Basilica Cathedral of St. John the Baptistby
YoungieComment by Youngie: Hello everybody, let me first thank everyone for their constructive feedback. Well the difficulty in this shot, being the outcome I desired, was to do it within the boundry of Basic Editing. It would be a snap to do this shot in Photoshop CS4 using layers, however, it was a bit of a challenge to do it with a single exposure. Basic Editing, as I understand it means I could only adjust colour to the entire image.
How I did it? I set up the camera on a tripod, just below the statue of Mary on 'Bulb' exposure. I played around with the time a bit. The aperature was small as to maximize the depth of field, and the lens set on the hyper-focal distance "" so that the image could be as crisp and clear as possible. When I 'guessed' that I had the best possible exposure, I quickly replaced the lens cap back on the lens (keeping the exposure going) and relocated the tri-pod back to frame up the church, once the camera was lined up as good as could be (without being able to see it through the view finder because the lens cap was on, and the mirror would have been up anyway) I took the lens cap off again for a few seconds to superimpose the image of the Basilica.
The scar accross the face was in every attempt, it was actually red in colour before I made the photo black and white, and then I adjusted the colour to the entire shot to remove the reds, reducing the effect of the scar. Again, I could have photoshoped it out, but not within the boundray of basic editing. I figured I would do what I could within the rules and be judged on an honest entry. I think the lines across the face were some kind of reflection from placing the lens cap back on the camera while the exposure was going. A similar line was in every shot.
My main challenges: Getting the exposure right, without the metering on the camera, and getting the composition without seeing through the view finder.
Once again, thanks for all the constructive feedback. The best feedback gives two things: 1)Tells you what you did good on and what to continue doing, and 2)Gives examples of what you could try to do differently. It's pretty cool to get that exchange of ideas, and suggestions, rather than all negative or all positive. So thanks again everybody.
Message edited by author 2009-12-02 08:08:19. 
Photographer found comment helpful.