Your one stop shop for everything photo-video
The Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition always fascinates me. I wouldn’t even begin to know how to create most of the images I see winning each year. For real, how do you shoot a Stargate?
This year is the 15th annual competition, and the winners, runners-up, and highly commended are all pretty amazing. Some scenes include a view of the ground, while others leave our little planet very far behind!
Capturing the ISS as it transits the Sun or the Moon is one of the holy grails of every astrophotographer. But how about capturing it as it transits the Sun and a massive sunspot, in the middle of a spacewalk? Thierry Legault has an answer to this question – that’s extremely exciting and you need to be extremely precise, plan ahead, and be at the right place at the right time. We chatted with Thierry about his stunning transition image, and he shared some details about this impressive shot, as well as many interesting details from his rich astrophotography career.
Astrophotography enthusiasts, you’re in for a treat today. The Astronomy Photographer of the Year has announced its 2023 shortlists, and they’re as gorgeous as the starry sky on a warm summer evening. Speaking of starry skies, you’ll see some of them among this year’s shortlists. But of course, there are plenty more photos revealing what’s far beyond what meets our eye.
Who among you likes fireworks? Today, we’re diving into the captivating image of the Trifid Nebula, and it’s like colorful cosmic fireworks. If you ask me – it looks way better than the real thing! It was captured by the talented astrophotographer Martin Pugh, who kindly shared this stunning photo with DIYP.
Back in 2017, my wife and I went out to the desert to take a picture of a small open cluster known as Messier 37. The picture came out nice, it shows the bright cluster, full of blue, white, and yellow stars, in front of a very dark background. One thing we did not know, though, was that this cluster hides the oldest planetary nebula ever found in the universe!
My name is David Joyce and I am an astrophotographer, taking photos of our universe right here from my backyard. I’ve been into astronomy ever since I was a child, so choosing astrophotography was a logical step to take once I got interested in photography.
In this article, I will guide you through the process, challenges, and ups and downs I’ve had on this journey. But more importantly, I’ll share the final “recipe” I ended up with that will help you overcome the obstacles and take stunning photos of space from wherever you live. And last but not least, I will show you some of my photos for inspiration and a reminder that you can be an astrophotographer even if you don’t leave your home.
Photographer Jason De Freitas has shown us a fantastic lunar eclipse sequence and a timelapse of the Milky Way. What’s special about these projects is that they were shot entirely on 35mm film.
Now Jason has done it again. Using his film camera and a telescope, he shot what seems to be the Holy Grail of astrophotography lately: the ISS transitioning the moon. What’s more, it’s probably the first ISS transit captured on 35mm, ever!
It’s not common anymore that I come across photos on Instagram, especially those that stop me in my tracks. But when it happens – oh boy do I get amazed! One of the people who always blows my mind with his images is Andrew McCarthy, and it happened the other day with his latest image of Mars and the Moon.
The celestial objects were perfectly lined for a shot that looks like it was taken from the Moon. Of course, we can’t go there (yet), and Andrew didn’t even leave his backyard for this image. He told DIYP a bit more about how he took it and shared the magnificent photos with our readers so we can all admire it together.
In a detailed technical blog I compare six AI-based noise reduction programs for the demands of astrophotography. Some can work wonders. Others can ruin your image.
Over the last two years, we have seen a spate of specialized programs introduced for removing digital noise from photos. The new generation of programs use artificial intelligence (AI), aka machine learning, trained on thousands of images to better distinguish unwanted noise from desirable image content. At least that’s the promise – and for noisy but normal daytime images they do work very well. But in astrophotography our main subjects – stars – can look a lot like specks of pixel-level noise. How well can each program reduce noise without eliminating stars or wanted details, or introducing odd artifacts, making images worse?
To find out, I tested six of the new AI-based programs on real-world – or rather “real-sky” – astro photos. Does one program stand out from the rest for astrophotography?
Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.
Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe
Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.
John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
FIND THIS INTERESTING? SHARE IT WITH YOUR FRIENDS!