This was my second Scott Kelby World Wide Photowalk, my first being the Warwick walk last year, and Glyn Dewis was once again our walk leader.
My buddy Brian had contacted me to remind me of the walk this year and had kindly offered to drive us up to Lichfield (thanks again Brian!) and we arrived at the designated meeting point in good time for the 1pm start. The weather forecast for the afternoon was to be rain and unfortunately it proved to be an accurate prediction. Still, the group of 35 or so intrepid ‘togs kept smiling and didn’t allow the wet conditions to dampen our spirits.
We set off on the planned route and quickly arrived at the magnificent Lichfield Cathedral. Given the conditions and the grandeur of the architecture, not surprisingly it was a location where we decided to dwell a little inside.
I used the opportunity to spend some time capturing details, panoramas and looking for interesting light and trying out a few photographic techniques. Flash was not allowed inside the cathedral and probably wouldn’t have been of much use anyway, I didn’t have a tripod with me so with the low light of the interior I had to use a high ISO in order to maintain usable shutter speeds.
All photographs were made with my Nikon D750 and 24-70mm f2.8 lens.
A marble sculpture of “The Sleeping Children” by Francis Chantrey with setting f4.5, 1/125s, ISO 640
The High Altar with settings 24mm, f5, 1/100s, ISO 800 comprising 23 landscape format shots joined into a vertical panorama.
The Font and stained glass background with settings 52mm, f4, 1/200s, ISO 800 this time the vertical panorama was created from 6 horizontal shots with a Brenizer type technique to create a wide image with a narrow focal length and shorter depth of field.
Although I carefully positioned myself so that a tall candle was hidden behind the font I forgot about the lectern on the right. That had to go with some careful cloning of the background.
A detail of a memorial candle stand with settings 27mm, f2.8, 1/160s, ISO 200 with an Orton style effect created in Photoshop to give a soft glow to the candles.
After leaving the cathedral we made our way around the rest of the route avoiding the raindrops where we could and met up with the rest of the group for a well deserved chat and a few drinks.
I have a feeling I will be going back to Lichfield again some time … hopefully when the sun is out 🙂