GIANNI GALASSI PhotoGraphia

DEFINITELY SQUARE

Canon G1X @ 45.6mm (82mm eq.) w/polarizer
1/1600 f5.6 ISO 100

446

Olympus OM-D E-M5 - Panasonic Vario G 14-45mm @ 14mm (28mm eq.) w/polarizer
1/250" f8 ISO 200

445

Olympus OM-D E-M5 - Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 25mm w/polarizer
1/125" f7.1 ISO 200

444

Fujifilm X100 - Fujinon 23mm (35mm eq.)
Unsaturated, slightly perspective-straightened and curve tweaked out-of-camera jpg
1/240" f11 ISO 200

ESCHER

Olympus OM-D E-M5 - Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 25mm (50mm eq.)
In-camera monochrome (red filter) - Slightly curve-tweaked out-of-camera jpg
1/400" f7.1 ISO 200

Thanks to lighting and shadow, the fire escape stair of a school building in Rome makes a perfect architectural nonsense like those marvellously invented by Dutch graphic artist Maurits Cornelis Escher.

WATT

Olympus OM-D E-M5 - Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 25mm (50mm eq.)
In-camera monochrome (red filter) - Perspective straightened out-of-camera jpg
1/320" f7.1 ISO 200

This electric power substation is located in the same neighborhood where I live in Rome. I like the labyrinth effect generated by the shadow of the lightning shield cage covering its facade. The place is closed to the public, of course, but I managed to frame my shot through the iron fence surrounding the area.

AMBIGUITY

Olympus OM-D E-M5 Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 25mm (50mm eq.) w/polarizer
1/200" f7.1 ISO 200

Back to Architect Zaha Hadid's MAXXI Museum in Rome, an inexhaustible source of inspiration. Thanks to lighting, the brighter concave side of the artifact appears as if it was convex, thus generating a virtual cylinder shape. Besides darkening the sky, the polarizing filter made the concrete's texture more visible and coarse.

ANOTHER GROCERY MARKET

Olympus OM-D E-M5 - Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 25mm (50mm eq.) w/polarizer
1/160" f9.0 ISO 200

In a city like Rome, where contemporary architecture is almost non-existent, grocery markets make an outstanding exception. Some twenty years ago the City Hall started a campaign aimed at eliminating the traditional outdoor stall-markets by transforming them into indoor modern structures, thus igniting a neverending controversy. Stall keepers did all they could do to avoid such a change, but their destiny was marked.
Designed by Architect Marco Rietti, the Testaccio Grocery Market opened last month. Behind schedule, no need to say. The old market, which has been active for decades a couple of blocks away, will be soon torn down.

MONO E-LAB-ORATED

Canon G1X @ 60mm (105mm eq.) w/polarizer
Square-cropped, lab-unsaturated and slightly level-tweaked out-of-camera jpg
1/640" f5.8 ISO 100

I'm frequently using LAB color method in order to turn my images into monochrome. I first convert the file into LAB, then I dump a, b and alpha 2 channels, just preserving alpha 1 (i.e. luminosity). This way I avoid the hassle of some artifacts appearing, for instance, in blue sky areas when converting into monochrome via the usual Photoshop color mixer.
What amazes me in this process is the increase in overall sharpness of the converted image, especially in the details. My technical knowledge doesn't go far enough to understand why. So I'd be grateful to anyone explaining to PhotoGraphia readers and myself why a LAB-converted image is (or looks) sharper than an RGB unsaturated one.
Thank you in advance. 

NOISE BARRIER

Olympus OM-D E-M5 - Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 25mm (50mm eq.)
In-camera monochrome (red filter) - In-camera cropped (2x) out-of-camera jpg
1/60" f14.0 ISO 200

Noise suppression looks like being an easier task in digital photography than in urban motorways anyway.

BACK TO THE SUBWAY (IN COLOR)

Olympus OM-D E-M5 - Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 25mm (50mm eq.)
1/800" f7.1 ISO 200