Visitors to Christchurch NZ.

[Ian McHenry]

Anyone who has visited Christchurch, New Zealand will be familiar with "The cathedral in the square" .
A popular meeting place at lunch times or after work.
Unfortunately it was severely damaged in February's devastating earthquake.
Now 9 months later it has been partially opened to the public.
Photo details: Pentax K10D with Sigma 18-200 @ 22mm.
ISO 400. 1/1500 sec @ F8 minus 0.5 EV Multi segment metering.
Slight crop. Shortly before midday 26 November 2011.
Comment: Officially marked to "partially demolish" but likely to be completely demolished.
Cheers: Ian Mc

[Don Railton]

Hello Ian

As an expat kiwi its pretty sad to see the damage the earthquake did to Christchurch's most famous icon. Thanks for showing me what its really like now. I hope the 'wizard' is still around although he is probably retired now. From an image point of view it might need a (slight) bit of clockwise rotation and I would crop out the distracting orange/white barrier, but I know this is not the point of the photo so I will say no more..

regards

DON

[Ian McHenry]

Thanks Don
Good to hear from you.
Hope you haven't been affected too much by bush fires in WA.
Perth is a beautiful city for wonderful birdlife and colourful tropical plants.
The wizard has been low profile recently but was one of the first to go for the square walk, and is once again showing himself as a presence in the city.
Cheers: Ian Mc

[Robert Amoruso]

Ian,

From a documentation perspective, this image hits the mark.

From a esthetic perspective, a number of problems exist including poor/contrasty light, burned out clouds, and clipping the bottom of the barriers in the FG.

[Morkel Erasmus]

Can only agree with Robert.
On a sidenote, I hope it is restored to its former glory...:e3

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Ian,
Thanks for sharing the story. I haven't been there but it is high on my list! I do think this one screamed HDR......I know you may not be venturing there but it would have been a good option in this case.

[Ian McHenry]

Thanks Robert, Morkel and Roman
Your constructive comments much appreciated.
Repost of uncropped original image with Topaz Adjust 5 in HDR preset of Dynamic Pop 2.
Cheers : Ian Mc

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Ian, thanks for the story. Hopefully it will look good as new once restoration is completed. I prefer the repost except for the sky. You could apply the Topaz 5 effect to a background layer and mask back in the original sky for a more natural look if you wanted that.

[Ian McHenry]

Thanks Andrew
I can see the sky problem so have tried a quick fix by applying Noise Ninja.
Cheers: Ian Mc

[Ian McHenry]

Just one more
Here is an image of the cathedral only very slightly damaged after the 2010 Boxing Day earthquake.
Less than 2 months later came the devastation.
Cheers: Ian Mc