Don’t Mess w/ Her; I’m Serious!

Thanks so much to Darren Lewis, top security at Miami’s Epic Hotel, for allowing me to barge in for some night shots! Be sure to click on his name and request him via facebook. He’s kinda old so he doesn’t really believe in Twitter (amateur! ^_^) I’ve visited Epic countless times and never realized what great scenery its vantage point captures. It’s from this location where I also grabbed the shot from Vacating Brickell w/ the Quickness!

Well, she’s definitely been running things in Dwntwn Miami for quite some time and deserves the title Head Bitch in Charge! Although the Four Seasons in the Brickell District has surpassed the Wachovia Financial Center as the tallest skyscraper in Miami, its exterior design and time period from which it came simply cannot be matched. During the summer of 2008 when I first landed in Miami, I would have never guessed that this masterpiece came from the early 80′s! For this tower to still look so modern is remarkable, considering how often Miami goes under construction.

It’s More Than Just a Slideshow

A goal that has been 12 months in the making, this is the sole reason why I continue to taking photography so seriously. I’ve worked and progressed tirelessly to establish portfolio.xynntii.com and it is finally here for everyone to consume! I call it Eyecandy because this portfolio is remarkable and includes a variety of neat features! First off, it opens up with slideshow that displays a handful of fan favorites (and some of my personal favorites too).

Don’t be misled! The slideshow is just an appetizer. The following screenshot details how to navigate to any of the 6 genre gallery’s. Here, I’ve neatly organized all my images based on the genre they fall under. Like many of you already know, I take a crazy amount of different shots, so I make sure to categorize them for a user-friendly viewing experience!

Buy Your Prints Directly w/ in the Portfolio!

The greatest feature of Eyecandy is the ability to Buy Prints with just a couple clicks while you browse the different genres gallery’s. Head over to the Buy Prints page where I included an easy-to-follow screenshot guide on how to choose your prints, the sizes and paper finishes. Sizes range from 4×6 to 30×40 canvases! I was surprised myself on how diverse the size selection is. Here’s the remarkable part: Prices Start at a Jaw-Dropping $12! The massive size variety will be able to accommodate all requests.

Enough of my jaw-flapping; go check out my Eyecandy Portfolio now! The best thing to happen for :xynn tii imagery thus far!

Spring Semester Ends & Smugmug Portfolio

Finally! I just completed my last final for the semester. I’m pretty sure I didn’t do too well on it, but to be honest I really don’t care. I busted my ass this semester [for the most part at least] so I’m pleased overall.

Anyway and more importantly to you is the announcement of my premiere portfolio, which is being hosted by smugmug. I actually found these guys on accident but I’m convinced that everything happens for a reason. Currently, I’m getting the layout designed to match the theme of xynn tii imagery. So when you go there, it’ll appear as if you never left xynntii.com! Pretty sexy, you’ll see.

As of right now, you’re more than welcome to visit my portfolio; all of the photos are up! Once the xynn tii imagery layout theme has been applied you’ll find my Eyecandy even more entertaining. I’m shooting for 10 May as the deadline to have the portfolio theme complete. I’ll keep you in the loop within the next few image updates!

I Anticipate Being Sent to Court at Some Point in my Life

A random stroll down flagler street in dwntwn Miami makes for the perfect scenario of getting mugged, run over or even, in my case, starred at. But regardless, the fact of it being a great photo opportunity is always superior.

Surprisingly, no one stopped me from taking this photo; security was no where in sight. I think there are regulations that prohibit photo-taking of governmental buildings. This is something I didn’t know about until after taking this shot and attempting to photograph another in which I got in trouble for.

Will I ever attempt to do this again? More than likely because I tend to be a rebel. This is why I wouldn’t be surprised if I ever were to be arrested or thrown in court. The saga continues.

Typical Whack Night in Dwntwn Miami

What a great revelation I just had! I recall taking this shot just before I headed to the Inter-Continental Hotel to grab that luxurious shot of the front entrance. Also, this was shot just a block away from where I took The New MIA image. But that’s before xynntii.com even existed. ^_^ Aww, if only I could remember more important things just as easy, like what my Java test is covering tomorrow. =/ How Sad.

