Last fall I took a trip to Dublin, Ireland and spent a day in Book Heaven – Trinity College Library. While there, I visited the Book of Kells exhibit. Unfortunately (but understandably) the library did not allow photography inside the exhibit at all. After spending some time in the exhibit, I ended up hanging out and shooting in the library.
What is this patience of which you speak?
Working around the other tourists was an exercise in patience. Patience is a virtue that I normally have very little of. This time patience paid off in a couple shots I am really proud of. This includes the image below of a spiral staircase up into the library’s rafters. I wish that we were allowed to go up there as the view and photos would have been amazing up above Book Heaven. As it was roped off, I took a few bracketed shots to see what I can pull off. This image is one of the best from the group.
This image was three brackets at +/- 2 and 0 EV shot with a Sony A7Rii and Laowa 15mm f/2 lens. I had the aperture of the camera set to f/5.6 for these shots. The rest of the EXIF data is below. I processed the image using On1 Photo RAW, merging the brackets into an HDR image. Once it was merged I applied a preset I created for these types of dark and moody images. To finish it off I added one of the built in LUTs – “Keen” and dropped the opacity to about 75%.
If you like this photo, you can buy a print at my SmugMug site 🙂
If you are visiting Dublin, you need to make some time to visit the Book of Kells exhibit and wander around the college grounds. Don’t forget to find a corner in the library and absorb the view. There is just something about the smell of an old library! I can’t wait to get back soon.
Photo EXIF data:
- Camera: ILCE-7RM2
- Copyright: ©2019 John P. Hoke
- ISO: 800
- Shutter speed: 1/30s
- Title: Stairway to Book Heaven
Photo Location:
