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Archive 2019 · Golden Paris from Montparnasse

  
 
visualpauses
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · Golden Paris from Montparnasse


Continuing my French series, this is a sunset from atop the Montparnasse tower.
I wanted to capture the starburst, and the golden light, as it bounces off the rooftops; the one thing that bothers me most is the flare. Should the flare be the reason that this image should go to the trash?
I understand that this might be more of a touristy thing, but I'm trying to put together a set of prints for my home, and liked the colors here.



Update: removed some dust spots that I had missed.

Shot this with:
24-105 mounted on 7D2
1/160 sec at f/22
24 mm
-1 2/3 EV
ISO 160
Aperture priority
Evaluative metering



May 24, 2019 at 11:47 AM
RustyBug
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · Golden Paris from Montparnasse


If you reduce the saturation of the flare areas and tone match them to your overall color of the city ... then the amount of draw they have will be less distracting / offensive.

A labor of love, but likely a good one.



May 24, 2019 at 12:14 PM
visualpauses
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · Golden Paris from Montparnasse


Thanks Kent, I will try that over the weekend..


May 24, 2019 at 01:23 PM
Shasoc
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · Golden Paris from Montparnasse


A very nice image with warm tones and pleasing light. Too bad for those flares. Something that can be fixed.
As you have noticed I like panorama type crops for photos like these. So, I cropped some of the top of the sky where there was no information and played around with some Topaz AI editing tools and some Dodging and Burning.
Socrate







May 24, 2019 at 02:21 PM
visualpauses
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · Golden Paris from Montparnasse


Shasoc wrote:
A very nice image with warm tones and pleasing light. Too bad for those flares. Something that can be fixed.
As you have noticed I like panorama type crops for photos like these. So, I cropped some of the top of the sky where there was no information and played around with some Topaz AI editing tools and some Dodging and Burning.
Socrate


That's brilliant, Socrate, thanks a ton for giving an example of what's possible with this image! The crop adds punch to the image as well, great idea.



May 28, 2019 at 07:25 AM
visualpauses
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · Golden Paris from Montparnasse


Shasoc wrote:
A very nice image with warm tones and pleasing light. Too bad for those flares. Something that can be fixed.
As you have noticed I like panorama type crops for photos like these. So, I cropped some of the top of the sky where there was no information and played around with some Topaz AI editing tools and some Dodging and Burning.
Socrate


I think got the crop right, but I also think I overcooked it when playing with Nik.



May 28, 2019 at 08:38 AM
Shasoc
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · Golden Paris from Montparnasse





May 28, 2019 at 12:02 PM
lighthound
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · Golden Paris from Montparnasse


This doesn't help you now after the fact, but for future shots like this where you want to shoot straight into the sun for a sunstar there is a trick you can do to remedy flares like you have here.

Take your shot that includes the sunstar then take another one exactly the same but put your finger in front of the sun coming in from the top. When you get back home you will have a flare free image that you can then simply brush in the areas affected by the flare. Just make sure you're in full manual mode so that the exposure is locked, otherwise the camera's metering will try to change the exposure.

You didn't hang around long enough to get a shot just after the sun had set did you? With those clouds, it looks like you might have gotten a little light show of color.

Your edit is improved but I might watch the shadows as it feels a little unnatural to me seeing so much detail while looking into the sun.


Dave



May 28, 2019 at 03:11 PM
RustyBug
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · Golden Paris from Montparnasse


Took a stab at the flare. It's still there, but hopefully it draws less than before, so you can explore the scene a bit more freely. Could be better, but you get the gist.







May 28, 2019 at 09:16 PM
visualpauses
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · Golden Paris from Montparnasse


Shasoc wrote:


Thank you Socrate for your patience and encouragement
---------------------------------------------

lighthound wrote:
This doesn't help you now after the fact, but for future shots like this where you want to shoot straight into the sun for a sunstar there is a trick you can do to remedy flares like you have here.

Take your shot that includes the sunstar then take another one exactly the same but put your finger in front of the sun coming in from the top. When you get back home you will have a flare free image that you can then simply brush in the areas affected by the flare. Just make sure you're in full manual mode
...Show more

That's an awesome tip, Dave! Thanks so much for sharing it! Hoping to try it in the near future

lighthound wrote:

You didn't hang around long enough to get a shot just after the sun had set did you? With those clouds, it looks like you might have gotten a little light show of color.


Unfortunately there was a lot of jostling for space, - Montparnasse Tower has a glass enclosure for safety, with slits in the glass to allow camera lenses for photography. The tower management also allows people to simply plonk their tripods for hours on end, and those inconsiderate folks completely spoil the evening for everyone else - once you arrive at the top during golden hour, all you can see are tripods, not the city. I had to beg and plead some of them just to let me squeeze in, and grab a few bracketed handheld shots. The Eiffel tower was wonderful in comparison. No tripods, so people kept moving and didn't hog the space.

lighthound wrote:

Your edit is improved but I might watch the shadows as it feels a little unnatural to me seeing so much detail while looking into the sun.

Dave


True.. Thanks for pointing it out I will need to revisit that part again.

---------------------------------------------

RustyBug wrote:
Took a stab at the flare. It's still there, but hopefully it draws less than before, so you can explore the scene a bit more freely. Could be better, but you get the gist.



This is great, Kent, thanks a lot, for showing me what is possible with the flare. I loved the fact that the prismatic effect is gone. I will make some edits and re-post in a few days.

Thanks again!



May 29, 2019 at 01:03 PM





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