Judge: Brendan Larsen
Astro (Aurora, moon, star trails, planets) - can you attach your camera to a telescope? . This is NOT about anything above the horison so no only clouds, sunset.
There are some technical guidelines to calculate exposure times
Many night photographers use the 500 or 300 Rule to calculate exposure times. It calculates the maximum exposure time for your lens focal length before the stars will start to blur. Use these settings as a starting point, actual exposure times may be influenced by foreground brightness and light pollution.
https://lightroom.adobe.com/academy/genres/night/technical-guide
So practice the below to get some understanding and repeat this when you are out on location:
Working with Shutter Speed
In manual mode, set the lens aperture as low as possible—ƒ/2.0, ƒ/2.8, or ƒ/4.0
Set the ISO to 12,800.
- Photograph the same night scene at 20, 10, and 5 seconds.
- Set the ISO to 6400 and photograph the same scene at 20, 10, and 5 seconds.
- Set the ISO to 3200 and photograph the same scene at 20, 10, and 5 seconds.
- Set the ISO to 1600 and photograph the same scene at 20, 10, and 5 seconds.
Members suggestions: astrophotography, ‘Above the horizon’ Clouds, aurora, moon, sunset etc. Its certainly a specialized area that takes a bit of doing at times! Night Photography (astro, light trails)
Open
Set Subject
C Grade - Set |
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| Atlas Comet C/2024 G3 | Accepted | Good capture of a difficult target. A bit more foreground would have been nice. Love the colours. Focus very slightly off. |
| Milky Way over Marlborough | Accepted | Good wide Milky Way pano arch. Sky is excellent (perfect focus, good editing). Foreground needs a bit more depth. It would have been good to get lower to the lake and have the lake in the middle if possible. |
| Picket fence Aurora | Accepted | Spectacular aurora shot. Shot feels a bit too zoomed in - so either a wider lens or pano would have suited. It's a shame that there is slight trailing - either a handheld shot or bumped in the middle of the exposure. |
| Stable Auroral Red Arc and Milky Way | Accepted | Beautiful colours. Good definition with the Milky Way. In focus and well edited. Needs a bit more foreground in my opinion. |
C Grade - Open |
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| Holding Tight | Merit | Love this one - well-timed shot with good zoom. Birds' eyes and expressions are priceless. |
| Moody Blues | Merit | Love the composition and colours. Very peaceful scene. |
B Grade - Set |
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| Above The Church | Accepted | Good composition with the Milky Way core perfectly aligned. Sky could be a bit less yellow with white balance, but otherwise well edited. |
| Aurora Australis (Oaro) | Accepted | Another beautiful aurora. Needs a bit more foreground interest. Aurora (unless very strong) really does push camera gear to the limit, so it's difficult to capture them well sometimes. |
| Aurorua over Lyttelton - 2024 | Merit | Beautiful aurora image with a strong foreground element. Focus possibly slightly off, which works well for the stars, but makes the foreground a bit soft. Overall, a great image. |
| Down the Beach | Accepted | Love the colour and definition in the Milky Way, and foreground and overall composition are very good. The blend between sky and foreground could be smoother - always a big challenge with sky and foreground blending. |
| Marfels on a good night | Accepted | Love the wood pile in the foreground with the light glowing. Nice sky. It would be nice to see more definition in the Milky Way to make the composition stronger. |
| Milky Way Oaro | Accepted | Nice Milky Way shot. The foreground could be more interesting. Stars slightly curled from slight camera movement during shot (windy night?). |
| Night Sky | Accepted | Good Milky Way core shot. Contrast may be a touch too strong. Foreground too dark to see details. |
| Pakawau Night Sky | Honours | Stunning Milky Way image. Excellent composition and edited very well. Love how the haze in the sky has bloated the larger stars, adding interest to the shot. The only thing I can fault with it is that the blending on the horizon has some issues when closely zoomed in. Contact me if you'd like help with how to easily fix this - the technique involves using the clone stamp tool on the edge of the mask. |
| Super Moon | Merit | Incredible detail in the moon. Very well edited. The Moon is slightly oblong, though which if it is taken on a 100% full moon it should be round. Assuming it's become elongated due to a long exposure, an untracked shot. |
| The wharf | Accepted | Perfect timing with getting the Milky Way core lined up with the wharf. I wonder if other compositions of the wharf with the Milky Way would be stronger compositions? (Closer / further away, higher angle etc). Or maybe there's another wharf that points in the direction of the Milky Way core that you can get the classic lined-up shot of the Milky Way from the vantage of looking straight down the wharf? |
