Cathedral of Avila, a photo from Avila, Castilla y Leon

Photographer's Note

I hope you'll forgive me for posting another stitching experiment that didn't succeed well. The main reason I am posting is that I expected even worse results, so I don't resist showing it.

Everything I have read on stitching stresses that short focal lengths should be avoided because they produce great distortions that are hardly corrected when the stitching is done, but I wanted to see what happens when we don't follow that advice. If I had any doubts about Didi, the most skilfull "stitcher" I know, being right when he uses a lot of shots to make some of his stitches, this experiment would made me change my opinion, but I wanted to try myself what could I get with 5 shots taken with 12 mm. I concluded what I already expected: no matter I hard I tried tweaking the only software I use, Hugin, this was the better I achieved.

I posted the original shots used on the stitch as a WS.

Like all the Spanish cathedrals I know, it's an amazing and massive building and its location in the centre of the medieval part of the town, with its narrow streets and small squares, makes it look even more impressive, as we have to turn our neck really high to be able to see its tops. That makes it also very difficult to photograph. It is considered the oldest Gothic cathedral in Spain, although the oldest parts are still Romanesque. Some historians state that its construction started in 1091, just after the reconquest of the city by the Christian troops of Castilla, on the site of the remains of an older church that suffered much on successive Muslim attacks, others state that the construction only started in the 12th century. The works only ended completely in the 15th century.

An interesting thing about the cathedral is that its back is part of the famous city walls built on the 11th century; another one is that it is home of a lot of storks, which can do a lot of noise with their beaks. We slept in a hotel just beside the cathedral and we heard that noise all night long. I guess that it was worse if we heard traffic instead.

Related Wikipedia links:

• Ávila: English, Spanish.

• Cathedral: English, Spanish.

• City walls: Spanish.

Link to all my posts of Avila: *.

Location (latitude, longitude): 40.65588,-4.69793

phwall, ribeiroantonio, ElAprendiz, dareco, Docarmo, danos, feather, berek, Didi, AiresSantos, riclopes, gracious, rigoletto, bakes888, Emile, jusninasirun, Charo, sothy81, xuaxo, Jardim, robertosalguero trouve(nt) cette note utile

Critiques | Translate

phwall (6787) 2008-08-21 15:57

Hello Jose,
The shots stitched together make the Cathedral look a bit unreal around the center of the frame and to my eye the whole image looks a bit over sharpened.
Good effort though, isn't it fun trying new techniques, I enjoy it too, good on you.
Cheers
Peter

ribeiroantonio (22730) 2008-08-21 16:19

Depois de ver a foto principal e o WS, ainda estou para saber como é que conseguiste juntar perspectivas tão diferentes. Por exemplo, as duas fotos de cima do lado esquerdo (no WS). Outra coisa curiosa é o facto de teres 5 imagens e não 6. Eu teria tentado um número par de imagens.
De qualquer modo, para mim está muito bem feita e não consigo ver se tem algum erro.
António

DzULA (840) 2008-08-21 16:36

Very good photo, sharp details and very good colors

Greetings
DzULA

ElAprendiz (30) 2008-08-21 19:12

Hola mi buen amigo:

Veo que aprovechaste muy bien tus vacaciones por España. Esta foto está muy bien equilibrada en el encuadre, y las formas lineales se destacan muy bien

La iluminación ha permitido que las tonalidades resalten con un brillo extraordinario. Es una verdadera obra de arte arquitectonica, que hay que admirar.

Saludos, John

dareco (17136) 2008-08-21 21:16

For someone like myself, who has NO IDEA how to stitch I am very impressed. I thank you for including the ws which helps me to understand much better. A VERY beautiful cathedral! Fascinating architecture and excellent detail shown. TFS and have a happy day!

Morac (27725) 2008-08-21 22:33

Hello José,
Very good photo, sharp details and very good colors
Regards
Marc

Docarmo (9767) 2008-08-21 22:39

Olá José,
Impressionante o que fizeste - mais difícil que montar um quebra-cabeça, pois as perspectivas parecem diferentes. No final, a foto está excelente. Se não tivesses falado sobre o "stitch", não sei se alguém perceberia.
A nitidez e as cores, como sempre magníficas!
Um abraço,
MCV

mikeo (12129) 2008-08-22 0:56

Hello Jose,

Oh yeah...stitching is a hard work and not often satisfy us but...I like this shot and the result of your hard work! Looking on the photos you used to create this final one I think the result is really good.
Cathedral looks great and this incredible blue sky and white clouds are great background for the building.

