The next Victorian cemetery - Nunhead

[Max von MeiselMaus]

I am plugging slowly through the Magnificent Seven Victorian cemeteries in London as a way to get me outside and away from my still lives. I am finding it refreshing to try something new and it presents a whole new range of challenges.

This is the fourth cemetery and I still feel as though I am finding my feet with this. I managed to take an uncharged spare battery with me (yup...) so only got around half the cemetery before having to pack up. Also, I am starting to see the need for a tripod or other form of light, public-transport-friendly support. I tried bracketed shots to convert a high contrast scene into HDR and, even though the differences between the shots were small, it was beyond the capability of my geriatric Photoshop to align them. Never mind. I manually blended two of the exposures and salvaged the shot that way.

No stand out shots from the day, I don't think, and I have a pile more to look at and process. But, in the meantime, I am still looking for any pointers or suggestions for new approaches or challenges. I want to try and get the next cemetery done this month (having left it four months between the last two).

[Shadowman]

Nice isolation of the many elements offered by the cemetery. With those vast openings, look for something interesting to frame within the composition; not very easy to do if you are the only one in the cemetery. If possible, shoot from a lower angle.

[Max von MeiselMaus]

Thanks, John.

Yes, my problem is generally what to have as the point of interest. It is just acres and acres of tombstones and some architecture (which is what I generally gravitate towards, as I have yet to think of an interesting way to photograph a tombstone). I deliberately keep people out of the shot, as I want to emphasise the stillness and eeriness of the surroundings. I sometimes manage to line up a tombstone through an archway, but not always possible. I will give that some more thought.

And I will try shooting upwards. I deliberately shot from as high as I could with these (using a rather inefficient method of holding the camera up as high as could and peering at the live view screen from beneath it. Not advised) as I wanted to get the verticals as vertical as I could (especially the window shots). I ended up having to tweak them anyway in PS, but perhaps not as much as I would otherwise have had to. I have some more angular shots from that day. If I can find the motivation, I will process and post them. I didn't like them as much, but perhaps they add something else.

Thanks again for the input.

[JBW]

Way out of my expertise so this comes with a large grain of salt.

I feel as if I am looking at shots that will be included in a text book. Technically they are very good and they highlight specific types of construction very well. If this was your intent you have done well.

Here are some questions for you:

In your still life shots how do you create drama, emotion, power? How do you tell the story? Could you modify and apply these techniques to graveyards?

As I said at the beginning this is not my area but even I can see that your shots have a lot of potential.

Here is a possibility. If I offend I will remove it.

[Stagecoach]

Max, I can see your dilemma and I think Brian has summed things up quite well.

You may have done it already but one of the things I do when looking for ideas with a subject is to look at others images. A simple search in Google for Victorian Cemeteries and looking at the hundreds of images pulled up may give some ideas when you come across one that's got that 'stand out' look.

Time of day, or night with moonlight (travel complications of course), and low angles come to mind.

[IzzieK]

I am thinking of some artsy way to illustrate what Brian did on that window...maybe some foggy or smoke filter? vignette-d at the final? (P.S. -- I don't want to think much of this post as I tend to have nightmares instead of good dreams when I go back to bed...)

[Max von MeiselMaus]

Ahaha, Izzie. But cemeteries are such peaceful, contemplative places.

Thanks for your thoughts. Yes, yes, yes. There is no focus to the images. No drama. I absolutely agree. This is what I find I am struggling with most in this new area.

That is a good idea to look at the area I am more comfortable in for inspiration. With my still life I tend to use toys, so am effectively producing portraits. So, posture, lighting, props tell the story. Without posture and human impact (which is what I am most comfortable with) I am left with lighting and props (in these, environmental elements).

So, lighting. So far, I have been aiming for overcast/cloudy days or the golden hour, both for what they do for texture. This shoot had the best light so far, as it was cloudy but not that glaring, white overcast sky that looks awful in photos. I made the mistake of visiting one cemetery in bright sunlight and that was a big no. I would love to try a shoot in moonlight, but would have to do it outside of this set of London cemeteries as they are locked at night. I have a local church with churchyard that I have been meaning to try. OK. I will try a moonlit shoot.

Brian, yes, increased contrast and saturation does make them look more dramatic. These have an overlay adjustment layer set to 15%. I could have kept it more opaque, but I dislike the over-processed look. However, it might be that this is what it will take to make these sorts of images interesting. Most do already have a vignette, but a subtle one (and I am actually pleased they aren't obvious). I will keep dramatic post-processing as a last resort, if I can't produce interest via other means.

As for looking for inspiration, I have tried, I really have, but can't find many cemetery photos that do anything for me. I have a couple (literally) pinned on the Pinterest board I set up for this, and that is it. I will keep looking as I agree that is a very good way of figuring out how to make an image with impact.

Thank you all again for your input. It is a real task to make something of this project, but that was the whole point. The more I try, the more I learn.

