HOW TO SHOOT THE EIFFEL TOWER

The Eiffel Tower is as iconic to Paris and France as any structure in the world.  A marvel then and now for its innovation and sheer beauty.  It is also easy to create a perfectly mundane photo.  I don't believe the one below is in that category.

Click here to see more from Paris.

Most people shoot it during the day with a standard lens from less than a mile away.  So do THOUSANDS of other people.

So a few considerations for something different:

1. Relationship to other parts of the city.  
2. Time of day
3. Angle and   
4. Lens choice.

1. The tower is fairly central to the city on the western side along the Seine River, so it is visible from many locations.  At 1063 feet tall, it is still taller than many surrounding hilly neighborhoods to the north.  With careful planning, you can combine a shot with other landmarks.

2. Time of day.  This may not be the mountains, but Galen Rowel's "magic hour" concepts do apply.  Midday pictures are uniformly dull.  At dusk, the tower becomes illuminated by the famous golden lights.  So you need to consider, Sunrise, Sunset or Night to get something more original.

3.  To shoot a different angle, your choices are more limited.  Get up in the hills near the Basilica of Saint-Coeur and shoot with a 200-400 lens, get aerial, but I am not familiar with the tour planes that are available, or get underneath. Voila!

4. I shot "Tour Eiffel" with a fisheye, a Tokina 10 - 17mm lens on my Canon body.

This shot also made a good Paris T-shirt.  Click here to buy.

HDR #2 - High Dynamic Range - Using Photomatix Pro

There are different versions of Photomatix, but this post is designed to give you an idea of the controls you can use to effect an illustrative effect that the plug-in is capable of producing.

Rule #1 for Photomatix is don't be afraid to "play."

I like to use the dashboard more or less in order, starting at the top and working down. Be bold with changing settings to experiment.

Strength On the dashboard of controls, you will get the biggest "bang for the buck" by starting with Strength at 100%. It will give the most photo illustrative effect. The lower you go, the more photo-real it will appear.

Saturation at 100 is more Illustrative. At low settings, you can produce B&W.

Set Luminosity at 10 to begin and adjust from there.

Light Smoothing has five radio button settings. I usually like the second button. Experiment.

Microcontrast settings are a matter of taste and small adjustments count for large swings.

The remaining controls will have a less dramatic impact on the image but experiment to see what you like. Below is the product of combining the seven exposures and using Photomatix Pro.



Click here to see a larger version of this photo and more HDR.