This is the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Joseph in downtown San Jose. Some of you might remember this church because I photographed the central dome for the Square Crop challenge.
I'm kinda bummed that I couldn't get the symmetry right let alone the distortion of the wide angle. The ceiling being cut bothers me. The alignment drives me nuts. One door was open when the service was going on and I didn't want to be rude specially since the Monsegnor was looking straight at me from his seat. I took about 4 shots and left hoping one would turn out good. This was the best of the bunch. I knew I had to go wide if I were to show the beauty of this church. IMHO, there is no way I can compete with the 1200 year old churches in Europe (wink at Gary and Nasti). Arrrggghh! If I could only do a reshoot. I would line things up but I thought having the congregation present is much more powerful than having an empty church.
Ran through NI once since I shot at a really high ISO. In PS, I used the Shadow and highlight filter and brought out elements that were cast too dark. I used the default setting of 50%. Then I used Hue and Saturation and individually adjusted each color making sure to leave the yellows alone as the image already had enough of it.
Cropped to a 620x460 image. 1 pixel border and resized canvas to fit 640x480. Instead of using USM, I actually just used the Sharpen filter. It turned out much better.
This is the final show of the MS Challenge. Let's hope I fulfill Gene's (taterbug) prediction of winning it all ;)
Cheers and good luck!
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Post Challenge Thanks everyone for the great comments and votes during and after the challenge.Wow!
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Views since voting: 9123 Views during voting: 572 Comments: 82 Favorites: 14 (view)
Yeah i agree with dudephil. I dont know if i woulda been up to taking such a beautiful shot during the congregation. This clearly deserves a ribbon. Congrats~!
Beautiful work Rikki. I completely agree that having the congregation present is what makes this image so effective. I actually had a similar idea, but didn't have the courage the shoot during a service. You did, and deserve the ribbon.
Congrats Rikki, a well deserved ribbon. I am amazed how well this turns out considering you used ISO 3200. Incredible detail and this really shows of great PP skills.
My goodness Rikki, you are racking up those ribbons. I have been too busy with my new job to check things out here very often and was amazed to see how many ribbons you have now. Congratulation! This one is well deserving of top honors.
I don't believe this photo needs any critique. It did very well in the challenge. I wouldn't really change anything about this photo. The voters enjoyed it and I think it's a very well done image...
I only wish I could shoot something half as well as you did here. This is a beautiful shot and I would not change a thing. I see, however, like most photographers who strive for the perfect photograph, you see things you might have wanted to do different. Trying to tweak a photograph a little more is the sign of a good photographer and you are very good.
Nice one Rikki. Reminds me of "The Wedding Song's" lyrics "whenever two or more of you are gathered in his name," which I've sung at nuptials more times than I care to mention. The rich gold tones and perspective are perfect. Congratulations.
Good overall view of the interior of a place of worship, and a great addition to actually include the congregation. The perspective looks a bit weird to me though.
There are plenty of shots of empty churches... but this adds another dimension. I think its great you caught it full of people. It makes the picture warm ~10
Highest score so far from me. Why? The colour is lovely and rich and the inclusion of people really brings it to life. It's a lovely looking church and you have captured it well.
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