Earlier this year, Janice and I traveled to Monterey, California for a wedding. During our trip, I visited the Mission San Carlos Borromeo de Carmelo or as it is better known as Carmel Mission. We have some life-long friends who live not far from the Carmel Mission, so I have visited the mission several times and have also taken many photos of it.
On this visit, I was determined to get a good photo of the courtyard. I knew that the morning light would be best for the type of photo that I wanted, but the mission did not open until 10:00 AM—long past the time I wanted to photograph the courtyard. I arranged with a priest at the mission to get admitted around 6:30 AM. I walked around the courtyard for a while and then decided that there were three places that might provide a good angle of the church and the courtyard. I went from location to location at four different times during the morning to take my photos. During the interim, I visited with several of the priest who were most entertaining.
This is my favorite of the photos because of the lighting on the building and the overall composition.
Enjoy.
Camera settings: Nikon D3, Nikon 28-70mm f/2.8 at 40mm with a polarizing filter attached, shot at ISO 200, f/13, 1/8th of a second on a tripod.
Post Processing:
Lightroom—Set white and black points, added mid-tone contrast, clarity.
Photoshop—applied nik Color Efex Pro tonal contrast filter to add contrast to highlights, mid-tones and shadows of the foreground and the church and then applied some dodging and burning to the foreground areas.
WOW! This one is a stunner Patrick!
ReplyDeleteGreat composition and post-processing! You have expertly documented a beautiful location!
Well done!
Barry
Stunning, as Barry noted, is the word to descripe this shot. Everything about this image is beautiful!
ReplyDeleteNice shot Larry. The clouds add to the photo's appeal. Good job planning the shot and making arrangements to shoot at the right time. The available light makes the shot.
ReplyDeleteNormally, I do not like photographs that contain so many different elements but all the elements point to the central subject, the church. The colors are fantastic and the composition is great.
ReplyDeleteAnne
I hate it! Not really, it's great, just thought I would throw something different in the mix....
ReplyDeleteGreat shot! I can see a version of this in black and white too, maybe with Silver Efex and a hint of an infrared treatment. Nice work.
ReplyDeleteI have a lot of trouble with scenes that have so many different things going on. You have managed all the different elements in the photo with a great deal of care. I think your advance work did you right on this one. I guess I should do more advance work.
ReplyDeleteTed