In the Tengger Desert, located in Minqin county, there is a mysterious group of artificial sculptures. The metal columns that point to the sky in this picture are called raindrops. By day, it falls like a raindrop in the desert, but the photographer prefers it at night under the Milky Way. After the Moon sets, the metal sculpture reflects the light of the Milky Way, making the sculpture's outline very clear. Extremely bright starlight in the desert is reflected off the metal surface like a column of light from a vast universe of stars hitting the ground. The photographer placed the camera at a very low position in the center of the sculpture, facing toward the sky.
・ Minqin county, Wuwei city, China, Aug 23, 2020
・ Canon EOS 6D Mark II camera, 14 mm f/1.8 lens, ISO 5000, 8-second exposure
Staring into space has proved to be a particularly productive use of time for five Chinese photographers after their works were among 38 images from all over the world shortlisted for the Royal Observatory's Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2021.
This year's staging of the competition run by the world-famous London observatory is the 13th, and drew more than 4,500 entries from professional and amateur photographers in 75 different countries and regions.
Star Fall, by Wang Zheng, features starlight reflected off the columns of a metal sculpture in the Tengger Desert in Gansu province, with the camera placed at ground level within the sculpture, pointing to the heavens.
Star trails over the Lujiazui City Skyline, by Daning Kai, was taken on a clear night last October, showing how even in a city suffering from heavy light pollution, the wonders of the night sky can still be appreciated.
As the photographer was driving on the mountain road late at night and turned the corner, he saw a mound on the right side of the road. The mountains lined up and the Milky Way was lined-up in front of the photographer, so he stopped and climbed up the side of the road, set the camera to shoot automatically, and then drove back and forth in this curve. Then he climbed up the hillside and integrated himself into the picture.
・ Ranwu, Tibet, China, Oct 22, 2020
・ Nikon Z 7II camera, 17 mm f/2.8 lens
・ Car lights and figure: ISO 1000, 2 x 25-second exposures
・ Sky and mountains: ISO 6400, 25-second exposure
Star Watcher, by Yang Sutie, was taken when, driving through the desert at night, the photographer saw an interesting-looking mound lined up with the Milky Way in the sky, and managed to set the camera to shoot automatically and incorporate himself into the picture.
Sunrise of the Magic City, by Jiajun Hua, consists of four different exposures from the same perspective of the sun rising over Shanghai's Lujiazui financial district.
The Milky Way on the Ancient Village, by Zhang Xiao, was taken in the early hours of the morning when the streets of Hongcun, a UNESCO World Heritage Site at the foot of Huangshan Mountain, were deserted, and the streetlights had been turned off.
Shanghai is one of the most economically developed cities in China. The photo is taken 16 kilometers away from Lujiazui financial district. Every year there are only a few weeks when photographers can capture the scene of the Sun rising the Central Business District (CBD). The photographer waited for a few days and finally witnessed the Sun rising from the most prosperous area of Shanghai on a heavily polluted morning. The photo is composed of four different exposures from the same perspective, recording the process of the Sun rising.
・ Shanghai, China, Feb 7, 2021
・ Sony ILCE-7RM3 camera, 403 mm f/9 lens, ISO 320, 4 x 1/320-second exposures
The competition is divided into nine categories, with two other special prizes, and winners will be announced at an online award ceremony on Sept 16, two days before an exhibition of the winning images opens at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, South London.
The photographer who took the overall winning image will receive a prize of 10,000 pounds ($13,820), with individual category winners and the winner of the Young Photographer class each receiving 1,500 pounds.
Hongcun, an ancient village at the foot of Huangshan Mountain in China, has a history of more than 900 years and in 2000 it became a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Its existing buildings have the unique characteristics of Hui style architecture from the Ming and Qing dynasties. A galaxy of stars fell on the famous Yuezhao Lake surrounded by ancient buildings. This photo was taken after 1 am, the streetlights in the village had gone out, and no one was around.
・ Hongcun, Anhui, China, Feb 21, 2021
・ Canon EOS 6D Mark II camera, 35 mm f/1.4 lens, ISO 2500, 20 x 13-second exposures
In 2016, the competition's overall top prize was won by a Chinese photographer, Yu Jin, for his image of Baily's beads, a phenomenon caused by flecks of light appearing round the moon during a solar eclipse, and in 2019, two of the competition's categories were won by photographers from China, with another claiming third place.
That kept up a record of wider recent success for Chinese entrants in major international photography competitions.
This year, for the second time in three years, the top prize at the Pink Lady Food Photographer of the Year awards was won by a Chinese photographer, Li Huaifeng, with a picture called Taste, and Bao Yongqing's dramatic picture The Moment was chosen from more than 40,000 entrants to be named as overall winner of the 2019 Wildlife Photographer of the Year.
This image shows a close-up of a sunspot and the plasma as it flickers and follows the magnetic lines generated by the Sun. The photo depicts what is called the chromosphere, this is imaged using a hydrogen-alpha filter. The photo is made up of multiple frames that are stacked together and then later enhanced using Photoshop. It is an inverted view which creates more contrast.
