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Ravena, Italy - San Vitale Mosaics
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Ravena, Italy - San Vitale Mosaics



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Beautiful mosaics in this historical cathedrel

Beautiful mosaics in this historical cathedrel
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cameraNIKON D5100

settings Aperture f/3.5 ISO 100 Shutter 2/5 

locationItaly

upload_dateJun, 2014

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2 Comments |
alilynn
 
alilynn February 19, 2015
Great Find! Beautiful!!
pranaypictures
 
pranaypictures December 21, 2020
Fantastic!!!😍😍😍
BFinkelstein Platinum
BFinkelstein December 22, 2020
Thank you very much.

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Tags

#Ravena #italy #San Vitale #mosaics
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Behind The Lens

Location

This photo was taken inside the Basilica of San Vitale, a church in Ravenna, Italy, and is one of the most important examples of early Christian Byzantine art and architecture in western Europe. Ravena is located on the Adriatic south of Venice and is recognized for it's rich Mosaic art. Of all the various churches and galleries, this is one most renown for the exquisite and colorful mosaics representing both the Old and New Testament as well local leaders and sponsors.

Time

We visited the Basilica just about noon in October 2013. Luckily, this was the best time as there was the maximum amount of light being available from the upper vault stained glass windows.

Lighting

LIghting was a issue as flash photography was not allowed. The only light was from the vaulted stained glass windows and several electric torches located in the upper walkways. These provided good illumination of the arches and provided good contrast for the rest of the structures. This can be seen in the photograph. Further complicating the situation was the fact that there was quite a crowd of people looking and milling about. Without a tripod, holding still enough for good light capture was a challenge.

Equipment

This was shot with a Nikon D5100 with a Sigma 18-250mm f3.5-6.3 DC MACRO OS HSM lens at 18mm and f3.5. Flash was off and no other equipment as used.

Inspiration

The total beauty of the Basilica and the intricate nature and longevity of the mosaic work was awe inspiring. The fact that you had to look up to see the stories crafted in tiny stones of gold and other materials made it just all the more impressive for a building that was started in 527 and completed in 548. The hard part was selecting one of the many photographs to best represent the beauty of the entire Basilica.

Editing

The photograph was cropped and the exposure increased slightly using iPhoto. Other than that no other post processing was done.

In my camera bag

Being very new to photography, the Nikon D5100 is my first DSLR camera. I almost always just travel with it and the Sigma 18-250mm f3.5-6.3 DC MACRO OS HSM lens as my only lens on my trips and vacations. It is light and compact and I find that this set-up offers me great flexibility to concentrate on the composition of the photos I take without having to worry about switching lenses or carrying a lot of equipment. I also take my old but very compact Olympus SZ30 in my pocket for those occasions where I need a longer reach and have lots of light and time to compose the shot. (it takes very good pictures under the proper conditions)

Feedback

I shot this photo in auto mode, being a newby and figure the camera knows better than I do. However, I think a tripod and a fast wide angle lens would be ideal. There were some parts of the church where there was no external light and it was nearly impossible for me to take any photographs with my equipment.

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