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Under the Eiffel This time of night only lasts a fleeting five minutes. So, as a photographer in Paris, it's a major commitment to get in place for that dire period. There's never an easy decision, and... after all... it is Paris, so there is no "bad" place to be.I'm glad it's a city where many restaurants stay open late. I miss the "normal" dinner time, since those are the prime sunset hours. I usually try to grab a snack around 4 PM to carb-up for a busy shooting session. And then after I eek out every last minute of atmospheric light, I like to go to a late-night restaurant to edit photos and relax a little bit. Okay, actually I relax a lot.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Under the Louvre This is a definite no-no land for tripods, so that made me re-double my efforts to make this shot happen under the glass pyramid of the Louvre.With the sun in my face, there was no way I could make an HDR out of a single RAW, and I knew I needed seven exposures, from +3 to -3 to make it happen. I ran around in circles to save up some bullet-time, and then I quickly unfurled my RRS tripod. It spun and rotated like the Hellraiser cube until I had it perfectly situated. I took my seven shots as quickly as possible before two security cards came over to get me.I couldn't Michael-Weston my way out of that one because my French is so bad, so I just slowly folded up my tripod while giving them a knowing grin. I wanted it to be the kind of grin that ate into their souls... but, I think they were just generally annoyed with me and wanted me to hurry the heck up.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
La Gare I took the train from Paris to Nimes in the middle of the day, and ended up here with half an hour to spare. I had just enough time to get some pastries and some HDRs. What else does a man need in life?Here is a little tip that I'm sure many of you already know... but I thought I would go ahead and say it anyway! If you want a symmetrical shot, get in the absolute center. And I mean absolute. Check your corners, count the girders, etc. You'll have to get a little OCD if you want a perfectly centered shot!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Orsay One of my favorite museums! I'm a huge fan of Impressionism, and this museum has an amazing collection. It also houses one of the most famous paintings by Manet - Le dejeuner sur l'herbe (Wikipedia). I've always heard about and studied this painting, so it was of particular interest to me. When I saw it in person, it was absolutely striking... I did not expect to have a reaction like that.Well, you aren't supposed to take photos in here, but I just can't help it. I think the rule is silly and somewhat insulting to he artist in me. I remember studying the Impressionists... Manet himself would come into museums and paint... so what is the difference? Nothing... I think my Impressionist heroes are looking down on me and smiling for defying such a silly rule. In this case, I did not use a tripod (would have been a bit obvious). So I cranked up the ISO on my camera to keep everything sharp. Also, I set my F stop at 2.8, which keeps a scene like this in focus when you're using a wide angle lens, since everything is effectively at infinity.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Exploring the Cathedral No tripods allowed. I think maybe it said this in French. Or English. I can't remember because I ignored it. How are you supposed to get a decent photo inside Notre Dame without a tripod?I spent this weekend processing a bunch of photos from France, and this is one that took quite a while. People often ask me, 'How long do you work on your photos?" My answer is always a bit strange, since any time-allotment will not seem correct. The thing is... I've processed so many photos over the years -- I've gotten very fast at it. I've got macros, keyboard shortcuts, etc etc. I think I might look like a Korean Starcraft player... I slow it down a lot for the tutorial and stuff. But, anyway, having said that, my answer is "anywhere from 15 minutes to two hours". This shot in particular took a little over an hour. It was a hard one... I had to take a few breaks and refill the green tea a few times to work out some issues with it.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Gladiator Arena at Sunset While visiting Fabien in Nimes, there was a bullfight going on inside this ancient Roman gladiator arena. The further south you go in France, the more likely you are to find the old influence of the Spanish bullfights. It's pretty violent, yes? Yes. In fact, if you zoom in, you can still see blood that has been smeared across the arena by the smearing-truck.Once the crowd started to clear out, a perfect sunset settled upon us. It was just Fabien, my wife, and I, and it was a very nice night. After the bullfight, we walked around to take a lot of photos of this amazing evening, Fabien took us to his favorite little secret French restaurant down one of the side streets. Perfect!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
The Castle Alley Well a big merry Christmas to you! I hope you all are having a good holiday week! We'll continue with our country-by-country week o' photos. Today... let's do... France! It's a good one, oui? I'll begin today with a new photo from Montpellier, in the south of France. We stayed there with a wonderful family (my friends Jacques and Marie) and had an amazing time. One evening, they took us out for dinner at a perfect little place on a quiet side-street. Along the way, Jacques, who is also a photographer, took me to this amazing castle-cathedral. He said, "I think this is probably a good area for photography." He said this with eyebrows raised and a serious expression. He didn't need to say any more than that! - Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Paris HDR I think this was my fifth trip to Paris, and the first time I actually got some Eiffel Tower shots that I find satisfactory! I literally had to take thousands of shots of this thing before I found something that feels right to me.The gardens that surround the Eiffel Tower are surprisingly empty. Around dusk and sunset, it's usually not too hard to find a nice bench to drink in the sights. Or, barring that, there are plenty of spots in the grass where you can lay out a blanket and enjoy some amazing cheese and pastries... and what is more wonderful than that?- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Arc de Triomphe This is a dangerous spot! But so pretty...It was a cool night in Paris. It was a bit damp too, as if it might rain at any moment. So that kept me moving from spot to spot pretty quickly. I was secretly hoping for a bit of rain... Europe at night in a light rain is always kind of charming. I'm pretty sure that locals don't find it charming... just annoying.- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

La Gare


I took the train from Paris to Nimes in the middle of the day, and ended up here with half an hour to spare. I had just enough time to get some pastries and some HDRs. What else does a man need in life?

Here is a little tip that I'm sure many of you already know... but I thought I would go ahead and say it anyway! If you want a symmetrical shot, get in the absolute center. And I mean absolute. Check your corners, count the girders, etc. You'll have to get a little OCD if you want a perfectly centered shot!

- Trey Ratcliff

Click here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
Click here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog." href="javascript:openLB(1156951250,'',XLarge,'',1024,689);"> La Gare I took the train from Paris to Nimes in the middle of the day, and ended up here with half an hour to spare. I had just enough time to get some pastries and some HDRs. What else does a man need in life?Here is a little tip that I'm sure many of you already know... but I thought I would go ahead and say it anyway! If you want a symmetrical shot, get in the absolute center. And I mean absolute. Check your corners, count the girders, etc. You'll have to get a little OCD if you want a perfectly centered shot!- Trey RatcliffClick here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.

La Gare


I took the train from Paris to Nimes in the middle of the day, and ended up here with half an hour to spare. I had just enough time to get some pastries and some HDRs. What else does a man need in life?

Here is a little tip that I'm sure many of you already know... but I thought I would go ahead and say it anyway! If you want a symmetrical shot, get in the absolute center. And I mean absolute. Check your corners, count the girders, etc. You'll have to get a little OCD if you want a perfectly centered shot!

- Trey Ratcliff

Click here to read the rest of this post at the Stuck in Customs blog.
See photo in original gallery.
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