I like it a lot!
Greetings,
Mikeo

danos (110407) 2008-08-22 1:30

Ola Jose,
seeing the original shot i never imagined that the result would be so nice.The are some tiny flaws but the general impression in my mind is very good.I like your experimentation and of course the result.Well done.

Have a nice day,Danos

Greg1949 (9011) 2008-08-22 5:31

Jose, I think that the stitch came out ok though I would never have thought about stitching a set that overlapped so much, it has given me something to go out and try.

Color and detail is fine and the view is interesting for sure. Note is also good.

Greg

feather (51130) 2008-08-22 6:36

When we see the original images the distortion is off the scale so to achieve this final result is impressive. There may be one or two slight imperfections but to be honest you're probably the only one who is sure where they are. Very well done
Kath

[2]

UnTrained (0) 2008-08-22 7:22

Olá José,
you challenge yourself with hard to manage things. Using Hugin myself I know about all its possibilities and they are great. The final projection is not easy from a position like you had. I prefer a bit more distance and have never tried vertical and horizontal ones together.
Sharpness gets problematic because of the high distance of closer parts and farer ones. What you see from so close and what you would see from that position in real which is used for the idea of projection must be different. I took the Spanish Wikipedia to compare and I am not really satisfied by the effects you got, even the stitch itself does not seem to be the real problem.
And the stream of the white cloud is great with the blue sky for contrasts.
Lieben Gruss, Ulf

ifanik (21679) 2008-08-22 9:08

Impressive photo my friend with beautiful colours and POV
Well done
Best regards
Nick

Didi (61589) 2008-08-23 0:28

Salut mon cher José
Expérience très intéressante tout de même, j'ai eu aussi des résultats catastrophiques en utilisant des courtes focales.
J'utilise Autopano pour l'assemblage et il possède la faculté de corriger les verticales, les horizontales et l'effet sphérique (toits bombés); mais il y a quand même des limites.
Je te donne un lien sur le mode d'emploi d'Autopano.

http://www.autopano.fr/wiki/action/view/Accueil

Il suffit de cliquer sur le lien de la vidéo Redresser un panorama qui est très intéressante.
Bonne lecture.
Amitiés.

berek (50518) 2008-08-23 0:38

Hi Jose,
I like your point of view and great architecture. lovely background which is made of clouds. greetings.
Burak

AiresSantos (56155) 2008-08-23 0:51

Ola Jose
As nuvens dao sempre uma ajudinha, mas a foto nao teria esta excelente qialidade sem a visao e o dedo do artista !
Gosto muito das cores vivas, a definicao esta super e a luz bem controlada
Um abraço e bom fim de semana
Aires

riclopes (35577) 2008-08-23 1:15

Bom dia José, o WS é um excelente complemento e uma bela imagem de mosaico. Até tenho alguma inveja da pachorra que tens para este tipo de coisas e estou impressionado como é que conseguiste obter esta imagem tão certinha do caos que se vê no WS. Dá para ver que acrescentaste céu que está muito bonito com aquele arrastar de nuvem. Se calhar também podias ter acrescentado só um pouco de chão em baixo, por estar um pouco apertado, mas como não percebo nada disso, não sei o que estou a pedir. Seja como for tens aqui um trabalho/experiência muito interessante e dou-te os parabéns por ele. Até era capaz de ser giro ver outros resultados menos conseguidos com distorções de ângulos e perspectiva mais evidentes.
Um abraço,
ricardo

gracious (20025) 2008-08-23 1:32

Hello Jose,
Excellent neat and clean image of architecture! simply outstanding!
I can see the very fine details on the Cathedral from the beautiful lighting shined on the place!
the blue sky makes a very nice contrast in the image
very well done
regards
Tony

rodgerg (55767) 2008-08-23 1:39

Olà José,

A superb cathedral and a superb photo. The cathedral arise very well in the blue of the very nice sky. A very good photowork.
Best regards,
Roger

rigoletto (34279) 2008-08-24 0:05

Hi Jose,
I don't know the technical details about stitching a wide angle photo, but this one looks great! I looked for stitching lines, but i couldn't find any obvious ones. Even more, there is no (or very little) wide angle distortion on the castle, it looks as straight as my pants! And whatever happened to the clouds, looks just amazing, flowing like a long exposure cloud. What i would say, is a marvellous reslut for the eyes. And oh yes, an excellent note as well. Congrats,
Deniz

bakes888 (18499) 2008-08-24 1:16

Hi Jose. I think your stitch has worked quite well, from the posted image I can see no joins. Excellent sky and wonderful colours. Fine detail also. Thanks for sharing.
Have a good week, Paul.

