On the Tuscany photo tour, I brought my group to one of the most stunning cathedrals in Europe -- the Cathedral of Siena. The breathtaking interior is quite dark, and that presents a challenge especially because no tripods are allowed. In addition, the contrast between the stained glass windows and some of the dark areas of the ceiling was huge. I'd guess about 7 f/stops. I went outside my comfort zone and made a hand-held HDR bracketed series of shots with 7 frames. I'd never done that before because I assumed I couldn't hold the camera still over the period of time necessary to make those exposures. I used the Sigma 14mm f/1.8, and with the super fast frame rate of my Canon 1Dx Mark II (14 fps), I was able to take a take sharp image -- much to my surprise. I've attached the resulting HDR composite plus a 100% enlargement of a detail in the dome so you can see how Photoshop perfectly aligned all seven images. It's amazing, really. I used 1600 ISO, f/1.8, and the slowest shutter speed in the series was 1/30. The white balance was set to daylight.
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