Hi Steve,
It’s been a while since I’ve submitted a story for your daily inspiration, so I decided to share my recent trip with you. I got married last month and for our honeymoon, we decided to keep it classical and romantic by visiting France (mostly Paris and Lyon). I brought my trusty M9 and my 50 Lux with me. It’s always a challenge trying to photograph while on your honeymoon. You can’t just go on sprees and take pictures anytime you want. I managed to sneak in some photos during down-times.
The conception of France is that the french aren’t very fond of Americans. I found this to be the opposite in fact. Everyone was extremely nice and kind to us. In Paris and Lyon, when you have dinner at a restaurant, the more you order, the more the waiters start to like you! In fact, not ordering a bottle of wine in a brasserie is frowned upon. Between the hours of 2pm and 6pm, everything closes down. I could definitely get used to this lifestyle. In France, you take long 4 hour lunch breaks. You eat lots of food, drink lots of wine, take a nap, and then go back to work later in the evening.
All shots were taken with the M9 and 50 Lux. I’ve slightly changed my treatment from the last time I posted on this site. Anyway, I wanted to share some photos from our honeymoon in this beautiful country. Hope you find these interesting.
“The conception of France is that the french aren’t very fond of Americans. I found this to be the opposite in fact. Everyone was extremely nice and kind to us. In Paris and Lyon, when you have dinner at a restaurant, the more you order, the more the waiters start to like you! In fact, not ordering a bottle of wine in a brasserie is frowned upon. Between the hours of 2pm and 6pm, everything closes down. I could definitely get used to this lifestyle. In France, you take long 4 hour lunch breaks. You eat lots of food, drink lots of wine, take a nap, and then go back to work later in the evening.”
Is this meant to be a joke?
It is just plain ignorance…
Nice work Dro…I’m in Paris right now….nice timing this post. Great city, lovely images. If I was to choose it would be the cafe scene for me…..
Well done.
I like what I see. Nice work.
I will just say, seeing these pics, it makes me pretty satisfied with my OM-D. I might lust a little after an M9…but the little OM-D holds its own.
Just by way of reference, this is a fairly low res jpg with very little post processing but is a similar shot (albeit with a bit more natural light) that I took in Paris in May. Any critique is appreciated.
https://plus.google.com/109519789823789832194/posts/WFKon9fy9R7
Nice shots. I personally like slight desaturation and I use a Fuji X100 which is known for its wonderful colours – go figure.
And well done for sneaking some shots in on your honeymoon!
Amazing photos. I really like all of them. Post precessing is fine as well for me. Thanks for sharing.
I am amazed by the sheer amount of noise in these pictures, even the daylight ones. Is this on purpose?
Yes some grain was added during post processing.
Nicely done – love the angles and the look. I miss France!
I’ll add my 2 cents. These photographs are colorful, but do not look oversaturated to me. Not at all. They look great. And yes, I’m looking at them right now on a calibrated monitor. I might add that it’s been calibrated with an X-Rite colorimeter, not software “calibrated”. Software-only monitor calibration is an oxymoron. One needs a colorimeter for truly accurate calibration.
I agree; I use SpyderPro3. By “desaturation” I meant desaturation, not something else.
The processing does not look gimicky. Nice images Dro.
I agree. In fact it’s quite subtle compared to current fad for pseudo ‘film’ filters …instagram etc
…and at least he didn’t HDR the life out of them either!
Nice work Dro.
Great stuff Dro. Thank you for sharing.
OK; desaturation.
MikeD800,
I’ve noticed that you offer much critique regarding post processing on this site. Would you be kind enough to provide a link to your work? It might be beneficial for us to view your preferences on processing images.
Cheers.
Ben, I guess you don’t agree with me. Everyone has his own preferences, which you may or may not agree with. I use desaturation sometimes, but only in very special cases, not as a gimmick. I don’t post process much at all; the image (content, composition, light, contrast) has to speak for itself without a lot of help.
Miked700 is my flickr account, on Facebook I’m Michiel Faro. Feel free to comment; I welcome all.
Btw, if you were to scan all my comments (but I think you probably have better things to do), you would see my comments express liking images as much as not liking them so much.
Not to be repetitive, but as you know I feel that having expensive gear does not create a passport to interesting images.
Cheers,
Michiel
Thanks for the reply Michiel. I agree with you that a camera doesn’t make the photographer. I do feel however, that post processing is part of the artistic process. I will be sure to check out your work. Cheers.
Cheers too Ben. Did you get yourself that decent laptop yet?
I ended buying a decent desktop with a bigger monitor. I didn’t go all out but bought something with a nice balance between great performance and economy. I plan on unpacking and setting it up tonight. 🙂
Best of luck with that! Don’t forget: most screens are set up for document viewing and therefore too blue. Colour calibrating software is not that expensive but very effective. You’ll be amazed.