Windows

Not Microsoft Windows, but really pretty windows.

For a change from the everyday routine, I thought of a small project to shoot some ordinary objects but to show them in a slightly unusual way. This time, it will be windows. Each one drastically different from the others.

The first picture is a simple sky window in a long corridor. Just a plain rectangular piece of glass, reinforced every foot or so with metal bars. To take advantage of the long hall, I mounted a 17-50mm lens, dialed it to its wide end to change the shape of the window and to create a herring bone effect. I liked the soft pastel paint on the walls and ceiling, made my composition, and pressed the shutter.

Then, I positioned myself right under the sky glass, using the same wide angle lens, and took a second photo. It is, indeed, the same window, but with a drastically different effect. Almost black and white, with a magical soft light coming through the transparent panes.

OK, time for something bold.
If you want colour, nothing beats stained glass windows. A compositional problem for a guy with strong affliction for horizontal arrangements is that most really nice looking windows come in vertical shape. Luckily, I found a group of five colorful tall windows depicting the Last Supper that makes for a nice pano. Unfortunately, at that distance and resulting screen size, you can’t see the exquisite detail and colours of the individual pieces.

It bears repeating that the details, texture and colour saturation by the old masters are simply amazing. Below is just the medium pane from the second window from the left (for some reason, I’m always drawn to scenes with food on the table).

So, we had a minimalistic look, rich Italian look, now we need something haunting and mysterious. This picture was taken at dusk, just as the receeding light cast some dark shadows about the old building structure, ornate balconies, and the intricate wall details.

And for closing, I decided to add something really old and with a character. This window would have been a good candidate for some grungy HDR processing (and I happen to know some guys who would just salivate and pull out their Topaz Adjust), but I liked its simple soft and gentle appearance, and applied only a few basic tonal adjustments.

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