LightningPaul

30 Oct 2008 • 476 views
 
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photoblog image Arc de Triomphe - Viewing La Defense

Arc de Triomphe - Viewing La Defense

View from the Arc de triomphe in the center of Paris. The big buildings far away are the business center called La Defense. Two days ago I posted a picture of the Grande Arch which is the square bulding in the middle of that area.

TECH-INFO: I took 9 images free hand. Tripods were strictly forbidden. The shutter time varied from 1/640s up to 1/10s. The images were first run through DxO Optics Pro to correct any lens distortions. Afterwards merged in Photomatrix and tone mapped to a TIFF file. Afterwards I used DxO again for contrast improvements. There were some pretty nasty ghosting artifacts which I tried to remove In Photoshop elements. I hope you like the result.

Arc de Triomphe - Viewing La Defense

View from the Arc de triomphe in the center of Paris. The big buildings far away are the business center called La Defense. Two days ago I posted a picture of the Grande Arch which is the square bulding in the middle of that area.

TECH-INFO: I took 9 images free hand. Tripods were strictly forbidden. The shutter time varied from 1/640s up to 1/10s. The images were first run through DxO Optics Pro to correct any lens distortions. Afterwards merged in Photomatrix and tone mapped to a TIFF file. Afterwards I used DxO again for contrast improvements. There were some pretty nasty ghosting artifacts which I tried to remove In Photoshop elements. I hope you like the result.

comments (13)

you did a great job doing it handheld. I've tried that and it was not nearly so successful! great view--nicely stitched.
LightningPaul: Many thanks. I happy you appreciate the result a lot.
Wow! Stunning work!
And all this free hand...Wish I had a steady hand like yours wink
Ver very nice capture(s).
LightningPaul: Many thanks Tim.
I takes lot of practice to keep the camera steady and only 3/5 attempts are successful.
  • alex
  • Germany
  • 30 Oct 2008, 08:47
Absolutely stunning shot. What i like most is the tower right of the centre and the view to la defense.
LightningPaul: This tower is 210m high. Ideal to get a great overview. I think it's an excellent alternative for the Eiffel Tower where you have very long waiting queues. Unfortunately I had not enough time to visit both towers. Will be for next time.
  • alex
  • Germany
  • 30 Oct 2008, 08:49
btw. i have a beanbag, don't know if they allow them there.
LightningPaul: Sounds like a good idea but not for all cases. On top there was no appropriate place to put your beanbag on. I have a Gorilla Pod ZOOM SLR but my camera is still too heavy (despites of what they claim). I use it mostly for my flash. Many thanks for the idea.
Like the results? They`re stunning! You must have the patience of Job, but it was really worth all that effort. (:o)
LightningPaul: Thank you Rosalyn. That's really nice to hear.
You did a great job here. This is a fabulous picture of the "Avenue de la Grande Armée"!
LightningPaul: Many thanks Richard. This is nice to read, especially from someone knowing the area very well.
I like soft colors and high details. A great work.
LightningPaul: Many thanks Giorgio. The colors might look a bit artistic, but I'm glad you like it too.
This is very well done Paul. It looks like a screen shot from a computer game and I know a lot of people don't like that. I like it and I love the square format which suits it perfectly.
LightningPaul: Thank you Bill. If you like it too then I'm very happy too. The colors are a bit artistic but I think this is somehow necessary when tone mapping such high dynamic range into something of an 8bit JPG. As you know, increasing the contrast can make image more saturated.
Excellent view! The best are the first morning(?) sun rays touching buildings and trees. I bit disagree with square format here, a cut from the sky would help IMO. I appreciate sharp drawing on the composite image under such odds conditions. I though that tripods are disallowed only in USA...
LightningPaul: It was late in the evening before sunset. Regarding the square format, I have to admit I cut the sides because the HDR rendering was not excellent (like too much ghosting and contrasts/colors not optimal). Also this format is an easy and powerful one in many cases. I certainly agree that cropping the sky away would not hurt at all, except the image becomes much smaller (which is not a problem for the web of course, just for printing).
I had many bad tripod experiences that day in Paris. So far I had no problems in Belgium. What about Slovakia?
Many thanks for your comment, I really appreciate it if you give your opinion.
  • Padraig
  • United Kingdom
  • 30 Oct 2008, 20:23
I'm speechless Paul, This is absolutely amazing, and that low sunlight is the icing on the cake.
LightningPaul: Many many thanks Padraig. I'm very glad I posted this one.
  • Kavita
  • Suriname
  • 30 Oct 2008, 21:51
Very nice view,. It is a terrific shottongue
LightningPaul: Thanks Kavita. You might say terrific "shots" smile It's a combination of nine pictures.
  • FLOOG
  • The library of my contented soul
  • 20 Nov 2008, 09:20
Perfection

Quite simply magnificent on so many levels smile
LightningPaul: I'm very happy with the best possible comment I could get. Many thanks for visiting the images on my photo blog.
  • giovanni
  • Great Britain (UK)
  • 22 Nov 2008, 03:06
compliments! i like the result very very much smile
LightningPaul: Many thanks for your very kind comment.

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for this photo I'm in a any and all comments icon ShMood©
camera NIKON D200
exposure mode full manual
shutterspeed 1/160s
aperture f/8.0
sensitivity ISO100
focal length 12.0mm
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