On a trip to Rome in the first decade of this century, I became a bit obsessed with photographing the oculus of the Pantheon. I returned several times under a variety of weather conditions to shoot and re-shoot the scene. My goal was to make a single exposure that retained detail both in the sky and in the dome. Unfortunately, the sensor in the digital camera I owned at the time was not at all up to the task. Upon returning to my home computer, I photoshopped an image of the sky (including a bird, of course) onto an image of the inside of the dome. Mission accomplished. With today's camera sensors, I probably could easily achieve my goal of capturing sufficient dynamic range in one click. Would the final result be any better? At any rate, several years later, I was wandering the streets of downtown Chicago and saw some conceptual art on display. The experience triggered the memory of my Roman adventure, so I made a snap with my phone. It occurs to me that what I would really like to do is visit the Pantheon during a snow storm.
