The Rotunda, Natural History Museum – Los Angeles, California

I often appreciate the architecture just as much or even more than the exhibits at the museum. The Natural History Museum in LA definitely has some grand architecture. This old-world Beaux-Arts entrance is the original, which is in stark counterpoint to the modern one that I talked about a few days ago.

Called the Haaga Family Rotunda, no doubt named after a generous benefactor, it’s topped but a stained glass dome created by Walter Horace Judson. Underneath, the Three Graces statue by Julia Bracken Wendt. I used the Olympus 9-18mm wide-angle to capture a slice of the elaborate room.

Despite shooting this at -2/3 stop compensation, I couldn’t coax all the stained glass detail from the RAW. I wonder now if my GFX 50R, with a bigger medium format sensor, would have faired much better? It should have a significantly better dynamic range than the Olympus micro 4/3 sensor. However, in retrospect, perhaps I should have shot this 1 or 1 1/3 stops under.

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