Red Brick, Mosaics, Angels, and Marble in HDR at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle

From St. Matthew's in HDR

Partially Concealed by Green, St. Matthew's Proudly Stands

This past Saturday, I returned to St. Matthew's Cathedral in Washington DC (having visited it earlier this year during my pre-high dynamic range days). As cathedrals go, St. Matthew's is somewhat of surprise (a pleasant one!) in that its red brick exterior is not as striking as the National Cathedral or the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The "surprise" is what is inside: a beautiful Romanesque structure with Byzantine elements, or in more simple terms, lots of marble and mosaics (see video of pictures I took below and this link for the gallery of photographs I took).



As a subject, St. Matthew's did not mount a huge challenge. The place had only a handful of people there (including the mentally disturbed man who made a scene the last time I was there, but he was in his "dormant" phase). The main challenge for me was to keep the camera level to avoid the dread "keystone effect," the bane of architectural photographers. I also realize that if I am going to make a practice of photographing beautiful churches, I am going to have to invest in a set of knee-pads since kneeling on hard marble is not a pleasant experience (see photographs below).

From St. Matthew's in HDR

A View of Angels over the Altar

From St. Matthew's in HDR

A Side Chapel

From St. Matthew's in HDR

The Cathedral Organist at Work

From St. Matthew's in HDR

Saint Matthew as a Stern and Watchful Teacher

From St. Matthew's in HDR

Saint and an Angel as an Eagle

From St. Matthew's in HDR

Neighboring Buildings

From St. Matthew's in HDR

Saint and an Angel as a Bull

From St. Matthew's in HDR

A Painting over the Entrance (I didn't mind the keystoning here.)

From St. Matthew's in HDR

A Saint and an Angel as a Lion

As for the technical details, I used my Canon EOS 40D (which I will replace with the EOS 50D that will be available in early October) with my Tokina 12-24mm wide angle lens and my Canon L-series 24-105mm mid-range zoom. I used a demo version of Lightroom 2.0 (which did not mysteriously delete my pictures like Lightroom 1.41 did) and Photoshop Elements 6.0. I used Photomatix Pro to produce the HDR shots.