Zal Riani calls himself a shadow hunter. The Brazilian photographer lives in Rio de Janeiro and likes to relax after work with a walk on Ipanema Beach.

He says: “I love the light at the end of the day and the shadows that are created when the sun goes down. Whenever I go out to take photos in the late afternoon, I look for the longest shadows I can find.”

On the beach, you’ll find groups playing altinha, a Brazilian version of ball-holding. “You don’t drop the ball and you hold it up without using your hands, but in the most beautiful way possible,” he says.

The exchange rate in Brazil means Riani can’t upgrade his iPhone 6s Plus to a newer model, but he’s holding out. “Night shots are impossible with the 6s Plus, but I can still take interesting pictures during the day,” he says.

Image editing is a very special point for Riani: “My professional background is in the creative field of advertising, so tools like Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom and Illustrator are essential to my creative process. I took the entire photo apart and cut out the most important elements, including Morro Dois Irmãos, the two mountains in the background. Then I edited the background and redesigned the image, leaving only the elements that interested me. This is the resulting image.

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