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Seeking Sanctuary



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The sanctuary of the United Methodist Church in Oneonta, NY

5-shot HDR
Nikon D80

The sanctuary of the United Methodist Church in Oneonta, NY

5-shot HDR
Nikon D80
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2 Comments | Report
barbarabrock Platinum
 
barbarabrock September 04, 2016
Awesome shot. Love the naturalness.
JDLifeshots
 
JDLifeshots September 04, 2016
Gorgeous capture! Congrats.
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Behind The Lens

Location

This is the sanctuary of the United Methodist Church in Oneonta, NY.

Time

I'm an early morning type of guy. I passed this church often and I always thought to myself "Look at that light! Look at that building! I wonder what it's like inside..." So this was as early as I could get in. Probably 8-9 am.

Lighting

Sanctuaries have a kind of mythology. They are mysterious, somber, weighty. I wanted to preserve the shadows under the pews and up around the lofty ceiling. I also wanted to catch that first light streaming through the windows. I wanted to see the wood-grain and the details in the window. And, if possible, I wanted you to hear just the hint of a Chorus in the back of your mind. I really like natural light. Complex lighting set-ups have their place, but natural light has a richness that can be hard to capture because our eyes see more than a camera sensor normally does. None of the single shots could see what I wanted to see---lost shadows, blown-out highlights---so I set myself up for an HDR image by bracketing to catch all the details. So the lighting was unmanipulated. The technique was adjusted.

Equipment

This was taken with my trusty Nikon D80. Lens: 18.0-135.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 Focal Length: 35.mm ISO: 100 Aperture: f/8 Exposure: Multiple -- From 0.25 sec - 1.6 sec No flash I used a tripod on short legs. I knew I was bracketing for an HDR shot and so they all had to be steady.

Inspiration

This day's outing was inspired by a Weekly Photo Assignment from DPS's website, "Places of Worship". I passed this church every morning on the way to the gym and I always wanted to check out the windows and the architecture. This gave me a reason to stop procrastinating and to go do it. Methodists (along with the Catholics and the Lutherans) really tend to have nice architecture. Soaring structures, vast spaces, ornate decoration, intricate windows, so much to see! They've preserved an aspect of the Medieval that we just don't see so much in "The New World". As to the image itself... I was there looking for stained-glass windows, but I wanted a perspective like a little kid. I remember those hard, wooden pews and I wanted to convey that. I remember the mysterious shadows and the soft, dim lighting of a vast interior space, and I wanted to show that. I love the wood textures, and the rich colors of the window contrasted with the shadowy walls.

Editing

I used Luminance HDR to composite the five different exposures and Lightroom to balance things out the way I wanted in the end. I also corrected for perspective just a touch, widening the top to eliminate the convergence from being at a low angle.

In my camera bag

I travel awfully light. Usually just the camera, on a Black Rapid sling strap, and the 18-135 lens for options. That's about it. I also try to have my wireless trigger with me, especially if I will be trying multiple exposures. A good tripod is worth having around. And I do mean a good one. I got tired of the cheap ones wearing out so I bought a nice "3 Legged Thing" tripod. I love it. And it holds up. I have a polarizing filter, though I don't always use it. I carry extra memory cards, but since I upgraded to big ones, I don't fill them up like I once did.

Feedback

Probably the best piece of advice I ever heard was (paraphrasing) "Don't show me anything from five feet off the ground." People walk around everyday looking at the world from a perspective of 5-6 feet. And casual, "holiday snaps" are ALL taken from that unimaginative angle. That's why they are rarely striking in any way. If you want to see something different, interesting, then you have to change your perspective. Climb up high. Get down low. The world looks different from there and it's often pleasantly, interestingly, surprising. People are unused to seeing anything like it. From a technical perspective, be careful with HDR. So many HDR images have a bizarre halo effect at the contrast edges. The exposure jumps are too big and the blending is bad. I've done it myself and I'm usually uncomfortable with the results. Use several shots, smaller exposure changes, get more information to work with.

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