Canterbury Cathedral with a Sigma 10-20 F4-5.6 and a Pentax K5

[daphnejohn]

Canterbury Cathedral provided me with a good opportunity last Tuesday to try out my recently purchased Sigma 10-20. The cathedral was extremely quiet at lunch time with only a few visitors which gave the rare opportunity to take some shots without people in them.

All photos were hand held (I left my monopod in the car!), taken in RAW and processed in ACR and PSE10; mainly the removal of converging verticals and only one instance of mild barrel distortion in almost 100 shots. The K5 was in TAv mode (Set aperture and shutter. Camera decides on ISO). The following is a selection.

1/25 f10 ISO1600 11mm


1/25 f10 ISO6400 10mm


1/20 f8 ISO1600 10mm


1/20 f8 ISO6400 10mm


1/20 f5.6 ISO2500 20mm


1/15 f5.6 ISO2000 18mm


1/15 f5.6 ISO640 10mm


Having a lens as wide as 10mm certainly makes you think differently. I am still learning.

Any comments and advice would be very welcome.

John (New Forum Member - First Post)

[Dave Humphries]

Hi John,

That's a very impressive set of images for a first post!

The exposures look good too, the only improvement would come from possibly HDR, to retain some more outside/window detail in the bright areas, but for the subject, I'd say you nailed it.

I wouldn't have minded seeing a closer shot of the ceiling in #4 though.

I hanker after a lens something like that myself, one day, one day

Cheers,

[daphnejohn]

Thank you for your kind comments, Dave. I agree about the highlights.

Regarding #4, I have a closer shot of the ceiling (see below). I wasn't sure which one to include.



Regards

John

[PBelarge]

John
Great job being hand held and new to the lens. The images are a little under exposed, otherwise I really like them.

[kdoc856]

John,

Beautiful job. Almost impressive is how you got almost all the tourists to step outside while you took your shots. Given the handheld status, I dont see how you could do any better. Welcome to CiC, looking forward to more of your posts

Kevin

[Didace]

John,

The images are great. But I have a question for you - and anyone else that would like to chime in - about the composition on many of them. As in the last year I've moved away from point-and-shoot, I'm trying to be more thoughtful about everything that goes into a good image.

It seems that on many of the shots you are a little bit off center. Was this on purpose? For places like this with great symmetry I would either go right down the middle or more to one side. Of course as with all things it comes down to personal preference, but do you think there are any strengths to the point of view you took?

[Fit]

Lovely captures, John. I particularly like the perspective on #3.

[rpcrowe]

Impressive images of a wonderful structure. The images 1-2-5-6 seem (at least on my monitor) to be tilting overto the viewer's right just a tiny bit...

[kdoc856]

John,

Jumping back in after reading Didace's comments re: symmetry. Just 2 days ago, I was reading one of Michael Freeman's books (and I recommend him highly) and he expended considerable emphasis on shooting symmetry- that if we do it, it has to be painstakingly and absolutely symmetrical, or everything looks like an accidental oversight. I didnt notice it in your images (shows how quickly I learn) but see what Didace refers to. Not sure if you had enough liberty where you were to change anything and overall thought they were excellent, but thought I'd pass along Freeman's teaching.

Cheers,

Kevin