Ian Bramham's Photoblog
Stonehenge
Posted by Ian Bramham (Manchester, United Kingdom) on 18 July 2008 in Architecture and Portfolio.
Nobody seems really sure just how old Stonehenge is but what you can see here on this photo is somewhere between 4,000 and 5,000 years old.
It's an incredible place and the size of the stones immense....the largest stones weigh around 50 tonnes and would have been dragged by hand from an area 25 miles away.
For purchasing high quality archival prints of any of these photos you can send me an email by clicking here or by going to MY NEW WEBSITE where prices are listed in the gallery sections under each individual photo.
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Links to the websites of other photographers whose work I love and who have all helped me enormously over a long period of time. I find the work of all 3 to be inspirational.
@Ted: Thanks very much Ted!
Vincent Bertrand from Montréal, Canada
Yet, you make it seem quite small. Not that typical Stonehenge image we always see, which of course is a very good thing! This sky is way to cool! Another excellent B&W rendering, which I simply love.
Question...
I have conflicting vision with the picture and EXIF data. The angle of view makes me think it was taken with a mid telephoto lens, not a wide angle one, because pointing up a wide would create much more distortion, wouldn't it... Can you clear that for me please? (tilting lens, perspective correction in PS?) Cheers Ian.
18 Jul 2008 6:05am
@Vincent Bertrand: Thanks Vincent!...I chose the wrong lens really as there's only one place where I needed the full width of this 10-20 lens. For this shot there's actually no perspective correction or cropping of the image even though, as you say, I pointed the camera upward.
Normally I would agree that in these circumstances I would expect to have needed to correct key-stone perspective distortion but on this particular shot it wasn't needed. I think because I was quite a distance away from the stones and the lens was at it's full telephoto end at 20mm. (If you look closely at each of the end stones you'll see that they are actually leaning in slightly instead of being vertical but I didn't bother correcting this small amount of distortion)
There's another view as tomorrow's photo which is a lot nearer than this one and which was taken at 10mm and on that one I had to correct a huge amount of key-stone distortion using the PTLens plug-in.
Mirko Herzner from Mühlheim am Main, Germany
An all time classic here. Works so well with the clouds. Is it possible to get such overview shots of stonehenge without having people standing around?
18 Jul 2008 6:39am
@Mirko Herzner: Thanks Mirko!....as it happens this was one of my few photos which had people in it - I decided to show this one first as the figures give the stones a sense of scale which is absent on tomorrow's photo which is just of the stones with no people.
There's a pathway around the perimeter of the stones which has a low rope barrier and your not allowed to cross over to actually walk amongst the stones or touch them.
Kylie Greenan from Richmond, Australia
Oh wow, I love it, the sky adds so much drama/feeling to this image, breathtaking Ian!
18 Jul 2008 6:41am
@Kylie Greenan: Thanks Kylie....I was very lucky with the cloudy sky...it was very windy and 1/2 an hour later it started raining.
@Seb!: Thanks very much Seb!
Ana Lúcia from Leiria, Portugal
You just have an extraordinary eye for things and make everything look perfect. I want to go there someday.
18 Jul 2008 7:04am
@Ana Lúcia: Thanks very much Ana!
jkjond from Grange-over-Sands, United Kingdom
Nice pic, but I wish you'd research your facts.
Stonehenge will be build on 14 Sept 3034, then transported through a time flux as a source of amusement for our children's children's children's... I've lost count. They will also carve some whopping heads with floppy ears and some big pointy structures with tunnels in them.
They will also read this post and wonder how I know...
18 Jul 2008 8:31am
António Pires from Lisbon, Portugal
I like the huge amount of sky you put in the image. I can't stop thinking that people who built Stonehenge looked at a similar sky. Without the knowledge we have today it would have looked rather frightening.
18 Jul 2008 9:57am
Cheryl from Texas, United States
another winner Ian! you have a special knack for b&w's!! wonderful work. It's amazing !
18 Jul 2008 10:06am
Steve from Basingstoke, United Kingdom
This is a great picture, only about an hours drive from me but never gone there to take any shots...
18 Jul 2008 10:25am
Daryl from Amagasaki, Japan
Great contrast in this view; love the lighting focusing on the centre.
18 Jul 2008 10:25am
paulski from Muncie, IN, United States
excellent shot; when i went, years ago, i remember being somewhat amused that stonehenge just kind of sits there by the side of a highway, like it could be a gas station or something. but when you get there, it is amazing to behold...
18 Jul 2008 11:22am
dj.tigersprout from San Bruno, United States
simply excellent! the vast sky behind and above truly dwarf the large stones! what a great perspective and composition!
18 Jul 2008 1:07pm
Lorraine from Canada
Even I don't this this could possibly look better in colour, it's OUTSTANDING Ian !
18 Jul 2008 3:13pm
DonLon from Providence, RI, United States
Outstanding Great B&W Love the huge sky!
18 Jul 2008 5:32pm
Peter Mannfolk from Landskrona, Sweden
What a coincidence. I just pressed the upload button for tomorrows post and went on to check your blog only to find a very similiar scene although mine is not as famous as yours... As always, very impressive but I do find the clouds just a tad too bright. /Peter
18 Jul 2008 8:39pm
akarui from Kagoshima, Japan
I like this picture and the fact that you have include some people. Great sky.
18 Jul 2008 11:24pm
Fliss from Melbourne Beach, United States
Love it... this is one place I have always wanted to go to... I love the fact it is B/W... and the sky...
19 Jul 2008 2:00am
Nikon D40
1/200 second
F/8.0
ISO 200
30 mm (35mm equiv.)