Monday 21 October 2013

The Sofia cathedral Alexander Nevski: colourful mosaics and blue hour

With risk to repeat myself I will be showing you some more pictures from the symbol of my home city, Sofia: the cathedral Alexander Nevski. While walking in the city on a sunny day one cant miss the golden domes...The inside is simply breathtaking, however no pictures are allowed. I did though discovered few beautiful details and colourful mosaics at the entrance, which I did photograph for you.
 
The last two pictures are my first attempt for blue-hour-photography. In the minutes after sunset the sky gets incredible blue tones and lots of photogpraphers simply die to take pictures with such a background. I was impressed to see how quick the blue colour changed (about a minute between the two pics below)!

11 comments:

Lies said...

Dankjewel, Jana. Echte beelden... !
Lie(f)s.

Erika said...

Gorgeous shots ! Kisses

Barb said...

Your Sophia shots are always so intriguing, Jana - makes me want to visit. That mosaic is lovely, and the ancient architecture so impressive. Love the "blue hour."

Kristie said...

Jana,

What breathtaking pictures! I can't believe the blue color in the background of the last two photos and how quickly the blue shades changed in a matter of minutes! Very beautiful!

Joop Zand said...

WONDERFUL pictures with nice light and details..... compliments Jana.

Greetings, Joop

LilliStJohn said...

The Blue Hour shots are fantastic and I am most impressed to see the difference in a minute. I love the colours. The photos that you were able to take are just stunning and oh, so beautiful - they just kinda take one's breath away to glance at such beauty and you are surrounded by it my dear. Thankyou so much for sharing :)

papillon said...

Hi Jana,

wie immer ganz tolle Bilder. Wir wünschen Dir weiterhin viel Spaß in Sofia.
LG J+C

Karen @ Pieces of Contentment said...

Intricate details in colour and texture on every surface. What a feast for the senses and spirit.

Filip and Kristel said...

Beautifull, looks a bit similar to the Alexandr Nevski church in Tallin but I prefer this one.

Greetings,
Filip

http://filipdemuinck-kristelpardon.blogspot.nl/2012/06/alexander-nevski-cathedral-face-of.html

Koryn said...

You capture the blue-hour photo perfectly! What settings did you use?

The domes are amazing. Gives so much character to the cathedral.

You have a beautiful hometown :)

Jana said...

thanks a LOT!
@Koryn: my settings for the blue hour were: f/3,5 at 1/6s (for the first one) and f/5 at 1/4s(for the second), both at ISO400...