Best Phone Picture by Zal Riani

Zal Riani calls himself a shadow hunter. The Brazilian photographer lives in Rio de Janeiro and enjoys unwinding after work with a stroll along Ipanema beach.

He says: “I love the light at the end of the day, and the shadows that appear when the sun is leaving. Whenever I go out to take photos in the late afternoon it’s because I’m looking for the longest shadows I can find.”

On the beach, you often see groups playing altinha, a Brazilian version of keepy-uppy. “You don’t let the ball fall and keep it up high, without using your hands, but in the most beautiful way possible,” he says.

The exchange rate in Brazil prohibits Riani from upgrading his iPhone 6s Plus to a newer model, but he perseveres. “On the 6s Plus, shooting at night is impossible, but I can still make interesting images in the day,” he says.

Editing is a point of pride for Riani: “My professional background is in the creative side of advertising, so tools such as Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom and Illustrator are essential to my creative process. I deconstructed this entire photo and cut out the major elements, including Morro Dois Irmãos, the two mountains in the background. Then I worked on the background and remade the image, leaving only the elements that interested me. This was the resulting image.”

“Some people think I use AI, but everything is manual, pixel by pixel,” he adds. “What makes me happiest is when people say my images look like a dream.”