Herat Mosque Photo

Photographer’s Note

The Friday Mosque (Masjid-i-Jami) in Herat was built around the year 1200. It has been restored to perfect condition in recent years. The decoration of the tiles is incredibly detailed and beautifully coloured. A photograph can hardly do it justice.

For this picture I did correct the verticals for perspective to some extent but left the minarets pointing inwards a little to maintain the impression of height.

Bien, jafadabret, weswang, anew, don_narayan, riclopes, PixelTerror, AmiBe, Cormac, Cricri, capthaddock has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

rosaline (0) 2005-12-15 13:29

Jonathan
That blue sky is amazing!. The sole person in the frame is great perspective too as it give good scale. The detail and colour of the tile work is brilliant. Similar architecture is evident all over the Islamic world but this picture reminds me of Morocco, which has very similar architecture, indeed. The verticals are always a problem when using conventional lenses, to correct them you can use a Shift Lens. These are now quite difficult to get hold of, but they correct the verticals and scaling at the time of shooting. The effect is great.
Cheers
Aubrey

Bien (4727) 2005-12-15 13:36

HI Jonathan, It's mainly those brilliant colours that make this a superb image. That blue sky is a dream and the mosque and its tiles are beautiful. I like how you composed the image and the solitary Muslim on his way to pray adds scale and perspective. Is that a man sleeping in the niche of the mosque? Lovely work! Sabine

Emmie76 (2009) 2005-12-15 13:41

Hi Jonathan,
The Mosque is very beautiful (colors and drawings) and your picture is very well composed, which gives something special to it.
Emma

jafadabret (38907) 2005-12-15 13:58

Jonathan, ces bleus de la mosquée sur ce bleu du ciel c'est très fort ! C'est du très beau travail !
Merci !
Jacques

nels (2455) 2005-12-15 14:05

hi johnathan the mosque stands out well against a brillient blue sky the colours in the tiles are magic well taken

adrian

weswang (18223) 2005-12-15 16:22

Hi Jonathan, A nice capture of the colorful and beautiful mosque. It is funny to see the two person slept in front of the serious building in the decorated window space. Nice contrast and great details. Well done.

Gerrit (35423) 2005-12-15 17:51

Hi Jonathan,

What an impressive building en very well captured. The coloring is optimal and the details are overwelming.

Thanks and regards, Gerrit

gebala (0) 2005-12-15 19:58

hello, I am sorry that so sort but I am after a long trip:) nice point of view, nice colours and lighting:) well done:) rgs

anew (580) 2005-12-15 23:19

Everything about it is spectacular. Ditto to all the above critiques too.

don_narayan (2014) 2005-12-15 23:27

Hi Jonathan. excellent image of this mosque. the blue domes and the blue sky mesh well together and I really like the angle you took because it makes these designs on the ground so more dynamic... I also like the human elements you have got in here... so natural, just daily life as usual around this extraordinary building/work of art. great light as well. nice work.

Narayan

eza1701 (3343) 2005-12-16 2:51

It's a wonderful photo of what looks a beautiful building Jonathan. The amount of detail is superb and the person walking towards the Mosque gives a sense of scale.

riclopes (32845) 2005-12-16 3:45

Hi Jonathan,
Wonderful image of this marvellous mosque. Very well composed. As I said before, I love shots, in narrow angles with the distortion of the volumes of the architecture. I don't really know what do you mean by 'correcting the verticals'(is it correcting the distortion of the verticals?), but I like the result of the minarets. Very good colours and contrast with the sky. I also like the shadows in the entrance and that person going there. A very pleasant diferent one, from your landscapes. Well done and thanks a lot!
Have a nice friday,
Ricardo

AmiBe (6042) 2005-12-16 7:19

Hi Jonathan,
another interesting place of this country.
Wow, it's high and impressive (thank's to the guy for the scale) and the vivid colors are beautiful.
Well done

Cormac (26447) 2005-12-16 10:54

Wow Jonathan! I have heard of this place but never actually seen it, not even a picture, before. It certainly lives up to my expectations - very beautiful. The detail on those tiles is very impressive. As I've said before, I'm finding your series on Afghanistan very interesting, and I hope we get to see alot more!

Cricri (42773) 2005-12-16 16:44

Bonjour Jonathan,
Magnifique Mosqué, les détails, les couleurs,
une décoration d'Artiste, Bon cadrage, joli contraste avec le bleu du ciel, trés beau.
Amitiés
cricri

Erwan (866) 2005-12-17 1:20

Superbe photo et très beau monument! Vraiment magnifique cette façade avec ces couleurs: un chef-d'oeuvre.
Merci pour la découverte et bravo!
Erwan.

PixelTerror (85994) 2005-12-17 5:30

Hi Jonathan,
Brilliant architecture here and powerful colors on your photo, the light shed onto the mosque allows to see very well the fine artwork, obviously the one and only fitting choice to frame it vertically, I think you deserve a 10-20 for Christmas !
AFghanistan is not the first choice that comes to mind when choosing a holiday destination, have you been there as a tourist or were yu as well involved in soöe humanitarian activities ?
Have a nice week end,
Jean-Yves

Stepan (27167) 2005-12-18 4:44

I can hear the silence !!
Must be a cool and spiritual place...
Thanks for sharing it.
Stéphane
PS : I've tried a WS, hope you'll like it

[workshop] [compare] +

capthaddock (28640) 2005-12-19 10:26

Hi Jonathan - beautiful building, the detailed tilework is really impressive, reminds me of the mosques in Uzbekistan. It also looks remarkably well preserved, and the pavement in front is shiny and spotless, does not look like a photo from a war torn country at all.

BlaiseCendrars (0) 2005-12-31 7:40

Happy New Year Jonathan! Great pov and colours. I have made loads of photos similar to this one but I never seem to get it right, it's always something wrong - the angle, distance, light or whatever..But this is excellent. Best regards, Chris.

colinbrenchley (6130) 2006-05-21 6:09

Jopnathan
What a marvelleous building. Your capture and the colours certain enhance the architecture of the building. Did you do any close ups of the mosaic detail as you did in the Forbidden City?
Regards Colin