Pont du Gard (HDR) Photo

Photographer’s Note

This day going north from my village Collioure in South of France I had decided to stop by the magnificent Roman aqueduct Pont de Gard. And I must say I was impressed by this work who is still there after so many years since constructed. I was around some hours with my tripod and as the weather was not the best, cloudy and shadowless I did several HDR takings to bright up the contrasts and colours a little.

This version is from a nearby hill looking down to the Pont du Gard.

Here some more of the Roman aqueduct:
Pont du Gard, Roman aqueduct across the Gard River, Gard dept., S France. Built in 19 B.C. to supply Nîmes with water, it consists of three tiers of arches and is c.900 ft (270 m) long and c.160 ft (50 m) high. This famous construction is admired for its architectural proportions. The lowest tier is now used as a road bridge.
Ref. CUP

Pont du Gard means literally bridge of the Gard (river). The Gard river, which has given its name to the Gard département, does not actually exist under this name. The river, formed by many tributaries, several of which are called Gardon, is itself called Gardon until its end.

It was long thought that the Pont du Gard was built around the year 19 BC. Newer excavations, however, suggest the construction took place in the middle of the first century A.D. Its construction is attributed to Augustus' son-in-law and aide, Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa. Designed to carry the water across the small Gardon river valley, it was part of a nearly 50 km (31 mi) aqueduct that brought water from springs near Uzès to the Roman city of Nemausus (Nîmes). The full aqueduct had a gradient of 34 cm/km (1/3000), descending only 17 m vertically in its entire length and delivering 20,000 cubic meters (44 million gallons) of water daily.

It was constructed entirely without the use of mortar. The aqueduct's stones – some of which weigh up to 6 tons – are held together with iron clamps. The masonry was lifted into place by block and tackle with a massive human-powered treadmill providing the power for the winch. A complex scaffold was erected to support the aqueduct as it was being built. The face of the aqueduct still bears the mark of its construction, in the form of protruding scaffolding supports and ridges on the piers which supported the semicircular wooden frames on which the arches were constructed. It is believed to have taken about three years to build, employing between 800 and 1,000 workers.
Ref: Wikipedia

sowhat, Paolo, bruce_wayne, ChrisJ, lgir, Didi, nwoehnl, delkoo, vizion, guillaumejm, TravelerNL, bertolucci, mortijo, PixelTerror, papagolf21, kittyhawk, fayeulle, Emile has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

Paolo (40635) 2007-03-15 6:53

Hi Jack, good one, with amazing golden light on the bridge and taken from a great POV.
good quality too.
i'm thinking about the diagonal line...maybe you should be cut out the left side of the forest and put the black frame on the bridge as in the right side, havin' so a perfect diagonal...or not?!
anyway, good one.
thanks, ciao

sowhat (981) 2007-03-15 6:56

Amazing light and detail. I like very much the POV and perspective, the composition seems perfect the 2 lines, river and aqueduct crossing!
TFS, Ioana

barrufeto_77 (25601) 2007-03-15 7:03

Hi JAck.

Excellent POV. Again, nice colours!

Rgs, Oscar

cbrman (18679) 2007-03-15 7:04

Hello Jack,

Le pont resort parfaitement de son environnement grâce au HDR !
Le contraste fort donne une belle allure à la pierre ! Le pont du Gard est ainsi revisité !
Très belle image !
Bravo !

A+

Dominique

bruce_wayne (1507) 2007-03-15 7:07

Wonderful shot like as always...
Perspective is very interesting, strong colors, clearness, all made a very good composition, well done

Bruce W.

jasmis (49609) 2007-03-15 7:49

HDR technique is quite fine toy in hands of photographer. But in hand of master it is quite suitable tool to achieve amazing results. And this is the example.
Regards.

barni (14399) 2007-03-15 8:00

Hello Jack
You are a profesisonnal of HDR.
Wonderful
Regards
Christophe

jemaflor (38801) 2007-03-15 8:11

Hi Jack,
good result, lovely tone for the colours, good angle to give an excellent perspective.

amaryllis (17039) 2007-03-15 8:33

bonjour,
très belle photo qui nous offre presque la totalité de ce joli pont avec de belles couleurs et une bonne netteté
bravo
juliette

ChrisJ (69464) 2007-03-15 9:28

Hello Jack

Nice repetition of the arches & spans, with a good pov & excellent sharpness. I like the warm, yellow colour of the aquaduct too. Tfs!

stefanocer (10323) 2007-03-15 9:56

Great view of this wonderful bridge , framing is very nice and also colours and sharpness , the note very interesting , well done.
Stefano.

