Theseus and the Minotaur

Theseus and the Minotaur Fountain in Sydney, Australia

One of the reasons I enjoy traveling is because of the amazing new sights there are.  Natural wonders, man-made edifices, and internationally renowned icons all waiting to be captured by my camera.  The magic of being there adds to the allure, as does learning about the history of the people and area.

We had a wonderful time visiting Sydney, Australia.  We only had the day to explore though, and time was ebbing faster than we thought possible.  Fortunately, the weather cooperated and gave us amiable skies.  I actually enjoy shooting with thin cloud cover as the light tends to be even and there are no shadows or little evidence of them.

We came upon this amazing statue built into a fountain.  I later learned it was based on the mythical story of Theseus slaying the minotaur.  Clearly, a photograph was in order.  It should not be just any shot though.  The question was (and often is), "Exactly how do I go about that?"  You could take a thousand photos, each from a different angle using a different camera and lens settings, and end up with an equally varied collection of shots.  Some would be better than others, and a few might even be good.  What makes those few more visually appealing?

There are a number of things happening in the above photo.  Each one was done in camera.  They include:

  - full frame camera with mild wide angle focal length (32 mm) to produce an effective foreground / background ratio for perspective
  - an aperture of f/14 combined with the mild wide angle produced enough depth of field to get both foreground and background in focus
  - ISO was 100 which allowed a shutter speed of 1/60th of a second; fast enough to restrict blur due to camera motion 
 - background was lined up with foreground so that both the church and the fountain would be fully visible
  - I waited for people to be out of the way, although some are present at the far left of the image
  - I positioned myself high enough so that the circular window of the church's mid-tower was not blocked by the minotaur's head
  - I positioned the camera so that the lateral edge of the fountain (right side) leads your eye towards the church.  Notice it starts at the bottom right corner.
  - the image was shot in raw mode and corrected for white balance and exposure in photoshop CS6

Overall I like the image and think that the various components interact well with each other.