DEV Community: Vatsal Shah

📸 How I Used Gemini 3 to Build a Retro Camera Tool

Vatsal Shah — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 02:39:18 +0000

I recently launched Retro Camera—a fun, browser-based tool that lets you capture photos with beautiful, classic vintage styling (date stamps, grain, captions) right from your webcam.

But the real magic isn't in the simple HTML/CSS/Canvas—it's in how I used the Gemini 3 API to define and refine the filters' core aesthetic.

The Challenge: Defining "Vintage" with Code
Creating a truly authentic "retro" look is hard. It's not just a sepia tone; it's subtle grain, light leaks, desaturated colors, and specific film characteristics. Trying to manually code every single filter parameter (brightness, contrast, hue rotation, noise function) is tedious and often yields sterile results.

That's where Gemini 3 stepped in.

🧠 Gemini 3: The Algorithmic Cinematographer

I leveraged Gemini 3's advanced reasoning and multimodal understanding to solve this aesthetic problem in two powerful ways:

Zero-Shot Aesthetic Definition

Instead of spending hours tweaking color matrices, I used Gemini 3's powerful instruction-following to define the filters using natural language.

Integrating Gemini 3 wasn't about generating the final filtered image (which the browser can do faster via Canvas/WebGL), but about generating the code and parameters that define the look itself. It turned the tedious task of aesthetic design into a natural language conversation.

If you're building a tool that relies on complex, subjective parameter generation, an LLM like Gemini 3 is an essential part of the modern developer's toolkit.

🔗 Try the Retro Camera and see the filters in action: [Integrating Gemini 3 wasn't about generating the final filtered image (which the browser can do faster via Canvas/WebGL), but about generating the code and parameters that define the look itself. It turned the tedious task of aesthetic design into a natural language conversation.

If you're building a tool that relies on complex, subjective parameter generation, an LLM like Gemini 3 is an essential part of the modern developer's toolkit.

🔗 Try the Retro Camera and see the filters in action: https://vatsalshah.in/tools/retro-camera

Research AI Agent in Action: Autonomous Agent with Tool Calling

Vatsal Shah — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 18:51:45 +0000

Learn how to build autonomous AI research agents that make their own decisions using OpenAI and Claude tool calling. This article demonstrates real AI agent orchestration with actual tool calling, autonomous decision-making, and dynamic workflow execution.

https://vatsalshah.in/blog/research-ai-agent-tool-calling-2025

Autonomous Meeting Bots with Real-Time Processing

Vatsal Shah — Tue, 23 Sep 2025 18:50:28 +0000

https://vatsalshah.in/blog/meeting-assistant-agents-real-time-processing-2025

Are you applying for the co-ops or internship or full-time job in Software?

Vatsal Shah — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 02:14:49 +0000

Are you applying for the co-ops or internship or full-time job in Software?

I heard a lot of complaints about, companies don't reply or not give you any answers! Yes or No!

If you want to improve the application process speed, make sure you include or provide the below points:

Why are you #interested in the development or the position?
Must include the #numbers from your past projects! (Something interesting and eye-catching, yes it helps.)
Tell something #unique about you that helps to understand, you're a quick learner and enthusiastic about your work.
Include a personal #website, GitHub link, project links (ex. Kaggle or reference past projects) that showcase your real projects. Make sure you include a couple of them.
If you don't have one, then I believe focus and work on yourself and then apply for any position. (It'll drastically improve the processing speed and probability)
If you send a message on LinkedIn, #sell your story in a nice way and not PLEASE for your talent and work you've done. Proud of it!

Good Luck.

I have added my portfolio links for your reference. You can follow and connect me on:

Website | GitHub | LinkedIn | Blog

If you like my stuff and hate spam, I can send my upcoming articles to your inbox. One-click unsubscribe anytime — Click here to join my newsletter 💌

If you’re feeling generous today, you can buy me a coffee ☕

12 Best Practices to build the "Scalable Angular Application"

Vatsal Shah — Sun, 08 Nov 2020 22:41:44 +0000

Apply LIFT Principle:

L - Locating our code is easy
I - Identify code at a glance
F - Flat structure as long as we can
T - Try to stay DRY (Don’t repeat yourself)

Meaningful Names:

Assign methods, variables and parameters names so easy to read and understand by name
Don't try to add any jargons or technical wordings into names.

P.S: I personally struggled a lot but it'll improve with the practice only.

Create 5-10 seconds Rule:

If you can’t understand and explain your code in 5 to 10 seconds; probably need a refactor or rename the names.

Period.

Component Design:

What goes into components first?

