I have what I think is a fun idea that can lead to an interesting discussion. Let me explain.
I often think of art in general and photography in particular as involving two very important elements – creative vocabulary and interpretive decisions. Creative vocabulary is the knowledge, skills and techniques we use as artists and just like our verbal vocabulary, we use the ‘words’ in our creative vocabulary to express ourselves. As we grow as artists our creative vocabulary grows and we are able to more fully and richly communicate our thoughts and feelings.
Interpretive decisions recognizes the fact that each of us has a unique world view and a unique thing to say. When creating a work of art we make numerous decisions, decisions that shape the way we interpret our subject and thereby communicate what it is we have to say about it.
So, this leads to my fun idea.
I want to propose a situation related to photographing a particular subject and set a starting point. From there I invite you to share your thoughts on the decisions you would make to capturing the image. Let me be a bit more specific.
Cologne Cathedral, Germany
I was recently in Cologne, Germany photographing the interior of their magnificent cathedral, the Kölner Dom. Here’s the situation. I shot the image above with my digital SLR with a 24-105mm f/4L lens. That’s an image stabilized lens. I did not have a tripod so I had to shoot hand held. The light level was very low and flash was not allowed. The focal length for the image was 24mm.
So here’s the challenge. Composition aside, what techniques would you use and what decisions would you make regarding the configuration of your camera (exposure, etc.) that lead up to the point where you press the shutter? In other words, from the point you decide you want to capture this particular image to the point you press the shutter, what’s going through your head? Granted, there are a lot of interpretive decisions waiting to be made during the post processing. But before that we need a well exposed, sharp capture.
There are no right or wrong answers. So think about what you would do and share it with us. I’ll add my comments in a few days but first, let’s hear from you.
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Since I have been studying and working on HDR photography, I think that I would have used that technique, although I would have need of something to steady the shot, especially in such low light. I would ideally use a tripod. I then would set my exposure to brackett(I have a Canon 5D Mkll) 1 stop below, one stop above and one stop correctly. I would have used an ISO of about 800 or 1000 to get least amount of noise and most resolution possible. I would use about f8( over and under settings would then be f5.6 and f11) and shutter speed of about 60 (as low as I can go without camera shake in most cases)Because I am not there, I don’t know if these settings will work, but the HDR gives it a better chance of capturing the scene with all of the detail. I don’t know how realistic it is to use HDR in this situation but its an alternative! Ralph let me know what you think and if you ever use HDR techniques. Best, Sharon Beth
Sharon, thanks for the response. I agree with you that HDR is the ideal solution. I shoot HDR a lot but didn’t in this case for two reasons…
1) I didn’t have a tripod and
2) There were people moving about which would have produced some ghosting from one exposure to the next.
I do have a couple of recommendations concerning your HDR technique. You indicated you would vary the f/stop to do your exposure bracketing. I recommend shooting aperture priority and varying the shutter speed. The reason for this is when you’re changing your f/stop you’re also changing your depth of field. This could lead to an object being in focus in one exposure and out of focus in another.
The other recommendation is varying the exposure by 1 stop. There are many situations when a 1 stop exposure bracketing will work but you have to examine the histogram to be sure. My rule of thumb is 1 1/3 stop and sometimes will go up to 2 stops. Photomatix recommends 2 stops althouth my friend that provides customer support for them is shooting his HDR at 1 1/3 stop. The critical consideration, however is to make sure your exposures cover the entire dynamic range. Without going into the details here, let me refer you to a previous blog posting on this topic.
http://ralphnordstromphotography.com/wordpress/2009/11/21/hdr-tip-1/
Sharon, thank you so much for bringing up this most important technique. Next time I go to Europe I’m taking my tripod so I can do just what you suggest.
It appears that the need for great depth of field wasn’t an issue. I could use a high ISO, but a scene like this calls for good image resolution. In order to minimize camera shake, and given the ban on tripod use, I would have set my lens at a stop or two under the widest f. stop and then brace my camera on the back of a pew or bench or against a wall or pillar or whatever was handy at the given position and then used the camera’s self-timer to minimize camera movement.
Dick, that’s definitely another very valid approach. As for depth of field, I was careful not to include pews that were going to be too close. Besides, I wanted to get a lot of the cathedral ceiling so that was a natural. The other thing is I was wandering around the cathedral grabbing all kinds of shots and not all of them presented something to steady myself against.
So there are many ways to skin a cat. The more of them we know the better chance we have of getting the thought.
Thanks for adding your insights Dick.