Winners Announcement of Optolong 2023 Nightscape Competition-Starryscape Dream
Winners Announcement of Optolong 2023 Nightscape Competition-Starryscape Dream
The 6th. Optolong 2023 Nightscape Competition-Starryscape Dream has been came to an end, and the winners have been selected. Nine winners were born. Congratulations! We are so impressed by the creativity and talent of all the participants who submitted their entries.
Massive thanks to our judges, Kerry-Ann Lecky Hepburn from Canada, Mehmet Ergün from Germany, Yuri Beletsky from Chile, Vincent Cheng from Hong Kong(China) and Steed(虞骏) from China to keep the contest equitable and fairness. We are very proud to announce the winnners officially herewith.
Let's find out who are the winners of this amazing contest, and enjoy the award photos.
►NightScape Category
The 1st Prize - One Winner
♦1/1 Photo Number：178 星星的律动 /Rhythm of the Stars
Photographer: 陈斌
Country: China
Photo title：星星的律动
Equipment used：Canon EOS 6D2
Shooting data: f/4.0，ISO2000，单张13秒，900张堆栈
Date and time：20221205
Location：云南泸沽湖
Photo Description：星星的律动，你可曾听见？我经常在思考我为什么喜欢星空，是喜欢在旷野里看闪烁的星光，还是喜欢偶然划过的流星，直到最近，才发现也许自己喜欢的是星空与人类之间的关系，这张建筑星轨是一个全新的尝试，2022年12月初摄于泸沽湖。 后期处理方式：利用多张堆栈选择最合适的画面，后半夜的月光刚刚好撒在钢琴上，让画面主体更突出，选取合适曝光的进行叠加。
English Version : Do you ever hear the rhythm of the stars? I often think about why I like the starry sky, whether I like to see the twinkling stars in the wilderness, or like the meteors that pass by by chance, until recently, only to find that perhaps what I like is the relationship between the stars and human beings, this architectural star trails is a brand new attempt, taken in Lugu Lake in early December 2022. Post-processing: use multiple stacks to select the most appropriate image, the moonlight in the latter half of the night is just enough to spread on the piano, so that the main body of the picture is more prominent, and select the appropriate exposure for stacking.
The 2nd Prize -- Two Winners
♦ 2/1 Photo Number 049 Milky Way above the Turquoise Wonderland (Milky Way and Bioluminescence)
Photo Title: Milky Way above the Turquoise Wonderland (Milky Way and Bioluminescence)
Photographer: Petr Horálek
Country: Czech Republic
Equipment used: Used Canon Ra, Samyang 24mm (f2.2) ISO 5000, exposures 15s (single shots), Optolong Clear Sky filter
Imaging time and site: 14 February 2023, Soneva Jani Island, Maldives
Briefly describe your photo or story, location of the photography included: I visited the northern beach of the small island Soneva Jani and couldn’t believe my eyes. The whole beach shined with such engaging turquoise light while the gems of the Southern Cross constellation were appearing in the sky. Locals say the bioluminescence of plankton peaks in early January, but this year the activity prolonged a month more. Not every night before or after it was that strong, but this night was just simply EPIC. You could easily walk on the beach with the plankton stuck on your feet so much that your legs worked like small torches. You could swim in the lagoon and see each of your movements illuminated by the plankton in the water. You just felt like in a turquoise wonderland
Post-processing methods employed (if any): Final color correction of this single shot image in LR and PS.
♦ 2/2 Photo Number 021
Photo Title：穹顶星迹 /Domed Star Trails
Photographer：许晓平
Country: 中国 /China
拍摄器材 /Equipment used: Canon EOS R5 + Canon RF 15-35mm f/2.8
拍摄参数 /Shooting data：15mm、f/2.8、ISO3200、15秒，400张叠加
拍摄时间 /Shooting date：2022年3月4日
拍摄地点 /Location：甘肃省武威市民勤
作品描述 /Description：在沙漠雕塑公园内，有一组雕塑有很多巨大的金属锥形立柱阵列组成，当夜晚降临，繁星闪烁，点点星光便会倒影在金属的立柱上，我将相机放到雕塑中间的地面上，将镜头朝天，一根根立柱犹如生长的触手，伸向星空，而星轨也在金属柱身上留下倒映的痕迹，还有淡淡的颜色。 后期方式：在Photoshop中，调整曝光、颜色等处理。用半岛雪人 进行400张堆栈
English version :In the Desert Sculpture Park, there is a group of sculptures with many huge arrays of metal conical columns, when the night falls, the stars twinkle, a little starlight will be reflected in the metal columns, I put the camera on the ground in the middle of the sculpture, and turn the lens towards the sky, a column is like a growing tentacle, reaching out to the stars, and the star trails are also in the metal columns to leave reflections of the traces, and the faint colours. Post mode: in Photoshop, adjust the exposure, colour and other processing. Use Peninsula Snowman to make a 400pcs stacked.
