Inside York Minister

Nothing really prepares you for just how big this place is on the inside. It really does seem twice as big on the inside as on the out. This shot took quite a while to fix. Originally I planned to give it my usual HDR treatment, like on the inside of Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral. However I felt I went just a bit over the line on that shot so I reduced the settings for York. I did plan for it to be in black and white too. I tried that but it didn’t look great, and it lost the amazing pearl white ceiling. This was the main issue. They had a perfect white ceiling but warm lights for the rest of the building. So when I ran it through Photomatix it increased the tint. So I redid the source files adjusting the white balance till I was happy with the walls, ignoring the ceiling for the time being. After that I generated the HDR, tone mapped and loaded it into Photoshop. I then fixed the ceiling so it was the same perfect white colour that I remember. I did some other tweaking to the image and saved the final print. In the end I feel the image isn’t too “HDR” and hopefully gives the impression that I just walked in a took it. Cathedrals are like no other buildings for a sense of sheer presence, for a simple wow. I just wish my 10-20 had the same amount of blades as my 24-70 so the light sources looked more starry. Yes, I’m never happy.

Model: Canon 30D // ISO speed: 100 // Shutter Speed: 25 seconds // Aperture: f20.0 // Metering: Average // Flash: OFF // Focal Length: 10.0 // Sigma 10-20 f/4-5.6 // 3 RAW HDR

Inside York Minster | Posted at 7am on 21/01/07 | Filed Under: Architecture, Faves, HDR, York |


  1. Nath 21.01.07 / 1pm

    Stunning! I love the soft, warm glow fading into white.

  2. Jasper 21.01.07 / 1pm

    this is awesome. i love it! you spelled ‘flash’ wrong though

  3. Tomm 21.01.07 / 2pm

    Stunning shot! When I’ve been to York two years ago I haven’t been able to achieve inside of the York Minister a good photo, so I rather stick to panoramic shots :) ( http://panorama.blafy.info/britain/ipage00014.htm )

  4. Salar 21.01.07 / 7pm

    Absolutely gorgeous. The high F-stop made those lights really stand out. Great work.

  5. Adam 21.01.07 / 8pm

    Wow. Seriously awesome shot! Excellent use of shutter speed to eliminate people from the shot (I assume there were lots of people in there?)

  6. Pete 21.01.07 / 8pm

    There were enough people yeah. Thankfully cameras can do fun things to help :)

  7. George Holmes 05.02.07 / 12am

    I first saw your name on http://.del.icio,us and followed that to your site about HDR. From there I viewed your gallery and became overwhelmed by the captures and resulting artworks that you have created. I then had to, naturally, nominate you in about 4 categories for the 2007 Bloggies. Keep up the good work.
    gholmes1936

  8. Nelson 08.02.07 / 10am

    Great shot, I love the colour of it and the feel of the whole thing. The detail of the little staircase to the right give it a little kicker.
    I think you’re wrong about the blades though, the six-pointed starlights look spot on.

  9. York360 12.02.07 / 2pm

    Nice shot, looks like York Minster is made from gold and jewels!
    My Panoramic Photos of York Minster

  10. York360 12.02.07 / 2pm

    Nice shot, looks like York Minster is made from gold and jewels!
    My Panoramic Photos of York Minster

  11. Jon 03.03.07 / 5pm

    This photo is sick.

  12. Paula 19.11.07 / 11pm

    I love this shot Pete, it is stunning.

  13. Humberto 16.04.08 / 12pm

    My favourite! With this shot, i m now shhoting HDR too…;)

    See me in http://hsantos.deviantart.com

  14. Jim - 365,000 words 30.09.08 / 1pm

    It really is the ceiling that pushes this into exceptional territory. (It’s also odd to see a cathedral like this empty of any seating and just so wide open.)

  15. Massimo Belloni 02.10.08 / 9am

    A masterpiece in HDR

  16. phil 12.10.08 / 10am

    very nice work and excellent exposure. i like the detail along with the light. the light is perfect and very well photographed. another beautiful photo.

  17. giovanni 05.12.08 / 4pm

    stunning hdr!

  18. Mick 16.12.08 / 10am

    Pete,if all photographers only had one iota of your talented eyes the world of photography would be a better place

  19. Richardalois 27.05.09 / 12pm

    Stunning! I can hear the angels sing!

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