian gentleman joined them.  Who could ask for more?  I was honestly thrilled with the first photo I took – the rest was like icing on a cake.

In Aperture I cropped, adjusted levels, white balance, sharpened, and added a vignette.  In the last two I also reduced the exposure and/or the highlights.  In Photoshop CS6, I dodged some dark faces in the last photo.  I used Alien Skin Exposure 4 and added a Kodachrome Faded 35mm (creamy, bright) filter on all of them, reducing the opacity on it.  I feel like the brown tone added a more nostalgic feel to the photo – it could have been today or 30 years ago (if it wasn’t for that darn plastic bag).

Top Photo Info:  Nikon D800, ISO 400, 24-120 at 31mm, f/5.6, 1/500, +.33 EV.

Photo Info:  Nikon D800, ISO 400, 24-120 at 31mm, f/5.6, 1/500, +.33 EV. 

Photo Info:  Nikon D800, ISO 400, 24-120 at 44mm, f/9, 1/125, +.33 EV.

Photo Info:  Nikon D800, ISO 400, 24-120 at 24mm, f/9, 1/320.