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Untitled

Untitled

Photographer: Bob Shaw

Added: 02-Mar-11

Camera Type: Nikon F80

Lens: Tamron 17-35mm lens

Shutter Speed:

Aperture: f/5.6

Adjustments: No details provided

Photographer's Comments: Bob Shaw took this shot during the 17th annual Biennale Arts Festival “Vivid Sydney” in June 2010, a light show put on by visiting artist, Laurie Anderson. He wrote:”This image is of St Mary’s Cathedral, with one of many light patterns projected onto the main entry and spires. Choice of shooting angles was somewhat restricted due to a large number of people milling around to view a wonderful display. Depth of field was compromised @ f/5.6 to achieve a reasonably fast time of 1.5s, being due to the reasonably fast changing time of the light display. Not being a regular night photographer, I am quite pleased with the result.”

Image doctor's advice

Yes, you can be quite happy with your result, but is that because it was a test of your skills or because you really liked the gimmicky aspect of the lightshow?

I would suggest extending your skills even further by scanning the shot to a digital file, then learning how to perspective correct.

One of the limitations of wide angle lenses is getting that falling-over-backwards effect when shooting reasonably close to a subject - unless you can afford a very expensive perspective correction or tilt-shift lens. However one of the real bonuses of digital is that you can easily correct this effect now in software.

TIP: Mastering some of the corrective effects of software can improve your images and help you to understand the limitations of cameras.

reader comments

  • If it was an "ordinary" straight, daylight shot of the cathedral, the perspective would demand correction. But this shot is quirky and a bit "left of centre", so it seems to demand a bit of tilt! The cathedral is "rocking"! So, to me, the photographer made the right choice.
    Anne Ramus on 14-Mar-13 12:40 AM

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