Holy Trinity Church, Blythburgh, Suffolk

[Eric Hardy]

Holy Trinity Church at Blythburgh in Suffolk

If you are not careful you may start me off adding to this thread under your all embracing title "Church Architecture"

Please DO Eric!

Well I will take up the challenge, George, and slowly feed some of my favourite churches. I had better do it fairly slowly over a period of time, otherwise the forum might get swamped with church uploads 

I will start with Holy Trinity Church at Blythburgh in Suffolk which Anthea and I first visited in 1955 with our eldest son Adam, just coming up to his second birthday. We loved the atmosphere, particularly inside, and how unspoilt it was. We revisited 55 years later in 2010 with a little feeling of trepidation because we feared the atmosphere might have gone but our fears were unfounded, it was exactly as we remembered it.

The main body of the church is 15th century but the tower, which is 14th century, is a little more stark and remains from an earlier church. It looks slightly out of keeping, I think. There are grander towers in Suffolk. The exterior, lovely as it is, is not the best of the Suffolk churches we’ve seen but the interior is heavenly. Having said all that, we love this church.

I took well over a hundred shots and here are a few. Let them speak for themselves: -













And now for the interior











Tomb of John Hopton, Lord of Blythburgh Manor (died 1478).


I have a host of details of bench ends, fonts, stained glass, monuments and so on but I really think this will have to do!!! 

I hope you have enjoyed this little visit.

Eric H

[NightHawk]

Great set of photos Eric.  So glad you took up George's challenge 

I see what you mean about the tower style at odds with the rest of the church (especially when you pointed it out  )

How do you expose so perfectly for the interior?  Natural light, long exposures, series of flash firing?
I think this is an important element to have explained for our members.  You might just inspire others to do this and try to achieve your level of quality.

Looking forward to lots more.

[Eric Hardy]

How do you expose so perfectly for the interior?  Natural light, long exposures, series of flash firing?
I think this is an important element to have explained for our members.  You might just inspire others to do this and try to achieve your level of quality.

I cheat, Laurie  . No, that is not really true, it has always been thus in photography. I remember hours of laborious work in my darkroom waving a little ball of cotton wool on a stick above the photographic paper to stop highlights being burnt out. I now just extend these techniques into digital photography. Most of it down to experience. Shots like the angels in the roof are no problem. What becomes more difficult is when there are areas of bright window which tend to give glare but areas of dimly lit church too.
Firstly: I always shoot in RAW which is my "negative" then use a programme to convert the shot to JPEG doing adjustments on the way. My current favourite is Adobe Lightroom (I have just upgraded to version 5, which is fabulous).
Secondly, I seriously underexpose. What I am really doing is exposing for the bright areas and letting the rest be underexposed. When I am "developing" (they actually use that word in Lightroom) I can bring up the levels of the dark areas leaving the bright areas untouched, so the detail remains.
Some people use HDR (High Dynamic Range) which involves taking two or three shots at different exposures and amalgamating them. This is a very lengthy process which means using a tripod which, when we are touring about is not really practical. I use my tripod for specific shots though, usually when I am using my telephoto lens in dim conditions.
I am not sure how much this helps. I know no way of just taking a simple shot in strong contrast and getting it perfect.
Eric H

[NightHawk]

I understood that perfectly Eric, being a fellow photographer  but I felt you deserved the stage here to give your expertise - also from an architectural point of view, in case there were any special considerations you take into account to get the correct detail in your shots.

[Eric Hardy]

I was sure that you knew, Laurie, but your invitation was to explain to the world at large. I could summarise my aim (not always achieved) is to have the leaded lights in a clear glass window still clearly visible when the details in the shadow are discernable. The last shot of the tomb is a case in point and I was quite pleased with the way that turned out.

Eric H

[NightHawk]

I was just confirming your explanation was clear and to go ahead Eric - not a criticism 

[ideasguy]

And I'm glad I asked! We've been treated to a lesson in photography

Amazing photos Eric. The quality is exceptionally good and the attention to capturing the very fine and intricate detail in that church is to be highly commended - excellent work.

I really do appreciate your "lesson" on how to take photos in low lighting conditions and even more difficult, the contrast of the underside of the structure against a bright window as in that last photo.

I'm afraid I'm not impressed by modern architecture Some buildings are eyesores as soon as they are built!

They seem to have had more imagination and vision in those older days.
Just look at THAT architecture - what a design and what a beautiful building
How much would that cost in this day and age

[Eric Hardy]

Thank you very much, George. I will feed more in from time to time.

Eric H