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I was seeing my parents and eldest daughter off at the airport very VERY early in the morning and decided I might as well head straight to work afterwards. Since I got in before sunrise (6AM) I dropped my things off and went out into the city near work and took some pictures as the sun was rising and I had a low golden blanket of light. I took just my camera and my new Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 lens.

As always I'd appreciate any feedback, comments, suggestions or critique...

St Mary's Cathedral is just on the other side of Hyde Park and towards the sunrise. In front of the Cathedral is the Cook + Phillip Park Aquatic and Fitness Centre and on it's roof (at ground level) are some large water ponds and at this time of the morning the water is very still allowing some nice reflected shots.


NIKON D90 + 17.0-50.0 mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm, 1/30 sec at f / 11, ISO 200


NIKON D90 + 17.0-50.0 mm f/2.8 @ 22 mm, 1/160 sec at f / 11, ISO 200

There's a large floral display on the courtyard in front of the cathedral


NIKON D90 + 17.0-50.0 mm f/2.8 @ 20 mm, 1/50 sec at f / 11, ISO 200

This last image is a handheld HDR blended from three bracketed exposures at 0, -2 and +2EV. The light level was extremely low inside the cathedral and as I was doing this handheld I had to use a wide open aperture and a higher ISO just to get the shot (the +2 exposure was at 1/6th of a second and this is not a VR lens) - not ideal but the end result turned out better than I had hoped.


NIKON D90 + 17.0-50.0 mm f/2.8 @ 17 mm, 1/25 sec at f / 2.8, ISO 800

Rodney

What a great spot - I'll have to file that one away for future reference.

#1 bothers me a little - I like the concept, but the Cathedral really dominates the image and is a little too far right to give a balanced result. I get that you wanted reflections of all the buildings, but thing a square crop eliminating the left third may give a stronger image.

#2 - wonderful. Lovely subdued tones, good use of the reflections and well framed.

#4 - you've really nailed this HDR despite the challenges. If I was being picky I'd say it's a little too warm for my tastes, but that's only a minor issue. The framing is great as is the exposure. Love the reflections on the floor.

stubbsy wrote:What a great spot - I'll have to file that one away for future reference.

Yep - it's a good place for some interesting photos at any time of day.

#1 bothers me a little - I like the concept, but the Cathedral really dominates the image and is a little too far right to give a balanced result. I get that you wanted reflections of all the buildings, but thing a square crop eliminating the left third may give a stronger image.

Thanks Peter - you mean like this:

#2 - wonderful. Lovely subdued tones, good use of the reflections and well framed.

Thankyou - this was my personal favourite

#4 - you've really nailed this HDR despite the challenges. If I was being picky I'd say it's a little too warm for my tastes, but that's only a minor issue. The framing is great as is the exposure. Love the reflections on the floor.

It does look very... well... yellow - however here is a straight single exposure that I also like (AutoWB - it ended up same as Tungsten - 2850K) and it turns out pretty similar:



I'd really love to do a whole set of images inside the cathedral (with tripod and lots of exposures & maybe my UWA) however after walking around inside for a bit (there was almost nobody there this early in the morning) I came across a "No Photography" sign so I got out pretty quickly after that.

I like them all, actually.

I like the fourth shot. Nicely done cosiddering the circumstances.

These are all really nice...love the reflections!

However, I think the stonework is too yellow

Rodney - the square crop is exactly what I meant. And yes I think it's an improvement, but just because I say that doesn't mean I'm right of course. At the end of the day whatever YOU are happy with is what matters.

No photography in the church - whyever not - how silly - Bloody Cardinal Pell!

No photography in the church - whyever not - how silly - Bloody Cardinal Pell!

I am not fond of the man either, but I think it should say "No Photography in Church during
services". Quite honestly, it can be very disruptive, intrusive and disrespectuful in any faith
if outsiders are allowed to run around taking photographs when the congregation is praying.

zafra52 wrote:

No photography in the church - whyever not - how silly - Bloody Cardinal Pell!

I am not fond of the man either, but I think it should say "No Photography in Church during
services". Quite honestly, it can be very disruptive, intrusive and disrespectuful in any faith
if outsiders are allowed to run around taking photographs when the congregation is praying.

If it was only during services I'd have no problem either. While I'm not religious I'm happy to respect those who are and a ban during services would be extremely reasonable. I looked on the St Mary's website (which has lots of great interior shots) and can't find mention of photography at all.

And back on topic - Rodney - I'm no longer seeing your original crop of the first picture - the square crop appears in both spots. Did you replace the original?

stubbsy wrote:And back on topic - Rodney - I'm no longer seeing your original crop of the first picture - the square crop appears in both spots. Did you replace the original?

Ah yes I did sorry - I liked the square crop better too and was going to post it to my blog soon (which would use the original named image)...

The first one is a cracker although I sort of agree with Stubbsy here; it is a bit busy, but there's not much you can do with it. The last is excellent. I like the yellows indeed. Nice stuff.

Excellent images. The reflections are very sharp and I love the warm colours.

Alex