A Buckinghamshire Church

[MrB]

Earlier this month in the late afternoon, I visited St Michael and All Angels Parish Church in Hughenden Valley, near High Wycombe in Buckinghamshire. This is the western aspect view -



It has beautiful stained glass windows, and I was fascinated by their effect on the sunlight streaming through those on the southern side. I hope this image conveys at least some of that effect to other viewers -



Thank you.

Philip

[RichB]

I used to go this church as a child, so very evocative to me!

I love the light projected by the side of the window. On the first image I'd be tempted to clone in some space above the weather vane.

Did you get any photos of Benjamin Disraeli's grave or the barrel vaulted ceiling about the altar?

[arith]

your second is fantastic.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Philip,

I love the second one, as Richard says, the light patterns on the wall make this.

I was going to suggest perspective correction until I checked and find that the window edges are pretty vertical, but the interior wall corners appear slope in two directions!

You have really nailed the exposure on #2, as well as the windows, there's just enough interior detail too.

On #1, I agree that the tip of the weather vane shouldn't 'touch' the edge of frame, if mine I would add say 15-20 pixels at the top edge of the canvas, then clone over that with sky.

Cheers,

[MilT0s]

I have tried recently to shoot stain glass in church and found it very difficult to handle with exposure. Your shot however looks really well exposured. Well done.

I agree with Dave for the first one, you need just a bit more sky on the top.

[Mike Buckley]

The second one is really evocative. I imagine sitting in the church pew and looking to see that view. Very nicely done.

I'll just quickly add that the first image is overdone to my taste, though I understand that it may be exactly the look you hoped to achieve.

[MrB]

Sorry about the first one, although its main purpose was to give context to the second. The church is probably a bit overdone, and I should have seen that the weather vane needed space above. No excuses, I can only admit that it's a cock-up - literally!

For the second one, I exposed for the sunlit window, trying not to get too many blown highlight spots. In PP, I tweaked the colours, contrast and sharpening, and raised the shadows slightly to reveal a little of the surrounding detail. From the positive comments, it seems that this image has worked as I hoped it would.

Thank you all for viewing and for your helpful and encouraging comments.

Philip

[MrB]

I was going to suggest perspective correction until I checked and find that the window edges are pretty vertical, but the interior wall corners appear slope in two directions!

It was the reason why I hadn't posted the images earlier - yesterday I went back there to understand the odd "perspective" effect! The windows really are vertical and it is the walls that are sloping as they are thicker at the base. This shot, after correcting perspective for the window, shows this. It also shows the amazing wall decorations, and the ceiling that Richard mentioned -



Philip