A new look at Paris

   Paris is one of my favorite cities.  Now that I've been there a number of times, I'm able to stop photographing just the iconic images and focus more on what makes Paris, Paris.  It's the side streets, the neighborhood within a neighborhood that give a city its' flavor....its' local color.  I'm also starting to shoot in a more relaxed, less formal way; leaving the tripod behind and "freestyling" it a bit more.
   Today's cameras are amazing with their ability to shoot high ISO with incredible noise control.  The accompanying image was shot hand held (800ISO) at the wide end of a 17-35mm lens.  The raw image was processed as a modified HDR image.  Letting the HDR software tone down the highlights and even things out a bit, I then added a darker exposure to bring back the dark area on the inside of the restaurant, behind the rotisserie.
   The goal here was to create enough visual interest to engage the viewer, while at the same time maintaining the drama of the image.