France | Steve Oldham Photography

Surprised

I mentioned in my last post how I’ve been given a free Awesome account at 500px. What has surprised me is which images are receiving the best responses.

To date, the image above has been my most popular image. To me, that is not a huge surprise. It’s probably my favourite image out of my portfolio.

More of a surprise to me, is that this image came a close second in terms of popularity:

This is a six image stitched panoramic shot, the first one I created using PTGui. Am I happy with the results? Yes, otherwise I wouldn’t have posted it! But do I think it’s my second best image? I don’t think so.

Which just goes to show, sometimes you need other people to view your work in order to judge its worth. You get such an emotional attachment to an image through the creative process, that sometimes it’s difficult to take a step backwards, and assess your work critically. But it’s so important to do that.

For completeness, my current third most popular image is:

I note that all three of these images were taken on my most recent shooting trip, when I was in Paris. That is a good sign that my work is continuing to develop!

Flattered

I received a really nice comment on one of my pictures on my Instagram feed today, from the British skeleton star and future Olympian athlete Lizzy Yarnold! For those of you who don’t know Lizzy, she is the British number one skeleton currently, and was the World Junior Champion in 2012. Hopefully she will follow in the footsteps of Amy Williams, Shelley Rudman and Alex Coomber and return from Sochi 2014 with an Olympic medal!

The photo she liked was this one, which I’ve shared on here previously.

I’ve sent her a copy – hope she likes it!

If you would like a limited edition print, they are available here.

The Louvre, Paris

I took part in a free Photowalk organised by Trey Ratcliff in Paris last autumn. It was scheduled to take place just as night fell, giving great opportunities for the creation of HDR images, and with one of the masters of the technique on hand to provide advice and guidance.

This is an image I took of the entrance to the Louvre museum.

It’s a three image composite, with post production in Lightroom, Photoshop, Photomatix and Topaz Adjust.

A key importance was the composition, ensuring the alignment of the pyramids with the centre of the building in the background, and also with the centre of the frame. Also key was the other tourists – as anyone who has been to the Louvre will know it’s a busy location, made even more so when there are several hundred photowalkers around the place with tripods everywhere!

I hope you enjoy it. This image is available for purchase as a Limited Edition print.

Notre Dame

It’s quite difficult to get a good shot of Notre Dame at the moment. It’s approaching their 850th anniversary, and as a consequence a load of temporary seating has been erected on scaffolding in the square in front of the Cathedral.

I managed to take this shot from the bridge onto the Ile de la Cite. Three exposures.

I particularly like the effect of the cloudy skies; little did I know that they would shortly clear to a dramatic sunset – but more of that to come in the next few days! Hopefully the blue scaffolding isn’t too distracting…

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Parisien Architecture

One thing I like about Paris is the architecture. As Ana said whilst we were on our way from the station to the hotel: “It’s very French!”. When you’re there, take the time to stop and look around you. Look up especially.

This building was close to our hotel, in Le Peletier.

I particularly like the shape of the building, also the ornate balcony rails that wrap around each floor.

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Steve Oldham Photography

Landscape and Travel Photographer from Manchester, England

Posts tagged ‘France’