The 3rd Prize--Three Winners
♦ 3/1 Photo Number 107 While We Sleep, Milky Way
Photo Title: While We Sleep, Milky Way
Photographer: Kavan Chay
Country: New Zealand
Equipment used: Nikon Z7, Sigma Art 40 f1.4, Nikkor Z 14-24 f2.8S, SkyWatcher Star Adventurer Pro
Shooting date and location: 26/2/23, Aoraki National Park, New Zealand
Description: Sefton Bivouac is the oldest hut in the Aoraki National Park still standing on its original site, with it being a valuable shelter for generations of mountaineers in the area. These days it's more frequently used by hikers who get treated to some gorgeous views from this hut during sunrise and sunset. It's also a stunning location for astrophotography due to the dark skies, if you are fit enough to complete the climb. - Tracked sky panorama blended with stacked foreground panorama
♦ 3/2 Photo Number 261 星空文明
Photo Tittle: 星空文明 /Starry Night Civilisation
Photographer: 王添玮
Country: 中国 /China
拍摄器材：Nikon Z6iiBCF + NIKKOR Z20 1.8s
拍摄参数：天空f/1.8，ISO400，单张120秒；地景f/2.8,ISO6400,单张30秒各5张堆栈，堆栈后天地共22张拼接
拍摄时间：20230520
拍摄地点：甘肃省正宁县黄帝文化博览园
作品简述：在甘肃正宁县的黄帝文化博览园中拍到了银河拱桥跨越仿古宫殿建筑的情景。在这星空灿烂的夜晚，身处纪念中华文明人文初祖黄帝的建筑群中，感受到中华文明实际是一种星空文明。告别了茹毛饮血的原始时代，从事农业生产后的先民通过朴素的观星授时活动指导农耕生产，而后逐渐产生了对天、地、人相互关系的思考，这种思考直接促成了中华文化时空观、政治观、宗教观、祭祀观、礼仪制度、哲学观的形成。所以古代天文学便成了古代制度与思想之渊薮。中华文明启蒙来自于星空，但绝不会守旧不前，求新求变的文化精神是中华文明前进的不竭动力源泉。“星空浩瀚无比，探索永无止境”，继续向着宇宙深处探索，中华民族才能更好的走向未来。 后期处理方式：1、lightroom对原始图片进行镜头矫正等基础操作输出tiff图像；2、PTGUI拼接tiff图像输出；3、Photoshop调色处理。
English version: The Milky Way Arch Bridge across the ancient palace buildings was photographed in the Huangdi Cultural Expo Park in Zhengning County, Gansu. On this starry night, being in the complex of buildings commemorating the Yellow Emperor, the first ancestor of Chinese civilisation, I felt that Chinese civilisation is actually a starry sky civilisation. After saying goodbye to the primitive era of drinking blood, the ancestors engaged in agricultural production guided the farming production through simple stargazing and timing activities, and then gradually produced the thinking on the interrelationship between the sky, the earth, and human beings, which directly contributed to the formation of the Chinese culture's view of space and time, politics, religion, rituals, ritual systems, and philosophical outlook. Therefore, ancient astronomy became a source of ancient systems and ideas. The enlightenment of Chinese civilisation came from the stars, but it was never conservative, and the cultural spirit of seeking innovation and change was the inexhaustible source of power for the advancement of Chinese civilisation. "The starry sky is immense, and exploration never ends". Continuing to explore the depths of the universe, the Chinese nation will be better able to move into the future. Post-processing methods: 1, lightroom on the original picture lens correction and other basic operations output tiff image; 2, PTGUI splicing tiff image output; 3, Photoshop colour treatment.
