Mission San Xavier del Bac, a National Historic Landmark, was completed by Franciscan friars in 1797. It is located about 10 miles southwest of Tucson in the San Xavier Reservation, part of the Tohono O'odham Nation. (Parahrase nps.gov)
We visited the Mission in 2019. It appears on "Top Ten" lists of attractions for Tucson. It is a beautifully cared for historic building and grounds. It is often called, "The White Dove of the Desert".
This image was taken mid-afternoon in early June, and although the exposure came out well in color I thought it would be a great image to try and do a black and white edit. I used the High Dynamic Range sliders, RGB Levels, and the Black & White: Color Sensitivity Sliders to achieve this look. I added some Clarity and a touch of Dehaze, although I'm not sure that made much of a difference. I removed a couple very small white puffs of clouds I felt were distracting, and masked the cross on top to lighten it after the sliders had darkened the sky to the same tone. The image was cropped. I made no adjustments to Contrast, Brightness or Saturation under the Exposure Tab.
Frank wonderful greyscale tonality, I especially like the high key areas of the towers and how the white barely yield to the shadows. This is possibly my most favorite of the Spanish Mission in the US, and one of my most favorite Ansel Adams architectural photographs.
Thank you SO much Paul.
I was hoping you would comment on this B&W image. I was not aware of Ansel Adams images of this beautiful Mission, thanks for pointing that out. I did a quick Google image search and saw some of his images - looks like if I get back there I should move maybe 20 feet to the right of where this image was taken for a retake - LOL .
He also shot and article (color) for Arizona Highways here.
Here’s a link to what I rate as one of the master’s most masterful of masterpieces :
https://www.mutualart.com/Artwork/MISSION-SAN-XAVIER-DEL-BAC--TUCSON--AR...
Why 20 feet to the right (>)?
If I get back (since 1993) I one thing I would try is a pano maybe like I did as I described in my image “… all just bricks in the wall” : https://fstoppers.com/photo/660786
I was thinking had I moved to the right, probably not a full 20 feet, I would have had Ansel's perspective looking squarely into the doorway. But checking back at other images I took that day I did get a couple, one with a young family walking out and another that is free from people but further away.
As for panos I have only tried that a few times, but thinking I should be working on doing that more often.
The monopod though sounds extra challenging!