Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Speed!


I'm just back from a dinner with my father which I enjoyed very much. We tried a new restaurant near rue de l'Annonciation, a little pedestrian street in the 16th arrondissement. I took this photo on the way back, as I was closer to my place. These kind of photos are not easy to take, especially at night, as you must play with the settings of your camera (which I'm terrible at!) if you want the biker to look focused and the background blurry. I'm not fully satisfied with it, but I still like the effect ;) Talking about photos... Do you want to see who attended the South California PDP gathering?
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43 comments:

  1. He looks like he is racing on a raceway. We you walking on the a big boulevard? It looks late at night.

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  2. Correction: Were you walking on a big boulevard?

    I can't talk -- don't mind me.

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  3. Lois, GF! Brilliant ;-)

    I'm'quite sure this biker doesn't really care about speed limits...

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  4. Still in all a very good photo of a difficult subject. It's good to see that the subject is wearing a helmet. I have a friend, a heart surgeon, who calls these "donor cycles" because a large number of the hearts he transplants come from motor cycle accidents in which the rider was not wearing a helmet.

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  5. Lois> It was on the river banks, so yes, a pretty large road.

    And yes, I think he was above the speed limits!

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  6. Hey Lois! GF! Tres bien fait. I pass the crown to you -- wear it well! :)) And you can take the streamers off if you want -- they kept catching on fire when I had the fireworks show. ; }

    Eric - it is indeed hard to take this kind of photo - I've never mastered it. Very well done to you, too! Another Paris moment for all of us who live vicariously through your lens....merci beaucoup.

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  7. Wow -- donor cycles -- eeuuwww. So glad I don't work in that world.

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  8. South California PDP, the beautiful people from the City of the Angeles -- so Hollywood -- love these photos -- really fun.

    merci beaucoup

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  9. Action shots = not easy

    Night shots = not easy

    Action + night shots = not easy at all!!

    Don't tell me you took that shot while driving your scooter, as well?!!! Hope not!

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  10. Great photo, Eric! I am really thankful we have helmet laws here in our state--even though riders try to have them repealed every few years. Donor-cycles is just about right if you get in an accident.

    Glad you had a great time, SoCal PDPer's!

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  11. Oh, yah, I forgot.. trying to figure out your camera settings in the dark = not as easy as one might think!!!

    Off I go visit the Southern Cal. group photos. Hope these guys are OK by the way. We had a 5.4 earthquake today in Southern Cal. near LA. Hope all of you down there, Petra, Tall Gary, Pont Girl, and all the others, are doing fine. Unfortunately, San Francisco Bay Area is all too familiar with Earthquakes :(

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  12. PHX-CDG -- follow up from yesterday -- I'll let you be the one to put on the judges wig, but, I noticed and thought about the rules and -- I've been silent too. Then I thought, maybe some of the first posters didn't care about being GF. And, after that I thought, well, maybe a little silence is golden.

    Either way, Lois Simon won today's GF fair and square -- so congratulations LS!

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  13. Great shot, Eric, good subject for a night shot!

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  14. Thanks Tomate Farcie -- we rocked and rolled today but I at least came out with everything ok. Hope all the other PDP SoCal pod members are in the same boat.

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  15. Wow, I get to wear the GF crown. It's like being "Queen for the Day" :)

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  16. Great shot, Eric! If I took that it would be but a blur.

    Boz (my boxer/mastiff mix) and I were mowing the lawn when the quake came. He looked to me to see if he should panic, so I told him it was no big deal. After that he enjoyed the aftershock. I think everyone's okay, but it always gets us talking about "the Big One." I hope it gets people planning, too. Scientists say it's not "if," it's "when." At which point everything will look like the background of Eric's photo!

    Now off to see "the making of." :)

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  17. I like the image of the motorcycle. The way the rider's knee and the gas tank are solidly in focus, and the rest of the motorcycle gets a bit molten in places and faded in others, with streaks of reflected and illuminating light.

    You know what's really weird though? How his head is Picassoesque. It's like he's looking forward and also at Eric, both at the same time.

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  18. Eric - I LOVE IT!!!!!

    tall gary - I see what you mean about the Picasso face! Great effect.

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  19. Pshaw. Artists are never satisfied with their art. I think the shot is great. It would be at home on Top Gear, even. (I *heart* the beautiful camera work that goes into Top Gear!)

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  20. Night shots are hard. Sometimes your best shots are purely by accident don't you think?

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  21. Ah Eric this is my forte. During the Isle of Man TT motorbike races I took roughly a thousand action shots. The trick is not to pan, stay static, have your speed setting on 2000 - 4000 depending on the speed of the bike. For motion blur it's the A setting, which freezes the bike, the moving image, and blurs the bakcground the static image. I uploaded some onto my blog, but most of them have sold to Sport magazines or private clients.
    It's my busiest and most profitable time of the year so I have to get it right. It does remind me of speedway riding, and definitley conveys the fluidity of the bike. Great image, especailly under tricky nightlight.

    Well I'm an expert in photography, but I'm still clueless what GF means. Please someone enlighten me,
    I am stumped.

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  22. Hey babooshka -- very interesting reading about your photo forte. I'm going to go to your blog to see them.

    The GF thing stands for Golden Finger -- and its become a bit of a competition (with more rules than I can remember). The basic rules (someone correct me if I'm wrong, please!) are that you have to post first and that you have to write at least two sentences about the photo of the day. The great thing about PDP is that all the competition is really friendly and fun. So that's what I know about GF!

