March aux Legumes, Chartres, France

[pschlute]

[Tronhard]

I am assuming this is a vegetable market. Looking at the architecture - glass on cast iron(?) I am guessing some time in the Victorian period???

Great shot and certainly good opportunity to see it without the masses of people and produce!

[pschlute]

Your question prompted me to look up when it was built..... 1898. Knowing France I imagine it is still in use every week on market days.

This was in the afternoon when we were visiting Chartres to see the cathedral. The emptiness of the market immediately attracted my attention as i took my shots. I am not averse to cloning out an errant bystander in my pictures but I didn't have to rub out a single one here.

[Tronhard]

I like the monochrome treatment and in a way it rather reminds me of the famous image, taken in 1838 by Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre himself, of the normally busy Bouelvard du Temple in Paris. This was the first image where an person was actually captured - he was having his shoes shined and thus kept still while everyone else was moving and disappeared because of the long exposure time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:B..._du_Temple.jpg

[LePetomane]

Peter, nicely photographed.

[Manfred M]

Peter - fantastic image and well processed! The only slight niggly issue is I wish you had either not cropped the crest on the roof or done so in a way that it did not cross the top of the frame.

[pschlute]

Peter - fantastic image and well processed! The only slight niggly issue is I wish you had either not cropped the crest on the roof or done so in a way that it did not cross the top of the frame.

Thanks Manfred. The cut-off crest is the weakest point I agree. The original capture had the crest included in it's entirety, but because I had to point my camera up to capture it all, the whole image suffered terribly from converging verticals. I straightened them using a perspective tool, but of course lost some of the framing including the top of the crest.

I guess I should redo the picture and add the crest back in by combining two versions of the original. Something to keep me busy while I am isolating !

[pschlute]

I guess I should redo the picture and add the crest back in by combining two versions of the original. Something to keep me busy while I am isolating !

No time like the present ....... Thanks Manfred for pointing it out. This site is great for constructive criticism that makes one go the extra bit to make an image better

[Antonio Correia]

Peter, when I saw this photo I was immediately captivated by it.

After Manfred's notes it became even better but I have to make two notes.
One the cloud and spot on the right top, and second the distance to the end of the crop at both sides. Picky, picky !

I went out driving today for a while. Nobody in the streets. Even they being not so captivating as the square where this market is, I think this is a good opportunity to photograph the emptiness of urban spaces as you have done so well.

Cheers !

[pschlute]

One the cloud and spot on the right top, and second the distance to the end of the crop at both sides. Picky, picky !

Hi Antonio,

The clouds and the dark spots of sky are as they were captured. Apart from contrast enhancement through applying b+w digital filters they are what the sensor saw.

Yes, you are right that the subject is not centred in the frame. I decided not to change this during processing as it caused other issues when using the original aspect ratio. I think I have too much in the past been a slave to the original ratio I will look in the future at being more flexible.

[Antonio Correia]

Peter, I am also very slave of ratios.
Cheers !

[Manfred M]

Peter - The redone image works very well, especially now that there is a bit more space above it as well.

My personal view is that a bit more space on the left hand side would be nice, but in this image it is not that critical. You have so many leading lines heading to the centre of the image that one hardly notices it. Same goes for the clouds that Antonio has pointed out They are a minor distraction.

A strong image!