The Church that my wife and I belong to is Saint John the Baptist Roman Catholic. On Ash Wednesday when my wife and I went to church I noticed the large circular stained glass windows which dominated each side and the front and back of the interior of the church. Basically the Church is orientated North and South. This stained glass window is on the west side so I figured the setting sun would be ideal. The weather has not been cooperating in this endeavor but today was ideal. Nice clear blue sky and near sunset was my chosen scenario. I called the Church and asked permission to take a few shots. They were very happy and if things turned out OK they would be happy for a JPEG copy for their web site. I'm sure they will be as happy as I am. I got to the Church at around 3:15PM and was surprised that there were about 10 people visiting and saying prayers. I then realized that we are commemorating the season of Lent so I tipped toed around to my vantage point and luckily was not bothering anyone. The window sits around 25' off the floor so I wanted to get away as far as possible in order not to introduce distortion by pointing my camera at a steep angle upward. So I grabbed my big glass and took a few shots. I purposely did not use any flash so as not to bother any one. All the painted walls around the window were in deep shadows and I figured that would add to the image by not distracting from my main subject the "Stained Glass Window". Most times when using my tripod and long lens I will use the infra red remote and delay when taking the shot. This will help dampen any vibration from the mirror or my hand. The Exif data below will show the basic set up. It goes with out question that I tried hard to align the camera and tripod vertically with the glass window. As the sun was setting I was watching for that shadow to disappear ( just to the left of the main vertical brace) but all of a sudden it started to get wider so I had to fire away. This was because of the low angle (to the south) of the sun. So this is the best for now. I suppose that if I want the perfect aligned shot I would come back again when the setting sun is more vertically aligned. I hope I'm not losing every body but I don't know how else I can explain my method. In fact if I ramble on any longer I too will be totally lost.
Nikon D90 2009/03/04 15:48:05
RAW (12-bit)
Lens: VR 70-300mm F/4.5-5.6 G
Focal Length: 122mm
Exposure Mode: Aperture Priority
Metering Mode: Multi-Pattern
1/13 sec - F/16
Exposure Comp.: 0 EV
Sensitivity: ISO 200
White Balance: Auto
AF Mode: AF-A
