Rouen Cathedral

It is a striking building Herb that I've often passed but never stopped

Thanks Nick. I think that once seen never forgotten. As of many cathedrals of this stature, it was closed and had layers of high scaffolding around its other spires. I believe the 'renovation' work has been going on for some years with many more to go. I did originally adjust the perspective of this front with my software to make it completely straight but opted for the usual falling back view in the end. Cheers, Herb

Straighten but you would have to take two shot to then get the full building in. magnificent building i know what you mean by closed as well only one i ever found open was Notre Dame....

A fantastic building and photograph ! ******
Unfortunately I never got a chance to see this cathedral...
If you have an opportunity to go to the one in Amiens is wonderful too.

www.ipernity.com/doc/chrisher7/38742042/in/album/92108
www.ipernity.com/doc/chrisher7/39156080/in/album/92108
www.ipernity.com/doc/chrisher7/38779584/in/album/92108

Thank you Christiane. It was indeed breath-taking from the outside but we could not go in due to renovations. Thanks for your links -excellent work.

Hi Herb,

Nice to see this cathedral, and the story. As you say, many seem under repair these days, (which I suppose is like painting the Forth bridge).
An unfortunate sign of the times is that big cities need to keep the churches locked as so many low lifes would go in there and 'use it for purposes other than it was intended'. That said, outside of the big cities most churches do seem to be open..
Interesting discussion about the perspective.. With it being so high, what else can you do, except walk back almost a mile... (but probably that was not possible either!)

Best Wishes, and a good weekend
Peter

Thanks for this Peter. We visit quite a few cities and always in the old centre sits a church. These are full of the real history of the place and most time are almost the first structure to be built in that area, then the town grows and expands around them. So it is always with disappointment when we reach such a place as this and find it internally inaccessible. Fortunately we could still marvel at the structure from the outside without much hindrance. As for the perspective discussion, I have now added a PiP so you can see the difference. I think that that one looks nicer but this one looks more as you saw it whilst ricking your neck. Therefore more natural Let me know what you think.. Cheers, Herb

Hi Herb,

Thanks for adding the PiP. I spent a very long time pondering the perspective dilemma. I looked on Google streetview, and certainly there was no better place you could go. Interestingly there is a view of the left tower from some way down a side street. www.google.com/maps/@49.4410108,1.093079,3a,75y,107.34h,86.47t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sA6VPOGapyM1dGNVtOdP3tQ!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
This shows the correct geometry, which is pretty close to your software correction.
In my humble opinion, I think the answer lies in the application of the perspective correction software. As the top is further away, sure its width is smaller, but also is its height. So we need to correct by stretching the corners of the picture outwards and upwards, the exact stretch vector (angle and amount) being chosen to make it look as to what the eye considers natural. Or we can do as you did, and post exactly what we saw from the street outside (which is not the view most people expect of a cathedral).
As ever, no right and no wrong, which is the nice thing of our hobby!
(Interestingly, most photos of this cathedral on the internet have taken your approach, rather than attempt a software correction).

Best Wishes
Peter

Immense building