Photographic opportunites at Notre Dame

The other day I went to Notre Dame to climb the 387 stairs to the top of the South Tower to photograph the view and specifically the legendary gargoyles. I arrived at the tour entrance at 9:00, an hour before the 10:00 opening time. The lines get long, fast.

However, on this particular day a sign outside the door read “Today we open at 11:00”. I decided to wait it out and pass the time photographing inside the cathedral as photography is permitted inside as long as no flash in used.

The cathedral is massive in size and the ornate sculptures, stained glass windows, high ceilings, chandeliers, and unique light make for interesting photographic subjects. I could have spent much longer than an hour inside, but I wanted to get back to the tour line at 10:00.

Nikon D300, 50mm f/1.8, 1/40 s at f/1.8, ISO 500, WB Auto

Nikon D300, 50mm f/1.8, 1/50 s at f/1.8, ISO 1000, WB Auto

Nikon D300, 50mm f/1.8, 1/80 s at f/1.8, ISO 800, WB Auto

I went back to the tour entrance at 10:00 and was the first person in line. I pulled out a book and started to read. A line of over 100 people quickly formed behind me by 10:20.

After climbing an unknown number of well worn stairs I arrived at the Chimera gallery. All along this narrow walkway you can see the many different gargoyle creatures. Figuring the gargoyles would be shaded or at least many stops below the bright view of Paris I took along a Nikon SB-800 flash to throw some fill light into the gargoyles to pick up some detail in the stone creatures.

I shoot with the Nikon D300 which allows wireless flash through their Creative Lighting System (CLS). I put the camera in manual mode; spot metered off the bright skyline, got my reading, but decided I wanted the clouds to look a bit more dramatic so I underexposed the sky by about a full stop. I then used the in camera flash commander to control my flash. I set the flash to ¼ power to start knowing I only wanted to pick up some detail. It was hard to see how the gargoyles were being lit because the bright daylight was making it difficult to see my LCD. I figured I’d take lots of photos with different flash powers to be on the safe side.

Nikon D300, 18mm-35mm, 1/2000 s at f/10.0, ISO 400, WB Auto, Nikon SB-800 Flash

Nikon D300, 18mm-35mm, 1/1600 s at f/10.0, ISO 400, WB Auto, Nikon SB-800 Flash

Nikon D300, 18mm-35mm, 1/320 s at f/14.0, ISO 400, WB Auto, Nikon SB-800 Flash

Nikon D300, 18mm-35mm, 1/1600 s at f/9.0, ISO 400, WB Auto, Nikon SB-800 Flash

Nikon D300, 18mm-35mm, 1/2500 s at f/5.6, ISO 400, WB Auto,

Panoramic Image made with four images, Merged with Photoshop CS4, Photomerge

After spending about an hour and a half photographing the gargoyles and the views I decided it was time to head down. Once I started down the skinny spiral staircase, I started viewing the images and was very happy with the results.