Snapshots of Italy and France

[SamuraiJack]

I just got back yesterday from a 10 day vacation in Italy and France. We toured Rome, Florence, Pisa, Nice, Monaco, Paris, and several other areas as well. It was quite a busy trip. We packed as much into 10 days as was possible.

I took my SD500 along with me and was able to take around 800 photos. Some of them turned out really special. I figured you guys might like to see a few of them. Please be sure to check back as I will post more as I go through them. I'm still very tired and only had time to get a few of them ready for posting here.

I sincerely hope you enjoy the pictures.

-Wes

The first is a view of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

[SamuraiJack]

Here is the famous Louvre Museum in Paris

[SamuraiJack]

A night view of the Eiffel Tower. Shutter speed was set to 4 seconds I believe in case anyone was wondering.

[SamuraiJack]

A final shot of the Eiffel Tower. This one was taken from a bridge crossing the Seine River. I really liked the way this one turned out. Shutter speed was 5 seconds I believe.

Thats all for now. Again, be sure to check back as I will be posting many more pictures as I go through them.

Enjoy.

-Wes

[Bald Eagle]

Fantastic photos, I especially love the one of the Eiffel Tower, I had a very similar photo of the Tower, many moons ago, unfortunately, it was lost when all my gear was stolen. Its great to see the Tower all lit up. Did you go up to the top and take photos as well?

[SamuraiJack]

Did you go up to the top and take photos as well?


Oh yes, definitely. I'll post a few later. Thanks for the comments.

-Wes

[SamuraiJack]

One more...this is the Pantheon in Rome. Quite an amazing building.

-Wes


Edited to correct the name of the building.

[EAP]

I thought the Parthenon was in Athens? :confused:

Gorgeous shots, especially of the Eiffel Tower. I loved both night shots, actually.

[JTL]

I thought the Parthenon was in Athens? :confused:

Gorgeous shots, especially of the Eiffel Tower. I loved both night shots, actually.You're right...it's the Pantheon in rome.

Wes...great shots! Thanks for posting them...:)

[Q B@LL]

Beautiful pics SamuraiJack! I especially like the shot of the tower and the Seine! Good job! I can't wait to see more!

[Bluedog]

Very nice shots and I for one am always interested in the exposure settings.

[SamuraiJack]

You're right...it's the Pantheon in rome.

Wes...great shots! Thanks for posting them...:)


Ooops...yeah my bad... Its the Pantheon. I'm really not feeling well right now plus I was up for about 24 hours yesterday flying home. I had to stay over there with a lady from our group that got sick right at the last minute. The rest of the group went on the scheduled flight and I stayed behind with the group leader, the lady and her husband. We were delayed around 8 hours or so dealing with that. Ugh...

Anyway, sorry for the mixup and thanks for the correction JTL.

-Wes

[SamuraiJack]

Here is an Italian rabbit that lived at one of the hotels we stayed at. It was very tame. I took the photo only a few feet away from it.

Enjoy

-Wes

[SamuraiJack]

I thought some of you might like to see this picture. As an artistic photo, its really not that great. I am posting it as an example of how the SD500s night photo mode works. It is supposed to light the person in the photo but still allow objects in the background to be properly exposed as well. I changed nothing in PS other than resizing the picture for posting.

The person in the photo is me by the way.

-Wes

[Geoff Chandler]

Fantastic photos, I especially love the one of the Eiffel Tower, I had a very similar photo of the Tower, many moons ago, unfortunately, it was lost when all my gear was stolen. Its great to see the Tower all lit up. Did you go up to the top and take photos as well?
Samuraijack ~ excellent shots that bring back memories. Like Bald Eagle it's been a while since I was there - and I would very much like to return with my family.
Unlike Bald Eagle - I do still have some shots - xfered to Digital now - but the orig's were slide.
Here's one of the Eiffel Tower when it was 100 years old taken at night on my old trusty OM2 (if I recall correctly), & yep - I went to the top - but during the day - and took several from up there as well - I could post one or two if I am not intruding tooo much.

[Geoff Chandler]

I thought some of you might like to see this picture. As an artistic photo, its really not that great. I am posting it as an example of how the SD500s night photo mode works. It is supposed to light the person in the photo but still allow objects in the background to be properly exposed as well. I changed nothing in PS other than resizing the picture for posting.

The person in the photo is me by the way.

-Wes

Wes
That's worked really well - what a great little Camera that is - however it still needs the person behind the lens to make the pic - well done mate
Geoff

[AlkaPhunk]

Hi Wes, Very nice night shots !!
I was thinking maybe you could just darken a bit yourself on the last one, to "melt" you more inside the pics. Looks a ill' too lighted cause of the flash power...
Geoff : I like you rpics with these great water games on the foreground !!

Here's the Lady at day time..

http://img257.echo.cx/img257/3740/toureiffel5xy.jpg

[Wombat]

Wes
Sounds like quite some holiday, "if it's Tuesday it must be Paris"? Thanks for sharing the great images of Europe, looking forward to more. By the way that shot taken in Pisa - do you think it might be worth tweeking the tower to get it vertical. :D

AlkaPhunk
Only picked up on your link "Nikon CooOoolpix 5900" that leads to your imageshack shots, today - Doh. Have had a great time browsing - quite a camera and quite a photographer.

