Hello all,
Because I was a day behind on yesterdays photos, I went straight from uploading the project here to editing the ones I took this morning.
I love the view I wake up to in the morning, and I love old cities.
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/4000
Once we had eaten a breakfast of baguette et fromage, pain au chocolat, croissant, et tarte aux pommes (baguette and cheese, chocolate pastry, croissant, apple tart), mom wanted a picture of the three guys leaning through our bedroom windows.
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/8, 1/250
After that, we went out for a walk. Let me just say, I love old cities. We walked along what I can guess used to be a market promenade (picture will probably come later in the week) to a beautiful garden with some interesting flowers. (If anyone knows what these are, please let me know in an email.)
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/4000
We continued walking along the really narrow cobblestone roads until we hit a commercial district. All the old houses had been converted into stores.
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/1000
It was a cool walk, but we didn't stop to get anything. We just kept exploring the downtown area.
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/2000
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/800
After looking around the area, we decided to head toward le Chateau D'Angers, which we certainly did not regret.
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/2500
A bit of information about the castle: it was built in the 9th century by the Counts of Anjou and expanded in the thirteenth, after which King Louis IX gave the castle to his brother Charles I of Naples. The castle has a now-empty moat on one and a half sides, with the rest being tall walls and cliffs over the river. (The history came from information boards outside and the design information came from my being there)
The ex-moat now contains a garden.
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/800
Let me just point out, a drawbridge! I love it!
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/1600
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/3.2, 1/1000
All of the houses nearby had the same sticks and wire fence around the front courtyard.
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/4000
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/4000
Then, we kept walking through history. I love old cities.
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/4000
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/4000
I did get a funny look from a woman leaving her house when I was leaning against the wall for the next shot, but I think it was worth it.
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/3200
Then we just kept walking, with me falling more and more in love with the city and hoping someday to live in a place like this for a few years (maybe studying abroad in college?). If I haven't mentioned it, I love old cities.
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/2500
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/2000
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/2500
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/3200
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/1600
I love the following picture because it feels sort of romantic and dreamlike. I love cities like this.
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/3200
We emerged from that area to find the steps leading all the way up the hill to the cathedral (none of my pictures of it did it justice. I'll reattempt it if we go there again). While my family members walked away, I stopped to take these pictures of the flowerbed along the path.
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/1000
ISO 160, 50 mm, f/5, 1/80
I had fun with this door. I love old cities.
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/1600
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/2000
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/640
This is another shot of the flowers in the park near our flat. How could I resist the colors?
ISO 100, 50 m m, f/1.8, 1/3200
Now that is the end of walk we took, but it wasn't the end of the day. We got back and I immediately ran to the computer to start editing, which I continued to do until dinner. We went back out and got some sandwiches (I wasn't confident enough with my French, so I challenged my non-French-speaking mother to see how well she could do).
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As we were eating, I got distracted by my photo editing by pictures and tutorials of tilt-shift photography, so I decided to try it. It's a really cool effect achieved by blurring the areas in front of and behind the subject, making it appear much closer to the camera and making it look miniature.
Below is the original picture, taken from above as is common for tilt-shift photos. (This was taken out the window of my bedroom. I love that this is the view I have.
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/320
After a bit of Photoshop work and quite a bit of improvising on top of the tutorial I found, this is the final result.
ISO 100, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/320
This is the end of a very fun day. I hope you've enjoyed this trip with me through the beautiful old streets of Angers, and I hope you'll join me on whatever adventures happen tomorrow.
It's 01:13 France-time right now so I should probably get some sleep.....
Thanks a lot for reading,
Alec
Alec
I love old cities.
UPDATE: I took the same shot from earlier in the post later that night, and this is the finished product.
ISO 3200, 50 mm, f/1.8, 1/80