Barcelona, la Sagrada Familia

It could be a photo taken in five or ten years, when the works of construction of this immense monument, started in 1882, will be finished. I have deleted the cranes and changed the sky. You can see above the original colour shot.

This imposing monument, without doubt one of the last great

cathedrals, was started to build in 1882, for a great part under the

direction of the famous spanish architect Antoni Gaudi, and is today

not still finished. It is surrounded by several cranes which are

almost an integral part of the monument, so much are the

barcelonians in the habit to see them turning around the towers of

the church. Yet I have tried to show the monument alone, in all the

purity of its slender shapes. Thank you for all comments and ratings.

Excellent PS work.

 

Regards...

Fantastic mood and perfect perspective! I?t a great photograph Henri. The light is so dramatic.

Henri, you've made this image almost a religious experience.The dramatic sky enhances the power of the image and the perspective reinforces the message. A very powerful achievement . Congratulations.

You got an amazing picture from a normal one. Good work.

Good work! I hate the cranes around this jewel of architecture, but I guess it won't happen any soon, probably not in our lifetime anyway.

Nice shot...

Very well done, Henri. I like it a lot. Best regards.

Excellent work, the result is superb. Congrats

 

JP

Very imaginative, well performed sky surgery ;-) The sky fits very well here, impressive view !

Hi Henry, that is a very nice shot! I love it. I love Barcelona, but i didnt take a good shot of Sagrada Familia. Thanks for your comment on my Casa Mila.

Great PS work! thanks for sharing the technique. The sky works well with the light and shade of sky and building in agreement.

great work, very good result you created here. I love it. A tad more sharpness perhaps.

Thank you for all your comments, I am happy that you enjoy it.

Vraiment un travail magnifique avec un resultat de reve. Bien fait, Henry!

A creative piece. I like the textural feel it has. Regards John

Excellent manipulation, Henry. I like the well applied layers here. Anyway, the completion of the construction will take place in some 20 years (latest estimations). The apse, though, will be filled with another large column (out of a set of three) dedicated to the Virgin Mary... so that empty espace that you recreate now will not be possible... ;-) Anyway, excellent and original view of such much-photographied landmark. Regards, Sigfrid.

I like this image much more than the color. Great augmentation and enhancement. It has a very etereal feel to it. Kudos, Dick

Have a great holiday season.

Perfect, I love the light above, cheers Jana

Ahhh, Barcelona, my dream... The sky compliments its overwhelming greatness; I have seen pictures of this cathedral many times, but your photograph shows it in its true and complete splendor. Great work!

Excellent PS work is right! Will you talk us through the steps that you took to get those ugly cranes replaced with that fabulous sky? It's really a wonderful image ... you'll have to return in five or ten years to show us what the real finished product looks like!

Je n aimes pas les photomontages a exception q il sagise d un message visuel, j aurais preferer que vous centrer votre attention sur un detail libre de grues et que vous composer la photo sur place pour mois la photo fais par de saisir le moment, des que l ons retouche une composition, le travail devient faux, votre image est tres belle mais ce n est pas une photo pour mois.

f.

Thank you all for your kind comments.

Fernando, I know your position and I respect it, but as far as I am concerned, I feel entirely free to touch up a photo. I feel myself more like a painter than like a photographer. A painter unable to hold a brush and who replace it by a camera, but like a painter I have absolutely no hesitation to modify what I see to compose my canvas at my idea. My approach is not to reproduce the reality as it is but to magnify it. I don't consider this as a lying or a forgery, not more than a painter consider his own interpretation of the reality as a lying. I accept that you say that this is not a photo because this don't want to be a photo but a personnal vision.

Lou Ann, to replace a sky by another, you have to select the sky with all the selection tools which are at your disposal. In the case above, you have also to select the cranes, scaffoldings and all what you want to remove. After that, you reverse the selection, copy the monument and paste it on a photo of the sky that you want. It is better that the position of the sun is more or less the same in both photos. You fit your two elements at your idea and it is often necessary to polish up the outlines of each in order that the edges are not visible (use different tools to blur, rub out, etc.).

... so many of the great Gothic cathedrals took hundreds of years to finish, in a way it makes it more part of the city, the community. One is raised with the process, dies with the process, and that construction passes to the next generation. It is a superb monument and you have done a wonderful job showing how it will feel when it is finished, outside of the span of our lives.