Rome
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Bramante Double Staircase - Black & White
Giovanna Terzulli, our tour guide made some quick arrangements for a short visit to the Bramante staircase. The guard allowed us a quick look - about two minutes... I really wanted to capture the S-shape curve along with the texture of the herring-bone brick pattern and stucco walls. The black and white version helps focus on tonality and composition. If you jump between this image and the color version, watch how the textures of the pillars and bricks really come alive.
Since the Vatican does not allow tripods or backpacks, I selected a few key lenses. On the technical side, the shadow light was dim. I had only seconds to decide on lens choice, aperture, and ISO. Using f/10 and hand-holding at 1/30th of a second, meant pushing the Canon 5D MKiii to ISO 16,000. This combination provided enough light to snap two short panoramic sequences. The noise was surprisingly low on this image, yet it provided enough detail for a large print.
PRINT: up to 55" x 40"
