Shot with a Canon EOS 50D (w/ 17-55 F2.8 IS USM lens)

• Shot on Aperture priority
• Focal Length: 17mm (35mm equivalent: 27mm)
• Aperture: f2.8
• Exposure: 1/5s
• ISO 1600

I walked past this square in Grenoble, France, on Sunday in daylight and wasn’t too impressed but when I spotted it after dinner (through a narrow alley which leads to it) I fell in love and just had to shoot it. Thankfully I was still carrying my DSLR, however this shot turned out to be challenging in quite a few ways.

First of all it was pitch dark but the square had a couple of spotlights which kept giving me white spots in my longer exposures. This was the only way I could frame it without having too much of the photo burned out. I also wished to get the square exposed well while retaining some of the cloud detail because it adds so much to the atmosphere.

The weather was way below freezing (around 13 degrees below zero centigrade/ 8 degrees f) and my battery was really not enjoying the cold. The indicator was flashing and I knew I had to hurry because I would not get more than 10 shots off. I was shooting handheld at 1/5 of a second (which I usually carry off) and I was losing heat quickly myself too so I had to make a concerted effort not to shiver while I took the shot.

Given all this I think that the shot works out well, even though some editing would probably help it out. I will try and find the time for that eventually, but that is somewhat of a project for the future.

(#38 of 366 X 2012 project)