April 26, 2013

Spring Break—No. 6

 



Before I get into today’s photo, I would like to address two questions that I had regarding my last post—is the Nikon 28-300 mm f/3.5~5.6 my favorite lens.  No.  I am not sure I have a favorite lens.  However, for travel, street photography and candid family shots, it is my lens of choice.  Why?  It is remarkable sharp (even thought the lens specs might suggest otherwise).  Next, it is extremely versatile which fits into travel, street photography and candid family shots very well.  On vacation I now travel with only two lenses—this one and Nikon 50mm f/1.8 (for extreme low light shots).  I do not think I have ever used this lens for any of my professional work.  Even though I do not use it for my professional work, Jay Maisel and Scott Kelby do and I do not think you can argue with their abilities as photographers.
Most everyone has seen photographs of the Library of Congress, but almost all of those photographs are of the main reading room.  As a result, most people have never seen photographs of the main entrance—which is a shame since it is very impressive.
The building was opened in 1897 and cost about $6.5 million (no idea as to what that would be in 2013 dollars).  Today the library contains more that 145 million items that fill the equivalent of 745 miles of shelves—most impressive!  Today, the library acquires new holdings at rate of 10,000 items per day.  Not sure that there are 10,000 items a day that need to be acquired, but then I am sure that the Library of Congress believes that it must do its part to help spend $3.7 trillion each year.
I wanted this photoraph to be totally about the details of the main lobby. 
Enjoy
Camera settings:  Nikon D4, 28-300mm f/3.5~5.6 at 44mm, ISO 900, f/11 at 1/15th of a second with my camera supported by pillar in the lobby.
Post Processing:
Lightroom 4—applied Nikon Vivid preset during import, set white and black points and added clarity, sharpness and vibrance.

4 comments:

  1. Very impressive looking building. Like the details.
    David

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  2. Obviously your travel shots are nothing like what most people come back with. I imagine the family gathering for your vacation photos is a looked-forward to event.

    As far as the photo goes, I like the amount of detail, color and converging lines in the frame. It certainly gives one a sense of scale and beauty of the building interior.

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  3. Can I hire you to take my vacation photos? My grab shots are nothing like this.
    Tyler

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  4. Impressive photo. The distortion bothers me a little.
    Brad

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