Travel Photos – Fountain at Palais de Chaillot, Paris

This is one of my favourite travel photos in Paris. I captured this scene of a fountain show in front of the famous Palais de Chaillot at Trocadero Hill. I was walking down from the esplanade on top of Trocadero Hill, the perfect viewpoint where I shot my Eiffel Tower photos. Suddenly, I felt water splashing from my back and when I turned around, I saw this amazing scene of the fountain with golden water!

The Place of Chaillot comprises 2 wings that extending out both ways in curve line to form an wide arch-shaped building with an esplanade in between them. This half round building sits on top of Trocadero Hill across the River Seine from the Eiffel Tower. The space lying in between the palais de Chaillot and the River Seine is set with gardens, ponds and an array of fountains, which was designed by Jean-Charles Alphand.

Some EXIF info: Photo taken with my Nikon D60 and Tamron SP10-24mm UWA lens. Shutter speed 1/250s and Aperture F8.0. Focus distance was set to 19mm. ISO 100. Auto White Balance. No flash fired and +2/3 exposure stop compensated with Matrix metering.

It was evening where evening sun was shining onto the Eiffel tower but the Palais de Chaillot was backlit. Thanks to the fountain display in front of the palace, water jetting up into the air has created some miracle backlight effect with the palace acted as backdrop of the scene. Because of the bright fountain water and direct sunlight, I needed to overwrite the camera’s exposure metering with a +2/3 stop exposure compensation.

The result was extraordinary to me. – Travel Feeder, your ultimate travel photo blog

About The Author

Cecil Lee

The author is an avid traveler and photography hobbyist who loves to share with others his travel and photo-taking experience in many popular tourist destinations around Europe, Asia and Australasia. Read the exciting stories with many photos captured on his journeys.