baba_flies (7933) 2007-03-15 11:00

Salut Jack! Excellent view of the Pont (taken on my birthday ...). I walked over this one many years ago and I can still see my mother panic that I would fall over. It is quite scary up there, especially when the wind is blowing. Oh yes, HDR is another area that has arrived, and your photo is an excellent proof what comes out if you know what you do. Great light you had ... a golden pont - for a moment anyway. Take care, Barbara.

lgir (2843) 2007-03-15 12:02

Hello Jack,
This composition treated in HDR very is successful. Cheer for your control in this field.
Excellent POV

Regards

Laurent

gilou530 (34671) 2007-03-15 13:14

salut jack
tu es dans mon pays à 25km de Nimes, on aurai pu se voir, c'est dommage, superbe vue du viaduc avec cette technique qui donne ces couleurs magnifiques, trés beau travail
amitiés
gilbert

jafadabret (38907) 2007-03-15 13:27

Cette photo du Pont du Gard, John, est très impressionnante. Tu as eu la bonne lumière qui fait ressortir les belles couleurs de la pierre. Beau travail.
Jacques

Didi (35680) 2007-03-15 14:15

Hi Jack
Do you think that HDR was necessary here ?
Mabe for the difference betwwen lights on the bridge and dark greens.
But your composition is well done from an interesting point of view.
Cheers.

[workshop] [compare] +

xavshot (61841) 2007-03-15 15:45

Bonsoir Jack
excellent point de vue sur ce pont du Gard... La lumière et le PP en HDR le mettent superbement en valeur. C'est une très belle photo.
amicalement
Xavier

nwoehnl (118) 2007-03-15 16:04

I like this one, Jack, the result of how the HDR brings out the textural details of this fine and famous old structure is good and brings a golden-ochre tonality to the pont. Certainly one of the crispest and most interesting variants I have seen of this bridge on TE, and a more 'natural' look (whatever that means, I guess it's certainly subjective to some extent ;-) than I thought the previous one inside the church had.

delkoo (33904) 2007-03-15 16:27

hi jack
you were near my city ; I live at few kms of "pont du gard".
Although the bridge is not so orange,the matter of the stones is well rendered, I don't remember if it is still possible to walk on the top of the bridge formed of stone slabs??.
nevertheless it is an interesting shot which remember me that i live in a splendid area ,rich in romans achitecture,rich in romans achitecture.

didier

guillaumejm (9022) 2007-03-15 18:12

hello Jack,
Very good result with your tripod and hdr technic. This place is really beautifull.
Best regards
JMarc

TravelerNL (2949) 2007-03-15 19:47

Hi Jack,
Excellent photo of this aquaduct. Too bad your lens was not wider.
The light and colors are beautiful.
This one is taken from a very nice POV.
Well done,
Harko

bertolucci (11976) 2007-03-16 4:58

You do this famous marvel of Roman engineering right, Jack, with this HDR. I love the way the well defined architectural details op here. And the graphic effect of the multiple row of arches and the main yellow-green colour contrast adds to the graphical attraction. Nice work!
Have a fine weekend,
Bert

mortijo (11947) 2007-03-16 5:40

The POV is extremely well chosen. I like the graphical composition of your shot. I'll have to try this HDR thing one of these days, but for the moment there are other priorities! I have become a grand-dad for the second time in 3 weeks :~))!
Have a nice weekend Jack!
Greetings, John

PixelTerror (85994) 2007-03-16 6:41

Hei Jack,
I'm still not overly fond of the yellow effect added by the HDR on the bridge structure, but I have to tell it makes it contrast in a very powerful way and you also not overdone it, which I appreciate.
Have a nice day,
Jean-Yves

papagolf21 (55926) 2007-03-16 8:18

Bonjour, cher Jack,
Permettez-moi, Jack, de m'arrêter sur cette excellente prise de vue.
Le cadrage est parfait pour donner toute la majesté de l'édifice.
Les couleurs, ainsi que le rendu sont superbes.
Bravo !
Amitiés.
Philippe

kittyhawk (1687) 2007-03-17 11:14

Hei Jack,

Et ord: Flott!! I have only one word: Great!!

Great detail in this photo, and great range of colors. I really like your active use of HDR, I really thing you do a great job with bouth your camera capturing all the images you need, and in post processing when you bring these images together to create a great photo like this. TFS.

Friendly,
- Halgeir

Emile (19785) 2007-03-23 11:49

Hola Jack.
Excellent shot captured from a good POV and with a very good perspective. The golden color of the bridge produces a nice contrast with the greenish surroundings, beautiful view including the river. Great composition.
Well done. TFS.
Regards

osmarq (865) 2007-07-13 12:11

Not much to say, very very beautyful.

TFS
Oscar