Paul Crome
Landscape photographer based in Cornwall
Latest image
Andromeda Rising
'Andromeda Rising'
Andromeda Galaxy M31 over Pendennis Castle
I'm hoping this is a first for Cornwall! It's certainly a first for me anyway!
I've been studying the art of deepscapes. That is to photograph a deep sky object close to the horizon, framed over a foreground subject.
We're already familiar with this technique from the amazing shots we see of the moon setting behind famous landmarks. This is taken in the same way, from a long distance with a DSLR & a telephoto lense, mounted on a star tracker.
I don't think there are many people trying this. Not sure why? Maybe because it's hard to make the edit look believeable. I've certainly had sleepless nights over this one and I don't blame anyone who says it looks fake. But I only did the same stuff in editing as I would, to a Milky Way image. In fact I toned it down, being aware if how unnatural it looks!
Obviously this had to be a composite but it is a true alignment! I worked it out using Planit. I'm used to planning my shots with Photopills so it took a few weeks of YouTube videos to figure out using this instead. In fact, this picture has been about 18 months in coming. With the time spent figuring out if this was even possible, learning Planit, and waiting for the right time. Once figured out, I discovered Planit can do a lot that photopills can't do, like plan astro shots in any direction, not just looking at the sun, moon or Milky Way core.
So, I worked out that Andromeda would be at the right altitude at 10pm on July 28th at an azimuth of 42.2°. I found a point to view Pendennis Castle along this trajectory from a few miles away at Maenporth. I photographed the foreground first, which coincided with the Andromeda galaxy rising. Then I turned on the tracker and followed Andromeda skyward for 60 frames at 60 seconds, ISO 1600, f/6.5. Edited with Deep Sky Stacker & Photoshop.
Brand new book
Discover the best hidden gems on Zakynthos!
This is a guide to finding and photographing Zante’s
most stunning locations on a road trip around this
beautiful island.
As a digital artist, during daylight I love to work in
infrared. But at night I find there is no better backdrop
to a photo than the night sky, so for me, a holiday
usually means a great opportunity for some astro -
photography.
By gathering all my research of the places I found, along
with all my own photos taken during my visit, I hope this
book will teach, guide, and inspire anyone planning a
trip to Zante with a camera, day, or night.
Featuring new images previously unreleased on social media.
Exhibition
Under the Spell of Zante - Images of a magical island
Helmis Natural History Museum of Zakynthos
May 18th - June 18th 2024
