Rare shots of the National Cathedral

Pixel Popper

I had the rare opportunity to get some once in a life time shots this past week. The National Cathedral in Washington DC was having its Centennial Celebration this year, and my friend was chosen to do the light design for all the pageantry and such that would accompany the celebration. These images are destined to be the most unique in my collection, as the National Cathedral will not likely look this way again, or at least not for another hundred years when they celebrate their 200th anniversary!

Before the event started, I got to go into the cathedral alone with my camera while the lighting crew was putting on the finishing touches and doing a technical rehearsal of some of the cues. I had pretty much free reign of the space for about three hours to roam about and try to capture the many different looks which were being created there.

Here are a few samples, but please, visit my gallery to see results from the entire shoot, and please feel free to leave any comments and critiques here. I would really like to get some feedback!

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Skippy

Pixel Popper wrote:

I had the rare opportunity to get some once in a life time shots this past week. The National Cathedral in Washington DC was having its Centennial Celebration this year, and my friend was chosen to do the light design for all the pageantry and such that would accompany the celebration. These images are destined to be the most unique in my collection, as the National Cathedral will not likely look this way again, or at least not for another hundred years when they celebrate their 200th anniversary!

Before the event started, I got to go into the cathedral alone with my camera while the lighting crew was putting on the finishing touches and doing a technical rehearsal of some of the cues. I had pretty much free reign of the space for about three hours to roam about and try to capture the many different looks which were being created there.

Here are a few samples, but please, visit my gallery to see results from the entire shoot, and please feel free to leave any comments and critiques here. I would really like to get some feedback!

Hi there Pixel Popper I like images #1 and #4
That's quite a Cathedral isn't it
Glad you had the chance to photograph inside it.
.... Thanks for sharing.... Skippy
.

Cuong

Congrats on the amazing opportunity of a life time. They turned out spectacularly. Thanks for sharing your unique experience.

Cuong

JimW

Howard,

Wow. What a blast to look at these incredible images. Three hours to run around, with a tripod I assume, to find compositions while this amazing light show is going on. Way cool. I would have been hyperventilating from the thrill. I can just imagine you saying "Whoa, gotta shoot that, go faster, faster, no wait, slow down, breathe."

Will you get to do this when the people are there? The congregation, I mean? That would be the cat's pajamas.

I think your compositions are just great. Perhaps a few need to be straightened. And imagine # 61 with the people there. Cool. Some of them look as if they might benefit from the Fill slider in ACR, as they appear a little dark at the shadow end. But I'm just guessing at that.

Congratulations on these super images and thank you for sharing them. They're very striking.

Jim

Pixel Popper

JimW wrote:

Howard,

Wow. What a blast to look at these incredible images. Three hours to run around, with a tripod I assume, to find compositions while this amazing light show is going on. Way cool. I would have been hyperventilating from the thrill. I can just imagine you saying "Whoa, gotta shoot that, go faster, faster, no wait, slow down, breathe."

Will you get to do this when the people are there? The congregation, I mean? That would be the cat's pajamas.

I think your compositions are just great. Perhaps a few need to be straightened. And imagine # 61 with the people there. Cool. Some of them look as if they might benefit from the Fill slider in ACR, as they appear a little dark at the shadow end. But I'm just guessing at that.

Congratulations on these super images and thank you for sharing them. They're very striking.

Jim

Hi Jim,

Thanks so much for the comments. Yes, I did use a tripod, which really was the only way to accomplish those shots. The event happened the following night and I did not have the opportunity to shoot then. It would have been extraordinarily difficult, as the place was packed with people, not only at the tables, but the sides of the space were packed with television cameras and all their crews, tons of electronic equipment and cables criss-crossing everywhere, as well as all the speakers and performers waiting in the wings. Some of the shots I did from the choir loft, which I would not have been able to access during the event. Other shots were made when I climbed up into the organ pipes and stood on a very narrow ledge a few stories above the floor. I couldn't have done that during the event either. The blast from the organ pipes would have been too much to bear, not to mention how disconcerting it might be for the congregation to see someone crawling around behind the crucifix, trying not to hyperventilate while setting up a tripod on a thin perch.

You are correct. There are a couple of shots that I wish I could lighten up a bit, but I am afraid I have already pushed them to their limits, or at least to the limit of my ability to correct. Most of them were shot at ISO 800 in RAW format. I might have gone for some longer exposure times but would risk parts of the images being seriously over exposed and blown out, so I had to try to expose for some good averages. When I tried to lighten some of these a bit further, the images were just too grainy for my liking. I don't really have the post production skills yet to do these in HDR, but that might be a thought for the future.

I'm glad you enjoyed seeing these, and thanks again for taking the time to comment.

-Howard

Pixel Popper

yukio wrote:

Congrats on the amazing opportunity of a life time. They turned out spectacularly. Thanks for sharing your unique experience.

Cuong

Thanks Yukio! It is my pleasure to be able to share them.

Pixel Popper

Skippy wrote:

Hi there Pixel Popper I like images #1 and #4
That's quite a Cathedral isn't it
Glad you had the chance to photograph inside it.
.... Thanks for sharing.... Skippy
.

Thanks, Skippy!

It was, indeed, an amazing place to find myself shooting. Really thrilled for the opportunity.

-Howard

schmoo

Howard, these are lovely! I had no idea it was an anniversary for the Cathedral, but the lights are really nice. Photographing cathedrals is pretty hard I think, mainly because it's huge with lots of repeating lines so it's tough to get something new. I'm glad you rose to the challenge!

Out of curiosity, why were you shooting at ISO 800 if you had a tripod? Not all of your images have obvious noise, but maybe dialing it back to 100 would give you the flexibility you wanted.

I am really amazed at the angle you had the chance to get. I don't know anyone who's been up to some of those perches you had!

Pixel Popper

schmoo wrote:

Howard, these are lovely! I had no idea it was an anniversary for the Cathedral, but the lights are really nice. Photographing cathedrals is pretty hard I think, mainly because it's huge with lots of repeating lines so it's tough to get something new. I'm glad you rose to the challenge!

Out of curiosity, why were you shooting at ISO 800 if you had a tripod? Not all of your images have obvious noise, but maybe dialing it back to 100 would give you the flexibility you wanted.

I am really amazed at the angle you had the chance to get. I don't know anyone who's been up to some of those perches you had!

Hi Schmoo!

Thanks for the comments. You're right, I probably should have dialed down the ISO in some of these shots. The main reason I left it on 800 was because the lighting was changing quite rapidly as the technicians were perfecting their cues and getting everything focused. I would see something amazing and want a shot of it. Sometimes what I saw would change before I could even move to a good spot for the composition I wanted. Other times, I would get the shot composed, and the look would change before I snapped the shutter, or it would change even as the shutter was open for some of those long exposure times, not always with the best of results. Shooting at ISO 800 was the compromise I chose to help me capture rapidly changing looks in the Cathedral. I now wish there were times when I dialed it back to 100 or so when I had the opportunity. That's a thought I will definitely have to keep in mind if an opportunity similar to this presents itself. Thanks for the reminder!!

Looking forward to seeing the work from your trek to Japan!