The High Altar, Winchester Cathedral

Perspective control using PTGui (Photoshop is totally inadequate for

this degree of compensation). Next time, I will use a real camera, not

a digital toy.

 

I have had a very hard job in reducing an 80MByte image to the limits

of PhotoNet, and preserve the detail. I used Stoik PictureMan Pro,

which did the best job. The interpolator is called ?Augural Zooming?.

Antonio -

 

This is the church in England correct? I'm not sure how you got back there but it's a great clear,detailed picture. Thanks for sharing it with us.

WOW! Great interior image!

Fantastic image, fantastic job. Great light and detail. I'd call it impressive

Yes, it is in England, in Hampshire. The address is 1 The Close, Winchester, Hampshire, SO23 9LS, winchester-cathedral.org.uk

 

It is open to the public. If you are not worshipping, a donation of ?5 is suggested. I go fairly early in the morning, to avoid the tourists, and their flashes (not that they will do them much good). The Quire is very dark, even when the sun it shining. Obviously, if you are going there, you have to do so with respect. For example, I have a tripod that will neither scratch nor leave rubber marks on the floor.

 

Also, in this image, I have digitally removed the rope in front of the altar. I will be asking the Dean to allow me to do it physically when I reshoot with one of my view cameras. In fact, this image is just a sketch for when I do it properly with 5x4 Ektachrome.

 

... but a question. Why did you have to interpolate up so far to correct the perspective? By my estimation you did a 100% interpolation (4x file size) in order to then compensate the perspective. Not sure I understand why.

The answer is that I am just sketching the shot, prior to shooting on 5x4, to find out where to put the camera, which lens to fit, what filters might be needed, what exposure I might expect, etc. The answer from this shot is that the 5x4 equivalent of 18mm on the digital camera is 98mm, so a 90mm lens would be wide enough. I can expect 6s at f/11 on Ektachrome E100 VS. However, there are a few problems. Firstly, if the east window is in sunlight, it is going to be burnt out. Also, the camera should be further back to get more of the east window in. I will be repeating the sketch to see if I can get the camera position far enough back so that I can use a 135mm lens. I also need to see if a blast of flash thrown into the roof helps. Perhaps I might need some filtration to warm the flash up.

 

In this image, I let PTGui straighten out the whole of the camera image, but I cropped the top off because, although the projective geometry was correct, it had done too much, aesthetically. All I did was to give PTGui the verticals and horizontals, and it works out the rest.

 

The original is above.

... exactly the kind of information I love. Thanks, Antonio. As I'm sure you know, the best time to get the shot for the apse window would be late afternoon as the sun comes around to the west. It's great that you have time to do the tests before going in with the 4x5. Please let me know when you post the new shot, if you don't mind. I can't always see these things when they show up and I'm anxious to see your results. Thanks again for the detailed information.