Varna Cathedral, a photo from Varna, East

Photographer's Note

My dear friends, this is my first night shot posting and the result of my third attempt to take it properly..:-)) I hope you will excuse the quality - I had no tripod and used for ballance a huge trash bin, but hope it was worth to stand the unconvinience, as the Varna Jewel (as I call it) is a beauty and I was very eager to show it to you, no matter my humble skills and not very high quality of photographical equipment. However, I hope very much you will enjoy it the way I offer it to you today, as it has a significant place in Varna history too.

This is the sight of Varna Assumption Cathedral, situated in the very core of the city, lit up for the night.
It was built in the first years after the liberation of the country. The honour to lay the main stone of the future temple fell to prince Alexander I Batenberg who arrived to Varna on 4th August 1880 and the official ceremony took place on 22nd August 1880. The chosen name Uspenie Presvyatiya Bogoroditza (the Assumption) was to commemorate the recently deceased all-Russian empress Maria Alexandrovna - a Bulgarian benefactress and aunt of the prince. No time was wasted and the building works started right away. It took 6 years for the temple to be completed. The project imitated the style of the Peterhoff temple in Petersburg. The church was planned to reach the size of 35 x 35 metres, with a three-nave basilica, the main altar dedicated to the Assumption, the northern one - to the faithful prince St. Alexander Nevsky, the southern - to St. Nicholas the Wonder-Worker. On 15th March 1884 the committee assigned the construction to the prominent church-builder Gencho Kanev from Tryavna. The following year the temple was already erected, in September the roofing was finished and on 30th August 1886 the first solemn mass was celebrated there. However, the design of its interior continued throughout the following years. The bishop's stall was placed in 1897; later on the iconostasis was also ready. The bell was supposed to weigh 1638 kg, with an inscribed text that read: In honour of the Liberator. In 1901 the Russian czar Nicolay II presented 42 smaller and 3 bigger icons, and in 1904 other 8 icons were brought to the church to be placed at the middle and northern doorways. In 1911 the church flooring was covered with multicoloured ceramic tiles. 4 years later the balcony was ready. In 1941-43 the bell-tower (38 m high) and the cupolas were reconstructed to their present form, the steam-heating room was built, the roofing structure replaced. The temple was icon-painted in the years following 1949; the chandeliers were also installed at that time.

So, hope you will enjoy the sight of it...:-)

PP: sharpened and run through NeatImage to reduce some noice in the sky. Resized. All comments for improvement are warmly welcomed! :-)

ChrisJ, papagolf21, sykonico, Cool-ice, RGatward, Aegean, Oldtree, nwoehnl, Kenny10pin, Motrem, Rinie_Hoff, orme, kent_s, supereira, bertolucci, zhubenov has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

PixelTerror (0) 2004-11-07 5:20

Hi Maria, as an amateur of night shots I have to comment on that one, first using no tripod is not a problem, if you have someting stable to place the camera on. Then maybe you could post your aperture/speed values and tell us if your camera has a manual mode (nornally named M, comes together with others called P, A and S) or if you have used a preset night mode. Usually I shoot at night with the manual mode, set the aperture to 8 (maximum with my camera) and play with the speed depending on the level of light I want to get. Another idea is to use the shutter delay, this way you avoid the possible small move of the camera when you press the shutter. Looking at your photo I think you could try to increase the aperture, my final word is that it is very good for a first try I also had to go this hard way and try a lot before getting a decent shot. The cathedral is splendid and your note is excellent. I encourage you to try further as night photography is a fascinating sport !

ChrisJ (171252) 2004-11-07 5:27

Hi Maria

Good color coordination here, with complimentary navy blue & gold going well together as well as creating a warm / cold opposition.

papagolf21 (152605) 2004-11-07 5:34

Ch鋨e Marias,
F幨icitations pour cette photographie r嶧lis嶪 sans tr廧ied, c'彋ait presque une mission impossible.
Le r廥ultat est tr鋊 bon, il nous permet d'admirer cette superbe 嶲lise.
Merci de cette note tr鋊 d彋aill嶪 et pour les conditions de prise de vue.
Merci du partage.
Bien amicalement.
Philippe

Cool-ice (5289) 2004-11-07 5:44

An illumination, this image !
This cathedral seems effectively to be a jewel, as you said, and you show it at its best, thank you, Maria !

sykonico (783) 2004-11-07 5:47

Hello,

I'm also a big fan of nights shots and you did a great job for your first try here.
That's what I like the most with nightshots, you can never be 100% sure to get a good picture (specially when you don't work with a digital camera).
The use of a tripod is not necessary. It sure helps a lot because you can go wherever you want around your subject.
About the 'night' part, I found that it usually works better when it's not totally dark outside, so the lights you have in the frame won't burn the film (be too bright).

RGatward (20108) 2004-11-07 6:05

My favourite kind of tripod. It seemed to work very well, and the exposure here is very good, and very sharp. Maybe it would be worth correcing the perspective distortion here. Though I think it's sometimes worth leaving in to enhence the hieght of this kind of building, tricky compromise.

