Photoshopping a Church in NYC

I spend a lot of time in Photoshop reimagining my images.

Sometimes it’s a small contrast, density or curve change. Other times its a lot of sharpening, vibrance, saturation and more. In general, I usually try and make my images look like the vibrant memory I have: as if looking through a pair of polarized sunglasses.

. . .

Saint Thomas Episcopal Church and the Digital Darkroom

Today’s dramatic change comes from the streets of New York City; specifically, the Saint Thomas Episcopal Church on 57th Street and Fifth Avenue. I captured this image on a sunny March day with my 10.5mm fisheye lens and a Nikon D80.

A lot of layer and mask work went into it, including exposure, brightness/contrast, curves, levels, vibrance, lens correction, cloning and a little bit of the greatest filter set of all time: Topaz Adjust.

According to Wikipedia: Saint Thomas Church, located at the corner of 53rd Street and Fifth Avenue in the borough of Manhattan,  is also known as Saint Thomas Church Fifth Avenue or as Saint Thomas Church in the City of New York.

Incorporated in 1824 and renovated to the current current structure in 1914, the building is the fourth church built to house this congregation and was designed by the architects Ralph Adams Cram and Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue in the French High Gothic style.