Jazz Bassist by Notre Dame in Paris
Black and White photo of a Jazz Bassist playing on the street in Paris by Notre Dame.
This weekend we went for a walk in Paris with some family and I took my camera with me. I figured that most of the time my best shots are taken at times when I didn’t plan to go shooting but where I captured some great sky, handheld etc. This time was no exception.
As we walked across one of the many bridges to Notre Dame this jazz man was playing on the other side of the street. His happy attitude, great clothing and cheerfulness was fun. If you are in Paris and are walking around there, look out for him and buy his CD or drop him some coins.
I processed the photo in Lightroom only and did the black and white effect by de-saturating all the areas around selectively. It’s not perfect for a real black and white photo but it keeps some color and thus a little more warmth.
And I did add a tiny bit to the bass to make it pop a little.
Couple of tips on shooting people impromptu:
1. Don’t shoot with 100 iso, bump it up. I would say go with 400 or maybe a little more even in daylight. You want to capture expressions and you need to be quick.
2. Shoot highest quality possible, because you may need to crop out stuff in order to get a great expression, and the higher the quality the better it will be when you zoom. And it follows that you should shoot a little wider than “perfect framing” so you have space to cut.
3. Shoot in continous mode, you’ll waste lots of images – but you are more likely to get that one shot that looks great.
4. The best moments to shoot are probably when you don’t have your camera, so try to take it with you a little more.
Martin Soler Photography 
Superbe photo Martin, vraiment superbe !!
Merci. This is thanks to the lens you borrowed me.
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I just happened to stumble across this blog and all I can say is WOW! I absolutely love this photo. I aspire to someday be that good of a photographer.
Thanks for the compliment. I also want to be that good of a photographer one day, lol, am still learning. But then again – I guess we are always still learning. Even Ansel Adams was probably still learning.
Great photo! Ironically, I happen to know this jazz man! I was randomly searching for black and white paris jazz photos and voila! I happened upon your photo.
His name is Farris Smith and is a phenomenal musician!
R
Thanks a lot for your comment Robin, wow now I have a name as well. Farris Smith, and googling him seems like he’s pretty famous. Here is his site: http://www.farrisjazz.com/
Thank you so much for your creative eye. This is one of the best photo’s I have seen of me.
(any way I can have a copy for my wall?)
your great,
Farris smith
Mr. Smith, it’s an honor to have your cheerfulness on my blog! Will send you the high res photo by mail. Looking forward to your return in Paris for more of that great music!
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Another postcard!