St. Maria, Neuß

Posted by MadScientist (Düsseldorf, Germany) on 7 June 2009 in Architecture.

Anther shot from the same series of this church in Neuß nearby Düsseldorf. As you can see, light was ridiculously low, especially above the modest illumination. Not only did I modify brightness and colouring carefully, but also played with Noise Ninja - I think it's not so bad after all. The strange construct in the upper left part is a gallery for the organ of this church.

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Comments (4)

Kaddy from Mumbai, India

lovely low light shot!!!

7 Jun 2009 6:28am

@Kaddy: Thanks very much, Kaddy!

dkc from Xanthi, Greece

Oh...mystique photo!

7 Jun 2009 1:19pm

@dkc: This is just an impression, actually the architecture of this church is somewhere between serious and sanguine: 1) it's not very old, you won't find age-old graves or crucifixes there; 2) most parts of the interior have been restored in the 1950s; 3) it's very colourful. I really would like to have a session with all lights on and a tripd at hand.

António Pires from Lisbon, Portugal

A dark church has to be shown as dark, not bright. That would be a completely different ambiance.

7 Jun 2009 5:59pm

@António Pires: The lamps were really weak, 60 watts per bulb, I would say. Often churches that have been restored in the 1950s don't push my button, but this one, with its strong colours (esp. in the windows!), is really different. I think another visit with full illumination would be very rewarding.

Twelvebit from Victoria, United States

I've fiddled a little with noise software --not NN, but another one-- and I couldn't see where it gave me any better results than the noise reduction in photoshop. However, I concede I may not have understood enough to get the best out of the software.

But in a photo like this I don't think the low level of illumination is as much of a noise problem as the difference between the light in the shadows versus the light in the rest of the image.

8 Jun 2009 4:43pm

@Twelvebit: I completely agree. Interestingly, this church had sort of reverse illumination, as usually the upper parts of the building are better lit than the floor. But here the windows were stained glass only, so the few lamps were the only reliable light source. (I don't have Photoshop, but Aperture + NoiseNinja do a good job.)

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