Reyniskirkja Church under the Stars

[Craig_85]

Church under the Stars by Craig Hollis, on Flickr

 

[Mark Johnson]

Brilliant

 

[Iiyama]

Superb shot. Well done.

 

[G.K.Jnr.]

"Excellent" shot Sir, nuff said.

George.

 

[mdjchat]

I can't add much more critique than "great photo" but I would like to know how you captured this shot. Is it lit only by the spotlights or have you walked around and lit the building with a powerful flashgun?

 

[69Bonni]

Like that Craig, very nicely done! Are you multiplying luminosity masks for the stars?

 

[Craig_85]

Brilliant

Superb shot. Well done.

"Excellent" shot Sir, nuff said.

George.

Thanks guys.

I can't add much more critique than "great photo" but I would like to know how you captured this shot. Is it lit only by the spotlights or have you walked around and lit the building with a powerful flashgun?

Like that Craig, very nicely done! Are you multiplying luminosity masks for the stars?

@mdjchat Thanks, the shot of the church was taken on a moonless night and is a blend of 3 exposures (a base shot for most of the scene along with one for the brightest highlights on the gravestones/snow in front of the lights and one for the upper part of the spire that was a bit dark). There was no additional artificial lighting but by using 3 exposures and blending them you are sort of digitally light painting.

@69Bonni Hi Steve, how do you mean mate? Because there are a lot of stars? They were also taken on a moonless night in Iceland where it literally takes your breath away how many stars there are. I did use luminosity masking to sharpen the stars and noise reduce the black sky, and apply my curves to just the stars selectively so that would sort of multiply the stars by bringing the darker ones out.

 

[69Bonni]

@69Bonni Hi Steve, how do you mean mate? Because there are a lot of stars? They were also taken on a moonless night in Iceland where it literally takes your breath away how many stars there are. I did use luminosity masking to sharpen the stars and noise reduce the black sky, and apply my curves to just the stars selectively so that would sort of multiply the stars by bringing the darker ones out.

I am having a bit of a mission on night photography and PP of the same. I have seen people stacking luminosity masks to pull up the stars that was all. Interesting PP on Night photography So how were you reducing the noise if i may ask?
Yes it is actually breathtaking when you get in a dark sky area and look up and see exactly how many stars there are, makes you actually feel very small and insignificant

 

[Craig_85]

I am having a bit of a mission on night photography and PP of the same. I have seen people stacking luminosity masks to pull up the stars that was all. Interesting PP on Night photography So how were you reducing the noise if i may ask?
Yes it is actually breathtaking when you get in a dark sky area and look up and see exactly how many stars there are, makes you actually feel very small and insignificant

I don't know much about astro processing but I think you may be talking about people intersecting highlight masks to refine the selection to the stars. Or you are talking about image averaging.

Intersecting selections is where you ctrl + click on the RBG channel, if you then press ctrl + alt + shift click then you will intersect the selection within itself to make a smaller selection of just the stars. You can repeat this, then click the create new channel from selection icon. Another way of refining the selection is by using curves and pulling the black and white points in. The aim is to make the stars white and the sky, even the different shades within it black. You can then invert this mask (white is reveal and black is conceal) and apply it to a noise reduction layer. TIP if you duplicate the mask before you invert it, you can use the original mask on a stars sharpen layer. If this technique was used to brighten stars then that is also something I do, I create the mask of the stars, crush it with curves to pick up the less bright stars, then create a curves adjustment layer with the mask applied (white revealing the stars). Then you can pull the luminance of the darker stars up without blowing the brightest ones, and you are not effecting the shade of the background sky.

Image averaging is where you stack multiple exposures, and because the noise is random and has moved from one exposure to the next you can stack them in an averaging mode, say median and lose a lot of the noise. This is cool, but requires perfectly aligned shots, it is actually also helpful with bringing out more detail in say a MW shot. The masked noise reduction explained above is quicker for most landscape star shots.

 

[69Bonni]

I don't know much about astro processing but I think you may be talking about people intersecting highlight masks to refine the selection to the stars. Or you are talking about image averaging.

Intersecting selections is where you ctrl + click on the RBG channel, if you then press ctrl + alt + shift click then you will intersect the selection within itself to make a smaller selection of just the stars. You can repeat this, then click the create new channel from selection icon. Another way of refining the selection is by using curves and pulling the black and white points in. The aim is to make the stars white and the sky, even the different shades within it black. You can then invert this mask (white is reveal and black is conceal) and apply it to a noise reduction layer. TIP if you duplicate the mask before you invert it, you can use the original mask on a stars sharpen layer. If this technique was used to brighten stars then that is also something I do, I create the mask of the stars, crush it with curves to pick up the less bright stars, then create a curves adjustment layer with the mask applied (white revealing the stars). Then you can pull the luminance of the darker stars up without blowing the brightest ones, and you are not effecting the shade of the background sky.

Image averaging is where you stack multiple exposures, and because the noise is random and has moved from one exposure to the next you can stack them in an averaging mode, say median and lose a lot of the noise. This is cool, but requires perfectly aligned shots, it is actually also helpful with bringing out more detail in say a MW shot. The masked noise reduction explained above is quicker for most landscape star shots.

"I don't know much about astro processing" more than me by the look of it But im trying to learn as much as my brain cell will accept.
Yes, in that case I was actually referring to Intersecting selections, I like the look of the second method I will have a play with this also.... So much to do so little time!!!
Thanks for explaining the Image averaging, i was trying to see how that works and its fairly obvious now that you have explained it!
I do enjoy processing and seeing what works and what doesn't, but as I sit in front of a PC all day now, so sometimes I have to give my square eyes a rest.
I'm going up to the Peak District soon so I hope to do a bit of Astro work up there if i get the chance... I guess if im dragging my backside out for sunrise and walking all day, i'll have to see if I can stay awake for the astro stuff!
Thanks for the Info mate much appreciated! I will PM you sometime