Spire Under the Stars

Being totally unequipped for nightime photography - no tripod, for a start (was out photographing bands, again, where a tripod isn't usually on the agenda) but for once was fairly uninspired by what I heard/saw, so I went home early via the cathedral Close.

You CAN get a reasonable shot of the floodlit cathedral with a good fast wideangle of about 24mm up, handheld if you use a fast iso, which of course, I tried. Then, just as I was getting into the swing of things, the lights went out - except the ones on the spire.

The Cathedral Close is actually a gated 'community' and they close the old medieval gates at the three entrances at 10.30, to keep commoners and the hoighty-toighty, such as myself, out. So, this was with the DX frame D7000 with Nikkor 17-35mm at its widest and propped up on a big tall stone collection box and propped up by my wallet and keys! Used the mirror-up function, 30 sec time exposure.

On editing, the Spire was nicely exposed, which it had to be, if it had burned out then it would have been irretrievable but this meant the rest was fairly underexposed. So, masking in layers of those and a lot (I really mean, a lot) of extra exposure, each done in stages to build up the brightness.

It may not be the best picture taken of this subject and it certainly could have been much better prepared for, but some patience, a fair original RAW and some work in editing has provided a pleasing result.

What with blip, now, reminds me that I really must get out around there properly with a tripod - and earlier in the evening. Mind you, tripods in a drunk, weekend city, even in the supposed sanctity of the Close is generally a very ill-advised prospect.