steeples

In shooting steeples, I've learned what happens to an image when I'm pointing the camera up at the subject. I can reduce the distortion if I can shoot head on and at eye-level.

Reducing the distortion is most evident in the two images of the bell tower at St. Sebastian Church. I was able to shoot on the same plane as the bell tower and reduce the keystoning. That was not possible when shooting some of the other images in this set. With the church steeples in Michigan, I was able to stand in front, across the street, and next door all giving me the distance I needed to reduce keystoning. With the Eastern European church in Carnegie, the subject matter - old friends - overrode the technical problems.

My next shoot will be the Smithfield United Church - a Hornbolster structure with an openwork aluminum spire - from a window on the 23rd floor of a downtown Pittsburgh high-rise. I will be at eye-level, but there will be a window between the camera and the structure. (The thumbnail points to the large image.)