I'm almost done editing pictures from my last shoot in Paris. Just a few more to go. Here are a few selects from the last batch of images.
The historic square of Place de la Concorde, with its 3,200-year-old obelisk from Egypt, is where all those famous people that you faintly remember from history class were hung (plus nearly 2,800 who were not famous). Look closely at the sidewalk and you can still see the blood. The Champs Elysees leads the way to the Arc de Triomphe.
Street signs in Paris are just cool:
The best time to take night shots is after sunset but before the sky goes totally black. Ideally, you want some dark blue left to the sky, and it will become even bluer with a long exposure on a tripod. However, after standing in line for two hours at the Eiffel Tower you take what you can get. Meaning, a totally black sky. There are three levels to the Eiffel Tower and this shot was taken from the second level. The top of the Eiffel gives you the same view as Google Earth. Even at the second level the cold, cold, cold wind was so bad that it was almost impossible to get a tack sharp shot.
Here I used a very fast Nikon 50mm f/1.4 lens, hand-held, with an exposure of 1/10 sec at f/4.5 with an ISO of 800. I probably should have used a wider f-stop and slightly lower ISO, but I didn't. I did, however, take a ton of pictures just hoping some would be sharp. Even for the pros, in a case like this that is about all you can do. Keep your feet planted in a good "human tripod" formation, elbows tucked in, support the camera and lens well, press the viewfinder tightly to your eye, and roll the shutter after exhaling...
A 50mm f/1.4 is great for shooting in museums and cathedrals as well. This next pic of the inside of the Louvre Museum (Bronze statue Mars assis by Luigi Valadier, 1726-1785, in the Grande Galerie) wasn't taken with the 1.4 but with its short lens, equally-inconspicuous cousin, the Nikon 24mm f/2.8. After you get the "right" lens on the camera, it always helps to pray profusely that someone with a red jacket will walk into the frame to give it a little "pop":
I'll close with a black and white shot of the Louvre looking up through the glass pyramid:
