I don't think it's shopped, particularly looking at the first picture you notice the grain (from having the wrong shutter speed in low light conditions) and it matches perfectly throughout the whole picture- the background, trees, buildings, sky, "ufo", and the light shining down. That's all but impossible to pull off with photo shop, and photos are one thing I actually know.
Other than that, I'm not completely convinced. Just thought the story was interesting and the substance at least plausible.