Church of the Good Shepherd under the Milky Way

[ST1]

One image from my stay in Lake Tekapo. I suspect that this church and the nearby Dark Sky Observatory are the reasons for the coach loads of visitors to Tekapo.
I've removed some ghosts of people during the processing of this image. But I haven't corrected the verticals of the Church Building.
From memory during this exposure the facing side of the church was briefly illuminated by the headlights of a car across the other side of the river. Hopefully it isn't too bright.

As always your thoughts and comments are welcome.

[LePetomane]

Peter, that's nicely done.

[Manfred M]

Nice shot. This is a very famous location for this type of photography and I understand from some photographers that people can be literally running into each other late into the night at this location.

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured.

[Mike Buckley]

Wonderful composition and exposure, Peter! It's especially great that you controlled the amalgamation of heavenly bodies to "point" toward the church.

[bnnrcn]

Beautiful image Peter If the image was mine I would darken the stairs and the bright side of the church a bit as it is a night shot.

[Tronhard]

This area is regarded as a World Heritage International Dark Sky Reserve, one of the first in the world as I understand it... There is an astronomical observatory in the hills above the lake where people go to get amazing shots of the stars, sometimes reflected on the lake surface.

http://www.laketekapo.com/blog/2012/...k-sky-reserve/

I like the photo very much. what you do to it depends on what your intent is: either highlight the church or the starscape. If you want to do both I would suggest actually darkening the whole thing as, to me, the light intensity immediately draws me to the church.

[bje07]

At first sight I thought it was a daylight shot, so I agree with Trev comment.
BTW I like the type of milky way picture, so with a correction I'll be happy to see it (well framed)

[Donald]

That's a beauty, Peter. You should be very proud of it.

[Tronhard]

I hope you will forgive my interpretation of your fabulous image: I did this because I needed to see what I know to be there. not as a critique of your image, but as my own experience, seen through your camera's lens.



I attempted to darken the sky, bring up the stars, reduce the light pollution behind the church, dampen down the church to make it less dominant and then found the tussock on the bottom left to be capturing my eye, so I made it less so. I also straightened the picture with a bit of rotation.

[IzzieK]

A good start, Peter -- and I like the edit of Trevor here to bring drama to the shot.

[Wavelength]

WOW....but where is Cinderella ?

[ST1]

Thanks everyone for taking time to look and comment. Having seen Trev's rework I thought you may like to see another of my images from the evening, actually the last image of the church I made that evening.

This one I processed slightly differently it was in fact processed prior to the first image I posted. Once again I've not corrected any distortion caused by the angle the image was taken at. You should be able to notice the difference caused by not having the church lit by stray light from a car headlights.

[ST1]

This area is regarded as a World Heritage International Dark Sky Reserve, one of the first in the world as I understand it... There is an astronomical observatory in the hills above the lake where people go to get amazing shots of the stars, sometimes reflected on the lake surface.

http://www.laketekapo.com/blog/2012/...k-sky-reserve/

I like the photo very much. what you do to it depends on what your intent is: either highlight the church or the starscape. If you want to do both I would suggest actually darkening the whole thing as, to me, the light intensity immediately draws me to the church.

Thanks Trev, we did visit the observatory and one of my travelling companions did a Dark Sky tour (1:00AM till 3:00AM).
The guides would if you had a DSLR with you make an image for you. But I think the image would have been of the sky rather than looking toward the lake/village.
The guide advised the tour that they (Observatory Team) had been involved in the design of the village street lighting so as to diminish any light pollution from them. They said the only potential light pollution could come from vehicle headlights driving through the village, which of course was evident in the first image I posted.

[bnnrcn]

Hi again Peter I like Trev's edit for #1. The milkyway looks super in your last image, I love it! If that image was mine I would reduce the saturation of yellows on the ground and on the church just a bit .

[ST1]

Hi again Peter I like Trev's edit for #1. The milkyway looks super in your last image, I love it! If that image was mine I would reduce the saturation of yellows on the ground and on the church just a bit .

Thank you Binnur, when I next get time to resume editing images I shall try out your suggestions


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[LePetomane]

You folks are talented!!!!