Desecration of the mausoleum of The Emperor Hadrian

Reached by one of the world's most beautiful bridges - Bernini's billowing, angel-clad Pont

Sant' Angelo - this strange, circular tank of a building was originally constructed as the

mausoleum of Emperor Hadrian.

It was converted into a papal fortress in the 6th century, and is linked by underground

passages to the Vatican palaces. Several popes have felt the need to take advantage of the

secret routes in times of threat.

The mausoleum is now an interesting museum, and its evocative atmosphere is

heightened by the knowledge that it was from here that Puccini's Tosca plunged to her

death.

But what do you think of my photograph?

The building is great Nick. I enjoy your history lessons. I think the composition would be better

without so much sky.

Kind Regards

Hi Nick,

Is this the building that the novel "Angels and Demons" by Dan Brown talks about? If you haven't read it, this is a really fun vacation book.

I like the sky here. I don't care for the tourists. This is where I would have considered using a real sturdy tripod, take 3 or 4 shots about a minute apart and then combine them in Photoshop is such a way that the tourists disappear. Either that or wait for a very comical tourist to contrast with the building. (Or do something very scary so they run, but that could get you in trouble...)

One thing I really like is how Gabriel is framed by that wonderful wispy cloud. Makes him stand out much better than on a pure blue (and thus dark) sky.

Hello Nick, you have the ability to shoot these buildings is a way that emphasises their size. This one reminds me of those Napoleonic War towers in the Solent, only 1700 years older. You would want something in the foreground, so tourists work as well as anything.

Your shot is sharp, and has excellent contrast and grain. Oh yes, an excellent sky too.

Regards. Pete

Thanks Jeri. I know what you mean about the expance of sky, and I did toy with the idea of posting a cropped image, but when it came down to the crop, I just didn't think that it had the same dramatic impact. It was a very bright sunny day, and the angle between the camera lens and the sky caused this very appealing polarised effect, which I feel is intergral to the image.

Thanks Maurik. I know what you mean about the tourists, and I would have prefered for them not to be there, but this stretch of embankment next to the Tiber is the main approach to the Vatican from central Rome by foot. What you see above is the result of waiting for about 30 mins for there to be as few tourists as possible. I suppose the tourists do provide scale for the fortress.

I am not familiar with the book to which you refer, but I might just look it up!

I like your notion of combining several images to remove the "distractions", and would like you to expand upon your explanation, as it is a technique that I might like to consider in the future.

Thanks Pete, your kind words are encouraging. I really wanted to exaggerate the scale more, and initially thought about taking this shot crouching down as close to the ground as possible, but in doing so, I would have lost detail from the battlements of the fortress.

Kind regards, Nick.

Hi Nick,

Here is how you can remove the "distractions" (as long as the distractions are moving and your main subject is not).

You take your first photo. If you wanted to "erase" the tourist in front, you could do this in photoshop with the erasor tool. However, now you have a "hole" in your photo, and you don't have the correct information to fill it in with. You can try cloning some of the information from elsewhere, but that often ends up looking not quite right, and besides takes a lot of time.

Instead, you wait a few seconds until the tourist has moved and take a second photo. This photo still has the tourist on it, but now the missing information is there, since the tourist moved. You may need a third (or fourth) photo for all the tourists to have moved enough and not have an other tourist covering the location of the first.

Now load the photos in Photoshop on top of each other, each photo in its own layer. Bring the photo where you like the sky best to the top. Now use the erasor and erase the tourist. Instead of a hole, you get to see the photo underneath, and since the tourist moved, this is the building you wanted to see. Result: tourist is gone.

This technique has some disadvantages. It only works if the tourists move. Someone just standing there cannot be removed (or sunbathers on the beach say, which don't move.)

If it is crowded, you will erase one tourist only to find another underneath.

You may need to carefully match the exposures of the different photos, which can be impossible if the light changes a lot.

It can cost a lot of film. On a digital camera that is not an issue, but on large format it could get a bit costly.

By the way, this can also work in the darkroom, by careful masking techniqies, but in PS it is a lot easier.

Best, Maurik

Thanks Maurik - That is fantastic!

I can't wait to go out and try it out, maybe on some of the famous buildings in my home town, London.

Thanks again and kind regards, Nick.

Cropped sky as suggested by Jeri, for comparison.

Nick.

Nick

Thumbs up for the crop. IMO the sky leads your eye to the building in the cropped version.

Regards, Jeri

Here is another view of the same building, this time from the Pont Sant' Angelo.

I haven't decided yet, but I don't think that this second image is good enough to post in it's own right, but it puts the original posting into context!

Regards, Nick.

Hi Nick, it was worth comming to see what is new here....first it is impressive photo and History explanation,. Jery offered the sky crop for me....and Maurik realy gave a wonderful lesson that I will probably try ! so what els is needed?

Thanks forall the knowlege and image. Pnina