♦ 3/3 Photo Number 087 Alien Forest, Milky Way
Photo Title: Alien Forest, Milky Way
Photographer: Marcin Zajac
Country: Poland
Equipment used: Nikon D810, Tamron 15-30
Shooting date and location: 2022/07/01, Mono Lake, California, USA
Description: These strange, cream-colored rock towers located near Mono Lake are called tufas. They formed when underwater springs rich in calcium mixed with the waters of the lake, which are rich in carbonates. The resulting reaction formed limestone. Over time the buildup of limestone formed towers, and when the water level of the lake dropped the towers became exposed. Blended tracked sky image with blue hour foreground image.
►Special Celestial Category
The 1st Prize--One winner
♦ Photo Number 023 Perseids 2022
Photo Title: Perseids 2022
Photographer: Majo Chudý
Country: Slovakia
Equipment used: Sony A7M3 full spectrum + Samyang 24mm f/1.4
Shooting date and location: 17.8.2022, 22:14 - 00:29, Vršatec, Slovakia
Description: Here on Vršatec, it was a battle with the wind, the moon and the haze. The wind played not only with the trees but also with the clothes. There were about 45 minutes to take pictures before the moonrise, which of course I didn't make it as always and therefore the rising moon, which is behind the rock, already slightly illuminates the landscape to the right. I started shooting the Perseids on August 1st due to concerns about moonlight during the peak of the meteor shower. I spent 10 nights catching meteors until August 16th. 304 meteors were found on 22,000 images, of which 228 were Perseids. There are 210 of them in this section of the panorama. The meteors have the actual direction and size and location in the panorama as captured by the camera. The girl was on the spot during the shooting of the panorama and she endured 3 x 30 second. - Pano from 68 photos + 210 meteors. Sky - 30s, iso-3200, f/2.8 Foreground - 30s, iso-6400, f/4.5
The 2nd Prize--One winner
♦ Photo Number 034 Lunar Eruption
Photo Title: Lunar Eruption
Photographer: Jordi López Coy
Country: Spain
TARGET: Moon
Equipment used: Canon 5D MK IV, lens Sigma 150-600mm, tripod Vanguard.
Description: For this photograph I wanted to make an optical effect so that the moon seems to emerge from the interior of the earth through the crater of a volcano. For that I had to place myself at the perfect distance and place so that the moon had the right size with respect to the diameter of the crater. the distance was 10 km. The mountain is called Peñón de Algámitas, it is not a volcano, it is a mountain 1100 meters high, but from one of its sides it looks like a huge volcano. It took several days of planning and visits to the place until finding the right place, because the terrain was very irregular and full of vegetation. LOCATION: Algámitas, Seville, Spain. POST PROCESING: Use of 2 photographs taken at the same time without moving the camera only to make hdr, basic adjustments of contrast, lights and shadows
The 3rd Prize--One winner
♦ Photo Number 017 ions and water over Iceland
Photo Title: ions and water over Iceland
Photographer: Cari Letelier
Country: Chile
Equipment used: Nikon D810A lens Sigma art 14mm f1.8 Panoramic head Nodal Ninja and Manfrotto Tripod
Imaging time and site: 27th February, 2023 22:32 hrs / Goðafoss, Iceland
Description: This was the most insane night I've ever seen, we waited nearly 4 hours standing next to a huge waterfall called Godafoss in the northern part of Iceland, with wind gusts of 70 km/hr!, but we were and under a G3 level geomagnetic storm with a KP7!, full of many different shape of auroras, this was the result of the interaction of a CME generated by the M6.3 solar flare (sunspot region 3229) on February 25th that arrived during the afternoon/night hours on February 27th.
Post processing methods employed (if any): Panorama of 34 frames each photo 14mm f1.8 ISO 5000 2" -Your submission quantities of work: 1
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Congrats again, Dear all. You are the best.
Thank all of you to join us, thank you for excellent works, thank you for coming! See you in the next Optolong Nightscape Competition.
About the Prizes~ the prizes will be sent out one by one.
KINDLY NOTE:
The copyright of the above works belongs to the author, and no one can use it without permission.
