Otto Berkeley
Purgatory's Shadow
Returning to the trove of vantage points to shoot from inside Ely Cathedral, this image was captured from the top of the building's octagonal tower, more than 100ft up. The view encompasses the seats in the north transept, the choir stalls and presbytery to the east, and the stained-glass windows surrounding the central podium directly below. The opportunity to photograph this perspective came during an hour-long tour of the Cathedral, which included a visit to the rooftop around the tower, as well as a glimpse behind the tower's wooden panel walls, which open out and allow a dizzying view both upwards towards the roof and downwards to the ground below.
The tour was moving at a swift pace so this image was captured handheld, resting the camera on the ledge of the tower and using a wide aperture and high ISO to ensure a fast shutter speed and sharp finish. I shot nine bracketed exposures, manually aligning these in Photoshop before using luminosity masks to blend the exposures, which allowed for a balanced finish between the mid-morning light streaming through the windows and the deep shadows in the Cathedral's corners. I then used the Pen Tool to isolate the windows, the arches and the ground, which enabled me to colour-grade the various segments of the scene individually, as well as to target and blend in my bracketed exposures. I used a darker exposure for the lower-left arch, where the intensity of the sunlight was slightly distracting, and brighter exposures (using a combination of radial and reflective gradient masks) to add emphasis to the seats in the north transept, the memorial brass between the choir stalls, the panelling along the tip of the arch above the choir, and the striking timber fan-vaulting on top of the stone pillars.
My aim with this image was to convey the immense scale and magnificence of the building, but I was eager for the look and tone to be consistent with my previous two images from the location, and also wary of a very busy image because of the sheer amount of detail in the frame. For these reasons, I opted for a more muted palette, retaining the vibrant colours in the Cathedral's windows while desaturating much of the rest of the image and focusing on a cold shade of cyan along the tower's stone pillars and a warm mixture of orange and magenta along the timber. This was achieved by using Hue/Saturation and Selective Colour adjustments, as well as Apply Image to layer-mask two Colour Balance adjustments, and finally two low-opacity Colour Lookups set to Soft Light and using the Crisp Warm preset for the highlights and Futuristic Bleak for the shadows.
Using Nik's Silver Efex Pro set to Luminosity, I lowered the overall midtone exposure and increased the Soft Contrast, which helped to draw emphasis to the stunning light striking the stone pillars and casting a glow across the ground of the building, and then used Control Points to selectively add structure to the timber in order to bring out its texture. In Colour Efex Pro, I applied a very small amount of the Dark Contrasts filter to mute the highlights along the stone pillars, as well as a sparing amount of Tonal Contrast to lower the structure of the shadows and tighten the contrast in the highlights.
Having photographed Ely Cathedral at ground level, I was excited to try to convey something of the exhilarating experience of standing at the top of what is rightly described as one of the wonders of the medieval world. Aside from the artistry of the building's architecture and the remarkable attention to detail in its carvings, taking in the Cathedral from this viewpoint seemed to highlight what an extraordinary engineering feat it was to construct something so vast nearly 800 years ago.
You can also connect with me on Facebook, 500px, Google+ and Instagram.
Purgatory's Shadow
Returning to the trove of vantage points to shoot from inside Ely Cathedral, this image was captured from the top of the building's octagonal tower, more than 100ft up. The view encompasses the seats in the north transept, the choir stalls and presbytery to the east, and the stained-glass windows surrounding the central podium directly below. The opportunity to photograph this perspective came during an hour-long tour of the Cathedral, which included a visit to the rooftop around the tower, as well as a glimpse behind the tower's wooden panel walls, which open out and allow a dizzying view both upwards towards the roof and downwards to the ground below.
The tour was moving at a swift pace so this image was captured handheld, resting the camera on the ledge of the tower and using a wide aperture and high ISO to ensure a fast shutter speed and sharp finish. I shot nine bracketed exposures, manually aligning these in Photoshop before using luminosity masks to blend the exposures, which allowed for a balanced finish between the mid-morning light streaming through the windows and the deep shadows in the Cathedral's corners. I then used the Pen Tool to isolate the windows, the arches and the ground, which enabled me to colour-grade the various segments of the scene individually, as well as to target and blend in my bracketed exposures. I used a darker exposure for the lower-left arch, where the intensity of the sunlight was slightly distracting, and brighter exposures (using a combination of radial and reflective gradient masks) to add emphasis to the seats in the north transept, the memorial brass between the choir stalls, the panelling along the tip of the arch above the choir, and the striking timber fan-vaulting on top of the stone pillars.
My aim with this image was to convey the immense scale and magnificence of the building, but I was eager for the look and tone to be consistent with my previous two images from the location, and also wary of a very busy image because of the sheer amount of detail in the frame. For these reasons, I opted for a more muted palette, retaining the vibrant colours in the Cathedral's windows while desaturating much of the rest of the image and focusing on a cold shade of cyan along the tower's stone pillars and a warm mixture of orange and magenta along the timber. This was achieved by using Hue/Saturation and Selective Colour adjustments, as well as Apply Image to layer-mask two Colour Balance adjustments, and finally two low-opacity Colour Lookups set to Soft Light and using the Crisp Warm preset for the highlights and Futuristic Bleak for the shadows.
Using Nik's Silver Efex Pro set to Luminosity, I lowered the overall midtone exposure and increased the Soft Contrast, which helped to draw emphasis to the stunning light striking the stone pillars and casting a glow across the ground of the building, and then used Control Points to selectively add structure to the timber in order to bring out its texture. In Colour Efex Pro, I applied a very small amount of the Dark Contrasts filter to mute the highlights along the stone pillars, as well as a sparing amount of Tonal Contrast to lower the structure of the shadows and tighten the contrast in the highlights.
Having photographed Ely Cathedral at ground level, I was excited to try to convey something of the exhilarating experience of standing at the top of what is rightly described as one of the wonders of the medieval world. Aside from the artistry of the building's architecture and the remarkable attention to detail in its carvings, taking in the Cathedral from this viewpoint seemed to highlight what an extraordinary engineering feat it was to construct something so vast nearly 800 years ago.
You can also connect with me on Facebook, 500px, Google+ and Instagram.