Mary's Chapel

[Dennis Bishop]

Historic Spanish Point is a 30-acre museum in Osprey, Florida, about 20 minutes north of Venice. It has a variety of buildings, gardens, and trails. Mary's Chapel is a small country church on the site. In addition to the stained glass windows in the side walls, there's one in the wall opposite the entrance. I decided to enlarge that window. Considerably.

Nikon D3S, ISO 800, f/22; 22mm and 7-exposure HDR for the interior of the chapel, 85mm and 3-exposure HDR for the window

processing highlights

• cropped the interior from the top, left, and bottom -- partly for composition, partly to make the back wall larger for the window
• There were posts and chains in front of the wall and light on the floor from a side window not included in the image. I'd never before used the Current Aware option for the Patch Tool in Photoshop, but it worked wonders getting rid of those things.
• stretched the interior vertically to allow the window to nearly fill the space without a change to its proportions
• Nik Viveza -- lightened the trim around the window to make it consistent with the rest of the interior (The exposures had been for the window, so the trim was dark.)
• Topaz Simplify -- Watercolor II, masked off the windows and lights
• Nik Color Efex -- Contrast Color Range, masked off the windows and lights
• Redfield Fractalius -- three different B&W layers at Multiply blend mode (The most intense of the layers was used as a vignette.)
• Alien Skin Snap Art -- Stylize Line Art, B&W layer at Multiply blend mode, masked off the windows and lights

[Cheryl Slechta]

Dennis, a masterful job of filtering. I always love what Fractalius does to wood and this is no exception. My favorite part of the image is the window reflection on the floor. I've never heard of the Museum - looks like a good place to visit.

[Dennis Bishop]

. . . My favorite part of the image is the window reflection on the floor. . .

Hmmm. That's the actual reflection from the window. I wonder if I should've put one in there reflecting ( ) the window's new size. Maybe I'll give that a try.

[Christopher Miller]

Lovely composition and lighting, Dennis. I like the enlarged window and its reflection, though I would definitely try to make the reflection match the window's new size. Very well done!

[Dennis Bishop]

Thank you, Cheryl, for the inspiration and, Christopher, for the encouragement. I subdued the reflection from the window's original size and added a new one.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Sweet!!!

[Anita Bower]

Glowingly beautiful. I like both versions. Great idea to stretch the image vertically. You created something new. Beautiful colors. As always, amazing photoshop work!

[Maureen Allen]

I like the image a lot, Dennis but I'm not so sure about the reflection in your repost. The main light seems to come from the right, so I would think the reflection would be less prominent and slightly skewed.

[Dennis Bishop]

. . . I'm not so sure about the reflection in your repost. The main light seems to come from the right, so I would think the reflection would be less prominent and slightly skewed.

A couple hours or so after I redid the image with the reflection, I developed some real doubts about whether that blue reflection in the original post had anything at all to do with the actual stained glass window in the back of the church. Part of that doubt was because of exactly what you noticed. In addition, the reflection was entirely blue.. Because of the strong sunlight and the trees, the shot I took of the outside of the church was way too dappled and contrasty, but I checked it to see what the steeple looked like. Although they may, now, be covered with something transparent to keep the rain out, there are large rectangular openings in the steeple -- perhaps because of a bell. There's no evidence I can see, even in the uncropped photos of the interior, that the underside of the steeple is open, and I don't remember noticing any light coming in from the ceiling. (Had there been, I no doubt would've shot it.) All that leaves the source of the blue reflection a bit of a mystery. Another reason to return . . .

[Anita Bower]

I've been thinking about the reflections since I posted my comment. I think I would prefer them without the blue reflection--in the OP, it is a bit distracting; in the re post, it doesn't look real. I also with the chair were not there. I guess you do have to go back. :-)

[Paul Lagasi]

Lots of great comments and suggestions above, a very lovely image, I like the lines and angles in the ceiling...Nice work