"C'est beau une ville la nuit..." photo

Breaking with the series of macro shot, but still from the stash of photos taken during my recent holidays to France, this is a more classical shot of Notre-Dame de Paris cathedral.

I was staying in a hotel nearby, but hadn't taken my tripod, so I had to push the ISO to 800, and lean on the edge of the nearby bridge, to reduce movements. I'm quite happy with the result. A bit of post edition, to one the shadows and make the yellow hue of the lights on the cathedral pop out a bit more.

"C'est beau une ville la nuit..." (c) Gilles Royer 2015

I've also posted it on my +500px portfolio, at the following link:
https://500px.com/photo/113980917/c-est-beau-une-ville-la-nuit-by-gilles-royer

"Morning in Melbourne - With Balloons" posted on my @500px gallery

I've now posted on 500px the second photo highlighted in my previous post (http://australianlightseeker.blogspot.com/2014/07/morning-in-melbourne-posted-on-my-500px.html)

The link is below:
http://500px.com/photo/76953623/morning-in-melbourne-with-balloons-by-gilles-royer

Thanks for your visit!

"Morning in Melbourne" posted on my @500px gallery

The series "Morning in..." continues with this shot from Melbourne CBD. Amazing what motivation can do to me - waking up at 6am for a morning photo shoot seems easy that the same on the Monday morning to go to work. Go figure....

When I got the car out of the garage, I also noticed that it as a beautiful full moon, and once again, a perfect crisp clear sky, typical winter morning. So I headed off closer to the city this time (see my previous posts in St Kilda, Bolte Bridge, and Swan St Bridge), precisely on the St Kilda road bridge.

I set up my tripod, went to Aperture priority mode to get long exposure (I wanted that smooth/mirror effect on the water), and the remote control, and started to shoot, fine tuning to get the best angle and composition. First shots are a bit too dark, not enough light yet, but I got this one at about 7.05am, so technically, just before the first lights. The moon was full, and on her path to disappearing behind the foot brings you can spot in the background.

I was soon joined by a few other photographers and iPhone snappers, so it must have been a good spot!

Here's the shot I selected to post on 500px gallery (http://500px.com/photo/76655195/morning-in-melbourne-by-gilles-royer):

As the sun rose behind me, a hot air balloon appear on the left, in the background, soon joined by a couple more, and they made their way towards the Rialto towers (those 2 towers with an electric blue light at the top - quite a landmark in Melbourne), but it was hard to get both a long enough exposure, and the hot air balloons sharp enough.

Anyway, it was worth fighting the cold (must have been one of the coldest mornings so far) to get a decent shot

Thanks again for visiting!