Platinum

mgrisoli

Real Gabinete Portugues de Leitura - Rio de Janeiro

Real Gabinete Portugues de Leitura - Rio de Janeiro

Canon EOS 6D

settings

Aperture f/10.0 ISO 2500 Shutter 1/60

upload_date

Jan, 2015

Views

599

Likes

+74

Awards

Featured

Staff Favorite in Covers Photo Contest Vol 20

Peer Award

+37

Superb Composition

Absolute Masterpiece

Top Choice

Outstanding Creativity

All Star

Top Ranks

Top 30 rank week 1

Top 30 rank

Top 30 rank week 1

Top 30 rank

Top 10 rank

Top 30 rank

Top 20 rank week 1

Behind The Lens

Location

On 1808 the Portuguese Royalty ran away from Napoleon, when his troops invaded Portugal. They landed in Brazil, their most promising colony and elevated our land's status to Empire and lived here for 13 years. This move changed Brazil's history course from an exploited colony to the headquarter of one of the wealthier european crowns. This picture is from the Real Gabinete Portugues de Leitura (Portuguese Royal Library) which is not in Portugal, but it is in Rio de Janeiro - Brazil. The library is one of the most proeminent and beautiful places Portuguese royalty built during their stay in Brazil. It hosts several rare and extremely relevant books about the relationship between Portugal and Brazil. Telling a important part of the history about the discovery of the new world.

Time

It was around 10AM of a very sunny day in January (summer).

Lighting

The light inside this place is always dimmed. I believe the intention is to favor people to focus in their reading and create an introspective and formal atmosphere. There is a skylight with stained white, blue and red glass. All that dark wood and wall painting put up the challenge of capturing all wonderful details of the room. The chandelier in the middle was lit up with fluorescent compact lamps, making the light coming from it cooler than the light coming from the skylight.

Equipment

Canon 6D 24-105mm 1:4 L IS USM, no flash, no filters.

Inspiration

It is hard to find a place that treats books and readers with this level of respect and I believe that the monarchic period of Brazilian history contributed to build and preserve relevant pieces of art in all its fields. This place looks as magical as a Harry Potter movie! I had to photograph that and show it to people.

Editing

Apart from the basics I enhanced contrast and balance the light a little to be sure the shades were not too heavy.

In my camera bag

My Canon 6D with a 24-105mm 1:4 L IS USM is mounted most of the time. A nifty fifty (50mm f1.4 prime lens), sometimes with an inversed ring to take macro shots. I carry (more than I really use) a Canon 70-300mm IS USM. Speedlight 450X. Camera remote control, extra batteries, chargers, memory cards Filters ND, polarizer and skylight Brush, notepad and a pen.

Feedback

Having this shot selected by judges remembered me something very important. If you have an interesting subject, you will catch peopleâ€™s attention. It does not really matter how much time, equipment or effort it requires it is the subject that owns your photography.

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mgrisoli

mgrisoli

Real Gabinete Portugues de Leitura - Rio de Janeiro

Behind The Lens

See more amazing photos, follow mgrisoli

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