arc de triomphe - C&C

what to do?

grateful for any comments. first time putting a picture up here so apologies if i haven't dont it correctly???

sunny2004

I think its a tiny bit dark. Like the movement iin the cars..
Its a well photographed location and the traffic is crazy.
Would have tried for a longer exposure and waited about an hour if possible..
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d152/sunnycarey/ArcCOLOUR.jpg

what to do?

thanks for the feedback.

why wait an hour?? closer to sunset????

here is a picture from the same location - but taken about a year ago - its a bit brighter i guess.

sunny2004

I like the night time image also.


Well, waiting about an hour from the top image gives you better light, its neither daytime or nighttime.. coupling this with a long exposure you can get a timeless image in some ways.. removing people and cars.... my image was shot during rush hour traffic.. I even had time to sit into the image

You asked for crit so here goes.. in your bottom image it needs to be balanced. look at the lights on the left hand side and the right..
In addition the bus ruins the image.

When I go to a location like this I usually fire off a few frames and then wait for the light... (granted in the link I supplied above) I waited in a local Bar

I was at the location for over 3 hours.. I do a fare share of travel photography and its not the equipment its the choice of exposure and the time of day that has the most effect.. and the light is Key..

Simple tip. set your shot up, shoot, then look around the frame for at least 5 seconds... all the time trying to imagine the image that is in front of you as if its on a big screen TV... ask yourself what do you like and what you do not like.. and more importantly what do you dislike that you can do anything about... then trip the shutter again... if your second image isn't better than your first one then give up photography

I apologize if I am going up my own ass here but its the way I do it and it works for me ! and to be honest you are not that far off the mark..

You have an good eye, you simply need to fine tune it a bit !

challengemaster

first is nice but very...centre frame.

also the french flag looks photoshopped in/floating.. lol

City-Exile

I think a longer exposure would have made the cars better.
As it is, they're not streaked enough.
They're now just distracting objects in the foreground.

RoryW

A tripod (or a very very steady hand) is useful for the long exposures as well



And sometimes it is good to take a picture from a different viewpoint



More Paris photos here

conkeroo

sunny2004 wrote: »

I like the night time image also.


Well, waiting about an hour from the top image gives you better light, its neither daytime or nighttime.. coupling this with a long exposure you can get a timeless image in some ways.. removing people and cars.... my image was shot during rush hour traffic.. I even had time to sit into the image

You asked for crit so here goes.. in your bottom image it needs to be balanced. look at the lights on the left hand side and the right..
In addition the bus ruins the image.

When I go to a location like this I usually fire off a few frames and then wait for the light... (granted in the link I supplied above) I waited in a local Bar

I was at the location for over 3 hours.. I do a fare share of travel photography and its not the equipment its the choice of exposure and the time of day that has the most effect.. and the light is Key..

Simple tip. set your shot up, shoot, then look around the frame for at least 5 seconds... all the time trying to imagine the image that is in front of you as if its on a big screen TV... ask yourself what do you like and what you do not like.. and more importantly what do you dislike that you can do anything about... then trip the shutter again... if your second image isn't better than your first one then give up photography

I apologize if I am going up my own ass here but its the way I do it and it works for me ! and to be honest you are not that far off the mark..

You have an good eye, you simply need to fine tune it a bit !

+1
Great advice there. Sometimes its all about patience and even conceding that the shot you want wont work on that particular day, so you go back again. I've gone back to the same place over 3 or 4 days because the light wasnt right but granted, you cant exactly head back and forth to Paris!

sunny2004

@konkeroo. cheers.

@Rory, again in the top image the van on the right ruins the image for me. road position is good but you have flare in the centre of the image from the lights.. the image is also not straight. easy to do when you are standing in the middle of traffic.. the 5 second rule might have picked this up.

The second image from underneath would be a nighmare from an exposure point of view. either HDR or later in the night when its lit or use a very powerful metz flashgun. my money would be on HDR with blue sky..

RoryW

sunny2004 wrote: »

@Rory, again in the top image the van on the right ruins the image for me. road position is good but you have flare in the centre of the image from the lights.. the image is also not straight. easy to do when you are standing in the middle of traffic.. the 5 second rule might have picked this up.

The second image from underneath would be a nighmare from an exposure point of view. either HDR or later in the night when its lit or use a very powerful metz flashgun. my money would be on HDR with blue sky..

Thanks sunny, comments noted. Picture changed so van is now history ! Also straightened more.

Re the underneath one, I will retry another time when it is a blue sky. That day it was lashing rain and I was sheltering and the photo was a "test run" asd I am actually not happy with the result. Also no tripods are allowed to be used under the Arc which may make a multi exposure HDR harder.

To OP, I'll go away now as dont want to hijack your thread

what to do?

thanks everyone for the comments.

thanks sunny2004.

i think i need to just bite the bullet and start using the tripod.

i started out with a little casio exilim - wallet sized.

then it was a DSLR.... then the DSLR with a speedlight 430ex... then with the Sigma 10-20 & sigma 24-60 - both 77mm lenses and fairly chunky - then the Sigma 70-300...... i'm still trying to convince myself that i'm discreet and dont look like an american!!

the tripod (sitting in the corner of the room gathering dust) will have to be used soon. especially for those night shots with the long exposure times.


ps - i fully agree with the comment that the cars aren't blurred enough and are just distracting.

However, I'm not mad about the blurring in roryW's photo either.... not sure why, it just doesn't look right to me. i'm sorry - i dont have enough technical language to describe it better than that.