Every Other Year Temple Square Photo Session

I won't go over all the reasons that I love Photographing the Temples of my Church. Suffice it to say that I love it, and that Christmas Lights make it even more enjoyable.

It was unfortunate that I only had an hour and half on one night to go. Fortunately it had snowed recently and it looked fabulous! I stayed on the East side instead of running around through the crowds, and managed to mostly stay dry and warm. Hope you enjoy the photos!

And a belated Merry Christmas!

Getting a little CRAZY with things!

Sometimes I find myself wanting to push things a little bit, I try to not alter reality too much, in fact I try to use the manipulations I can do to create images that look more realistic than the camera can capture in a single exposure. This particular trip into downtown after work I decided that I wanted to just let it all hang out and capture the weirdness of the clouds.

This shot is actually flipped, it is a reflection in a pool that just begged to be turned so that it looked like the actual thing. The reflections made for a cool look once run through Photomatix, HDR is pretty much a have to use with this kind of backlighting. Makes it look like the temple is on fire!

If you could term any of my HDR's to be conventional this is more that way. Still pretty crazy.

These used to be used as the main entrance to the temple, I wonder how many hands have used these knobs!

I stooged around waiting for the sun to get DIRECTLY behind the spire, then I stood in the slightly wrong spot and slightly missed it. Like the effect a LOT though!

This is my FAVE!!!! I truly want to print this one. Maybe Canvas????

Mixed Lighting is a CHALLENGE!!!

One of the hardest things to deal with when photographing temples, or other buildings at night, is the color of the light. Which is why I always, ALWAYS use RAW files, that way I can adjust the appearance of the colors to more closely match what my (and your) eye sees. When there are two or more light sources that have different colors things get really really REALLY tough. Which setting will give me the best mix and look to the photo? This temple has stymied me, I always end up with too much green when everything else looks decent. I have started doing multiple layers and desaturating the green/aqua and masking/blending to finally get something that looks semi decent. I don't think I have it perfect yet, but I am getting closer!

Technical notes: All these are HDR composites, with exposures up to 30 seconds. The clouds are real. As always, shot on a tripod with cable release and in RAW, using either my Sigma 17-70 or 10-20 lenses.

Stopping on my way home from the Temple gave me an opportunity to try a shot I have WANTED for years. I think I am getting closer. Both of these with my SMC 200mm f2.5 lens.

Temple Square Christmas Lights!!!

So it seems that I go downtown every other year to shoot the Christmas Lights at Temple Square. Rather surprising considering how much I like to take photos of temples. Then I start thinking about crowds and realize that is why. People are EVERYWHERE, all the time. I tried to use my 10 stop ND filter but realized quickly that I would be taking very, very. VERY long exposures and that I need to try that some other year..... So with my usual HDR tricks etc... I was able to get some quite nice shots. Not perfect but quite nice!

I really didn't think I would get anything out of this, I was just getting settings right and working on getting the camera level. The clouds show the effect of some pollution, but I still liked the colors. As you will see further in this gallery, this is one of my favorite views.

I decided to go portrait orientation for when the lights came on (5:00 pm if you care) which I like a little bit better. I think I need to go back and pull down a couple of spots of greenish/aqua on the temple. WB is a pain sometimes!!!!

I have a special liking for this statuary that gets put out every year. Next year I will be on this reflecting pool right as the lights come on. I have an idea for a panorama that will be AMAZING!!!! If it works....

The steam coming off the water here was tough to catch, I like how there is just a little movement.

There is something about this angle that I like, not just because it is a walkway that I have walked a zillion times, I just like the... something. As a side note, this photo was taken with my OLD Pentax SMC 24mm f2.8 lens. It is at least as sharp as my Sigma 17-70, if not sharper.

The northeast side of the temple has been somewhat kind to me, but only when I am fairly close. I love the view from North Temple Street but so many things get in the way, it bugs me. I have been determined to find a somewhat new angle. This first one issomewhat similar to one I have done before, but from a more extreme angle. The biggest difficulty with this type of shot is getting everything vertical that needs to be vertical. I am usually less than .5 of a degree off, but photoshop makes fixing that a lot easier!

These next two shots are even more off to the side than is my usual wont. I have enjoyed this view from Main Street before, but never photographed it. I need to experiment more and find more unusual angles to shoot from.

This is my favorite from this angle, I like the sidewalk and movement of the people, the balance of the lit trees with the temple. Works for me.

I really wasn't sure whether this would work or not, I think it is interesting shot, I did no perspective correction and no straightening. Wonder if an 8x10 aspect ratio would work better....

Don't look too closely, this was shot through very dirty glass. I do love the angle though. I wonder what it takes to get up on the roof to shoot in the open air... bet it is more than a smile and  a "Howya doin?"

I prefer the sweep of the sidewalk in this shot to the one below, but I much prefer the trees in the shot below.

I think this is the shot of the evening, as I mentioned, I tried an ND filter to blur out the people, but didn't want to stand there for 45 minutes or an hour... People gave me a few looks, I'm guessing regarding why I was using a tripod etc... but I am used to that. I want ultimate sharpness and IQ, for that I need my ISO 80 and a tripod. If only they knew what I was thinking about them....

Back to the further reflecting pool, hoping there were less people... no dice. Heavy. Sigh. Still like the shots, well LOVE actually, but the people there just niggle at me, guess I could take a sleeping bag and a comfy chair, a 45 minute exposure would hopefully blur most of those folks out.

Yes this one is lighter, playing with the HDR settings and trying for a most pleasing result means each photo is different. I like the shinyness of this one.

 
I have shot this before. And again before that. This is the best so far, but I need to get there early and get the lighter sky like I got in my earliest shots. This will look awesome printed big!

 
I ran over to City Creek just to the south of Temple Square during the middle of the shoot, but I put them in here last because it makes more sense to me. It is a fun place, but not as photo worthy as Temple Square.

Looking back towards the Temple, busy but beautiful.

This fountain is a favorite, I missed the part where it has flames coming out, someday...

You can see the difference in field of view and perspective with a Fisheye (8mm) relative to the above rectilinear lens (10mm)

All in all, I had a really good time, I was dressed for the cold so I tolerated it OK, my largest problem was dealing with the camera backpack on my separated shoulder, no bueno....

Portland Oregon Temple

I love to take photos of our temples. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (A.K.A Mormon Church) Temples are sacred space that is Gods House on the earth. I love the external beauty and the grounds. I just love them, and taking pictures of them makes me love them all the more. When we were on a recent trip to Oregon I made a point of spending time at the temple to improve my portfolio and capture the beauty of the Portland Oregon Temple. You will have to excuse the number of photos I took and posted here, I simply can't thin them down.

Sepia Tone seems to be "all that" popularity wise, but eh.... Not my fave.

Course the sky is boring without something... sigh...

Perspective correction is tough with these buildings due to the height of them, This was a toughie, and I am not yet satisfied.

This one I think, achieved a nice balance of correcting the vertical perspective distortion without making it look unnatural.

Shooting into the late late afternoon sun made this especially difficult, HDR and careful processing served this shot well.

Again, vertical perspective correction is a bugger, the first below is pleasingly corrected to my eye, though I could do more, the second is uncorrected.

This is just a crazy fisheye, which I honestly like the best.....

Same lens, vertical orientation and non HDR.

I have been turning to stitched panoramas recently to give me greater resolution for larger print capability, as well as simply getting shots I cannot get any other way. Which gets more complicated when it is also necessary to shoot bracketed shots for HDR. I think that both of these turned out nicely, the biggest problem is printing them as they are definitely a non-standard size.