While I was in Paris I saw a lot of photos showing the Eiffel Tower under construction. These days it comes to mind as part of the Paris landscape but to folks in 1889, it must have seemed like something from out of this world. Honestly, I don’t think it is all that pretty but I do find it pretty unique:
ISO 200 10mm f/11 1/125
That is my edited version, the original is below.
ISO 200 10mm f/11 1/125
I took plenty of photos near the tower, but this is the angle that appealed to me the most. I liked the cloudless, brilliant sky. As it was February, the shots that include more of the garden are a bit dull, since it was cold and had been overly rainy in Paris the few weeks before this photo was taken.
The edited version has a film filter on it. I wanted to keep the jeweled look of the sky but mute the overall tones in the photo. Doing this also took some of the rust off the tower. The rust was part of the reason my youngest was pretty disappointed in the Eiffel Tower. I documented her reaction on Instagram:
It turns out she had seen too many Photoshopped versions online, so the real thing was a bit of a letdown.
As you can tell from this post, I am just adding to that problem. Has that ever happened to you, you see photos online of a place that looks out of this world and then when you see it in person you can’t help but feel a bit, meh? Do you like my not-true-to-life version? Feel free to leave a comment below.
Cheers!
Photography Journal Blog 
I think that filters are just fine. Photographs are not real life; color, light, and dimension are altered by capturing a three dimensional object in two dimensions. It never looks exactly like reality. Having said that, I do think that garden photos where color is extreme is kinda creepy!
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I agree with you, extreme color in nature shots can be a bit much for my taste.
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I liked your angle of it. I went to see the tower a long time ago and it was underwhelming but the view from it was great.
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Thanks very much. The line to go up was long and I had not been able to buy advanced tickets, so we went up the Arc de Triomphe, which also has excellent views of the city.
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Nice, Paris so much to see.
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That is so true 🙂
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LOL on your daughter’s reaction Amy! Loved your angle on the tower but how sad they’re letting it rust.
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Thanks, Tina, I thought her reaction was funny too. As far as the rust, it’s a bit hard to imagine how they would keep it completely rust-free given the climate, not to mention the expense! But it did make me wonder if that had been considered during construction? I honestly don’t know.
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I love the Eiffel tower. Your daughters response is pretty funny!!
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It was funny. I thought the tower was more picturesque from a distance though, it looks really nice in some of the photos where it is in the landscape rather than the whole picture.
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This perspective is one of the best I have seen of the tower. Yes I will say that not so much let down but like I had already seen it. It took the surprise out of the first in person sighting.
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Yes, the element of surprise is gone with the Eiffel Tower, that is certain. It does make it fun to wonder how that would have been such a novel experience for visitors when it was first constructed.
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The sky on the original is a lovely blue.
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Yes, the sky that day was really something. So nice too, after so many days of rain.
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Loved your youngest’s reaction 😀
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Yeah, it was pretty funny, she went on about it for quite a while…
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I must say I prefer the original shot. Your sons reaction says it all, too funny.
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Thank you for your honest opinion. There is something to be said for real life!
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A person that just point and shot, I prefer to see “it is what it is” but mind you, it’s fun to play with what apps there is in store for photography.
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I agree with you here, photo editing can be fun, but I do like to just record the scene as well.
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I like filters, but this time I prefer the original. The angle is great. And yes, I have experienced the same. In January I hoped to get some fine shots from St Michaels Mount, but the sun, light and time of the day were wrong, it appeared as a silhouette. The next misty day, it was raining cats and dogs and the castle was hardly visible.
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Wow, that would be disappointing. I guess now you have an additional reason to go back 🙂 But it is frustrating to not be able to get the kind of shots you would have liked.
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Due to its age, I am always curious as to just what engineering standards have to be met in order to permit millions of people from all over the world to be anywhere near the tower each year.
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Yes, that would be interesting to know, perhaps they could put a display about it at the top? 🙂 Seriously though, I’m sure there is an actual answer, I just found myself staring at it, and not really thinking about it critically.
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I agree with Kelly that the view is much better than the actual tower, but your photos make it look stunning. 🙂
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Thank you 🙂
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Your view of the tower would have fitted right in with those of Parisians when the structure was being built. A petition called “Artists against the Eiffel Tower” was published at the time to much approval. I think photography is a medium for storytelling, so determining reality from a photograph is never a good idea. Always much better to go see for oneself.
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Yes, I always find it interesting when a work of art is produced and panned at the time but later becomes iconic, reminds me of Degas’ statues of the ballerina, very controversial at the time.
Also, I agree, it is always better to go and see for oneself as photography can be very deceptive.
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A creative composition, Amy. Very nice! I like the original between the two but the muted and vignetted version gives it an appealing old-time feel.
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Thank you very much.
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I like the “vintage” treatment in your photo. You have to remember almost every digital photo is edited in some way.
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That is true in my case, even photos that I keep pretty true to how I shot it, usually are sharpened or cropped.
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Hi Amy, I really like the edited photo you created. Nice! My daughter (at age 11) also really despised the Eiffel Tower. I enjoy its majesty and the lines of its design. Our favorite “overrated” sight was the Mona Lisa. It is quite a modest sized painting and everyone was crowded around it in the Louvre. There seemed to be lots of other sights more appealing. 🙂
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Yes, the Mona Lisa was a great overrated site I thought. We went to the d’Orsay, and enjoyed ourselves and the art there much more. But you can’t go to Paris and not go to the Louvre!
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I love the final result. I think that originals are not as good as those edited are in many cases.
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Thank you very much.
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