Rockyboy (20598) 2004-11-07 6:13

Hi Maria!
It's nice to see a nightshot from you! Here I think it's not easy because you have very hard light against very dark aeras. As pixelterror said, the best is to set the aperture at its minimum (for my camera minimum is f/8 and maximum f/2) and then play with the speed.
With the slow speed, you have a risk of noise and it's often necessary to use a software like neatimage... Recently, I downloaded Noiseware Community
v2.0.3 and it looks like to be good.
The hour you choose to take picture looks like good as you still have blue in the sky.
Nice work, Maria!

misha81 (332) 2004-11-07 6:22

nice to see other photos then boats....imo very good photo!! waiting for your another night photos

Aegean (2571) 2004-11-07 7:21

Seems those trash bins are very usefull Maria:-D! Very well captured night shot with minimum of noise and very pleasant colors and light! The afterglow on the sky is contrasting perfectly with the enlighted building! Very well done!

centurion (0) 2004-11-07 7:38

Nice and magnific night shot and excellent historical notice at all. Well done Maria.

Oldtree (2457) 2004-11-07 8:13

Maria, I enjoy it very much. I tried some nightshots myself recently and didn't succeed very well. Had problems with the focus and proper exposure.
I like very much this impressive building with the dark blue sky enveloping it. This sky combines very well with the golden glow of this cathedral. Thanks for sharing.

Hanssie (11022) 2004-11-07 8:58

Without a tripod....
It is possible as I see here.
I think, you did a very good job. I like the golden night-colours of the also beautiful building against the dark blue. The sharpness is very well here. For the next time, you can slo use an object to place your camera on.
I really like this picture, Maria.

nwoehnl (122) 2004-11-07 9:25

Not a bad result at all for your fist night shot, Maria, and for being taken without tripod. The cathedral is beautiful, and its unique architecture is well presented from the shooting angle you chose. I don't have anything to add to the good tips you already got by the other critiquers - to me the essentials are tripod/steadying the camera, low aperture setting, and choosing a shooting time when it's almost, but not completely dark outside. Good attempt, keep trying and show us more ;-)

elihesamian (26149) 2004-11-07 10:01

NOTE!!!
a great night shot,Maria,I like it,so warm!in a lovely blue in BG,nicely managed and the result is very beautiful,well composed,thanks for posting.

Kenny10pin (19301) 2004-11-07 10:36

really good work here, I like the details, although I think this pic could be a little darker maybe? or a longer exposure time?

Well done

yesterday (9833) 2004-11-07 16:34 [Comment]

Show Comment

avigur_11 (22535) 2004-11-07 17:04

Hi Maria,
(I couldn't find the boat:-)
Congrats for your first night shot. This is a god shot. It suffers a bit from over sharpenning but basically it is beautiful and well lit. I think that it can be improved simply by removing the noise from the sky and some cropping.
I'll post two workshop versions, and I hope that you liek at least one of them.

[workshop] [compare] +

Motrem (2392) 2004-11-07 17:50

A first attempt, yes, but also a beautiful success. We can say that dustbins are useful by to you! LOL.
For my part, I know not enough this kind(genre) of photo at night but I find the well chosen exposure. There was only a recovery of the perspective and Yitzhak made a ws, then everything is completed.

Un premier essai, oui, mais aussi une belle r徼ssite. On peut dire que les poubelles sont utiles par chez vous! LOL.
Pour ma part, je connais peu de ce genre de photo la nuit mais je trouve l'exposition bien choisie. Il ne restait que le redressement de la perspective et Yitzhak a fait un ws, alors tout est parfait.

Rinie_Hoff (9340) 2004-11-07 18:14

Wow, Maria, when this is your first nightshot, this is a very promising one! let them come, let them come.
You made a stunning picture of this Varna beauty, Maria, the light in the sky is so beautiful blue, and the yellow of the Varna jewel stands out so well agiants the sky. It's a beauty, Maria. Is the interior equally beautiful?
BTW, whenever I use a program to use noise, I use the same as Fred advised. I like it better than Neatimage.

orme (7219) 2004-11-07 23:03

Well done, Maria, this is a great nighttime shot and a good choice of subject for your first one. The lighting on the Cathedral is just excellent. Stunning architecture. Personally, I wish the street lamps were not there - but I know you couldn't control this. Very well done.

kent_s (1911) 2004-11-08 3:33

This is breathtaking. You have pure gold here. Thank you for showing it to us

Spoony (3539) 2004-11-08 5:42

It愀 an agreable nocturnal pic. I really like it. It愀 not easy make this kind of photos.
Well done Maria.

supereira (9576) 2004-11-08 6:28

I like a lot the architecture.Very good contrast between the light and the dark.I like it a lot!Well done.

alpayzeybek (170) 2004-11-08 13:13

So real. Very vivid colours. Your trial is very successful. Keep trying like those moments Maria. Thanks for sharing. Alpay

spence (65) 2004-11-08 16:42

Wow, Maria, what a fabulous golden glow! And the deep blue sky makes a beautiful background. The repetition of the domes makes for a lovely composition too. We both did pretty well with our first night shots didn't we, and we've both received some good advice from TE friends for our future efforts. I look forward to seeing more night shots from you.

bertolucci (14052) 2004-11-11 10:48

Lovely night shot this is, Maria. You took this great cathedrale from a very nice angle, showcasing the single building volume and the nicely rendered domes is a fine way. The contrast between the golden tones of the cathedrale and the blue-turning-to-black sky really makes this shot. Very well done!

Jeppe (18654) 2004-11-13 17:16

Wow - truly a wonderful shot Maria - too bad I missed a lot of photos lately. I like the fine golden colours due to the light and the long exposure time - I must try this soon around here - quess my new camera made it possible.

Thanks for the note as well - a place with great history - thanks for showing us Maria.

sn00zie (2384) 2004-11-15 6:46

this is GORGEOUS Maria... beautiful first night shot. the colors have come out so well... the picture overall has a very soft and beautiful touch to it.. lovely

zhubenov (137) 2005-02-21 2:54