Regards
Wombat

[AlkaPhunk]

Thanks Wombat.
This is a gallery i made to put some "test" shots from the 5900, as many peeps requiered on various forums, (and as i was looking for before making my buy)
I'm very glad you liked some of my shots.
I'm planning to open a "real" galery (not a tests one ;) ) either on pbase or smugmug, but still don't know if it worth to pay the yearly fee. I have already a gelery, but would like to share more about photo as many people hang around these 2 gallery sites.
If you know one more, glad to hear from your recommendations ;)

Thanx again!

[SamuraiJack]

Thanks for the replys everyone. Feel free to post pictures. I'm certainly not a thread hog. :)

Here is a pano of the inside of the Coloseum in Rome. This was shot handheld, plus I forgot to lock the exposure settings. :mad: It could be a lot better, but here it is after a little tweaking in PS.

Enjoy.

-Wes

[SamuraiJack]

Here is one that I thought turned out rather interesting. It is the pyramid thats outside the Louvre in Paris.

-Wes

[SamuraiJack]

This is a stained glass window inside the Notre Dame Cathedral. I was able to go inside during their main Mass service on Sunday. I'm not sure if that service has a special name or not. Maybe someone could help me out?

-Wes

[ReValveiT]

Nice - handheld night shot :

http://www.dtsabers.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/pics/nice_1.JPG

And another of Nice :

http://www.dtsabers.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/pics/nice_2.JPG

Monaco (does that count? :) )

http://www.dtsabers.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/pics/monaco.JPG

All shots taken with my old Nikon 4300

[Geoff Chandler]

Nice, SoF 1990

[ReValveiT]

Geoff, 'nice' pic...

Could you figure out what that thing in the sea is?

The kids used it as a diving board, but I'm sure that isn't what it was built for. :)

[SamuraiJack]

Great pictures everyone. I'm planning to post some of Nice and Monaco very soon myself. I was actually in Monaco during this years Grand Prix race. It was jam-packed with people. Those F1 cars are amazing to hear rev their engines.

-Wes

[Need4Spd]

Very nice pics! All done with an SD500, eh? It's a little early for an upgrade from my SD300 but wow, these are really nice.

[SamuraiJack]

Very nice pics! All done with an SD500, eh? It's a little early for an upgrade from my SD300 but wow, these are really nice.


Correct. All of my pictures were taken with an SD500. I am absolutely loving that camera. I rarely leave the house without it.

Thanks for the nice comment.

-Wes

[SamuraiJack]

Time for a few more pictures. This one is a view of the inside of one of the large cathedrals in Sienna. The painting was absolutely amazing. The pillars you see are actually an optical illusion as well. They curve to the outside when you get up close and view them from the side. Because the whole painting is dome-shaped however, they appear straight up and down when viewed from the back. Quite amazing. I'll post a photo of the pillars up close so you can see what I mean.

-Wes

[SamuraiJack]

Here is a side view of the pillars. Notice how they are actually curved at the top. I'm sorry for the poor photo quality on this one. I wasn't using a tripod and obviously didn't have the flash on. I must have moved my hands a bit when taking the picture.

-Wes

[SamuraiJack]

I'll post one more for now.

This one was taken during a walk in Florence at night. I was standing on one of the bridges watching the cars go by and figured it might make a cool shot. Shutter speed was 5 seconds on this one.

Keep checking back. I have plenty more to post as I go through them.

Enjoy

-Wes

[Bald Eagle]

Very Impressive photos, great eye as well. Thanks for sharing these great shots. WE want more. ;)

[Mr. Peabody]

It's so much fun to click on a thread and see great photos from interesting places around the world.

Thanks for sharing them.

[SamuraiJack]

Again, thanks for all the kind comments. I'm glad you guys are enjoying my pictures.

I have a few more to post. This one is a picture of Florence. We stopped here before actually getting into the city to take photos. The view was incredible.

-Wes

[SamuraiJack]

This is the bridge that is closest to the viewer in the photo in the above post. It was taken from the opposite side. Shutter speed was 10 seconds.

Florence is awesome at night.

-Wes

[SamuraiJack]

This is a photo of a building near the palace in Monaco. I kinda liked how it turned out.

Thats all for now. More to come later.

-Wes

[ReValveiT]

Another of Nice by night...

http://www.dtsabers.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/images/pics/nice_night.JPG

[AlkaPhunk]

Again, thanks for all the kind comments. I'm glad you guys are enjoying my pictures.
I have a few more to post. This one is a picture of Florence. We stopped here before actually getting into the city to take photos. The view was incredible.
-Wes

Awesome shot !!
With this cloudy sky and the city colors everything is great !

[SamuraiJack]

Got a few more photos to post.

This one is a shot of Nice at night. Exposure was 10 seconds I believe.

-Wes

[SamuraiJack]

This is a view of the palace in Monaco.

-Wes

[SamuraiJack]

The last one for now is a photo of a car I saw in Monaco. I didn't have time to check to see what type of car it was. Only had time to take a quick snapshot of it. It looks pretty fast...anyone know what it is?

For sports car lovers, Monaco is definitely the place to go. I never saw so many Ferraris and Lamborghinis in one place in my life. That place is especially crazy during Grand Prix week.

Enjoy. More to come later.

-Wes

[AllanC]

Hi, sorry for the quality of these. They were taken with a throw away camera and scanned today. The pics are of an old Grand Prix circuit in Champange in France. I was out there working for a few months in 99 when i was a student. The track was between Epernay and Rheims, maybe someone knows the old circuit.