Straight?, a photo from Schleswig-Holstein, West

Photographer's Note

ABOUT THE CHURCH
I have mentioned that Lubeck is called the town of seven spires. My previous photo showed a close-up of one of them. This photo presents Lubeck Cathedral (Dom). Its origins date back to 1173 (the cathedral not the photo). Below I share (after Wikipedia) a legend which tells a story about how the Dom was founded.

Legend: Origins of the Lubeck Dom
In the 8th century Charlemagne was hunting in Saxony and chased a huge deer. After a long pursuit he succeeded in capturing the animal but neither killed nor kept it. Instead he took a gold chain and laid it on the deer's antlers.
Four hundred years later the Wends and Saxons had converted to Christianity, and the man now out hunting was Henry the Lion, the founder of Lübeck. Henry had separated himself from his followers in order to be alone with his thoughts. He wanted to build a church, but lacked the necessary funds. At that moment a great deer appeared before him with a diamond-encrusted crucifix in its antlers. He took this as a sign from God, and shot the animal. He took the cross from its antlers; hardly had he done so when the deer rose up and disappeared into the bushes. The young duke now had enough money for the construction of the church.

ABOUT THE TITLE
The title refers to the fact that the towers of this amazing cathedral are in reality a bit tilted. This of course poses a dilemma for a photographer who likes to have a STRAIGHT perspective...
English language is full of traps for the beginners and the word STRAIGHT reminds me a situation which experienced my colleague, also a European, while working in the USA. First of all he went to a yoga class with a pink towel which initiated a lot of comments whether he is gay or STRAIGHT, the second word being roughly the opposite of the first one. This word was new to him. Same evening he went to a night club and at the bar he was asked the question: “STRAIGHT?” Without a second of hesitation he said “STRAIGHT!” Much to his surprise this word if used by a bartender means pure, undiluted alcohol...

dta, kabel, Sonata11, Kofman, tyro, maria-v1981, timecapturer, siolaw, Kielia, ikeharel, Noel_Byrne, delpeoples, danos, marabu61, Graal, josepmarin, adores, s_lush, Angshu, fritzi007, COSTANTINO has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

dta (52250) 2013-01-20 9:08

Hello MAriusz ,
Straight or not straight :) , the capture of this superb cathedral at the blue hour is excellent . Of course , the splendid reflections are an important element here .
Regards

flatwin (2147) 2013-01-20 9:18

Bonsoir,

belle prise de vue nocturne en réflexion

Flatwin

jurek1951 (35765) 2013-01-20 10:16

Witaj Mariusz,
super wygladaja te dwie oswietlne wieze na tle niebo,ladne odbicie,dobra nocna fotka,pozdrawiam,
Jurek

kabel (1013) 2013-01-20 11:40

Hello, a magical evening reflection image. Perfect exposure with strong sharpness. Good point of view with the tall spires on the left.
TFS,
Karen

dkmurphys (37419) 2013-01-20 11:51

Hi Mariusz,
Perfect reflected scene. I like the management of light and the deep calm atmopshere. Well taken.
Enjoy a fine week!

Daniel

Sonata11 (28758) 2013-01-20 18:03

Witaj Mariusz,
piekna noca kompozycja pieknie pokazanych strzeklistych wiez pieknej katedry. Sliczna kompozycja i jego odbicia w wodzie. Piekna kolorystyka, sliczne swiatlo. Odbicie jest jest jak zyletka. Wspanial kompozycja. Moje gratulacje. Podoba mi sie bardzo.
Serdecznie pozdrawiam,
Barbara

fabianoleite (9098) 2013-01-20 19:15

Wonderful lights and reflections in the dark, great light management. Good job, congratulations!

ifege (9503) 2013-01-20 21:11

Superb night time one Mariusz - you have the buildings glowing.
cheers
Ian

wolf38 (28300) 2013-01-20 22:35

Hello Mariusz. What a great photo. The reflection is fantastic and the colors also. I look at the photo with pleasure. Really well done.
Rgds, Wolfgang.

tyro (13585) 2013-01-21 2:24

Hello Mariusz,

Straight away, let me be straight about this - I love this picture!

The towers of the church might not be straight but your photograph is most certainly straight. In a picture like this it is easy to assess whether the picture is straight or not because there are reflections of the towers in the water. Using simple physics and because water must be level, then any object above the water must be on the same vertical axis as its reflection in the water. If you enlarge this picture (by pressing Ctrl and "+") and move the towers to the edge of the screen, you'll see that the towers and their reflections are on exactly the same vertical line. So, your picture is straight - dead straight!

Lovely light and colours, perfect exposure and, as always, excellent details and sharpness.

An interesting and amusing note too - straight up!

Excellent!

Kind Regards,

John.

maria-v1981 (10409) 2013-01-21 3:09

Hello Mariusz,
Wonderful shot. For me it's perfect night picture. It's better when the sky isn't completely black. And here we have very nice blue hour, marvelous lights from buildings, superb reflection and we can see more details then in late evening or night.
Have a nice evening,
Regards,
Maria

timecapturer (31278) 2013-01-21 4:17

Hi Mariusz
stunning light and detail in this glorious night shot. The clarity and reflection are just beautiful. Well done!

