Shadows and Columns Photo

Photographer’s Note

The typical shot from inside the ring of columns surrounding St. Peter's Square. The sun was setting and beautiful orange light was streaming in through these magnificent pillars in the Vatican. It was quite impressive. I tried to capture the enormity of the pillars and exaggerate the long shadows by using a vertical frame and a wide lens in this shot.

Geo, Cool-ice, Ramonven, pamastro, singuanti has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

kozerog (1117) 2005-01-28 9:52

Good shot. Nice perspective and shadows. I like also detales on columns.

Steft (5962) 2005-01-28 10:31

Nice picture. The shadows on the grond of the columns and the repetition of the shapes of the columns are great.

Valeisha (197) 2005-01-28 10:32

The presence of the people also contribute to the idea of grandeur; it puts the columns into perspective. Great play with the lines.

Geo (1239) 2005-01-28 10:36

The people, the vertical framing, the diagonal shadows, all combine to emphasize the height of the pillars. The orange light emphasizes their age. Very well composed to tell the story you had in mind. Good job.

Cool-ice (5289) 2005-01-28 10:48

You used the beautiful light perfectly !
The mix between the shadows and the important volume and patterns of the columns gives a nice graphical look to your photo.
And the charachters are here to give the scale...excellent !

naret (826) 2005-01-28 10:57

Hi Geoffrey,
Nice composition. The light and shadow create great DOF for this picture.
Naret

IanSewell (566) 2005-01-28 11:06

Nice composition. The people add to the scale of the columns. You caught this at a very good time. TFS

xhanuman (558) 2005-01-28 12:37

Impressive exposure control. Shooting into the sunlight. What I am particularily impacted by is the hallway curving ones eye to the left while the light/shadows creates opposing diagonal lines on an entirely different level. It creates an uneasy balance that for me ~ demands ~ and/or allows the viewer to look 'into' this photo more than your 'average' flat looking photograph. A lot of negative space plays going on - I like it & can't seem to provide criticism on this one. Very nice.

puister (570) 2005-01-28 14:24

A Great picture Geoffrey, I like the light, the shadow on the foreground and the details on the collumns.

Zanni (5885) 2005-01-28 14:28

Great success for this one, Geoffrey. What overall I note (like many of other members who have critiqued this picture before me) is the amazing play of lights and shadows on the pavement. I like also the juxtaposition between the vertical lines of columns and the diagonal lines on the pavement. The perspective creates the meeting of columns in foreground to close the circle and in the middle people are traped in this beauty.

Ramonven (124) 2005-01-29 14:22

A beautifull picture Geoffrey! I did a little workshop of it! I hope you like it! Take care:) Ramon

[workshop] [compare] +

pamastro (7213) 2005-01-31 0:35

This is an impressive capture and a little different than other views of this colonnade because of the winter light and the winter dress. The lines of the shadows and columns are really great as they arc around the edge. Perhaps it just needs a tiny bit of rotation, no skewing or anything, just about a half degree to a degree clockwise. Nice job. How wide of a lens did you use for this?

singuanti (15240) 2005-02-02 19:17

what an awesome shot. the textures on those columns are impressive. also the composition of repeating columns and shadows is very artistc. well shot!

steveegg (406) 2005-02-14 6:30

This is a very eye-catching shot. The light, the texture of the columns and ground are all well captured. As a composition I think it works well, largely because of the dark ceiling balancing the dark shadows of the columns.
I think it might have been interesting to see what more people in the light would have looked like. It's so hard to get the public to behave when you are taking a photo!

ydarias (657) 2005-04-08 14:01

Hi Geoffrey, I like very much your point of view. This is a diferent aspect of the St Peter's Square. The illumination is good. Great job.

Zbyszek (251) 2005-06-07 18:52