B Grade - Open |
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| A change of perspective | Merit | Very creative and interesting image. Well done. Good symmetry. |
| Breakfast time at the river | Merit | Looks like fun feeding them. Well composed and very interesting image. I wonder if a portrait image zoomed in more on the person and the closest goose would be a stronger image? |
| Enchanted Forest . | Accepted | Interesting and unique composition. The lighting and focus very good. |
| Geological wonders , Milford Sound . | Merit | Breathtaking shot. Stunning scenery and moody atmosphere. Might make a great location for a nightscape image? |
| Industrial staircase | Merit | Very interesting and unique shot. Looks like an optical illusion due to the angles. Black and white accentuates the lines. |
| Weather Changing | Merit | Another breathtaking shot. Great timing with the lighting. |
| Wetting the wing tips | Merit | Amazing timing to get this shot with the reflection too. Sharp focus. |
| Wood Pigeons | Merit | I love the symmetry here. Unusual to have 2 birds positioned like this, so well done. |
A Grade - Set |
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| Aurora Australis | Merit | Love the aurora with the reflection. Sharp image with good white balance and well edited. I'd crop a little bit off the left and top to try to balance the symmetry slightly better. |
| Aurora Australis 11th May 2024 | Honours | Once in a lifetime shot from the May Aurora. Good definition in the aurora with strong rays and a good mix of colour without being too oversaturated. Foreground is interesting with the lights in the houses. I wonder how many of the people in those houses had no idea of the incredible display happening outside at the very moment?! Usually, the light pollution from the houses would overpower the image, but because that aurora was so strong and so bright, it means that the house lights aren't very bright compared to the brightness of the aurora. We may never get another aurora that strong in our lifetimes, but you never know. The image is well edited. The only thing I'd possibly do to improve the image a bit is to increase the clarity very slightly. |
| Aurora Borealis (Uttakliev, Norway) | Merit | Spectacular green aurora. I'm envious as I'm yet to capture one like that. Stars are slightly blurred (handheld shot or bumped tripod mid shot?) |
| Aurora through the mist | Merit | Ethereal, moody aurora shot. Suggest cropping slightly from the left and top to improve symmetry / balance. |
| Blood Moon | Merit | Very well captured and well-edited lunar eclipse shot. Well done. Personally, I'd crop it to put the moon in the centre. |
| Glowing Hills at Sunset | Merit | Lovely colours and stunning composition |
| Okaramio Church | Merit | Good composition, and I like how the church is light-painted / illuminated. The Milky Way is perfectly aligned. Well edited. Sky is a bit on the yellow side for my preference. |
| Reflective aurora | Merit | Another beautiful aurora shot. Lovely colours and the image is quite sharp. Not sure if I'd include the far right side of the image, as the bottom right (boat?) is a bit distracting to the overall image. |
| Ward Beach Aurora | Honours | Love the composition with the misty water and spectacular aurora. Foreground could be slightly sharper if focus stacked, but overall, a great image. Personally, I'd crop a little bit off the top to focus more on the aurora, but you've also got the Milky Way in the image too, so congratulations! |
A Grade - Open |
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| Built to Last | Merit | Interesting image, well captured on a beautiful day. |
| Catalina Cruising By | Merit | Impressive shot. Clear detail in the plane, blurred motion in the rotors - so just the right shutter speed. Well done. |
| Coal country | Merit | Good use of black and white. Interesting composition. |
| Dawn at Waimari Beach (ICM) | Merit | Stunning sunrise colours and impressive use of ICM with long shutter speed. |
| Frolicking Terns | Merit | Love the action captured. It could be slightly crisper focus, but always challenging with action shots like this. |
| In the shadows | Accepted | Interesting photo. Good focus on the person and the truck. The tower on the right blocks the view of the truck partially. |
| Incarcerated | Merit | Interesting creative photo and interesting subject and expression/gaze. |
| Lake Ellesmere layers | Merit | Beautiful colours and love the peaceful scene. |
| Retirement Companions | Merit | Skilful composition and good use of black and white. Very good use of focus and background blur to make the subjects stand out almost like 3D. |
| Watchers | Merit | Very interesting people shot. Love their expressions. Well composed. |
| Where motion stops | Merit | Unique and interesting photo. Interesting use of blur and focus adds to the shot. |
Shot of the Month
Aurora Australis 11th May 2024 by Grant Udy
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