Have a good week - regards Brian.

siolaw (37626) 2013-01-21 5:58

Hi Mariusz
So, in the end, did you straighten them up or not?? ;D
Anyhow the place looks great, specially at this blue hour time with artificial lights adding to the grandeur of the church.
Good job
Laurent

Kielia (20657) 2013-01-21 6:08

Hi Mariusz,
what a wonderful idea to present this already well known church so nicely captured. The composition where the reflections play an important role is very interesting. The light makes the image very attractive! My compliments also for the nice notes!
Warm regards
Harriet

sabermonajati (7685) 2013-01-21 10:37

hi
amazing light you captured from towers with reflect on water.
regard
saber

Noel_Byrne (8073) 2013-01-21 11:43

hi Mariusz,
What a stunning reflection! And on reading your note, I think I can see the slight bend in the spires, makes a fascinating architectural oddity. I head that there is a cathedral in Cork with a similar strangeness, have you ever been?
The capture is beautiful, with a crystal clear reflection and beautiful lighting against that blue sky. Your note also gave me a smile on this cold Irish evening!
All the best
Noel

delpeoples (45717) 2013-01-21 18:45

HI dear Mariusz

So it seems that the Italians are not the only ones who build tilted towers. Hmmm, my eyes must be going blind, because they look pretty straight to me :) Beautiful symmetry and superb tones from the late Blue Hour. I really like the almost reddish glow from the way the towers are illuminated. A lovely piece of architecture beautifully photographed.

Warmest regards
Lisa

danos (74518) 2013-01-21 23:32

Witaj Mariusz,
nice the night view of the scene with the reflections to complete perfect the whole image.I like the clarity of the scene as the quality of it.

Have a good day,Danos

marabu61 (4182) 2013-01-22 6:21

Witaj Mariusz
hehe, didn't we all struggled at some point with the pitfalls of foreign languages. One has to be wary of them to not create any misunderstandings.
Great title to your story and photo. Those spires look straight enough to me and the wonderful reflection in the water is simply superb.
Pozdrawiam
Daniel

ikeharel (38090) 2013-01-22 8:37

You night sceneries are art well mastered, mariusz, and no exception about this one.
Great reflection of the towers, strong illuminations gave a fine contrast with the trees as silhouettes.
Pleasent to look at, good evening,
Ike

jemaflor (69731) 2013-01-22 11:43

Hi M,
A great watermirror perfectly captured, interesting architecture and good result with these colourful lights, tfs.

Fis2 (73646) 2013-01-22 12:51

Witaj Mariusz!
Ten widok to klasyka...
Piekna jest ta katedra.
W nocy prezentuje sie wspaniale.
Podoba mi sie odbicie w wodzie.
Pozdrawiam
Krzywsztof

Graal (89434) 2013-01-23 1:16

Czesc,
swietnie zrobione zdjecie noca. Fajne cieple barwy sztucznego swiatla no i to odbicie. Strzeliste wieze dominuja nad caloscia kompozycji. Podoba mi sie - zdjecie i ciekawa notka.
Milego dnia.
Aleksander

josepmarin (55209) 2013-01-23 2:54

Hi Mariusz,
the beauty of the architecture of the Cathedral and its slender spires, beautifully illuminated, it is perfectly caught in this magnificent capture at the blue hour, in which the reflections of the ensemble on the water increase the aesthetic quality of the composition.
It's a beautiful work.
Friendly regards,
Josep

abmdsudi (27118) 2013-01-23 5:30

Hi Mariusz
Indeed I enjoy this viewpoint point that you have taken The stunning double mirror image on still calm water immediately conjures the feelings of tranquility and awe while the good note helps to appreciate this place even more. Credit to superb control of highlights and you managed to include lots of detail in superbly clarity, colors and the whole composition is so alive in the night. Very well done, TFS
Kind regards

macjake (39998) 2013-01-23 12:03

Hi Mariusz
the top is the bottom and the bottom is the top! :)
a perfect mirror reflection.
and its really hard to tell about the crooked nature of the church...looks pretty darn straight to me!
this spot looks like a photographers dream here....well...for people like you and me :)

Funny note about being 'straight' :)
cheers
craig

adores (28552) 2013-01-26 16:16

Hi Mariusz!
Great night shot in the blue hour! Very good pov, exposure and reflection. The symmetry is perfect! Good work!

s_lush (15638) 2013-01-27 13:51

Hello Mariusz,
You have managed taking a compositionally, aesthetically and even geometrically perfect picture with marvelous architecture, wonderful illumination and symmetrical optical reflection. A highly good presentation, both visual and textual, of this old cathedral!
Best regards,
Sergiy

Angshu (51432) 2013-01-28 2:35

Hello Mariusz
Interesting anecdote to end your note :-)

I find this picture delightful...in the blue hour with the fine colour hues created by the artificial light. Best of course is the reflection in the near passive water. You used a tripod for sure, judging the crispness of the image. Lovely work!
Best Regards
Angshu

fritzi007 (7744) 2013-02-08 13:59

Hallo Mariusz,
wirklich eine sehr schöne Nachtaufnahme mit Reflexion, und eine interessante Geschichte, super!
Viele Grüße
Wolfgang

andywo (4693) 2013-02-24 7:58

Czesc Mariusz
Podoba mi sie Twoja kompozycja. Cos podobnego( odbicie w wodzie jakby zawieszone w powietrzu) chodzi mi po glowie, ale jak na razie nie znalazlem jeszcze interesujacego miejsca do sfotografowania.
Swietna praca "blue hour".
Pozdrawiam
Andrzej

manrezaei (1721) 2013-03-11 15:49

Hello Mariusz,

Absolutly straight. Very well done.

Have a nice week,

Mansour

COSTANTINO (42760) 2013-04-08 5:49

Hello
a shot divorsed into two parties
excellent composition almost perfect
the capture of this superb cathedral
in blue hour is fantastic
only greetings
Costantino