Dr. Isaac Vaisman, APSA, PPSA

March 2025 - Palace Square and the Alexander Column
About the Image(s)
Image created a few years ago while visiting St Petersburg-Russia. We had tickets for the State Hermitage Museum. Being at the museum at one of the high floors I looked out the window and was presented with this magnificent view of the Palace Square and the Alexander Column. The square is analog to the Red Square in Moscow. The column is the focal point of the square. This monument was created after the Russian victory in the war with Napoleon.
I used a Nikon D300 with the Nikkor zoom lens 18-200 mm f/3.5-5.6 @ 18 mm and these settings: ISO 200, f/9 and 1/320 sec. The image was PP in LightRoom and cropped.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
7 comments posted
Isaac, those clouds make the picture. At your distance, if you had only stepped back a foot or two you would've probably gotten the entire left and right of the palace, but still, this is a great shot. Colors are rich, but those clouds-they simply make the image.   Posted: 03/04/2025 18:32:57
Alan, this was with my first digital and cropped sensor camera, Nikon D300 and a DX lens as well, and before I knew about panoramas. I did not have to go a step back, just take a couple of frames, but again, was before I knew better.   Posted: 03/04/2025 19:36:28
Regardless, it's still an impressive image!   Posted: 03/05/2025 18:53:24
The only thing I can say is WOW!   Posted: 03/04/2025 18:34:54
I guess it's up to me to nitpick. I would rotate the image 1 degree cw because I think it slants downwards towards the left. The post processing is a bit overdone, with the colors a little flat. The sky is dramatic but in the original the right side of the sky might not have been washed out. The POV and wide angle are great, and the image brings back memories from my visit to St.Petersburg and to the spectacular Hermitage museum.   Posted: 03/08/2025 15:02:22
Tom, it is an optical Illusion...   Posted: 03/10/2025 18:46:27

first of all I loved the POV chosen by you, Isaac. The beauty of a perfect perspective of such huge architecture is only because of taken from the higher level. The image is v sharp, v good composition with the column at the perfect point. & on the top of everything, u r v lucky to get the grid of clouds perfect going with f/g. lovely architecture image
  Posted: 03/11/2025 10:59:43
  Posted: 03/11/2025 10:59:43