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Light & Shade on Red Sandstone


Light & Shade on Red Sandstone
Photo Information
Copyright: Angshuman Chatterjee (Angshu) Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 4948 W: 169 N: 7612] (24876)
Genre: Places
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2007-03-07
Categories: Daily Life, Architecture
Camera: Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ5, Leica DC VARIO-ELMARIT 36 - 432mm
Exposure: f/2.8, 1/50 seconds
More Photo Info: [view]
Photo Version: Original Version, Workshop
Theme(s): Historical Monuments of Delhi [view contributor(s)]
Date Submitted: 2007-03-13 23:44
Viewed: 707
Points: 44
[Note Guidelines] Photographer's Note
Qutab Minar Complex

Alai Darwaza is the southern gateway to the extended Quwwatul Islam mosque and is described as one of the most treasured gems of Islamic architecture. It was built by Alauddin Khilji in 1311AD. It is the first building, which used true Islamic architectural principles of accurate construction and geometric ornamentation. The darwaza is a square, domed building with intricate carvings in red sandstone and marble. It is also the first building to have a horse shoe shaped arch and a dome. Its fine proportions, profuse carvings on the exterior, inscriptional bands of white marble in bold naksh characters and other decorative details in red stone make it a unique structure. The geometrical decoration in its interior is reminiscent of delicate timber ornamentations.

The play of light inside the domed interior attracted me...the strong beam of the afternoon sunlight through the arched doorway & the light filtering through the latticed windows. In fact, the contrast of light levels was quite high as you may notice & that's what attracted me in the first place.

I was inspired by an excellent photo of Elaine (everlasting) in this very place, to take a few shots. This is one of them.

Workshop : Cropped at the bottom to eliminate the strong sun beam. This gives the picture a squarish format

2nd Workshop : Same place, shot taken seconds earlier but with different exposure stop. The contrast between the strong beam of sunlight & the interiors is considerably less compared to the original post.

Which one do you prefer? Your critiques and opinions, even harsh ones, as always would be most welcome.
emjleclercq, batalay, sabyasachi1212, rakeshgupta, siolaw, riclopes, vincz, papagolf21, pierrefonds, jhm, plimrn, feather, photographer123, josepmarin has marked this note useful
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Discussions
ThreadThread Starter Messages Updated
To everlasting: Shifting my PositionAngshu 1 03-14 06:18
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Critiques [Translate]

Hi Angshu,
Great capture of this architecture marvel.Nice colour of the red stone.But I feel that the f/g is little too much bright.
Greetings,
Dhurjati

Dear Angshuman,
Getting the right exposure must have been tough considering the light conditions, strong light coming in through the doorway and the dome in shadows. I just feel getting this atleast one stop under-exposed would have been ideal.
Best Wishes
Sabyasachi

Hi Angshuman,
The stone carving over the walls are the essance of this architecture. Tourists trying to understand its history is very common part for these type of places. I always try to listen from other's guides. Sometimes it is very funny and some time very informative.
Thanks for sharing.
- Rakesh

  • Great 
  • siolaw Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3911 W: 403 N: 6486] (22150)
  • [2007-03-14 1:27]

Hi Angshu,
Nice view on this architectural beauty, with good colors and sharpness... the light on the floor is a bit strong, but I like the effect on the wall throught the window.
Greetings from India ;D
Laurent

I like both shots.you could consider cropping partly on left and bottom.
Ramesh

  • Great 
  • Graal Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 4800 W: 121 N: 472] (42119)
  • [2007-03-14 3:07]

Hi Angshuman,
interesting architecture and game of shadows and of light. Fine experiment with the contrast.
Gr., Aleksander

It looks like a beautiful place with a great art work on the walls. Both photos look a bit over-exposed and lacking sharpness.
Antonio

Olá Angshu, what to do when we have a beautiful place to photograph, but with a harsh light impossible to manage well? I allways get upstet when that happens to me. From the three, this is the oneI like more. After a while I can accept well the bright white carpet of light that enters in foreground. The place seems wonderful in architectural details and I imagine that this must be great to photograph with a proper light. Love the effect of the spots of light in the red sandstone and this darker version, because it makes the overexposed parts less disturbing. This remembers me the complex of Fatehpur Skri, not far from Agra.
All the best,
Ricardo

Dear Angshu, thank you so much for the dedication. The Qutab Minar is not only a lovely place to relax but has many phtogenic aspects, as you clearly show here.
The light through the jali screens is lovely, and the deep red sandstone in so texturual.
Maybe if you had change your position a little Angshu, you could have elimanted some of the harsh sunlight from the bottom and added more to the top of the image. I like the addtion of the human touch.
Nice work.

  • Great 
  • vincz Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 2997 W: 85 N: 5050] (17516)
  • [2007-03-14 5:51]

i like the orginal one (uncropped) with the light in the foreground. Both are good anyway, I like the colours of the building and the nice details.

