Intricate stonework (C and C please)

[Davejl]

There are some surprising things to be seen in some apparently rather ordinary-looking village churches. This chantry of 1540 at Kingston on Soar, Nottinghamshire, has a sculpted scene of the Last Judgement with some individuals entering a door leading to heaven and others entering a Hell mouth. I thought black and white better for showing the intricacy of the stonework.

[Urbanflyer]

Fascinating subject! Interesting angle. My eye is too drawn to the sunlight, especially that showing on the steps in the middle foreground. Some judicious cloning out of that highlight and a little burning in of the other central highlight allows my eye to focus on the lovely stone carving. Others may have less difficulty controlling their eyes!

Wish I could see this church! It is truly lovely! Thanks for sharing! I would love to see details.

[Davejl]

Fascinating subject! Interesting angle. My eye is too drawn to the sunlight, especially that showing on the steps in the middle foreground. Some judicious cloning out of that highlight and a little burning in of the other central highlight allows my eye to focus on the lovely stone carving. Others may have less difficulty controlling their eyes!

Wish I could see this church! It is truly lovely! Thanks for sharing! I would love to see details.

Thanks Judith. I must try to tame those highlights. The light was changing rapidly, with a wind blowing the clouds along. The church is quite gloomy but this arch is close to a bright window (well, very bright when the sun popped out). Here is a shot of the Last Judgement, purely for interest and not for its photographic qualities. (This panel lies between the two pillars on the right hand side of the arch):

[LePetomane]

Dave, that is no ordinary looking village church. Nicely done.

[Davejl]

Dave, that is no ordinary looking village church. Nicely done.

Thank you, Paul.

[Manfred M]

+1 to Judith's comments. At a minimum, I would open up the shadow detail a bit and tone down the highlights.

[Urbanflyer]

Thanks Judith. I must try to tame those highlights. The light was changing rapidly, with a wind blowing the clouds along. The church is quite gloomy but this arch is close to a bright window (well, very bright when the sun popped out). Here is a shot of the Last Judgement, purely for interest and not for its photographic qualities. (This panel lies between the two pillars on the right hand side of the arch):

Amazing!

[Shadowman]

Nicely done.

[Davejl]

+1 to Judith's comments. At a minimum, I would open up the shadow detail a bit and tone down the highlights.

Thanks Manfred.

Initially this was going to be a colour shot. I tried toning down the overdone highlight but ended up with something too grey. Presumably in mono that won't be an issue, so I'll have another go at it.

[AlwaysOnAuto]

I'm always amazed by detail work like this, and in STONE no less.
I guess they didn't have anything else to do?
Thanks for sharing these, truly amazing work, both the stone work and photo work.

[Davejl]

I'm always amazed by detail work like this, and in STONE no less.
I guess they didn't have anything else to do?
Thanks for sharing these, truly amazing work, both the stone work and photo work.

Thanks Alan. I suppose that this sort of work just shows what people could do when most people worked with their hands at manual tasks and no-one had yet invented the production line or the call centre. But of course most people back then were employed on back-breaking manual labour in the surrounding fields

[JohnRostron]

I find this kind of photo fascinating. I try to capture such images when I am in an old church. However the light is often the limiting factor. In yours I found the interplay of the dappled light from the right on the brickwork of the wall and floor particularly intriguing. I think that Manfred's edit has brought this out particularly well.

John

[Davejl]

I find this kind of photo fascinating. I try to capture such images when I am in an old church. However the light is often the limiting factor. In yours I found the interplay of the dappled light from the right on the brickwork of the wall and floor particularly intriguing. I think that Manfred's edit has brought this out particularly well.

John

Thanks John. It is very clear when I download both images and then swap between them how much of an improvement Manfred has achieved.

[Davejl]

+1 to Judith's comments. At a minimum, I would open up the shadow detail a bit and tone down the highlights.

Thanks for this Manfred. I've just managed to view your edit on a laptop and I can now see how much better you've made the overblown highlights. I'll have another go myself for practice. I originally shot three exposures, so I should hopefully be able to do something better too.