Lumiere

[GiacomoD]

During last week end, San Gimignano (my birth town) was the theater of "Lumiere 2014", a futuristic performance: a video and audio show purposely conceived to be represented on the cathedral front, fully immersed in a middle-age context. A quite original look for this small, ancient and well preserved town.

During the show, it was amazing to experiment some techniques for shooting in difficult light conditions and in a crowded environment.

Here a few shots:
the first one shows the cathedral during the video performance, it's the result of a 5-shots stack in order to remove heads and shoulders of several people in front of me.

The second one captures a different moment, a single shot luckily free from people.

The third is a long exposure shot of the adjacent (just right of the cathedral) Piazza dell'Erbe.

C&C are welcome
Giacomo

[Shadowman]

Nice series.

[IzzieK]

I prefer the last shot better. Love the lights. It must have been difficult to photograph this one...

[bnnrcn]

Last one for me too I also like #2 .I would reduce the highlights around the man in #2 , they distract a bit. Or I would crop the man and this would give another nice image of the cathedral.

[GiacomoD]

I prefer the last shot better. Love the lights. It must have been difficult to photograph this one...

Thanks Izzie, actually #3 is also my preferred one. Well, I took of course a few test shots with high ISO and wide open to find the right exposure, after that I reduced the ISO and the aperture and recalculated the shutter speed consequently. That one was shot at ISO 200, f/8 and s.s. 120 sec.

[GiacomoD]

Last one for me too I also like #2 .I would reduce the highlights around the man in #2 , they distract a bit. Or I would crop the man and this would give another nice image of the cathedral.

Thank you Binnur.
I tried to reduce highlights, but most of that area is badly overexposed and what I could get is here below... not a great result.



I post also another shot, taken a few of minutes later, without the musician and with different lights, but IMO it does not have the same charme... what do you think?

[rpcrowe]

very nice group... I love light shows, especially those centered around ancient walls and buildings.

[GiacomoD]

very nice group... I love light shows, especially those centered around ancient walls and buildings.

Thank you Richard,
that mixture between ancient architecture and modern technologies created a special atmosphere, that unfortunately was partially ruined by the insignificant and useless lights of open shops and cafes... On the other hand, the event was organized/sponsored by local traders, so it couldn't have been different.

here another one from the series, taken from a different point and offering a (quite distorted) view of the cathedral's square

[rpcrowe]

I don't often like distorted views but this one works for me...

[bnnrcn]

Hi Giacomo IMO the one with the reduced highlights looks better than the original. If you want to get rid of the man and the highlights completely , you might crop the image leaving the upper half of the man in the image and then you might clone that part out . I agree with you about the alternative shot, it doesn't look very powerful.

Thank you Binnur.
I tried to reduce highlights, but most of that area is badly overexposed and what I could get is here below... not a great result.



I post also another shot, taken a few of minutes later, without the musician and with different lights, but IMO it does not have the same charme... what do you think?