Otto Berkeley
Centurion
Returning to York Minster for the second of two look-ups that I captured during my visit, this was taken beneath one of the smaller towers southeast of the building and situated next to the enormous St Cuthbert's Window. The south choir aisle was one of the quietest locations in the Minster, largely overshadowed by the taller and older Central Tower and easily missed next to the grandeur of the Choir, Altar and Presbytery alongside it. There was an understated elegance about the scene, though: besides its perfect symmetry and the pattern from the carvings along the ceiling, the late-morning sunlight streaming through the windows created a bright and airy atmosphere that contrasted with some of the darker and moodier corners of the building.
My aim with this image was an almost high-key finish, but the challenge at both the shooting and editing stages was capturing the level of detail I wanted in both the highlights and the shadows. There was light pouring through the windows, to the point where detail in the window panes and along the stonework was almost blown out, but at the same time there were portions of the Minster's arches which, based on the position of the sun, remained hidden in the shadows. The final result is a blend of eight exposures to create a balanced level of light across the frame, combined using luminosity masks in Photoshop and with additional selections made using the Pen Tool to isolate and adjust portions of the ceiling, tower, windows and arches. The ceiling along the right side of the frame was significantly darker than the left and required midtones and shadows from the brighter exposures in order to match the left side and create a near-symmetrical finish. Similarly, based on the position of the sun, the level of light coming through the lower-left window was much brighter than the light in the lower-right, and the highlights here needed to be toned down with darker exposures without affecting the stonework around the window pane.
Having blended the exposures to a point where the image felt balanced, the colour-grading phase was fairly straightforward. I removed much of the yellow and red tones across the ceiling, keeping the golden hue in the gilded ceiling bosses but using Hue/Saturation and Colour Balance adjustments to push for a colder temperature across the rest of the frame. After this, I used two low-opacity Gradient Maps set to Soft Light for a form of split-toning: the first was targeted to the midtones and adjusted the temperature to an even colder finish, while the second was specifically for the highlights and restored some of the warmth from the sunlight outside the Minster.
Inside Nik's Colour Efex Pro, I used the Tonal Contrast filter to lower the midtone and shadow structure and soften the finish along the ceiling, and the Detail Extractor filter to bring out the texture and nuance within the windows. Setting adjustments in Silver Efex Pro to the Luminosity blend mode, I then gently increased the Dynamic Contrast and selectively raised the shadow exposure across the image for a brighter finish.
The final result hopefully conveys the magnificent architecture inside York Minster, as well as a sense of the resplendent light filling the building's interior. It was interesting to later read that the 14th-century St Cuthbert's Window was designed to throw additional light onto the High Altar, because as awe-inspiring as the window's size and detail might be in their own right, it's an example of the building's design functioning seamlessly and using natural light to make the location that much more remarkable.
You can also connect with me on Instagram, Facebook, 500px and Google+.
Centurion
Returning to York Minster for the second of two look-ups that I captured during my visit, this was taken beneath one of the smaller towers southeast of the building and situated next to the enormous St Cuthbert's Window. The south choir aisle was one of the quietest locations in the Minster, largely overshadowed by the taller and older Central Tower and easily missed next to the grandeur of the Choir, Altar and Presbytery alongside it. There was an understated elegance about the scene, though: besides its perfect symmetry and the pattern from the carvings along the ceiling, the late-morning sunlight streaming through the windows created a bright and airy atmosphere that contrasted with some of the darker and moodier corners of the building.
My aim with this image was an almost high-key finish, but the challenge at both the shooting and editing stages was capturing the level of detail I wanted in both the highlights and the shadows. There was light pouring through the windows, to the point where detail in the window panes and along the stonework was almost blown out, but at the same time there were portions of the Minster's arches which, based on the position of the sun, remained hidden in the shadows. The final result is a blend of eight exposures to create a balanced level of light across the frame, combined using luminosity masks in Photoshop and with additional selections made using the Pen Tool to isolate and adjust portions of the ceiling, tower, windows and arches. The ceiling along the right side of the frame was significantly darker than the left and required midtones and shadows from the brighter exposures in order to match the left side and create a near-symmetrical finish. Similarly, based on the position of the sun, the level of light coming through the lower-left window was much brighter than the light in the lower-right, and the highlights here needed to be toned down with darker exposures without affecting the stonework around the window pane.
Having blended the exposures to a point where the image felt balanced, the colour-grading phase was fairly straightforward. I removed much of the yellow and red tones across the ceiling, keeping the golden hue in the gilded ceiling bosses but using Hue/Saturation and Colour Balance adjustments to push for a colder temperature across the rest of the frame. After this, I used two low-opacity Gradient Maps set to Soft Light for a form of split-toning: the first was targeted to the midtones and adjusted the temperature to an even colder finish, while the second was specifically for the highlights and restored some of the warmth from the sunlight outside the Minster.
Inside Nik's Colour Efex Pro, I used the Tonal Contrast filter to lower the midtone and shadow structure and soften the finish along the ceiling, and the Detail Extractor filter to bring out the texture and nuance within the windows. Setting adjustments in Silver Efex Pro to the Luminosity blend mode, I then gently increased the Dynamic Contrast and selectively raised the shadow exposure across the image for a brighter finish.
The final result hopefully conveys the magnificent architecture inside York Minster, as well as a sense of the resplendent light filling the building's interior. It was interesting to later read that the 14th-century St Cuthbert's Window was designed to throw additional light onto the High Altar, because as awe-inspiring as the window's size and detail might be in their own right, it's an example of the building's design functioning seamlessly and using natural light to make the location that much more remarkable.
You can also connect with me on Instagram, Facebook, 500px and Google+.