[ST1]

Hi Max, as you are looking for inspiration a member of another forum that I pop in and out of has over a number of years produced some great stitched images of areas of London. I thought you may like to peruse one of his images of Brompton Cemetery. Hopefully I have copied the URL correctly. Don't ask me how much time he spends creating this type of image.
I know that he like you struggled by not having a tripod, he overcame that by using a piece of string fastened to the camera tripod mount (with a correctly sized bolt) the other end of the sting has a washer tied on which he placed under his foot. The string is tensioned by bringing the camera up to eye level giving him a good stable camera, not as good as a tripod but it fits in a pocket.
The following link is to one of his cemetery images which you can scroll around, I hope you enjoy looking

http://www.viewat.org/?i=en&id_aut=7...0&pag=1&sec=pn

[Max von MeiselMaus]

That has to be the most imaginative solution to the problem of stabilisation I have heard of! It would minimise vertical movement, certainly. As he is stitching photographs horizontally, any horizontal movement presumably wouldn't matter. That is genius.

And that panorama is very well done. My hat off to him and his determination. I did enjoy seeing that. Thank you for linking it.

I know there is more that I can do with this. If anyone has any more inspiration, do throw it my way. I am lapping it up.

[IzzieK]

I am used to doing panorama using only the heels of my right foot. No tripod. Tripod will help if I planned my shoot and not in a hurry but sometimes two or three or even four is enough to just show the view from one shoulder to the next...

[Dave Humphries]

I know there is more that I can do with this. If anyone has any more inspiration, do throw it my way. I am lapping it up.

Hi Max,

My suggestions to aid your dilemma:

If you shoot in the winter months (we're talking of London, UK), the Golden Hour, with low angles of somewhat less contrasty sun light, will be more likely within the opening hours of the cemeteries.

These might be used to emphasis textures on architectural and tombstones alike, although you may need more than one visit to ascertain the best time of day for certain areas of the cemetery concerned.

I'd suggest shooting from a little closer to some elements. I'm not sure what the widest angle lens you have is, in fact I can't even what camera you shoot with

Regarding the idea of shooting from a low angle;
Looking up to a blue sky might be more dramatic than the overcast (and easier to expose for)
I know you take pains to get your verticals, vertical when shooting (as do I), but perhaps try some where the camera is deliberately at a 45 degree angle shooting up the corner of a building.

Talking of winter months, this also brings the photographic, if not personal, benefits of atmospherics and weather - frosty mornings, foggy mornings or evenings.

If you want to get really ambitious, I am sure I have seen images of graveyards shot in fog (perhaps smoke if a commercial shoot) where off-camera flash has been triggered to provide light from within the composition. Although I recognise that might be a bit much for one guy one their own travelling by public transport.

Anyway, I hope that provides some more ideas for you - you can plan to pick it up again when the clocks change in late October if the 'light' is too predictable at this time of year.

[Max von MeiselMaus]

Dave. Thanks very much for your input. I can tell you have done this before.

Time of day. Yes. My first two shoots hit the cemeteries at golden hour during winter opening (in November and January). I then had to wait until April and summer opening hours before being able to hit golden hour for my third one. The first two were on overcast days and the third was a sunny evening. In terms of what suited the atmosphere and emphasis on texture, the overcast days did a far better job. But I had those awful flat, white skies. So, for this one, I waited until the forecast was for a cloud and didn't worry too much about time of day. The sky was a whole lot better and the light well diffused. However, there was something boring about the colour. Not as rich as with the first two. So, for the next, I will time it for both a cloudy day and golden hour, to get the best of both worlds. Autumn and spring are ideal as you get summer opening hours without the sub zero temperatures (my word, that January shoot was cold).

Distance from subject. I was using a 16-50mm zoom, which is my current all-purpose, out and about lens. So, I am not currently equipped to zoom in on distant details. Is this what you are thinking of? Or did you think they could have more impact by having less of the building in the frame? That I can do by just walking closer to it and/or using the longer end of the lens. I tried that with a couple, such as the windows and that partly obscured front gate. For the others, I had been trying to keep verticals and horizontals as true as possible with these, so stepped well back and held the camera as high as I could.

I will definitely try some low shots. I did try a couple in this set, but didn't like them. The main reason was that the grey, cloudy sky bleached out white (and, for those, I didn't bracket, so had no under-exposed sky to fall back on. And I shot in JPEG as I very much dislike the raw conversion for my X-Trans sensor files). I don't want a bright blue sky for these shots as I want to keep them sombre and no harsh shadows. Suits a cemetery best. I need to search around for some ideas for skies. It is a new challenge for me. I did one low, Dutch angle shot in a previous cemetery set and liked it. It is pretty dramatic and I don't want to overdo it, but could definitely have a go at a few more.

Fog is an excellent idea. Definitely. Even if I don't manage to get off camera flash set up, the effect of low fog would suit the mood of a cemetery very well. Now I need a foggy day that coincides with a day off! I have never had so much interest in the weather forecast as I have since starting this project!

Thank you very much for all of that, Dave. It gave me a reason to reflect on failures and successes so far and gave me some fresh ideas. It is much appreciated.

And my travel camera is a Fujifilm X-E1, if that makes any difference.

And now considering a monopod/travel tripod, a moderate telephoto zoom and a gradient filter, for those pesky skies.