Hatfield 7/14

This is Hatfield House in Hertfordshire:

1.



The photos here were taken last Wednesday, all hand-held, using a Pentax K-5 II and the 18-135mm WR zoom. The following indoor shots used only the ambient lighting, all except the last being captured at ISO 3200. Adjustments and corrections were applied to out-of-camera JPEGs using PaintShop Pro X6...

2. The Marble Hall



3. The Chinese Bedroom



4. The Long Gallery



5. The Winter Dining Room



6. The Library



7. The Armoury



...and this at ISO 200 -
8. The Chapel Window



Any comments always welcome.

Cheers.
Philip

This is an excellent set, full of interesting detail with nice natural colours and exposures. The 'high' iso (thats now a relative term I think!) interiors don't look like 'high' iso at all (I'd better visit with my K7 for that :wink. The Jpegs have all reproduced the scenes beautifully.

For JPEGs it seems to me relavent to know some of the key custom image settings used - do you mind listing a few of these for us, such as the main preset, WB, saturation, contrast etc.

Only minor critisisms I can make would be to say the shooting angles are all fairly conventional - did you get any close up details or creative low virepoints? Also I would raise the darkest shadows of Nos 2 & 5 just a little ... and really - the last one SHOULD HAVE BEEN HDR

Lovely set and I'm sure it's a place you would want to return too, you've certainly made it a place I'd like to visit

Thank you for your comments, Nigel.

My K-5 II is usually set to Natural, with contrast +1 and fine sharpness +2. White balance is usually on Auto but, as in most of these, I find that Cloudy sometimes gives better colour with indoors ambient (mainly window) light. D-Range Highlight and Shadow are always on. Chimping and using the Histogram usually results a JPEG image that is nearly OK, and can be tweaked in software to give the screen image or print (usually A4) that I like.

Conventional describes me pretty well! - A euphemism for boring? I am trying to spot a few unusual opportunities - how about this one, taken in the Armoury:

9. Trousers



Cheers.
Philip

Thank you for your comments, Stan. It is a interesting place, with wonderful grounds too. The ticket is valid until the end of September, so I will be going again.

Cheers.
Philip

Well Philip, no euphemisms from me, I like to say it as it is. Nothing boring about the shots, just was wondering if you had caught some that would give more variety in viewpoint to the set as a whole ... The trousers there certainly do that! I love the up close and personal floor as well in that one .

I'm pleased that you like the photos, Nigel, and I hope you know that I'm really grateful for all your observations. You are one of the few people kind enough to respond to my posts here - please do keep saying it as it is, and I will try to keep on experimenting to include more unconventional viewpoints.

Thanks again for giving your time and comments.

Cheers.
Philip