Our Parisian Adventure 3

This is my third installment highlighting some of the multiple themes that emerged for me during our recent family trip to Paris. How could I not have some images of the City Of Light !

The difficulty was not so much what to shoot, but how best to capture something so iconic that depicts the appropriate viewer emotion. As I mentioned in my Paris Adventure 1, this trip was about family first. If I could fit my art into the routine on-the-fly without elaborate intrusion, then all the better. That meant no tripod!

I ended up experimenting with a variety of technical settings. I only had my Nikon D800e with Nikkor 28-300mm ED VR. Sometimes I shot completely in manual mode, other times I would even use the Program mode at the sacrifice of aperture where appropriate. You might be surprised to find that Program mode may work best sometimes when all you really need is to just capture the moment. This then allows you to fully concentrate on image composition. The camera makes the technical setting decisions based on the ISO chosen, though the best part is that you can override these while holding your shutter part way down. Make no mistake. These images are fun captures whose goal was to make memories and not necessarily art.

High ISO was really the key to keeping the shutter speed somewhat reasonable. Just as another thought, perhaps experiment setting your camera to auto ISO, if available, to see if you like the result. Also, proper handholding technique is critical as well as trying to capitalize on leaning and bracing oneself on a park bench or lamp post for extra stability. Final digital darkroom processing in Photoshop using the Noiseware plugin provided essential cleanup with the least amount of impact to image clarity. I was after mood capture at the expense of clarity. This youtube video here is just one example of some of the many suggestions to use in capturing Paris on-the-fly memories.

Anyway, the images below were taken while ridding on one of the many riverboat cruises offered on the Seine. Most of these boat companies start across from the Eiffel Tower and do an out-and-back tour down the Seine and pass under some 20 bridges. Truly a “must-do” if you plan to visit Paris! Here is a link and another to get you started, though any Google search will fill in with as much detail as you need.
So, here are some pictures!

ParisNight1