Novodevichiy Convent Photo

Photographer’s Note

The Novodevichiy or New Maidens Convent was founded in the year 1524 by Vasily III to commemorate the capture the city of Smolensk. The convent housed many nuns of high descent, and was often involved in politics. For example, the widow of Fodyor I, a tsar, moved here after his death, and Peter the Great confined his unwanted wife to live here.

Adjacent to the beautiful convent, which is now a museum, lies the Novodevichiy cemetery, every important Russian, from composer to artists and scientist is buried here. It was really amazing to walk around and find so many Russian composers, we especially looked for them, as my friends and I are all (amateur)singers. The atmosphere reminded me of the Zentralfriedhof in Vienna, and Père Lachaise in Paris.
Both the convent and the cemetery are places where one can get away from the city, and walk around and enjoy the silence, (if there are not so many tourists;-)).

The white building is the Cathedral of Our Lady of Smolensk (1524), which, because of the appearance resembles the Cathedral of the Assumption in the Kremlin, (I will upload that one as a workshop), and the red tower is the 72 meter high Bell Tower (1690), one of the finest in Moscow.

I was struck by the sight of the church and the tower against such a grey sky, and those onions on the churches in Russia, I think they are very nice.

Information from the Moscow Lonely Planet guide, and the Rough Guide of Moscow.

Cropped, played with the levels a bit, skewed, and applied Unsharp Mask. The sky is a bit noisy, and I forgot to clone out a few spots of dust of the censor.

jbweasle, spence, sandpiper, Cool-ice, bpelvan, Jazator, migtey, Endy, pamastro, Wolbo, mikhalych, Rhiannon, RGatward, oochappan, ChrisJ, sn00zie, nwoehnl, Valentia, Oldtree, eleparc, bertolucci, jhm, elihesamian, sunny, Joker, ngythanh, bfly, touristdidi, prajan, cpolus, yogi32 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

jbweasle (9294) 2004-10-26 18:41

A beautiful contrast of the bright golden domes against the dark grey sky. A sharp well exposed picture and the red tower to the right adds an extra point of interest. Good note too.

PS I've just noticed one or two small spots in the sky (dust on the sensor?) Maybe you could clone these out.

spence (1679) 2004-10-26 18:46

Excellent contrast and light Rinie, a perfect exposure here I think. I like the angle too, which allows us to see these wonderful architectural shapes against the moody sky. Terrific shot - I like it very much.

sandpiper (1579) 2004-10-26 19:31

Excellent contrast between the gold and the dark sky. I also like the POV, concentrating on the upper parts of the buildings. Sharpness and detail is very good.

Cool-ice (5289) 2004-10-26 19:33

Hello Rinnie ;o)
The opposition between the gold and the heavy grey sky is excellent, particularly on the right of the photo.
Good angle of view too.
Well done.

Enia (365) 2004-10-26 19:54

Amazing combination of the gold of the church and the dark almost grayscale colours of the sky...very very interesting! it looks like a 3d game graphics! very well done Rinie!
Regards
Eugenia

bpelvan (3786) 2004-10-26 20:10

Everything looks beautiful under this dark and gray sky. A good PoV and perfect colors.
Very sharp. The rightest tower has an another taste in the scene. Well done. Thanks for sharing...

freddd (435) 2004-10-26 21:56

Very brillant use of light to let the gold color make all the contrast. Very nice angle too.

vapours (7913) 2004-10-26 22:26

Beautiful shot, I love the very dramatic sky in the background. This has caused the gold to really stick out.

Endy (1025) 2004-10-27 0:09

Do you desaturated some part of image or is it the real colors?

In the two cases, the result is beautiful. The golden roofs create a strong contrast with the grey sky. An excellent low-angle shot. Excepted for some part of the sky, the sharpness of your picture is perfect.

Well done Rinie!

pamastro (7213) 2004-10-27 0:45

Very beautiful contrast and colors here. The building stands out so crisply, especially the golden domes. I love the contrast between them and the white building with the dark sky. It appears impressive and monumental and totally Russian in my mind. The diagonal is perfect to draw the eye through the shot in a nice flow. Very impressive building and very impressive point of view and photograph. Very nicely done.

