Otto Berkeley
Lantern
At the top of Ely Cathedral's central tower is one of the most remarkable engineering feats of the Middle Ages: a timber octagon, standing 100ft above the ground and weighing nearly 400 tons. This image was captured directly below the 600-year-old tower, taking in the immense scale and complexity of its timber, glass and lead that stand on eight massive stone pillars, as well as the stunning artistry of this building at the centre of Cambridgeshire, which was built on the site of a monastery dating back to the 7th century.
This look-up was one of the first images I captured during my visit with fellow London photographer Peter Li, and although the area beneath the tower is considered the most sacred place inside the Cathedral, one of the priests kindly allowed us a few minutes to set up and shoot. The top of the tower's structure is referred to as a lantern for the way its windows allow light into the Cathedral on each side, and this was a challenge when shooting and editing because of the strong contrast between the location's dark interior and the bright light pouring through its windows. Even at the start of the day, barely an hour after sunrise, I knew I would need to bracket multiple exposures in order to later blend brighter exposures to recover the shadows and darker exposures to preserve the detail in the highlights. This was achieved using luminosity masks in Photoshop, with nine exposures blended for the smoothest possible transition of light, as well as using the Pen Tool to isolate and brighten portions of the frame -- the arches, the windows, the ceiling and the tower itself -- and emphasising the light on these parts of the building by applying radial and reflective gradient masks to the brighter exposures.
My aim when shooting this location was to convey both its magnificence and its mood, and once the exposures had been blended, I shifted the colour balance towards a colder finish in the shadows while playing up the warm light coming through the eastern window and illuminating the octagon. Despite the distinct colours in the windows and across the ceiling, I felt that the Cathedral's rich character and history would be more vivid when they were accompanied by muted tones. Using a combination of Selective Colour, Colour Lookup and Gradient Map adjustments, I reduced much of the vibrant reds and blues in the windows, and gradually shifted the warmer tones away from their original mixture of red and magenta and towards a slightly greener finish.
Inside Colour Efex Pro, I applied very sparing amounts of the Pro Contrast, Tonal Contrast and Detail Extractor filters, softening the contrast in the shadows and emphasising the texture inside the tower and along the roof. Applying adjustments inside Silver Efex Pro that were set to Luminosity, I then lowered the midtone exposure while restoring a small amount of brightness to the windows, where I felt some additional emphasis on the external light could be brought back without compromising detail in the highlights.
The final result is the first of several images that I captured during my visit to the Cathedral, and which hopefully provides a glimpse of the astonishing attention to detail that went into this location's architecture at the same time as conveying its sheer enormity.
You can also connect with me on Facebook, 500px, Google+ and Instagram.
Lantern
At the top of Ely Cathedral's central tower is one of the most remarkable engineering feats of the Middle Ages: a timber octagon, standing 100ft above the ground and weighing nearly 400 tons. This image was captured directly below the 600-year-old tower, taking in the immense scale and complexity of its timber, glass and lead that stand on eight massive stone pillars, as well as the stunning artistry of this building at the centre of Cambridgeshire, which was built on the site of a monastery dating back to the 7th century.
This look-up was one of the first images I captured during my visit with fellow London photographer Peter Li, and although the area beneath the tower is considered the most sacred place inside the Cathedral, one of the priests kindly allowed us a few minutes to set up and shoot. The top of the tower's structure is referred to as a lantern for the way its windows allow light into the Cathedral on each side, and this was a challenge when shooting and editing because of the strong contrast between the location's dark interior and the bright light pouring through its windows. Even at the start of the day, barely an hour after sunrise, I knew I would need to bracket multiple exposures in order to later blend brighter exposures to recover the shadows and darker exposures to preserve the detail in the highlights. This was achieved using luminosity masks in Photoshop, with nine exposures blended for the smoothest possible transition of light, as well as using the Pen Tool to isolate and brighten portions of the frame -- the arches, the windows, the ceiling and the tower itself -- and emphasising the light on these parts of the building by applying radial and reflective gradient masks to the brighter exposures.
My aim when shooting this location was to convey both its magnificence and its mood, and once the exposures had been blended, I shifted the colour balance towards a colder finish in the shadows while playing up the warm light coming through the eastern window and illuminating the octagon. Despite the distinct colours in the windows and across the ceiling, I felt that the Cathedral's rich character and history would be more vivid when they were accompanied by muted tones. Using a combination of Selective Colour, Colour Lookup and Gradient Map adjustments, I reduced much of the vibrant reds and blues in the windows, and gradually shifted the warmer tones away from their original mixture of red and magenta and towards a slightly greener finish.
Inside Colour Efex Pro, I applied very sparing amounts of the Pro Contrast, Tonal Contrast and Detail Extractor filters, softening the contrast in the shadows and emphasising the texture inside the tower and along the roof. Applying adjustments inside Silver Efex Pro that were set to Luminosity, I then lowered the midtone exposure while restoring a small amount of brightness to the windows, where I felt some additional emphasis on the external light could be brought back without compromising detail in the highlights.
The final result is the first of several images that I captured during my visit to the Cathedral, and which hopefully provides a glimpse of the astonishing attention to detail that went into this location's architecture at the same time as conveying its sheer enormity.
You can also connect with me on Facebook, 500px, Google+ and Instagram.