eiffel, part 6 - the last one (and the most postcard-ish one)

Enough teasing. Here it comes. The most classical Eiffel tower view, the most classical postcard shot. Something you HAVE to shot on your own, otherwise it doesn't count and you were NOT in Paris :) Well, mademoiselle Eiffel is very photogenic, no doubt about that. And her illuminated, curvy shape against a dusky, cloudy and colorful sky has no competition in Paris. So here I was. After playing enough with a carousel and flashes shots, I have finally arrived to Trocadero and I am fighting elbow to elbow with all other photographers and thousands (literally!) tourists to get the best available position. Keeping en eye (other one, which wasn't glued to the viewfinder) on roaming individuals who had a tendency to kick to my tripod (yeeah, and this is not something you want at the end of your 20 sec exposure! :)

Obviously - when is the best time to shoot a vertical picture? Right after the horizontal one!

eiffel, part 5 (flash always available)

Back to my Eiffel series. This post is the second to last and then I will give you a break for a while. Picture has been taken just a 5 minutes after the one with carousel, about 200m away. On the way to the top of Trocadero stairs I have noticed this unusual angle and situation, where the tower would appear like growing from the bushes. Obviously, bushes were pretty dark on the picture, just a silhouette of it (see the shot at the end). So my flash came handy and during a 20 sec exposure I have fired a simple burst to lighten the foreground in front of me and achieve a sense of the tower nested in the green.

Nikon D800, 24-70mm at 42mm, f/22 @ 20 sec, ISO100. Manual, off the camera flash at 1/4 of power, with a distance about 1 meter.

Same as above, but no flash

windy (delicate dandelion)

We had so much fun with Monika last Sunday, when she came with this idea. She briefed me: "I want to take a picture of dandelion seeds in the air on the black background". And I had to come up with a solution. Fortunately my flash came handy and with an easy set up. Using flash I was able to create a pitch black background in the middle of our living room - WITHOUT any black background itself! Key is to underexpose your picture 3 or 4 steps and then just manually set you flash power based on the given aperture.

In our case aperture was f/11 and Nikon SB-900 calculate to set flash distance about 50cm. Shutter speed to underexpose the picture was calculated at 1/160 sec @ ISO 100.
Strong direct blow to dandelion and firing the camera at the same time - and voilá! Shot is the straight output from the camera. Pretty cool, huh?
Couple of "behind the shots", just to confirm there is no black background, really.

eiffel very colorful (part 4 )

Ok, now we are getting to a more "postcard" version of the Eiffel tour. As you can see, it was a very cloudy day, and about an hour prior the dusk I was blessed with a 5 minutes of gold sunshine rays. Both of this has been captured in this HDR composite - heavy clouds above the city and a slight moment of the sun greetings, just above the horizon.
But trust me, this is still not THE postcard one Eiffel, that one will come later ;) Stay tuned.

eiffel, part 3 (black and white angles)

Climbing up - and exploring a different angles. Still the same tower, but look how many opportunities you might find!

eiffel, part 2

Getting closer to the tower. Morning of the "visit to the top". Unfortunately, majority of the tourists in Paris has the same clever idea like us, to come early morning for the opening (9.30am) and our line looks like neverending. While moving quickly at the beginnig, the closer we got to the cashier and entrance, the slower it went. At the end we spent 3 hours (!) just in queue. Total time from the beginning of the line to the top and back five hours! All other activities for that day were cancelled... ;) Well, we did it ... and kids were soooo happy. This shot has been taken in the middle of waiting line. Expect more to come

eiffel, part 1

When you are visiting Paris, you can't miss Eiffel tower. It is really visible from almost everywhere!
Obviously I have taken few nice classical "postcard shots" as well (they will come later!), but let me first start to present THE tower from some different, a bit unusual angles.
This one has been taken next to a small carousel and as I LOVE the motion in the pictures, I had to incorporate a carousel into the frame. Mind a beautiful sky - all brought by favorite dusky FLW filter, otherwise picture is almost straight out of the camera.

Nikon D800, 24-70mm at 28mm, f/22 @ 10sec, ISO 100