Photoshoot for lovers (Love Story) in Paris

Preparation for the shooting began 2 months before its date. At that moment, when Inna and I discussed her plans for a visit to Paris. By the way, Inna is my client from the Kiev photo session Love Story. We met when she flew to Kiev, and we did a similar shoot here in Ukraine. During the dialogue, I offered to shoot her in Paris, and we came to agree on a date and price. Then, due to the fact that our tastes coincide, we quickly picked up sets of clothes from her wardrobe for images in France. Then, I booked hotel and bought tickets. As for the image, we decided to do something between fashion and Love story. Inna had to wear a white jumpsuit that would look bright in the rays of the dawn sun and complement the look with accessories (bag, watch, shoes).

In this project, one of the most difficult points was planning the chronology of the route. It was necessary to take into attention many factors: congestion of the location by tourists, finding the sun and shadows, the perspective on the Eiffel Tower, optimizing the distance for walking and putting it all in 4 hours. I having read dozens of guides, browsing reviews and tourist vlogs (video blogs), I formed the timing and route of the photo shoot in Paris: Start at dawn, in the square at the Palais de Chaillot, to shoot the beginning of dawn there, then go up the stairs to the fountains, after go down to the Gardens of the Trocadero (Les Jardins du Trocadero), shooting a scene by the carousel, follow to the embankment of the Seine River. From there, head to the Bir Hakeim Bridge (Pont de Bir-Hakeim), and shoot several scenes of a walk under the columns against the backdrop of the Eiffel Tower. Next, call a taxi and go to the Bridge of Alexander III (Pont Alexandre III). There, to work out several scenes, including going down under it, and taking foreshortenings to enhance the grandeur of architecture. From there, head towards the Louvre (Musée du Louvre) passing through the Tuileries Garden (Jardin des Tuileries).

The day of the photo shoot began optimistically, there was a cloudless sky (at 6:15), air temperature in the morning +18 (the first half of September). At 7:00 we were already at the first location. Hoping to avoid getting tourists in the frame, we chose a weekday, a working day, but what was our surprise when, at 7 in the morning (the sun had not yet begun to shine), there were about 30 photographers and about 40 tourist couples who were optimists like us)) In order to convey under what conditions the shooting took place, i need to write a whole separate article. In short, every 5 minutes, either I asked a photographer to move away, or I was asked to move. At one angle there were queues, literally. Couples with a photographer waited for the previous ones to finish. Fortunately, this situation was only in first location, the entire further route was easy and relaxed, with the exception of the Louvre. There was also a very big stir from tourists. The shooting lasted 5 hours, everyone was tired, but the result was worth it. As an additional force majeure, I almost had a battery (8% left) in the camera, and the paverbank did not charge, because the wire in the bag was folded and the contact interrupted. In the middle of the project, I thought the shooting would go wrong, but miraculously, I bought the right wire in the souvenir shop for 10 euros, and while we were walking, it was charged. Inna still does not know about this, perhaps)

During the shooting day in Paris, I took more than 1000 pictures in more than 6 locations. The majority of the marriage was due to passers-by getting into the frame. In popular tourist spots, making a clean shot is almost impossible. As a result, after cleaning and rejection, a series of 350 photos remained, of which, in my opinion, the best and most successful shots were selected. They carried out retouching. All possible passers-by were removed (this is 2-3 hours per photo to build up the texture without distortion), Paris was “repaired” and a naturally detailed portrait retouching was done. As a result, you can observe the final result on this page! I hope the article was interesting and useful to you.