My son, Thomas (or Tom, to everyone but his parents), has been my videographer for ten months now. I literally could not make the videos we put on this blog without him.
Over the last year, we have both been on a massive learning curve, learning vast amounts about making videos, the necessary tech, YouTube, and much more.
Now, Thomas is challenging me when it comes to photography (which is not hard, as I need to improve my skills a lot). He took his shot of Ely Cathedral earlier this week:
I like it. It's proved to be quite popular on the web already. Please do, however, note that this is the copyright of Thomas Murphy and may not be reproduced without his permission.
I do wonder what PSR might have to say.
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If he is using RAW (which allows for more differential treatment of tones etc, in image than JPEG) I would lighten the shadows because there seems to be a lot of sumptuous detail in the stone work, but keep the central doorway there lighter, so that the difference in lighting frames the doorway and beyond. The shadow provides framing, a bit more detail in the shadow creates context – a relationship between the brightness levels and gives is a clue that it is a ‘cathedral’.
Has he sepia toned this? I could work just as nice in grey scale?
Once he lightens the shadows, he could then crop the more boring bits of stone out. The reflective floor guides you to the door way and beyond, it is a very moody, atmospheric shot that works as a composition so Tom’s inner eye is there and working well.
This BTW is my personal view, not THE view but there it is, you invited it, so thank you for letting me air it.
I have hared with him
Thanks PSR
That’s great. Ely is such a wonderful site both inside and seen from outside. I really relish seeing the Cathedral when approaching Ely. It dominates the countryside. A statement of Norman power!
If you can go up the tower , the views are spectacular across the Fenlands. All the best to Tom (Thomas)
🙂
I consider myself to be a reasonably accomplished amateur photographer as a holder of several awards from local club competitions, and I believe I know what judges look for.
So my verdict is that this is a very technically competant shot. It may not be at its best in this format, so I’d need to see it as a TIFF. I would criticise the lack of detail in the dark areas, and if I were post production processing it in Lightroom I’d wind up the shadows a bit. I also think it needs rotating clockwise a tad because it has a feeling of leaning over, however the verticals are nicely vertical. I love the reflection in the wet pavement.
And BTW I used to get 10 out of 10 regularly in club competitions but last night I got three 8s and a 8.5 because the standard in my own club is phenominal. I blame my tools because I can’t afford the £10,000 other members spend on their equipment or, for that matter, the exotic locations they visit. That’s my excuse anyway.
Thomas clearly has ability and I would recommend joining a photograhy course and a local camera club. Certainly keep it up and lets see some more, please as a respite from economics.
I have shared your comment with Thomas
I am pleased that PSR and I are in agreement. If, as he says, the image is shot in RAW there seems to be lots of detail in there. Even if it’s JPEG, Lightroom is still able to lift a lot of it out. If Thomas would care to send me the original file I’d be happy to see if it can be improved and, if so, explain how.
Seen just on my small phone screen the pic looks great. Love the golden light. Not sure about doing a monochrome version, though I have a large framed b&w photo of a slightly different position in the cathedral, taken by a distant relative of mine over 100 years ago. He obviously admired the building as Tom does.
Thanks – I will share with him
Richard
Looking at this on a better screen (that works lap top screen of mine is awful!) I can now see the golden light coming through the doorway (its not sepia toned after all) and I can see much more detail on my PC in the shadows.
I would still lighten the shadows; use a warmer filter effect on them so that there is less of a blue cast?
Crop a little at the top, then crop from the left up to one the first strong vertical lines just to loose that dark blob in the bottom left and accentuate the lovely golden glow-flow from the doorway? The view through the doorway is to me perfectly rendered.
When I talk about the inner eye, it is what our brain sees despite the equipment we have – the focal length of the lens, metering patterns etc. That’s why editing can be really fun (what used to be enlarging, dodging and burning with film).
One of the best pieces of advice is that the best tripod you can have is your legs! Move around if you can.
Do thank Tom for indulging an opinionated old fart like myself.
Nigel – I I do not have Lightroom – but I will one day!!
I have sent him your comments
He is experimenting with Lightroom and wants me to do so too.
PSR, I am a huge fan of Lightroom. It takes a lot of learning but there are plenty of excellent tutorials avaiable. The first thing I always do with a shot is turn up the clarity slider (although a colleague hates that), then exposure, contrast, shadows and highlights. I’m guilty of liking plenty of sturation and am aften accused of over doing it. Then I finish off by exporting the image to Photoshop. I fully agree with your feelings about tripods. I have one but rarely use it, especially since I started using Minolta in-camera image stabilization – now Sony.
By March I hope I have time to look at this.
Thomas’s image is now the 18th most liked ever in a Reddit group of 125,000 people.
And that was before he tried your edits, Nigel and PSR, which he liked.
Al this technical dissection is way over my head. I just thought it an arrestingly lovely picture.
Thank you.
I am not a photographer but have taken many photographs and edited (probably) hundreds for use in graphic work of various sorts. I really like the richness of the colours and the contrast between what has the surprising appearance of the bluish colourised B/W facade and the glowing pavement and interior giving the image a feeling of interplay between apparent artifice and reality.
I might not be able to get in the room with soon
Thanks