Portugese Monasteries

We spent my 65th birthday in Lisbon visiting three monasteries in the City and about 100 miles North. The Portugese don't seem to mind flash photography in such places but ban tripods! Ouch! The 8800 and 8400 are excellent in such situations with BSS and - for the 8800 - VR to enable up to one second hand held shots in low light.

This one is typical of the extraordinary stone carving of the area:



Local boy makes good - the tomb of Vasco da Gama:



The local style is quite individual as is seen from the Nave of the Geronimo Abbey:



Other shots of these superb monasteries are at:

http://www.pbase.com/alastairneil/portugalabb

Comments are welcome
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Best wishes, Alastair

WSSA Member #26;
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Happy Birthday a bit late. My hubbys b-day is today and Cody's (our pug) is tomorrow. April is a good month!

By the way. Very nice photos. Looks like great places to visit!

Bonnie

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Comments Always welcome.

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I don't suffer from insanity....I enjoy every minute of it.

--Masterful job with these shots under poor conditions. Great to see you posting again, as we have missed your presence here Allastair. I see your collection of monasteries is growing.

Happy Birthday too.

Coolpix 950, 4500, D50, Canon SD400, 250D, 500D, 50mm/1.8, 105VR, 18-200VR, 70-300VR.
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REally nice series. Thanks for sharing.

bill
web52

Very nice shots, and hand-held too!

Carol
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C D
CP4300, 5700, 8700, 8400, 8800
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Toronto, Canada

Alastair, I had a look at your Monastery series in your galleries. You have some real, real good photos in there, thanks for posting and sharing these images.

Take care,
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Heinrich
Airdrie, Alberta. Canada
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Johndig
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Happy Birthday.

Nice detail and great post.

John D.

Great images Alastair. This is one of my favorites from the galleries:



Nice lines, great light.

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Nikkormat FT2 , Nikon FM , CP 9 5 0, CP 8 8 0 0, D 5 0, 18 - 70, 70 - 300 VR, 18 - 200 VR, 50 1.8, Tamron 9 0 Macro, Tokina 12 - 24 f/4, SB600,
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Ken G.
http://www.pbase.com/kgilbertsen/

note, even more cause to wonder why Nikon would give up on this EXCELLENT camera.. There HAD to be a way to market/position it to their advantage... What a shame...
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MATTinNE_FL

Bonnie - thanks for looking. April is, of course, a great month for birthdays! Both our grandson and I are born this month and with that chap who keeps follwing you as well. . . .

We are looking forward to our visit to South West USA in a few months.
--
Best wishes, Alastair

WSSA Member #26;
CATS > ^..^
CP 9 5 0, 8 4 0 0, 8 8 0 0 & 8 7 0 0, I X U S 800IS
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Gaber - thanks for the kind words and good wishes. During my "absence" I have kept in touch with brief visits and enjoyed many photos fropm you and the other regulars.
--
Best wishes, Alastair

WSSA Member #26;
CATS > ^..^
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Bill - thanks for looking and commenting.
--
Best wishes, Alastair

WSSA Member #26;
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Carol - thanks. I don't have to tell you what great cameras the 8000 series are! VR plus BSS enables me to achieve some very satisfying results hand-held in very poor light. The inability to handle action in poor light misleads people into believing that they cannot do anything in such conditions. Fortunately, my cathedrals and monasteries don't move much!
--
Best wishes, Alastair

WSSA Member #26;
CATS > ^..^
CP 9 5 0, 8 4 0 0, 8 8 0 0 & 8 7 0 0, I X U S 800IS
PaintShopPro X
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Heinrich - thanks for looking at the galleries and for your kind words. I appreciate it.
--
Best wishes, Alastair

WSSA Member #26;
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John - thanks for your kind wishes and comments.
--
Best wishes, Alastair

WSSA Member #26;
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Ken - thanks so much for the comments. The vaulting in those monasteries was something else and the wall tiles in that room were particularly attractive.

Thanks for looking.
--
Best wishes, Alastair

WSSA Member #26;
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Matt - thanks for the very kind words. The 84/8800 are great cameras and I dread the day when they no longer work. Some of the photos I take would be much less practical with a DSLR as the tilt and swivel screen is vital to me. Secondly, the relatively small size enables me photograph in places where DSLR's are banned as too professional.

I remain convinced that their time will come again when technology advances a little further and DSLR's cease to be so fashionable.
--
Best wishes, Alastair

WSSA Member #26;
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Beautiful series of pics. You are right that it's hard to beat the Nikon VR/BSS combination for low light shooting. Even though I've moved to a D50 I still use my 8800 every chance I get.

One suggestion: if you decide to print some of the pictures, you might want to explore correcting the lines of perspective. It's actually easy to do in PhotoShop.

But I also noticed some distortions that I would keep because they are integral to the mood of the shot. This one, for example, is perfect as it is:

http://www.pbase.com/alastairneil/image/76852609

nice photos. and Im just testing whether my message appears.
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Alex V.
Izmir, Turkey

JJ - (I hope that is an acceptable way of addressing you!) Many thanks for your comments and the subject of perspective is particularly interesting in the subjects I am shooting. You have chosen the perfect example of a photo for which in my opinion you cannot alter the perspective. In others, it is more possible.

The problem arises because of the height of the subject in comparison with the distance I can stand back. I am always trying to record the principal views from an architectural viewpoint so that one can compare the bays of the nave, for example, of several different cathedrals.

I therefore try to stand in the same relative position in each cathedral. But the higher they are and the shorter the distance I can stand back, the more I have to shoot diagonally and upwards, thus introducing distortion in two separate planes.

In the case of stained glass windows, where I can normally shoot from directly in front and from far enough away that I am only slightly pointing the camera upwards, the distortion is fairly easy to correct and these are the photos I am most happy about as far as distortion is concerned. I use Paint Shop Pro XI which is probably about on a par with PS as far as this correction goes. I have looked at PS CS3, but the price is astronomic and I doubt whether it is worth ten times the price of PSP. I must admit that I am envious of the huge reservoir of talent and knowledge that is available on PS, to say nothing of all the text books!

Thank you for your very interesting comments and I am so glad you agree with me about the abilities of the 8800 (and its sister the 8400).
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Best wishes, Alastair

WSSA Member #26;
CATS > ^..^
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