Wolbo (464) 2004-10-27 1:38

Interesting photo. The light coming in from the right creates nice subtle differences in the colors of the cathedral. The dark sky creates a menacing feeling. The red tower adds an interesting element although I would be curious to see a photo of just the cathedral against the dark sky, perhaps less is more. I like the POV as well as the sharpness of the photo. Well done.

I count 5 grey dots in the sky. Is this dust?

mikhalych (1311) 2004-10-27 3:55

Nice composition with white cathedral standing out against dark sky. And good contrast between forms and colors of the church and bell-tower

Rhiannon (1726) 2004-10-27 4:04

The gold against the gray sky is striking, Rinie!
Very, very dramatic and beautiful.
I like your composition, angle and cropping here. The clarity and details are excellent, with no signs of oversharpening.
Light and colour saturation is perfect.
This is excellent work.

RGatward (19737) 2004-10-27 4:10

Good angle and PoV, as many have said, the thing that makes the shot is the bright building against the imposing sky. Interesting note, presumably tomorrow's will of the cemetery, did you find Kruschev's grave?

Hanssie (9133) 2004-10-27 5:21

The "beautiful" weather you have here !
Wonderful combination with these colours of this architecture, great picture on the right moment !

jp80 (8437) 2004-10-27 5:21

A very nice shot Rinie, colors are great. I like the sky and the sharpness. Thanks !

Pascal

oochappan (22032) 2004-10-27 6:38

Ja Rinnie, wat een scherpe foto met prachtige kleuren en wat een diepte, net alsof ie uit zijn kader valt en uit het scherm springt ! Hoe heb je die diepte kunnen bereiken ? Hij leunt nog net iets teveel naar links naar mijn gevoel maar gewoonweg prachtig wat je hier brengt en die goudkleur !
Neem gerust je tijd want dit beloofd !

ChrisJ (70099) 2004-10-27 6:49

Hi Rinie

This would also make a great b&w image, with the superb tonal range exhibited. But I do like the gold & silver domes against the grey sky. Well done.

Re 'Glacier': It's about 180 kilometres from Greymouth to the Franz Josef Glacier, first explored by Austrian Julius Haast in 1865, in the Westland national park in New Zealand. Haast named the glacier after the Austrian emperor, Franz Joseph I. So you weren't too far out!

sn00zie (2384) 2004-10-27 11:15

quite an interesting capture Rinie. i like the colors, contrast and lighting. well defined picture.. :)

nwoehnl (118) 2004-10-27 13:26

Great perspective, Rinie. A wonderful presentation of shapes and curves, resulting in an appealing total. Your choice of shooting angle works fine to show off the array of "onion towers" on the Smolensk cathedral, and the dark red tones of the bell tower topped by the golden roof brings a good contrast. The dark sky makes an ideal background. Good work on the perspective correction, too, well done.

Valentia (1522) 2004-10-27 15:18

Beautiful Photo Rinie. Most of what I want to say has been said already...the gold against thedark sky, the shapes, the overall 3D feel. I love it!

Oldtree (2457) 2004-10-27 15:49

You managed a good composition with these beautiful roofs. The details and sharpness is very good and the golden colors dominates in a good way the picture. I like it.

Rockyboy (20580) 2004-10-27 17:10

Very well framed, and great colors (espacially the gold) on this famous place of Moscow, Rinie! Well done!

avigur_11 (21273) 2004-10-27 23:56

Wow. What a shot and what a note! THe combination of gold and the grey sky with the soft light produces a wonderful effect. I like the shapes and the architectual details. Excellent shot, Rinie.

