Ile de la Cite DawnCopyrighted Digital Image Paul Grayson www.Photeinos.com

Given my aspiration to produce high-quality, Fine Art Photography, this image triggers some questions for me. Sure, it was crafted with care, given that it required planning, timing, and the use of quality equipment mounted on a heavy tripod to produce a colour sensitive and in-depth focus result, all under difficult lighting conditions.

That said, I question whether it may be considered banal, given the saturation production of images of Paris, especially at dawn. Against that criticism, its redeeming qualities for me are the rarity of the combination of: this viewpoint, the subtlety of the  gradations in the dawn sky and the play of verticals and horizontals in the silhouetted composition. I love making silhouettes, whatever the lighting situation, for aesthetic reasons, not just because of laws against selling images which can identify people without their permission.  

Technical

The narrow f22 aperture and low sensitivity of ISO 250 generated a tripod-requiring shutter speed of 1/80s, producing the strong silhouette and subtle colours. Less drastic settings could have produced a better-lit, but soft impact image. This would have had low impact, in my opinion.

What do you think?

Settings

Camera: Nikon D300

Lens: Nikon AF-S Nikkor 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR

Focal Length: 70mm

Drive Mode: Single Shot

Aperture: f/22

Shutter Speed: 1/80s

Exposure Program: Aperture Priority A/E

Exposure Compensation: -1.0 EV

Metering: Centre-weighted average

ISO Sensitivity: 250

Tripod Mounted

Format: Raw

Place : La Conciergerie, Ile de la cite, Paris

Year: 2008

Copyright Paul Grayson 2021 All Rights Reserved