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6X12 in Jerusalem

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
Well, here is the finished product. 32 megapixel stitch and the detail is incredible even with a (relatively) inferior lens. Bit of a story behind getting the picture to work. Got up at 4:30 this morning to get on location for the post dawn light. I set up, the light is incredible, I shoot for about an hour. At the end of the session just before packing up I wanted to double check if I had enough DOF at f18 to get the windmill sharp so I zoom in and the photos have significant movement. Weird, I'm using a very strong tripod and head (Gitzo 2 + BH-40). I assume that just that frame was bad, shoot it again and pack up. Then it hits me, I forgot to turn the IS off on my 24-105L! Panic! I quickly set up again and take another series just before the sun rises a bit too high.

I get home, the colour is incredible (the IS only showed up every now and again, managed to save most frames). Problem is the frames are incredibly bland in B&W, contrast all wrong. The test photo was taken at midday and looked good, so I race back to the location and do it all over again at 11:30am. Good enough, matching test shots for angle is almost impossible, especially when the real one is stitched from 8 frames!


Yemin Moshe, Jerusalem. First area to be built outside of the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem some 200 years back.
 
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Robert Campbell

Well-known member
Impressive, well done!

It is supposed to be possible to leave the IS on when using a tripod with modern Canon lenses -- but I have found the same problem -- it seems to be counterproductive, and despite what they say, I now turn it off.
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
A trio from last night. All taken from within a radius of 4 square yards. I love shooting there, it's a treasury of opportunity!

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O

Oxide Blu

Guest
Finally got it right, or close enough! I've tried to shoot this a few times since that test shot taken @ f2.8 six months ago...


I prefer the original version you posted when you started the thread. I see lots of black on top, down the left side. I want to see a thread of black down the right side and across the bottom. You got in closer for this version, I would have done the opposite, moved back, made the subject a bit smaller. It would also emphasize the light coming out of the tunnel, something that was de-emphasized by moving closer.

The first version is about a tunnel. This version is about what is on the other side of a tunnel. But hey, that's just me. Very nice series. :thumbup:
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
The original was shot 6 months earlier (sun at different angle) as a snapshot @ f2.8, it's taken me this long to get this close and to be honest, although I agree that it isn't quite as good, it's as close as I can be bothered to get after multiple tries.
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
I would have had some decent chanuka in Jerusalem images if I wasn't coughing my guts out with a nasty chest cough coupled with the flu, it ain't fair, I don't smoke! Actually I caught it off my daughter (2 year old) she has far more energy than me with this flu, I've hardly moved out of the house for 2 days. Why couldn't this have happened last week when I was glued to the computer anyway changing over to XP 64 bit! :cry:

I had two images in mind, one of which I've been waiting to take for 3 years, the other I only thought of this year and I might set up (blasphemy?) anyway to get the concept perfectly executed.
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
Here is one from yesterday, I've known about this little street for a while but never seen how to shoot it until I was walking past with a friend one night on the way for a felafel and suddenly it clicked. I let the guy blur on purpose, I think it works well with the scene and his age. The road is certainly very old and was where Rav (Rabbi) Kook, the revered first Chief Rabbi of Israel lived. The area is being built around and this little street is an oasis of older times amongst modern building work. The Olive tree and paving stones are coated in a thick layer of dust (as was I and my camera by the end of this!) from a huge building site on the right. To the left of where I was standing is the entrance to a courtyard which looks little different to those of Talmudical times. I got talking to a resident of the courtyard and have his phone number so hopefully I'll be going back!


I have a horrifically quiet Febuary and March (economic crisis hits the wedding business) so apart from starting some teaching I'm hopefully going to get more work done on this project.
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
OK, opinions please. These are two 'throwaway' shots, stuff that I thought of doing but wasn't particularly excited about. Went shooting yesterday to redo a shot that needed better lighting, the light was perfect, blue skies, fluffy clouds and bright even lighting. Anyway I get there and find out that they've erected scaffolding across some 300 meters of the outside wall of the Old City, exactly where I wanted to shoot. Probably be up there for a while as well :(, anyway, went into the city and took these two shots. Opinions please.


Thinking of going back and doing it again with someone on the path this time.


Technically the composition is wrong for just about every reason under the sun but I'm not sure if it doesn't work (just) anyway.

Oh well...
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
OK, I kept the first one (re post above), it grew on me, the 2nd didn't so it's been consigned to the garbage.

Here's the first from today:


I really have to start noting down the street names as I wander around shooting this stuff, I know where it is though so I'll work it out so as to give it a name of sorts.

The next image is rather complicated to process but I hope to get it up tonight still.
 
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Ben Rubinstein

Active member
Here we go, resizing down from a 37 megapixel image and web jpg compression has killed the subtle highlights on the stairs but hey, you get the idea. Kudos to the cat who stayed completely still for a 2 second exposure! (and that at iso 800..). There was a rather eccentric old woman by appearance who was feeding milk to the stray cats who roam Jerusalem just at the top of the stairs. Originally I just wished she would move out of the way but then the idea came to use one of the cats to complete the composition. Took me an hour to capture one in the right place, with the right pose and staying still long enough!

 
D

ddk

Guest
Yes, the cat does elevate the image to another level for me. Wonderful!

Never imagined anywhere in Jerusalem can ever be this quiet, what did you do to get rid of the people and the pests?
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
I didn't, just waited a looooooong time! I'm a wedding photographer, if I didn't have inhuman patience I wouldn't be able to do my job! :D
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
3 more from today.

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Not sure about the middle one, very happy with the last one but it's a single shot cropped to 6X12 so only 6.6 megapixels worth. That said for some reason the file looks exactly like a scan from 35mm film (high iso and gritty blacks) so I'm not scared to enlarge it. With some shots the moment will carry the image far further than you would expect from the quality.
 

Ben Rubinstein

Active member
Rather pleased with this one from today.


A young girl returning from school with her bag on her back, running through the narrow alleyways of the old and cobbled streets of Jerusalem.
 

Jack

Sr. Administrator
Staff member
Ben:

It looks like a distinctive style is emerging in your 6x12 work -- and that is definitely a good thing! Very nice series :thumbs:
 
N

nei1

Guest
Ben,I always look forward to your next photo in this series.Youve picked yourself a difficult space to fill,eventhough Ive always liked the 2x1 ratio as a horizontal space,the challenge to fill it vertically as youve done ,I think,would be beyond me.......all the best,Neil.
 

fotografz

Well-known member
Here we go, resizing down from a 37 megapixel image and web jpg compression has killed the subtle highlights on the stairs but hey, you get the idea. Kudos to the cat who stayed completely still for a 2 second exposure! (and that at iso 800..). There was a rather eccentric old woman by appearance who was feeding milk to the stray cats who roam Jerusalem just at the top of the stairs. Originally I just wished she would move out of the way but then the idea came to use one of the cats to complete the composition. Took me an hour to capture one in the right place, with the right pose and staying still long enough!

Absolutely Masterful Ben.

Okay, so how do I secure a print? Me wanty. PM me with how to do it ... sizes and prices please.

-Marc
 
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