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  23. Thank you Carrie.

    I often post a comment a day later as it's way past my bedtime here. Well I waffle and usually asleep so I'll always be minus a GF. I assumed it stood for something French.Doh! On that I am now hitting the sack, to sleep while you lovely bloggers enjoy the conversation.

    Night all.

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  24. Very cool photo! You seem pretty good at work your settings Eric. I like the multiple stripes on the road

    Congrats on GF Lois! And here you were just saying you never got it. Be sure to add a few of your own baubles to it!

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  25. Lois -- Katie just said what I was going to say. But I can see some of your cool scarves trailing from the crown!
    Eric -- Not sure why you're not completely satisfied with the photo, because this is so hard to do -- and this shot is awesome! I sympathize about the settings Just got a new camera & (like Petrea), I had to print out the online (154-page!) manual -- my summer reading. Thanks for posting the SoCal PDP pix.

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  26. This is an exciting photo, Eric. I agree with Tomate. Es dificil. But you've got the creative sense of speed, which conveys in an artistic way what was happening. I'm thinking you were stopped at the light on your scooter.I love the stream of lights across the intersection. . .makes me think a Bateaux Mouches is passing by, although one wouldn't be up at street level from the river. But that's the fun of creative photos like this. . .they can suggest many things! Now like Petrea, I'm off to see the SoCal crew. (Petrea, I fly into Long Beach tomorrow, I may email you if we get a break in activities during the week while in SoCal).
    -Kim
    Seattle Daily Photo

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  27. Cool shot. Vroom. I can hear it, smell it, feel it.

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  28. Petrea, your dog sounds so cute. I love pets -- they are so adorable.

    Tall Gary, "Picassoesque" perfect, exactly. I was in the hospital once and the doctor told me not to worry about the surgery. He said that he was like Picasso. I told him that could be a good thing or a BAD thing depending on Picasso's period of work. The doctor didn't say anything in response to that. I bet he never told a patient that again.

    Suzy, I saw a card in a shop and it was a B&W photo of a statue from behind (his butt and torso and head) with Tour Eiffel in the distance. The photo reminded me of you except that you are cute.

    Babooshka, Wow, You are a pro! Thank you for the tips.

    Katie, Merci -- I got GF once before a lonnnnnng time ago.

    Alexa, Yeah, me and my scarves. I couldn't live without them. I started with my first scarves when I was 20 in the UK. They were vintage art deco. I had one that was burgundy and taupe or mauve, and one that was emerald green and creme colour. I have been wearing scarves ever since.

    Cool comment Jeff -- I wish I would have thought of that.

    Eric, my X, Jean-Baptiste Petitpas, emailed me. I had sent him a copy of your Tour de France photos because he likes bikes -- any kind of bikes. He said, "wow, I had no idea that was going on." He said merci. In Paris he has dirt bikes that he rides in the forest.

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  29. Il fallait y arriver, Eric. Bravo ;) For you.

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  30. Quite impressive picture!
    Don't repeat it but Eric was just shaking his hand while the bike
    was passing by: blurry effect. ;)

    About the PDP gathering, I'm ABSOLUTELY jealous...You look so nice and I'm sure that your conversation was lovely.
    We didn't meet each other a second time in Paris (or maybe I was not invited, that's possible!).
    A quand un pique nique d'automne?!

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  31. Wow alexa, you're going to read the manual? I guess I'm like a guy in this respect, I just fiddle with things until I figure them out. Did that with paintshop when I first started doing digi-graphics, did that when I got my camera, did that when I got my ipod, etc. I think it just makes things more satisfying when I figure them out myself. Instructions, be damned! (Directions too, now that I think about it!)

    Alas, I will never have the GF title. I think I commented first on a photo once, waaaaaay before the whole GF competition.

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  32. If you're "terrible" at playing with settings, then I don't even want to KNOW what I'd be. I don't even have a real camera, but a small point-and-shoot digital (with a few extra settings that I play with occasionally).

    This shot is great! Keep working at it and you'll be amazing at these shots. It won't take much! You're nearly there.

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  33. Aww, thanks lois simon! I think you're cute, too. My lady does have a very hot boyfriend - http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v417/CLAYZ4U/Paris/paris_eiffel_tower_statue-36.jpg - maybe it is him you saw?

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  34. Suzy (eiffel tower!!!) "My lady..." Isn't that a photo of you?
    "...hot boyfriend..." Yeah, That's him! Is he famous?

    Just another hour and a half to wear the GF crown. It was great fun everyone!

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  35. uselaine sits on her hands until new GF title is awarded...

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  36. Before it is too late, and as a surrogate for Jack Bailey, let me remedy my negligence here and finally get around to congratulating you, Lois, on winning the coveted GF "Queen for a Day" tiara. The yellow diamonds go so well with the Chihuly. Your fingers may not caress the plush texture of the red-velvet robe for much longer but the dozen long-stemmed roses should continue to perfume your humble abode for yet a few more poignant yet ecstatic days.

    I am wishing you the best of luck in once again achieving your well-deserved and coveted position.

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  37. That's beautiful Tall Gary. And look, I'm still wearing the GF "Queen for a Day" tiara.

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  38. I was thinking the same thing. It's still yours Lois (at least at the time I set out to write this).

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  39. ...the west coast contingent stands by...

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  40. This photo is amazing Eric. M.B is going to love it when he sees it. He's been working on his camera settings too, to get the long exposure; to have captured the motocyclist like this is fantastic.

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