Bonjour, cher Angshu,
Difficile de maîtriser une aussi forte lumière. Certains nous conseillent de revenir plus tard, etc. ! A-t-on vraiment la possibilité de reprendre la même photographie plus tard ? Ce lieu vous a inspiré et vous avez voulu en conserver une mémoire.
L'intérêt, c'est d'avoir souhaité partager votre intérêt.
Amitiés.
Philippe

Hi Angshuman,

A good POV of vthese sculptured walls abd receiving some rays of the sun, the photo has a good composition, sharpness and nice colors. Have a nice day.

Pierre

  • Great 
  • jhm Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 12547 W: 270 N: 16625] (66518)
  • [2007-03-14 8:38]

Hi Angshu,

You did very well addition the people for the scale, splendid architecture picture the wall give a excellent view about this building, sometimes it is very pleasant for looking. TFS.

Greetings from Belgium,
John.

  • Great 
  • plimrn Gold Star Critiquer/Gold Star Workshop Editor/Gold Note Writer [C: 3686 W: 230 N: 4930] (15622)
  • [2007-03-14 9:10]

Hi Angshu,
Initially I thought I preferred the cropped version, then I thought that version could be cropped a bit from the sides for a more traditional shape, but when I tried that, I realized that your primary choice was best. The light and shadow on the stone floor, repeats the light and shadow in the lovely detail of the mosque give nuch more depth to the photo. I also prefer the exposure in this version. Sabyasachi suggests 1 stop underexposed; but I think that is perhaps what you did in your other WS. Since this is 2.8, I'm guessing that the WS was a smaller aperture. However, the alteration only decreased the red color without changing the brightness of the light areas. While I've read some articles recommending against underexposure, I seem to get better results with a slight underexposure and then using lighten shadows in PP. HLJ, Pat

hi angshu...
nice detail of the architecture... good colors and contrast...
some tilting problem is there?
regards
pramod

I think you made the right choice with this one. The tones of the walls are much better and the other one seems even more over-exposed. The guy with the blue shirt has a white shirt in the other. I don't think the crop works either as it seems to upset the balance of the composition. I think it is a bit tilted though. I see you have gone with the perfect vertical on the left with the result that the centre vertical tilts to the left. I always get some lens and/or perspective distortion with architecture and have to make choices when adjusting; it's not easy. On the whole I like the image and certainly the patterned light adds an extra element.
Kath

Hi Anshu..
To be trank I did not like this shot..Its not like you and upto the mark..although the highlight and shadow ratio in that time, looking very high but still exposure is very bad.you should crop the right side lady.dont mind...Wish you all the best...SUBIR

Hi, my friend Angshuman,
A shot with a very difficult exposure due to the harsh light of the Sun, entering violently the picture. It creates a bit of OE in the ground, but I think that it was the only way of obtaining a good result in the photo, and your 2nd WS us demonstrates it, does not work so well like in the original post.
I like the geometry that has this architecture, and the symmetrical way of placing it in the setting.
Good work.
Best regards,
Josep

Very nice decoration and light effect though the punctured window. I regret the slight cropping on top of the pciture, but it not very disturbing.

All the best,

Emmanuel

"Mr. B," Hello Angshu,

What a superb photo. In view of the extremel light and shadow, this is a very difficult photo to produce, but you've done an excellent job. The details of the carving show up beautifully. Your note is first class.

Earlier this evening, March 14, I gave a talk on "The Two Leonardos." One of them is, of course, Leonardo da Vinci. The other Leonardo Fibonacci. Fibonacci introduced the decimal system, complete with the "concept of nothing," having learned it from his Arab teachers in Northern Africa. The Arabs had learned about the system from the Hindus, during their incursion into India around AD 750. It is quite amazing how the invader learns so much from the people it conquers. Evidently, Islamic culture left vestiges in India, the fabulous mosques and minarets you've presented, and, in turn, took the the West the mathematics that makes modern science possible.

Warm regards,

Bulent

hallo angshuman,
terrific architecture.captured by the best of your skill.it's very big wide shot,it's not easy but you can kept the whole subjects as well.i can see the daily life that the visitors come to here,you captured well.and good to make a space for the light came to here that it made this photo had the breather.
best regards
somkiat

Hi Angshu. While surfing through your gallery I came across an array of beautiful shots. This one prompted me to comment since I had been to the same place a few days after you took this snap but not lucky enough to get a right position. Apart from your crisp and educative note the light and shadow effect was really wonderful. Was it a beehive on the top (the black patch)? What about cropping out the tourist in the extreme right? It was really amazing. Thanks for sharing. Regards.
Partha

Hi Angshu.

Tu as bien géré la lumière pour mettre en valeur la belle architecture et les couleurs. Les personnages donnent de l'animation.
Une belle photo !
Jacques

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