Michael_Gan (2772) 2004-10-28 3:31

This is a very powerful picture, Rinie. I believe that the impact of this picture is the result of two aspects: the excellent sharpness and the combination of gold and different tones of grey (in a nice range from almost white in the walls to black in the frame). Beautiful shot!

michel_r (1114) 2004-10-28 4:14

Excellent picture. Gold against the dramatic sky, the wave of crosses. I like it very much. You should definitely ake out the dust spots next to the the cross on the left part of the picture.

eleparc (24059) 2004-10-28 14:09

wow do you really need more smileys on that one?? not sure but it surely desserevs all of them.. i love this photo, the grey heavy sky, the top of the church, the pure white walls.. etc... really a blessing to see this beautiful photo rinie!! congratulations my friend!

bertolucci (11976) 2004-10-29 17:17

Hi Rinie, dit is werkelijk een prachtige capture! om te beginnen is de hoek zeer goed gekozen en vormen de kruisen en bogen een mooi grafisch spel. Maar hetgeen dit shot echt fascinerend maakt is het contrast tussen de prachig weergegeven gouden 'uien' en de grijze lucht. Aan mijn favo's toegevoegd. Excelent & scherp werk!

waskahegan (0) 2004-10-29 17:56

dit is werkelijk een prachtige capture, Rusland onder een Nederlandse hemel, als achtergrond de hemel is aangewezen in dit geval

manny (21378) 2004-10-31 1:46

Excellent Rinie. Very good contrast on the colors. And the graphism is there too. Congrats.

elihesamian (26091) 2004-10-31 8:08

Another great shot in your nice series,glad to see it,and congratulation for this great result,I'm wondering about colors harmony between the sky with this great historical building,nicely captured,well done,Rinie.Very well composed and excellent.

cgrindahl (6109) 2004-11-01 3:29

Yes! This is gorgeous Rinie and I'm obviously not alone in feeling that way about this capture. The domes against the brooding sky are very fine, especially with the scallops at the roof edge and the red tower at the right edge. Details are very fine and colors wonderfully realistic. Excellent capture. You made a good investment...;-)

sunny (3068) 2004-11-02 9:48

Gorgeous sight, Rinie! Fantastic contrast between grey sky and golden elements of the Convent. You have created an elegant and breathtakingly beautiful composition! Excellent capture with a very informative note! Tank you for sharing!

kaychambers (1196) 2004-11-02 22:36

Hi Rinie,

Nice image. An interesting grey and white image broken by two golden onions, five crucifixes and a red tower. The darkened adds drama to the overall composition.

Well done,

Regards,

Vic, Singapore.

hdl (6735) 2004-11-04 7:28

Machtig gebouw. Goed samengesteld; het kleurenspel komt heel mooi over. Vooral het bladgoud komt heel goed uit tegenover die donkere lucht.

femkevdh (2633) 2004-11-08 7:54

great white and gold against the dark sky! good POV and compo!

clodreno (0) 2004-11-16 5:48

I missed that shot, and it's a very good one, mainly because of the dark grey sky..
Lovely Rinie...

ngythanh (8492) 2004-12-13 8:08

Helpful note. Thanks for sharing.

Regards,

bfly (5737) 2005-01-15 17:06

hi Rinnie,
I can even see the texture on the whitewashed walls..beautiful light of an overcast day and you have used it perfectly..
thanks, hugs :)

keribar (42742) 2005-02-28 0:50

Hello Rinnie,

Thanks for sharing these fine pictures with us. I know the Novodevitchy convent, and have a few images shot in the snow, but none of them is as spectacular as this one where the gray, the gold and the overall sharpness form such an exquisite result. Very very good ! Izzet

touristdidi (8561) 2005-03-24 5:34 [Comment]

Show Comment

jinju (14265) 2005-05-28 7:50

The gold is so fantastoc. I like these architectural shots, and this one positively glows.

Nina (4603) 2005-11-21 17:51

82 points so far? Well do I need to tell you anything else? I suppose I could say that I have added it to my select list of favourites.
:)

iGirl (1223) 2006-01-16 17:16

Way to go—love the gold against the gray!

cpolus (187) 2006-01-16 17:19

Wow! Very special! Normally blue skies and clear colors attract my view, but this gold against the grey sky and the onions, one very golden, the other almost black and white looks like a photoshop edit. Clear lines.

The colors seem to play so beautiful together, it just catches your view immediately. Congratiulations Rinie for such a great shot!

yogi32 (797) 2006-03-12 14:40

hi,
beautiful composition,
fantstic colours, details and sharpness,
amazing gold roofs,
regards
Igor