St Paul’s Cathedral Visit Reworked by Hannah Hargraves licensed under CC-BY 4.0 St Paul’s Cathedral Visit Reworked by Hannah Hargraves licensed under CC-BY 4.0
In the summer of 2024, my family and I visited London and Paris to celebrate my bachelor’s degree. One of many stops was St Paul’s Cathedral in London, a stunning church that is almost overwhelming with its beauty and vastness. Tall ceilings are accompanied by stained glass and murals.
When cropping this photo, I wanted to focus more on the details. The original image has a lot to take in, so I found a focal point and zeroed in on it. I cropped the image to focus on the beautifully detailed ceiling, the gold making it almost glow as if a light was shining on it, drawing my eye. The photo is simplified, cropping out the people and many details of the church that catch the eye to focus on one point in the room, the ceiling.
Once I cropped the photo, I also brightened it up a little to allow the details of the image to be clearer and the warm color to shine through. The photo is not centered following the rule of thirds, with one circular detail in the corner and the other uncentered.
I really appreciate how taking the people out changes the feeling of the image. Once they are gone, the ceiling becomes the subject and it feels more focused. The gold tones are especially beautiful and create a sense of awe, which I imagine was what the architects were aiming for. The richness of the color draws your eye upward and makes the space feel grand. I also wonder what would happen if you kept a small edge of an arch in the crop. That might keep the emphasis on the ceiling while still grounding it in the space. It is interesting how such a small shift in framing can change the mood and meaning.
Hello, Hannah! First off, what a cool experience this must have been to see in person. I enjoyed looking at all the various aspects of the original image, and observed there were multiple beautiful aspects you could have chosen to crop and focus on! I’m sure it was fun to play around with the cropping and see what worked the best. I enjoyed the color editing you did, as it makes the ceiling itself look richly textured. I agree with Viviana, and am curious as to how including some of the arch would have altered the images meaning. I also like what you chose to title this post, very creative!
Hello Hannah. I concur with Melody, it must have been a lot of fun seeing St. Paul’s Cathedral in person. I agree that the way it is cropped really changes the experience. In the original photo, it feels like a photo you would see in an encyclopedia. However, once you focus on the ceiling and there are no more distracting people in the scene, you truly notice the ceiling’s wonderful richness and detail. It almost feels overwhelming on its own due to the amount of gold used, which was most likely one of the points St Paul wanted to make when you looked up.
It was a good idea to brighten the image, as it helped highlight the details around the two center points of the two circles.
Just like Viviana and Melody, I too kept wondering how the image might feel if a small edge of an arch or structural element were left in the frame. It might make the image look more like a ceiling, but it also shows how massive the space underneath really is.
Overall, I truly enjoyed your original photo and also enjoyed the crop you made, which simplified the busy scene and allowed me to appreciate the art more.