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ctfchallenge | all galleries >> Celebrate 50 >> Eligible Gallery > Notre Dame (*)
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05-MAR-2004 Richard Hopkins

Notre Dame (*)

Notre Dame, Paris.

About a year ago I had my first proper go with a digital camera. It was a 1.3mp Fuji that I'd borrowed from my mum and I took it to Paris for a weekend. With it I took some great photos, and one inside Notre Dame particularly caught my interest.

Time moves on, I got myself an S45, and now a 10D, and I decided that I should revisit Paris to take some of those photos again but better. The shot that impressed me last year wasn't possible to recreate due to scaffolding inside and a tripod ban, but I managed to get this shot which wasn't possible last year.

It's hand held, 1 second using burst mode to avoid having to even move a finger. It was dark in there, and a lot of the detail in the photo wasn't visible to the naked eye.

In eligability terms, it's my favorite photo taken from inside my favorite building to photograph from my favorite city. Even if they don't allow tripods. It was taken just a few hours after the start of the competition, when I didn't know what the subject was.

Subnote: While looking for a metro station I stumbled into "The Bridge to my dreams". Walking into a photo I'd seen so recently was odd, but it was the bridge to my dreams, because not only did it lead me to the metro station, but it kept me dry on the way there.

Canon EOS 10D ,Sigma 18-50mm f/3.5-5.6 DC
1s f/5.6 at 18.0mm iso800 hide exif
Full EXIF Info
Date/Time05-Mar-2004 08:54:11
MakeCanon
ModelEOS 10D
Flash UsedNo
Focal Length18 mm
Exposure Time1.00 sec
Aperturef/5.6
ISO Equivalent800
Exposure Bias
White Balance (-1)
Metering Mode
JPEG Quality (6)
Exposure Program
Focus Distance

other sizes: small medium original auto
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alexeig14-Mar-2004 15:07
The shot conveys nicely the feeling of inner space of a Gothic cathedral. I am amazed at steadfastness of your hands and no less by dynamic range of your camera. Was it cloudy outside?
Canon DSLR Challenge12-Mar-2004 18:13
I was lucky with the windows, most of my photos from Paris were ruined by the dull weather outside, but I think it was my saviour here. Thanks for everyone's kind comments.

Richard
Paul Sumi12-Mar-2004 17:27
Great technique to hand hold a 1 second exposure. I like the way you were able to get the inside detail without blowing out the exposure on the stained glass windows.
ctfchallenge12-Mar-2004 16:30
Well done, I like how you composed this...Bee
ctfchallenge09-Mar-2004 23:37
I sure do feel the expanse of the architecture here. Great job. Susan
ctfchallenge09-Mar-2004 10:50
Beautiful photo. I visited Notre Dame many years ago and have never forgot how beautiful it was. Love the perspective and the jewel-like colours of the windows against the neutral texture of the walls.
Gayle
Sigurd 06-Mar-2004 20:25
I'm amazed that you could pull off a shot like this handheld. Very well done! I've got quite a few shots from the Notre Dame too, but never knew the ceiling looks like that :)
Paris is my favourite city for photographing (and most other things) too... I love to just wander aimlessly through the streets and photograph whatever comes up. You can get off the metro anywhere in Paris and find stuff worth seeing and photographing. Great city!
ctfchallenge06-Mar-2004 15:55
I'm not sure burst mode is the right word for it, continuous shooting is more accurate. It means you can take a few photos without having to move even your finger. A few shots and some chimping later, and with any luck, one of them will be ok.

On the other hand, Even I can't beleive it was 1s exposure. This is also iso800 and f5.6, it really was that dark in there. Viewing the picture at full size, every brick is there, sharp as anything. The shot is unprocessed except for cropping. Sharpness, colour balance, contrast and levels are as it came out of the camera.

In answer to your question, I wasn't lying down, it was too busy even at 9:00am (I had already done l'arc de triomphe and la grande arche...

More photos are athttp://www.esses.co.uk/paris2 , although, due to rain and dullness, many of them aren't up to the standard I set myself, and I also need to photoshop a lot of them (mainly to get rid of raindrops and reduce orangeness).

http://www.esses.co.uk/paris1/ is the original photo shoot, my first attempt at using a digicam. I would have killed for that weather over the last 2 days.http://www.esses.co.uk/paris1/dscf0042.htm is the shot I was trying (and failed) to reproduce. - Richard
Nugar06-Mar-2004 15:18
1s handheld? wow! What is burst mode?

The picture is great, love the parchment like texture of the ceiling and walls and the perspective. Were you lying down?