Monuments - The Basilica of Saint Mary

[Anirban Halder]

This is St. Mary’s Basilica, one of the most prominent landmark in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. Originally built in 1871, It was the first basilica established in the United States. The Basilica of Saint Mary is the co-cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and is one of the examples of Beaux-Arts architecture in USA.

I took this shoot in 2009 right after I bought my first (and only) DSLR D200, using 18-200mm VR II on it. I never used a SLR before then. Used a tripod purchased for $20.

Critics are most welcome!

If I look back, I scold myself for few points at least:
1. The tree on extreme right is a distraction. I should have moved little bit left/right or tried another composition to avoid it.
2. I only took JUST one shot of the scene at that time. I should have taken couple more shots from different angle, different perspective, portrait mode may be...

Question for experts: where to take metering from, for such scene? Using sky above the building or the building itself?

[Frank Fremerey]

Metering?

The nice ting about Nikon (D)SLRs is you have a real spot meter built in (IIRC since the F4 generation).

What you should generally consider in such a case of HighDynamicRange is to meter all the spots that seem interesting to you, then consider to expose for every single of these and later combine the shots to one HDR.

Or, more conventionally look at the Dynamic Range you camera has to offer (something like 9 to 10 stops in the case of the D200) and average the meterings of the spots accordingly.

Composition?

1) Why did you choose red lights not green or yellow?
2) the church is taken in a context but she somehow does not seem to be the main dish here.
3) The main dish seems to be a modern traffic environment that has developed at a historic site and the question arises in me: How does the historic site speak to the new infrastructure?
4) All the trees are black blobs of no structure.



PS: Did you take a picture of the Pipe Organ to go with our Organ thread too?

[Anirban Halder]

Thanks Frank. Great feedback indeed! Next time will keep HDR in mind.

1) Why did you choose red lights not green or yellow? [Anirban]: Not intentional.
2) the church is taken in a context but she somehow does not seem to be the main dish here.  [Anirban]: I felt so too!
3) The main dish seems to be a modern traffic environment that has developed at a historic site and the question arises in me: How does the historic site speak to the new infrastructure?
4) All the trees are black blobs of no structure. [Anirban]: Totally. May be different exposure would have made difference.

Will have to go back there again for the Pipe Organ picture!

[Jakov Minić]

Anirban your image is nice and well exposed.
There are no burnt highlights.
The only things that I would perhaps improve is bringing up the shadows, so that you can get some texture out of the trees.
Then maybe adjust the white balance a bit, the image looks too warm for my liking/taste.
The tree on the far right doesn't bother me at all

[armando_m]

Very nice church

If this was my image I'll exclude the highway

[Anirban Halder]

Thanks a lot Jacob & Armando for the feedback! Someday I should go back there and try out these suggestions.

[Sash]

This composition makes it look like a high end drive-thru church

[Raaj]

Hi Anirban,


It is a nice, well exposed image that could perhaps could be stronger if you emphasized the Basilica itself in the frame.  Perhaps framing a little more to the right and eliminating the street lamp and part of the freeway on the left would have made the Basilica the clear subject of the image.  Of course, I don't know what was off the right edge of the frame and perhaps your framing was the best compromise.


Look forward to more of your images.


Cheers!
   -raaj

[Anirban Halder]

Thanks Raaj. I need to go back and try few other compositions. 

Alexander - it does look like a drive-through church. 

[Hugh_3170]

As Armando said try excluding the highway - perhaps just perhaps keeping the right hand 40% of the image and in that way the remaining roads lead to the church.  An oasis of calm amongst the chaos of modern life.  Long may she stand.  Nice image never the less.

[Erik Lund]

I like the whole scene as is, with the high way and all it all makes it a bit surreal

[Bjørn Rørslett]

If anything, I'd include even more of the freeway ... Perhaps a stitched panorama.

The contrast is interesting and adding a lot of interpretation options to the overall picture.

As to night scenes, in general: we cannot photograph these with the actual light level kept intact. They must be brighter than what the eye sees otherwise everything will recede into a dark void. In order to keep the "night" atmosphere yet still be able to produce some illumination of the shadows, it is best to shoot while there still is a trace of blue sky present. I realise this gives a very narrow window of opportunity at your latitude, compared to the long "half-light" period we Nordic people are accustomed to, yet the advice stands. Should you include the Moon, this will be hopeless in a single image unless you are in this window.

[simsurace]

IMHO the tonality of the shot came out very nicely. I don't mind some parts being almost black -- unless they convey vital information this is not so interesting anyway. I like the contrast between the majestic architecture and the purely functional traffic system, and also the color palette: the red of the street lights goes well with the blue sky.

[Anirban Halder]

As Armando said try excluding the highway - perhaps just perhaps keeping the right hand 40% of the image and in that way the remaining roads lead to the church.  An oasis of calm amongst the chaos of modern life.  Long may she stand.  Nice image never the less.

Thank you Hugh. I will try another shot without the highway and see how it comes out. I no longer live in Minneapolis. I visit there once in a while for work.

I like the whole scene as is, with the high way and all it all makes it a bit surreal

Thank you Erik! 

IMHO the tonality of the shot came out very nicely. I don't mind some parts being almost black -- unless they convey vital information this is not so interesting anyway. I like the contrast between the majestic architecture and the purely functional traffic system, and also the color palette: the red of the street lights goes well with the blue sky.

Thank you Simone for your kind thoughts. I too liked the contrast of blue sky and the red street lights. Although I should have tried tried with street lights turned.

If anything, I'd include even more of the freeway ... Perhaps a stitched panorama.

The contrast is interesting and adding a lot of interpretation options to the overall picture.

As to night scenes, in general: we cannot photograph these with the actual light level kept intact. They must be brighter than what the eye sees otherwise everything will recede into a dark void. In order to keep the "night" atmosphere yet still be able to produce some illumination of the shadows, it is best to shoot while there still is a trace of blue sky present. I realise this gives a very narrow window of opportunity at your latitude, compared to the long "half-light" period we Nordic people are accustomed to, yet the advice stands. Should you include the Moon, this will be hopeless in a single image unless you are in this window.

Bjorn - I like how creatively you think of every possible scenarios. Thanks for your advice. Yes, it gives around 5-10min window. I in-fact happened to take this shot 20min after sunset.