Anyway, During this night, I was on a mission to take an interesting photo that involved both the moving traffic on the street, and the metromover above it. So obvously my timing would need to be on point. The metromover didn’t come out as well I wanted, but I’ll take what I can get. Look at that car expose though!! ↓

How Did I Expose the Car for a Length of 3 Streetlights?

In addition to the exposed metromover above, there this photo there is only one exposed car on that street. But if you look closely you’ll notice that the car’s strobe lights extend from the front of the photo all the way to that red street light! That’s pretty long right? Typically it would be impossible to expose anything for that long and still retain relative light in the frame. So here is how it’s done:

1. This image contains pieces from 3 other images, so the Photoshop masking tool is a must. I gathered the 4 similar photos I took, one after another at the same exposure. In Photoshop, I layered each photo in sequential order, keeping the original on top at all times. Individually, I used the brush tool to mask through the ordered images, taking more and more of the exposed car from each image to make it look like one long stream within the original. [If you're confused by now, don't worry... so am I.]

2. A finishing touch I head to my biatch Color Efex Pro which has so many great presets, including Contrast Color Range. This is probably the preset I use the most alongside Pro Contrast and Tonal Contrast. They just do much of the work for you, so it saves time. With Contrast Color Range, there are controls that allow you to correct the color contrast and adjust the brightness and full frame contrast. Surprisingly, these presets help bring out detail as well. c;

A Therapeutic Occurrence.

I feel that in order to accurately represent Miami from a visually standpoint, everything has to be exposed. You might be surprised to hear this, but there’s more to this city than just the damn skyline and south beach, seriously! I can’t name one major city that does not contain an unusually vast homeless population, can you?

I was able to take photos regarding a cover story for the college paper; this article spoke on the topic of homelessness around campus. But what’s truly unique about this scenario is who I was able to meet: a Miami native who is simply down on his luck. In dwntwn, exactly one block from where I reside, you will find 43-year-old Jorge Valdivieso, husband and father of 2 kids [son, 8 and daughter, 5]. This man lost his job just 2 months ago and is now living on the streets.

Jorge’s situation is so complex because despite his circumstances, he still has a family to attend to. He explained to me the actions he’s taking to make sure his wife and children are secure and not without shelter. One of those ideal methods is how he attracts pedestrians for money.

This is How You Hustle!

Jorge has managed to sculpt a serious hustle game with these roses he creates from plants [It's like a plant of a plant o_0] It’s seems to be quite the money-maker; Just within the ten minutes I spent with him, he must have made at least 10 bucks! I asked what got him into this ‘artform’ and he replied:

” There’s this Jamaican guy I met on the streets that told me ‘Look mahn, you learn how to make these plant-flowers, you’ll never go hungry mahn.’ “

It’s when I take really meaningful photos like this that teaches me to be as open-minded as possible. Even more, it teaches me to become increasingly grateful towards the fortunate lifestyle that I live. As Jorge’s story portrays, nothing is guaranteed in life [our stable job, our warming home, not even our existence]. This is a point that we need to recollect more often.

How Was it Done?

Ahh, so I had to use the partial monochrome method, once again. It was necessary for this shot because I want you to closely focus on Jorge and his flowers as opposed to everything else going on in the frame.

1. I kept the original photo in color and used the Photoshop Quick Selection tool to outline Jorge’s body and the flowers.

2. Once that is done, I right-clicked on what I outlined and selected ‘Inverse Selection’ which will outline everything but what I selected initially [I hope you're not confused already]

3. Here’s where I call for the CS4 plug-in Silver Efex Pro to convert the selection to monochrome, leaving Jorge and the flowers in color because it was not within the selection scope.

This Is Not An HDRI! Really, I promise, this is not a high dynamic range image. I used another plug-in by Nik Software called Color Efex Pro, which has a abundance of presets that can give your image the HDRI look. I may use this technique more often because it’s a bit faster yet just as effective as Photomatix.

