From Florence - part 2 - The Duomo

[MilT0s]

The Duomo of Florence or Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore is the Florence Cathedral. It's the second most beautiful building I have seen! If you wonder the first one is another church, Fagrada Familia in Barcelona. It's a building of outstanding beauty.

During the night it is illuminated evenly from all sides by strong headlights. You can say the light is flat but all details can be seen clearly.

So it's time for a long exposure tripod exposure and here are the results:

#3

Canon EOS 60D, 32 mm @ f/16 for 15s ISO200, exposure bias 0EV, metering at Pattern

#4

Canon EOS 60D, 40 mm @ f/16 for 10s ISO200, exposure bias 0EV, metering at Pattern

#5

Canon EOS 60D, 24 mm @ f/9 for 5s ISO200, exposure bias 0EV, metering at Pattern

It was a huge surprise I got all this details in #3. I had to protect my tripod from the menacing tourists for 15s. That was not as easy as it sounds . I can also assure you that the SOOC file was not that impressive in terms of sharpness and details. It needs careful sharpening and LCE in photoshop for the final result. I think it's funny that due to the even light it is not totally obvious that the belfry is much further than the main building on the left while the Baptistery (the building on the right) is much much closer.

In #4 I had problems with the different light in all four elements in the image: the dome, the Façade, the Baptistery and the cross on top of a column. Compositionally I tried to align the cross to the big circular opening of the church.

#5 is a picture I particular like. It is from the side where you can just see the beginning of the dome. That part of the Duomo is not in such a good condition as the entrance and the marbles are a bit corroded.

In post processing apart from sharpening and some cropping I turned the sky completed black to better emphasize the buildings.

Any comments and critique is no only welcome but highly desired.

The whole set can be found in my site.


Part 1 – The River
Part 3 - Love Padlocks
Part 4 - The Haze
Part 5 - Pigeons
Part 6 - Shadows
Part 7 - Abstracts
Part 8 - Black&Whites

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[pnodrog]

Mitos I was away when you posted Florence part 1 but I followed your link and had a look. A very nice set of photographs but the pick for me by the smallest of margins is #4 the tones are superb and the placement of the three cross's is excellent.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Miltos,

I don't see any pictures to go with the words above for #6 and #7, what happened?

The lighting is incredibly even and this does destroy any illusion of depth, on ethat basis #2 is my favourite above.

Well done,

[MilT0s]

Thanks Dave, just fixed the numbering.

You are absolutely right about the lost of depth due to the even light. Actually I was thrilled with the illusion as it's the first time I photograph under such conditions.

To get an idea the distances from the camera to the base of each building is roughly less than 10 meters to the building on the right, about 30 meters to the main entrance of the Duomo on the left and over 50 meters to the tower on the middle (I have to worn you I am not good in such distance estimations..).

Thanks for your time commenting on my images.

[wtlwdwgn]

Great exposures and detail in these Miltos and #4 is magical. I would like to have a wider view to see the whole structure though. And bravo on your dedication in braving those unruly tourists.

[Dave Humphries]

Thanks for your time commenting on my images.

No worries, it doesn't take long as your skill exceeds your confidence (meaning you are better than you think you are).

I'd be pleased with that detail too!

Cheers,

[kdoc856]

Miltos,

Lovely shots. You chose the compositions well to avoid the huge perspective artifacts that buildings this large and shot up close can generate. We were in Florence a few years ago, in daytime, and I prefer all these shots to any I took. I was mortified by the perspective distortion that I generated. Unfortunately, I was not a part of CiC (or any other forum) at that time, or I might have had a lot more keepers. Really nice job on your part.

Cheers,

Kevin

[Mike Buckley]

Nice work, Miltos! I like #4 and #5 the best. However, #4 leans seriously to the right for me. I downloaded and tilted it to the left enough so the tall column in the middle of the image leans just ever so slightly to the left.

[MilT0s]

Paul, Steve, Kevin, Mike thank you all for your comments.

[MilT0s]

Great exposures and detail in these Miltos and #4 is magical. I would like to have a wider view to see the whole structure though. And bravo on your dedication in braving those unruly tourists.

Steve I don't have a wide shot of the building from this point because I don't have a wide angle lens and the space around the church is limited. I do however have a panoramic shot from a nearby hill which one of the common Florence card postals but it's a daytime shot.

[MilT0s]

Miltos,

Lovely shots. You chose the compositions well to avoid the huge perspective artifacts that buildings this large and shot up close can generate. We were in Florence a few years ago, in daytime, and I prefer all these shots to any I took. I was mortified by the perspective distortion that I generated. Unfortunately, I was not a part of CiC (or any other forum) at that time, or I might have had a lot more keepers. Really nice job on your part.

Cheers,

Kevin

Kevin those buildings are indeed huge (for old building at least) so distortions are always there unless you have a tilt lens.

[MilT0s]

Nice work, Miltos! I like #4 and #5 the best. However, #4 leans seriously to the right for me. I downloaded and tilted it to the left enough so the tall column in the middle of the image leans just ever so slightly to the left.

Mike in #4 I chose to make the cross vertical so the buildings are indeed leaning.