Ferapontovo.

 

Here I had to merge four series taken in 2019 and 2020, since all contained images of various quality. On 21.07.2019 I just tested my new camera, partly unaware of its settings, so evening shots in a slight mist over a lake proved questionable. The issue was in processing them like water colours. On the other hand, as I stayed there till midnight, I got a rare opportunity to take shots of a monastery complex in dusk. In my arrogant opinion, more than successful. Later, on 29.08.2019, I wasn’t alone, that was a trip with passengers in a daytime without any possibility to stay till night. Here a counterlight was the main obstacle. On October 5^th weather conditions proved nut just unfavourable, but extreme with cold wind and running clouds, and of course, I have no idea how to take shots of quickly running clouds with a slow shutter speed. The second issue in conditions like those is a polarization angle (CPL filter is meant), the third – white balance. Eventually, in October 2020 weather gave an opportunity, but time was limited. 

Testing the camera: 

Here is what I got in October 2019, with running clouds and constantly changing lighting:
 

Next, an adjacent position, from a square: 

Lastly, on 2.10.2020, soft clouds favoured me and here I got everything I need:

St. Nilus of Sora church. That is strongly advisable taking something like 16 mm lens for full-size matrix cameras, 24 mm one isn't enough.

 

Water colours. Both spots are swampy, I doubt anyone sane could be able to reach them in ordinary shoes.  No alternative images, since later I had no time to go there.

Now night has come. The monastery complex as seen from a parking spot below. Nikkor AIS 28 mm was used in all series:

Gradient blue filter:

The same taken in October 2019:

Lastly, October 2020, ideal conditions, but I had no time to wait till a complete sunset:

The monastery complex from inside, daytime only: 

An interesting moment, heavily shopped, of course:

Panoramic view:

Looking through an arc:

Panoramic views of a lake. In fact it's one lake, separated into western and eastern parts with different names:

A sunset over Borodayevskoye lake. No place to get hidden from the counterlight. CPL filter, standard lens. 

Vertical perspective:

A series of panoramic views of Ferapontovo:

Another view from below, from another side:

October 2019, running clouds:

Made that again in 2020 with better results: 

Something to complete with. Spasskoye (alternatively Paskoye) lake:

If something is omitted here, try searching there: https://www.flickr.com/photos/145110086@N08/albums/72157673720713538

St. Therapont of Belozersk monastery and vicinities.

I should state that clearly enough, as a counterlight shooting here is a challengeable job, early – before sunset – arrival is the only way to take a good landscape series. The monastery is situated on a hill, so sun would hit through all of your lenses with no remotest possibility to escape it. Transient clouds sometimes provide a kind of shade shelter, but a white balance would be objectionable anyway. As we arrived at the spot at 14 o’clock, nature provided us with no other options, but using either cloud shades or ND filters up to 400th with aperture values like f13 in order to avoid overexposure. If your main objective is the landscape/panoramic shooting, including architectural, then while mapping out your trip it would be preferable to visit Ferapontovo first – in the morning – delaying Kirillov for the midday, since in Kirillov landscape views are so-so, the architecture is not only the must, but also the only object.

Ver. 1, CPL+gradient grey, f13, 1/80s.

Ver. 2, CPL+skylight L1A, f13, 1/60s. 

Ver. 3, CPL+gradient blue, f13, 1/40s.  

The Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary and the church of Saint Martinian. CPL+gradient grey, f13, 1/60s. A counterlight shot taken while sun was covered by clouds. Since we arrived at 14 o’clock, lighting conditions were totally dissatisfactory. 

The Annunciation church. Direct counterlight. f13, 1/30s, CPL+ND2. Unsure of the second filter type, may be either ND2 or gradient grey. Extremely unfavorable conditions – direct counterlight. I my opinion, everything possible is done to process the source .nef image in order to achieve a satisfactory result. 

Ferapontovo village panorama. f13, 1/25s, CPL+gradient grey. 

Ferapontovo village panorama, position 2. 

Paskoye lake and Ferapontovo village. f13, 1/60s, CPL+gradient grey. 

Borodayevskoye lake. Two images taken with different filters. This one – with CPL+gradient grey combination, f13, 1/30s. 

The second image taken from the same spot is experimental: here I used ND400, by the way, with not too long shutter speed – just 1/2s, but open aperture. IMHO, looks better than its more conventional counterpart taken with CPL+gradient grey. 

St. Nilus of Sora church.