I was fortunate to capture the man smoking in front of the Mucha Cafe, where we had just left after having dinner. That was a bonus; I was shooting the outside of the cafe, and he happened to be there. He’s a well-placed, serendipitous human element in the right spot. The picture would’ve been missing a vital element without him.

To the right, you can see the outdoor seating area that I shot from indoors and featured yesterday. While there is a near-infinite variety of cafes in Paris, most follow a standard formula with an indoor and outdoor setting. They all seem to use the same type of chair and small round table.

Despite being a night image, I was surprised the photo is at a reasonably low ISO 800, even with an f4 aperture. I did use a slow-ish 1/15-second shutter, which becomes iffy with people, creating possible motion blur. I was lucky the man was not moving.

Blog readers, you’ll love my free monthly photography magazine. Signup for the free magazine to get articles and topics not discussed on the blog.