Seeing ceilings

Vadim Sherbakov encourages us to capture an alternative gaze in his ongoing photo series Look Up

While it might require less brainpower to take most of our shots at eye level, if we only gaze skywards once in a while, there are fascinating textures and compositions to be found. Vadim Sherbakov has dedicated a whole ongoing project, Look Up, to the approach, and his resulting images show just how beautiful it can be.

“The best locations are building interiors,” he says. “This is the Sainte-Chapelle in Paris, a beautiful small church near Notre-Dame. I used an Irix 11mm f/4 ultra-wide lens with a Canon 5D Mark IV to shoot this unique angle. I shot handheld, since no tripods are allowed inside the chapel.”

You don’t necessarily need to change your own gear to start shooting, says Vadim. “A kit lens such as an 18-55 mm will do, but for the best results I’d recommend full-frame cameras and ultra-wide lenses. If you can, go for a camera sensor that can handle high ISO with low noise.”

Vadim needs steady hands and merged shots to create a single composition of this kind. “Because you shoot in dark conditions, it’s best to shoot multiple times to ensure you will get perfect focus.

I also recommend using three to five bracketed shots, so that you can recover blown-out parts.” To recover these areas, Vadim edits in Lightroom and Photoshop, carrying out lens correction profiles, noise reduction, colour correction and sharpening.

When you’re searching for inspiration, look everywhere you go. “You’ll find that an interesting line, a pattern or sometimes even a beautiful painting can be a great subject,” says Vadim. “Look for old houses that have pleasing architecture, hotels, wells, museums, churches and cathedrals.”