Twitter = The Best I Ever Had

Yea, it’s kind of a big deal to become an active Twitter user. For serious, make sure you’re following each and every tweet of xynn tii imagery.™ I like to think I am a true twitter user [& there goes the ego].

Some often get the misconception that Twitter is simply a social network where you only let people know what you’re doing every minute of the day. WRONG, WRONG! It’s more than that. Trey Ratcliff [the best HDR photographer in the game] will tell you firsthand that its about sharing the Internet with… with the Internet. Twitter makes it easier to share links with one another at the fastest rate possible.

Links are what make up the world wide web, and we’re constantly searching for news, inspiration, etc. Twitter is ideal for bringing all of this together as one big foundation. As a person that enjoys taking photos, I am constantly receiving links via the people I follow for inspiration and… everything. You can only get the most out of this Twitter by simply following the right people and being proactive and educational within your own tweets.

Look, the bottom line is: If you use Twitter for what’s its truly meant for and if manipulate all of its capabilities, you’re bound to discover that it’s actually quite useful and worth your time. Most importantly, follow xynn tii imagery™ c;

Image Detail.

The Marina Blue. Yea, it’s pretty sexy. It’s architecture is just ridiculous, and I mean that in a good way! It’s another relatively new condo residence of the dwntwn Miami area. It’s almost directly across the street from where the Miami Heat play [AA Arena]. I really don’t know much about it except that I know I can’t afford to live there… and that… it’s a sexy-looking skyscraper. ><

I wanted to lead the viewer’s eyes to the tower by finding an angle in which it would be centered and in the background. Do you think I accomplised that? =p I would love to go inside this place and hopefully within the next few days I will have the opportunity to shoot some images from one of their top floors. I would be able to get a decent shot of the AA Arena from up there, with the traffic strobe-lighted through the long-exposure process. Mhm, sounds like a plan.

Soooo, do you like this photo? Are you a Twitter user? Are you following xynn tii imagery™? Do you strongly dislike how the media is eating Tiger Woods inside out!? Tell me what you’re thinking. Comment this post and leave a comment via Twitter using the hastag #vlogcast. [ I will be able to find your tweet easier when you use the hashtag c: ]

Become a fan via the xynn tii imagery™ facebook fansite. c:

In honor of the first one to do it, the late great André Kertész.

For class, I was assigned to mock the style of renown photographers.Thought it would be crazy boring, but I’m glad I did it. c;

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This is one of several courthouses in dwntwn Miami. Wouldn’t this make a nice postcard? ^_^

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Who said dwntwn Miami doesn’t have bright lights?

I was really grateful to have gotten this shot! I was actually allowed access to one of the highest levels of my condo residence in dwntwn Miami. I’ve been craving this opportunity for months. c; This image points to the south, toward the Brickell district. I am a serious fan of the Bank of America Tower [purple skyscraper at right] because decades it has managed to remain a highlight of the dwntwn Miami area, literally. It began groundbreaking in 1983 and to much surprise still has that modern look to it.

What separates this Bank of America Tower from its surroundings are the interchangeable LED lights that mock colors based on specific times of the year or event. [For instance, during Breast Cancer Awareness month, the tower was lit in pink] Remarkable idea, I love it. This image also depicts the architectural renovation process of Miami. You can clearly see that the buildings start to look more modern as you track from the bottom of the image to the top, which is a true representation.

It really is only a matter of time before the Hyatt Regency Hotel and James L Knight Center [white buildings at center frame] are renovated and the same goes for much of the dwntwn area. I think its necessary and I look forward to seeing how Miami will look in 5 to 10 years from now. c;

This is a high dynamic range image and also my 1st taken with my new Canon D7 ! I used a -2 to +2 exposure metering [where I merged 3 images together during post production] No photoshop! was used during this process. I developed the image with photomatix and lightroom. c:

Believe it or not, I believe the most interesting section of this photo is actually in the very back. You can see a cruise ship from a far that separates the water from the sky! That divide gives the background more of a 3D-rounded look. But hey! Please supply your critique on this image via commenting here or even via twitter. Is this image in or out ?

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