Properties follow by methods (Input(), Output())
Groups and sorted
Variables

Don't define variables randomly. Follow the structure which will help on a long run.

How to "Import components" into file:

External imports come first
Give a blank line before the import files from our own app

P.S An easy way to identify the external and app files.

Components members sequences

Public methods must be declared before private once
Easy to read and find private vs public methods
Define private method; if necessary

Create Smaller Function (Must):

Why ?

Easy to read and understand the purpose of a function
If a function has more than 10-15 lines; ASK YOURSELF if it would be better to break it into smaller functions

P.S Kindly think about other developers in a team.

Provide clarity through code:

Explain in code; No need of unnecessary comments Folded hands
Write self-describing code
Replace technical terms with simple naming convention (Point 2)

When to use comments?

If you really want to add comments, only do for following:

Explain “WHY” you do that?
Any consequences of a method or function

How to design services and components?

Don’t add any complex logic to components. NO!
Keep components to receive and send requests
No more than 2 to 5 line of complex logic in components
Add API call, local storage, structure in services

Symbol Naming:

Properties and methods must be camel case (e.g. currentUser)
Classes (components, services, directives) must be upper camel case, called Pascal case (e.g. UserComponent)

Recommended CS Code Extensions:

@PrettierCode
@geteslint
@materialtheme
Auto Import
Angular 10 Snippets - Typescript
Auto Rename Tag (Productivity)
Auto Close Tag (Productivity)
Bracket Pair Colorizer

P.S: I would recommend to try @wakatime

// Detect dark theme var iframe = document.getElementById('tweet-1325558835738767360-476'); if (document.body.className.includes('dark-theme')) { iframe.src = "https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?id=1325558835738767360&theme=dark" }

PORTFOLIO | GITHUB | BLOG

If you like my stuff and hate spam, I can send my upcoming articles to your inbox. One-click unsubscribe anytime — Click here to join my newsletter 💌

If you’re feeling generous today, you can buy me a coffee ☕

12 things to launch your career and build a powerful portfolio in Voice, Machine Learning and AI

Vatsal Shah — Tue, 09 Jun 2020 00:46:47 +0000

I presented a webinar on “How to launch your career as a Software Developer and build a powerful portfolio in Voice, Machine Learning and AI” organized by C. B. Patel Computer College & J. N. M. Patel Science College, Surat on 6th July 2020.

I am sharing a link to the recorded webinar so you can navigate through any specific moments. I talked about many important topics with a pragmatic approach and real-world examples as mentioned below.
The tools and technology I wish I knew to build my Portfolio in University.

A Webinar covered various topics such as:

Build your brand as a developer or engineer.
The importance of portfolio and what to includes in it.
The importance of the WEBSITE and what to includes on it.
The importance of GitHub and LinkedIn — Why you must have an account n both!
The opportunities in Software, Voice, Machine Learning, and Artificial Intelligence.
History of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning.
AI in 2020 and AI in the future.
Resources to engage in the development community.
Information about Cloud computing.
The next steps for someone who wants to learn, contribute and innovate.
Real-world Machine Learning, Artificial intelligence application demo — Speak Ai Inc.
The Secret Sauce to succeed in your career and build a compelling portfolio.

You can find keywords, topics, brands, emotions, sentiments, and search in the transcript for any specific word or moment.

For example, you can click on any keyword and Play next to listen to where I talk about software developer or neural network.

If you want to access the Presentation, all you have to do is click the button on the top.

Webinar link | Presentation link | YouTube Video

If you have any questions, suggestions, or thoughts, please feel encouraged to send me a message. I’m here and happy to connect.
Top communities to follow :

Feedback:

Here are the top feedbacks from the webinar:

Honestly, this one is the best seminar I have attended. I like all of the topics.

I liked the way you have used the Practical approach, Instead of theory-based which was very helpful to understand the things more clearly.

Everything was fine, his practical knowledge, content flow, suggestions, communication, I m happy with it, do more webinars in this time slot.

This webinar is very helpful for me for my bright future. Thank you for arranging such a great webinar. And I hope you arrange another webinar as soon as possible.

The thing I liked the most was the change in the thought process of shifting the mindset from just studying and coding to teach community involvement and very imp portfolio development which I was lacking highly.

I have added my portfolio links for your reference. You can follow and connect me on:

Website | GitHub | LinkedIn | Blog

If you like my stuff and hate spam, I can send my upcoming articles to your inbox. One-click unsubscribe anytime — Click here to join my newsletter 💌

If you’re feeling generous today, you can buy me a coffee ☕