The Arc de Triomphe is one of Paris’ landmarks. It is one of those locations recognized the world over. It is Paris. Along with the Eiffel Tower and Notre Dame. Located at the western end of the Champs-Elysees it honours those who fought and died for France during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars. Designed in 1806, it was finally inaugurated in 1836. My recent (very quick) trip to Paris gave me two days between flights to hit the highlights, so before I arrived I decided to focus on just three locations: the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, and the Arc de Triomphe. I decided I would rather have images of these locations that I was really happy with than rush and try to fit in so many destinations that I would lose my focus. My evening and early morning shoots were to be taken up by the Eiffel Tower (to get the light show) and Notre Dame, so I was left with some daylight hours to fill. The harsh light of day is a tough time, but with my neutral density filter in hand, I knew just how I wanted to approach the Arc de Triomphe and its busy street.
With my tripod set up in the median, I wanted until some of the colorful tour buses passed. I wanted the motion blur, so shot at ISO100, 12 mm, f16 @ 1/3 second. I processed this image in Lightroom 4 to give it a bit of a nostalgic feel. I increased the vibrance and warmth a bit and raised the clarity levels in the street. You can see that I warmed the front of the Arc de Triomphe up a little more in the top image.
I like both of these images and despite having a soft-spot for the old red buses, I think the yellow tour bus image is my favourite of the two.
Michelle Gilders' Photography 