zeynepe (0) 2008-08-24 3:22

Olá José,
On Friday we had a TE meeting with Bulent Atalay and some of the TE members from Turkey and we talked about you :D
Your architectural photos are amazing. The Cathedral looks like 3D without 3D glasses.
Congrats and have a nice Sunday,
Zeynep

ruisc_pt (11544) 2008-08-24 8:32

um belo pov para uma excelente obra.
as cores a contrastar como nós gostamos
Um ab
R

Bluejeans (64251) 2008-08-25 0:34

Oi amigo ,
Ficou fantástica esta tua colagem com varias fotos a igreja é muito bonita com belos detalhes gostei muito da textura das paredes cinza , para mim o céu ficou magnifico , parabéns!!
Um abraço Gonçalo

Emile (20352) 2008-08-25 11:11

Hola José.
Nunca he puesto una foto en TE con stitching, creo que es difícil hacerlo, tu has hecho un gran trabajo ya que tu foto esta perfecta. Impresionante arquitectura. Me trae muy buenos recuerdos ya que la visite años atrás.
Abrazos.

jusninasirun (17529) 2008-08-25 18:32

Hello José. Another perfect day for pictures. The cloud attracted my attention and the sharp detail of the architecture is stunning. Well metered shot and thanks for sharing. Jusni

Charo (51290) 2008-08-26 12:27

Olá Jose,
Tenho visto como é difícil fazer um disparo a partir da catedral de uma só vez, a menos que você tenha um grande ângulo. O trabalho que você foi fantástica, muito bem junto com o "puzzle". Muito boa luz e de qualidade de imagem.
Abraços,
Charo

sothy81 (9646) 2008-08-27 9:13

Hey my friend, you captured this one so nice with the moment of the dramatic clouds. Your object is also very informative by showing this great architecture. Well done. Sothy

Stepan (27210) 2008-08-29 22:15

There may be a little distorsion but in a certain way it enhances the power of that architecture... The light is clear and pure and the contrasts are excellently sharp.
Stéphane

npecanhuk (79329) 2008-09-05 7:19

Olá José!
Um outro excelente registro dessa cidade espanhola, com destaque para sua catedral!
Uma fotografia com cores naturais e belas (que céu!), excelente nitidez (novamente posso ver detalhes da construção na parede!) e um ponto de vista baixo que a ressalta!
Parabéns e um grande abraço,
Neyvan

xuaxo (6854) 2008-09-05 12:48

Olá José,
A torre à direita parece um pouco ir fugindo do conjunto, mas não sei se é mesmo assim ou se estou influenciado pelo que li na nota a propósito da trabalheira das colagens.
Em geral, acabou por ficar uma imagem bonita.
Um abraço,
F

jmdias (107339) 2008-09-06 16:53

zé

não entendo muito deste tipo de técnica, só se consegue perceber a distorção olhando as nuvens que estão um tanto estranhas mas que fazem um belo efeito, a fachada é magnífica. Lembro de ter ficado maravilhado com ela e seus detalhes no dia em que a vi. Aqui vemos todo o conjunto, muito bom trabalho

abraços

jorge

Jardim (3243) 2008-09-08 12:04

Olá José,

Sem dúvida um trabalho de muita paciência e dedicação mas que valeu apena pois o resultado está à vista, muito bom.

Júlio Jardim

robertosalguero (292) 2008-09-21 1:44

Ola Jose,

I like this image. If there is a flaw with the stitching process then it doesn't bother me at all! The clouds on the right give the composition a more dynamic approach in my opinion. They seem to move inside the image. Nice colours and excellent architecture to present here. Awesome work Jose!

Roberto

kiks (12805) 2008-09-25 13:52

Very impressive and beautiful architecture. I like your composition using the blue sky as bg and the lovely cloud. Well seen.
Best regards
KIKs