Spiral Melk Abby
Ornate spiral staircase inside of Melk Abby, Austria
Ornate spiral staircase inside of Melk Abby, Austria
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Dec, 2014Views
2471
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Awards
Top Shot Award 21
Featured
Contest Finalist in Spiral Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Stairways to Heaven Photo Contest
Peer Award
Superb Composition
Outstanding Creativity
Top Choice
Absolute Masterpiece
Superior Skill
Magnificent Capture
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JoanLoBo
February 01, 2015
absolute masterpiece. Good luck in the contest. This one is a winner image in my book.
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JoanLoBo
February 10, 2015
congratulations on your finalist status..I am crossing my fingers that you win. Joan
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RDVPhotography
June 29, 2018
I love finding spiral stairs, I pushed the color a bit to help set the mood.
PhilC
October 15, 2019
Great shot with superb editing adjustment! Congrats on the Contest successes! Makes a bit of a contrast to my unedited, but otherwise almost identical shot of the same staircase - it took me a second look to realise it was the Melk Abbey spiral staircase! This really works well!
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RDVPhotography
October 29, 2019
Phil, thanks for the nice comments Looked at your shot and looks very close but think I had a wider lense. I used a 24mm for my shot and think you used 55mm, at least that is what the EXIF data shows. I also played with the white balance to get the gold tones. Cheers Ron
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
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Behind The Lens
Location
This is the spiral staircase inside of Melk Abbey. Melk Abbey is a Benedictine abbey above the town of Melk, Lower Austria, on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Danube river, adjoining the Wachau valley. When I saw this I just knew I had to get a photo. I took several photos and ended up keeping three, this is the only one that is in Landscape Aspect. The light was really special due to the color of the marble used in this staircase.Time
It was 3:45 PM in the afternoon as we went here on an afternoon tour. We were on a 14 day Danube River Cruise and this was our second stop of the day. It turned out be a great time due to the angle of the sun and the way reflected light was cast through the windows of the Abbey.Lighting
The light coming to this stairway was reflected light, so it was muted and softened. I liked the way the light was cast up the spiral stairs with light areas on one side and a bit darker on the other due to shadows. I did not use a flash for this shot however due to this I had to increase the ISO to 400 and used a wide open setting of f/4.0 with the widest focal length I could get on my zoom lens, 24mm. This allowed me to keep the shutter speed at 1/60 sec and hand hold the camera. I regret I did not have a tripod with me for this and several other shots in this area.Equipment
I used a Canon EOS 5DMKII with Canon EF24-105mm f/4L IS USM lens, with no flash or tripod as I explained above. I really think the fact that I was able to get pretty balanced lighting and handhold was also due to the image stabilization built into the lens. I had a tripod with me on the trip but did not carry it due to it's size. I have since purchased a smaller travel tripod and always have one with me no matter where I go.Inspiration
The inspiration for this photo was a combination of the soft light I observed and the spiral design and detail in this stairway. Light is the essence of photography and indirect, reflected, early morning and late day light is the best!Editing
I used Lightroom 5 to develop this image with further processing in OnOne Photo Suite 8 Perfect Effects. In lightroom I used, Lens Correction, Detail for noise & sharpening, Tone Curve adjustments and then went to the Basic setting to adjust the white balance, highlights, shadows, blacks & whites. I then exported this to Perfect Effects for a clarity adjustment and final sharpening.In my camera bag
I have two bags and each has a purpose. The bag with my 5DMKII (Full Frame Camera) has my 16-35mm f/2.8, 24-105mm f4.0 and 70-200 f/2.8, mainly for everything except wildlife. Bag with the 50D (APS-C) has 24-70 f/2.8 and 300mm prime is mainly for wildlife. If I am traveling by car I take it all. If traveling overseas only bag one goes unless going for wildlife, for that I take bag one with both cameras and swap 70-200 for 300 prime.Feedback
As I said above for this shot a tripod is highly recommended also a wide angle lens, fast lens also helps. Also do not be afraid to use a high ISO. I could have gone much higher. This is especially true if you shoot in RAW.
