I’m here at H Mart, which is a giant Asian Supermarket. We went there before Christmas to load up for the holiday season. I’ve talked about this place a few times on the blog, including this post I made back in 2018 when it just opened in Austin.

Admittedly, these images and the next couple of posts are of mundane everyday items. It’s not the most exciting thing in Austin and not an exotic travel destination. However, these kinds of pictures are essential for a couple of reasons.

First, it keeps you actively photographing, a skill that diminishes without practice. I often carry a camera around, make observations, and capture them.

Second, I’m in camera test mode, and shooting in different circumstances is useful for figuring out a camera’s strengths and weaknesses. I’m testing the Leica D-Lux 8, my newest camera, which is perfect as a take-anywhere EDC (Every Day Carry) device. Even my relatively compact full-frame Sony A7C might look a bit odd in a supermarket, but the compact D-Lux8 doesn’t attract attention.

Most of my food pictures were taken in the fruit and vegetable section, which offers the most exotic subjects—these foods are not typical at an American supermarket.

As you may have seen from my recent posts, this compact camera with a cropped Micro 4/3 sensor has outstanding image quality. It’s easy to shoot in these lighting conditions. What I didn’t realize was how good and natural the colors were. I go through my standard post-processing without much thought these days and often tweak the white balance, especially for my Sony cameras. What I discovered was that I rarely change the Leica’s white balance. However, I do sometimes increase the color saturation.

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