Last week, I posted a photo of the elegant stairway at the entrance to the Oliver Bronson House. The stairway goes to the top of this once magnificent house. After seeing it in it's current condition, it is still hard to believe that it was built in 1812. In any case, each floor has its own specific look and feel. For this photo, I climbed to the third floor and checked out what we called the "blue room" (for obvious reasons). You might think that this is a simple shot, but a lot of thought went into its composition. Making this a challenge was the dynamic range of the scene. It was dark in the corners and bright near the windows. Coupled that with whether the doors should be closed, partially opened or fully opened. I must have tried at least ten compositions with all of the possible combinations. I finally decided that this one was "the" composition for several reasons. First, I wanted to show the rails of the stairway to be prominent and appropriately lit. Second I wanted the light to gradually brighten as you look through the doors. That forced me to open the door of the room in between the blue room and the stairway. Next was the decision to leave the closet door partially open, hopefully adding a mystery of what might be in there. That decision led me to have the door to the blue room being partially opened. So this seeming simple shot required a lot of thought.