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The second instalment of my shots from Christ Church Cathedral, Newcastle (first batch are here).

Go to my SmugMug site here for more images of the cathedral.

These first three images were taken with the 10.5 DX Nikkor fish eye lens

landscape shot, 64% defish, 1/3 portrait crop ........ no defishing on this one at all - portrait shot
...

32% defish


These last two were taken with the 12-24 DX Nikkor

I love #1 and #4 - I just like to see detail and interesting vistas in this sort of image - I also like the more normal perspective. #3 really is just too weird a shape - if the columns were purely vertical then it might work but the mix of curved and straight intersecting at the widest point simply looks wrong to me.

The last shot's DOF works well for me, highlighting the fact that there are a number of interesting features in the cathedral.

Peter,
You make that fisheye shine!! Some beautiful images here, I am enjoying watching your skills and eye for composition improve all the time. Thanks for sharing.

Peter you new toy is singing in your hands, the 10.5 DX very sweet.

#1 Love the lighting in the first one, the titles, the two sitting on the bench, and the wooden panelling on the roof. Great detail and a very interesting perspective.

#2 This is my favourite, the bizarre perspective here makes you really think. The colours great, with the banners and the stain glass, and I reall like all the lines leading you to the back wall.


#3 This time I don't like the fish eye effect as much (how much correction have you used ? This shot like numbe 5 feels a little unbalanced to me

#4 I'm a sucker for fine stained glass and this is no exception, the contrast of the colours and light to the darken bricks is really nice

#5 As I said earlier this shot, almost works for me, but I keep feeling unbalanced when looking at it. Is this full frame ? Pity you couldnt get above the back walls windows and keep the framing at the bottom.

Peter - all of these shots have their individual qualities that make them extremely good. The one thing I did notice was that the 12-24 does not appear to be as sharp at the 10.5

Peter,
These are all brilliant. The only one that doesn't work for me is the shot of the round stained-glass window. THe window exposure is spot on but the rest seems a little washed out compared to it.

The exposure on 1 is superb, you've balanced the interior details perfectly without exposing the outdoor scene.

You should see whether the church would be interested in aquiring these images. I was going to say "buy" but then we all know how much money the church doesnt have.

Paul - I quite liked the fish eye distortion in #3 so it has only had a small fish eye reduction. I agree this isn't to everyone's taste since it is VERY unnatural. I was expecting #2 would arouse the more negative comments DOF in last image - only shot at F4 so it's lighting more than anything else

Geoff - thanks. I bought the 10.5 as an effects lens, but I've found that using it + DxO optics to defish it's more versatile than that

Craig - #1 is my favourite of all the cathedral shots. I spent some time framing that before I took the shot and I think it shows. It was shot at 640 ISO which helped bring up the foreground. I did a bit of dodging in PS to bring up the interior a touch more and a layered brightness reduction on the exterior. Shows just how capable the D70 is. #2 is the first shot I've done where I haven't defished at all since I liked the effect (BTW I've updated the post at the top to show % defish for each image). If you like stained glass then this place is a must - it's everywhere.

Chris - thanks. The 10.5 is certainly sharper, but my hand holding isn't superb either so some of the apparent softness of the 12-24 may be due to the longer exposures in the low light (to guard against this a bit I shot all of these at ISO 640)

Matt - I almost didn't post the round stained glass window since it was MAJORLY photoshopped to bring up the area around the glass. In the original all was black excpet for the window. I think I failed. Re: #1 - as said already it's my fave. I just love the light in this one and it's beautiful simplicity.

For those who commented on #3 the fully defished version with a slight crop is below:

Peter - This place is definitely on my list of places I'd like to visit.
You did a great job with the PP and framing on #1 so I'm glad your happy with the outcome.

I love how #2 isn't defisheyed, but strangely I like your complete defished version of #3

Peter,
It is very beautiful.
I never know Newsastle has so a big and beautiful church.
I like the second one most.
The ceiling looks like a big bird and going to fly to heaven.
The lighting of third one is great.
--------
regards
poon

Craig - I don't mind the defished version either.

Poon - thanks - next time you're up here you must visit there.

Great seris on the Cathedral Peter,

You are getting some great use out of that fisheye lens.

The #2 with the fisheye unmodified, is my favourite, great colours, lighting, very sharp.

Thanks,

André

Nicely done series and shots #2 and #4 are my favs.

Andre, Mark.

Thanks - a great place to visit.

One thing I haven't mentioned so far is it's quite dark inside the cathedral, but these lenses really showed their low light capabilities when combined with a slight ISO bump (to 640)