I couldn’t leave my last post alone. The message was important to me, but the image was not. So here I try working with black and white. I was able to reduce the color cloudiness caused by the bright light coming in from the window. The individual letters are also a little bit sharper, maybe. However I was still not able to pull out all the different colors of the letters. I still need to go back and reshoot.
Tag Archives: Fonthill
Fonthill: Designers, Planners, Builders and a Horse
Canon 5DMkIII, EF17-40mm f/4L @ 23mm, f/8.0, 0.5 sec, ISO 200 (multiple images)
“Here see the names of the men who planned this house, directed its plan, executed its construction, adorned its walls, embellished its pavements, built with their labor and the horse who uplifted it with its strength.”
The design, planning, construction, and adornment of Fonthill was a tremendous feat. It is such, especially when considering when it was built (1908-1912) and with the tools available at the time. All the concrete was hand mixed one batch at a time. It was lifted up five plus stories with pulleys and ropes by Lucy, one strong horse. Every time I drive by or visit the site, I look back in awe of how this wonderful national treasure was built.
This dedication mural is hidden in a dark hallway between the servants quarters and the main house. It can only be seen walking down from the servants quarters. There is a window directly above the mural that makes getting a proper exposure extremely difficult. I took 25-30 images with different exposures to get one that I could work with. I first tried to use HDR processing. The resulting image showed multiple lens effect bright blobs which were totally unacceptable. I then fell back on traditional image blending. The base image was underexposed to keep the light from the window from washing out the top half of the mural. I then combined it with an additional three images by blending them together in Photoshop. I still am not happy with the results. I will go back and try again.
Lesson Learned: I had my flash with me. I have no idea why I did not try to use it to get the image that I was looking for. I had a lot to cover and may just have been in a hurry to get to my other target. I should have taken more time.
Related Images:
Fonthill: Smoking Room – Spanish Brocade Tiles
Canon 5DMkIII, EF 17-40mm f/4L @ 29mm, f/11, 13 sec, ISO 400
The Smoking Room is tucked up and above the Breakfast Room. I guess there is nothing better than a good cigar after breakfast. This mural is an example of a Spanish Brocade motif. It is installed in the back corner of the room and is normally in deep shadows which makes it difficult to see the details. This is the largest Spanish Brocade display in the castle. It is too bad that it is not on the main path of the Fonthill standard tours. Other examples of a Spanish Brocade are installed in a couple of other places in the castle that I plan to show in future posts.
Related Images:
Fonthill: Breakfast Room – Floral Brocade & Architectural Molding Tiles
Architectural Molding Tiles Encase Breakfast Room Mirrors
Wandering through the Gallery a set of stairs leads up to the Breakfast Room. The Breakfast Room displays two different types of Mercer tiles. The mirror is framed with Mercer’s Architectural Molding Tiles. Similar tiles are used throughout the Castle to frame Mercer’s historical tiles as well as frame windows and other architectural elements.
Floral Brocade Tiles on Russian Fireplace
A Floral Brocade Mosaic covers the Russian Fireplace on the opposite side of the room. Multiple examples of Floral Brocade Mosaics are displayed throughout Fonthill. Another example in the Castle entryway was shown on my 14 November post.
Related Images:
Fonthill: Gallery – The Four Seasons
Canon 5D MkIII, EF17-40mm f/4L @ 17mm, f/11, 1.3 sec, ISO 400
Going through the Alcove Doors one enters the Four Seasons Gallery. These mosaics were the last tiles to be installed in Fonthill before Henry Mercer’s death. Each mosaic was to depict one of the four seasons. Mercer was only able to complete two seasons of the four seasons. These two mosaics were designed as a pair. Each mosaic has 12 segments. Eight of the segments depict farm life during the specific season. The other 4 depict different elements of the season; birds, flowers etc. The designs of the tiles are unique in that they are flat, placed and raised against the concrete background. These are the only examples of this style. Below are different aspects of the two mosaics.
Related Images:
Fonthill: Alcove – Arabic Tiles
Canon 5D MarkIII, EF17-40mm f/4L @ 17mm, f/11, ISO 400 HDR
As a visitor climbs the stairs from the Saloon to the second floor they first enter a small alcove area overlooking the Saloon. Tucked up above the Alcove doors are two Arabic Tile Murals. The second mural is shown below. It is said that one of the mural segments is installed upside down … can you pick which one. To achieve an acceptable exposure of the tile murals hidden in dark shadows and not blow out the light coming in from the Alcove doors I combined 5 different exposures into a HDR image.
Related Images:
Fonthill: Morning Room – Italian Brocade Fireplace
Canon 5D MkIII, EF17-40mm f/4L @ 22mm, f/8.0, 0.3 sec, ISO 400
This dramatic fireplace dominates Mercer’s Morning Room. The room faces North. Light enters the room in the morning from the floor to ceiling windows on the left and from the right during the afternoon. It is a very bright room throughout the day. This fireplace is my favorite in Fonthill. The Italian Brocade design is from a 16th century Sicilian tapestry. Below is a detail of the design.
Italian Brocade design on Morning Room Fireplace
Elements of the design are separate tiles and can be used interchangeably to create various designs. Compare this design with the design of the Italian Brocade in the Fonthill Entryway below.
Italian Brocade in Entryway Mosaic
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Fonthill: Morning Room Hallway – Delft Tiles
Canon 5D MkIII, EF17-40mm f/4L @ 17mm, f/8, ISO 400, HDR
Come on in through this narrow hallway from the Saloon to the Morning Room. Again there are tiles everywhere. Delft tiles cover the hallway walls and nooks and crannies. The hallway is very dark. HDR processing of 5 images was needed to capture the light exposure of the hallway entry to the almost black deep shadow of the Morning Room doorway seen in the very back of the image. Below are a close up of the hallway wall tiles and a small v-nook in the back of the hallway. There was hardly enough room to get me and my tripod/camera in the hall to take the image. I wish I was as thin and flexible as in my younger days.
Related Images:
Fonthill: Saloon Floor Tiles
Canon 5D MkIII, EF24-70 f/2.8L @ 46mm, f/6.3, 1/6 sec, ISO 200
There are tiles everywhere, on the walls, on the fireplaces, on the window cells, on the columns on the ceilings … and on the floor. Most people just walk over these tiles on the floor not paying any attention to them. They are worth exploring by themselves.
More to follow …
Tomorrow we will start walking toward the Morning Room
Related Images:
Fonthill: Saloon – Fireplace Mural
“The Rich Man and Lazarus Brocade Mural”
Canon 5D MkIII, EF17-40 f/4L @ 17mm, f/8.0, 0.5 sec, ISO 400
“The Rich Man and Lazarus” is an example of Mercer’s Bible series brocade relief designs. This unique mural was designed specifically for the hood of the main fireplace in the Saloon. It is a single piece design as opposed to the segmented scenes present in Mercer’s other brocade stories. The details and colors are exquisite. The characters are from antique stove plates as described in a previous post.
The image below is the side panel of the main fireplace.
Canon 5D MkIII, EF17-40mm f/4L @ 23mm, f/11, 1/100 sec, ISO 400
This image is a composite of two photos, one exposed for the tiles and one exposed fro the exterior trees outside the window. They were blended together in Photoshop.