Mind-blowing Andromeda galaxy picture wins Space photo contest's top prizes

How cool is that !

The picture was taken by French photographer Nicolas Lefaudeux who used depth of field manipulation to achieve the effect of the Andromeda Galaxy at arms length , it impressed the judges of the Royal Observatory Greenwich’s Insight Investment Astronomy Photographer of the Year 2020 competition so much they awarded it not only best Galaxies picture but also best picture in the contest.

Contest judges selected Lefaudeux's photo, titled "Andromeda Galaxy at Arm's Length?", from thousands of submissions, naming it the winner in the "Galaxies" category, as well as the competition's overall best photo.

Lefaudeux captured the image in Forges-les-Bains, Île-de-France, using a 3D-printed custom camera attachment to achieve the tilt-shift visual effect; "the blur created by the defocus at the edges of the sensor gives this illusion of closeness to Andromeda," Royal Museums Greenwich representatives said in a statement.
www.livescience.com...

Bravo monsieur , Lefaudeux.
Magnifique.

lol, he used the miniature feature, my camera have the to.. blur the top and bottom.. makes the picture looks like a small and delicate. Looks nice, he must have a great telescope.

a reply to: gortex

I'm sorry, but that looks fake as hell.

a reply to: gortex
Tilt shift applied to astrophotography,nice idea.

Looks like the view you would see if you were approaching the galaxy in a ship.

originally posted by: Creep Thumper
a reply to: gortex

I'm sorry, but that looks fake as hell.

It's a stacked combination of many photos probably taken over many nights, it looks legit to me, I used to be a fanboy of Astro photography (still am I suppose) so have seen many of these images, albeit not with the depth of field effect, which I like a lot

S&F, awesome image

originally posted by: MerkabaTribeEntity

originally posted by: Creep Thumper
a reply to: gortex

I'm sorry, but that looks fake as hell.

It's a stacked combination of many photos probably taken over many nights, it looks legit to me, I used to be a fanboy of Astro photography (still am I suppose) so have seen many of these images, albeit not with the depth of field effect, which I like a lot

S&F, awesome image

It is a neat picture. The effect would be better if the photo were much larger.

originally posted by: Spacespider
lol, he used the miniature feature, my camera have the to.. blur the top and bottom.. makes the picture looks like a small and delicate. Looks nice, he must have a great telescope.

It is technically known as Tilt-Shift (not trying to correct you)

originally posted by: Creep Thumper

originally posted by: MerkabaTribeEntity

originally posted by: Creep Thumper
a reply to: gortex

I'm sorry, but that looks fake as hell.

It's a stacked combination of many photos probably taken over many nights, it looks legit to me, I used to be a fanboy of Astro photography (still am I suppose) so have seen many of these images, albeit not with the depth of field effect, which I like a lot

S&F, awesome image

It is a neat picture. The effect would be better if the photo were much larger.

You're correct it Looks better larger!

a reply to: gortex

Imagine how cool it would be to be alive when Andromeda and the Milky Way start to collide. Hell of a night sky as it gets closer.

Thanks for sharing.

Very cool, Looks like a tilted lens aka: Lilliputian Photography.

That is the best photo of Andromeda I've ever seen.

That's one hell of an astrophotographer.

originally posted by: abeverage

originally posted by: Creep Thumper

originally posted by: MerkabaTribeEntity

originally posted by: Creep Thumper
a reply to: gortex

I'm sorry, but that looks fake as hell.

It's a stacked combination of many photos probably taken over many nights, it looks legit to me, I used to be a fanboy of Astro photography (still am I suppose) so have seen many of these images, albeit not with the depth of field effect, which I like a lot

S&F, awesome image

It is a neat picture. The effect would be better if the photo were much larger.

You're correct it Looks better larger!

Crikey, I feel like I'm in a "MIB" movie.

originally posted by: Creep Thumper

originally posted by: abeverage

originally posted by: Creep Thumper

originally posted by: MerkabaTribeEntity

originally posted by: Creep Thumper
a reply to: gortex

I'm sorry, but that looks fake as hell.

It's a stacked combination of many photos probably taken over many nights, it looks legit to me, I used to be a fanboy of Astro photography (still am I suppose) so have seen many of these images, albeit not with the depth of field effect, which I like a lot

S&F, awesome image

It is a neat picture. The effect would be better if the photo were much larger.

You're correct it Looks better larger!

Crikey, I feel like I'm in a "MIB" movie.

Need some Marbles?

Nice ( that second photo of the town Looks like a scale model lol )
Strange what you can do with a camera .

originally posted by: Creep Thumper
a reply to: gortex

I'm sorry, but that looks fake as hell.

You don't have to look very far in any astronomy website or social media group to find amazing 'amateur' photos. I use 'amateur' advisedly, as some of the setups people use cost thousands, and the photos themselves can take a lot of processing to produce from many hours of video or repeat frame photos.

astrobackyard.com...

a reply to: gortex

It’s flocking right at us!!

LOL!

Great photo!! When we collide it will be a gravity well collision not planet vs planet. I think that it will be a not too messy blending!

But man, that thing is huge!

A few billion years or so?... Well, it would be cool to see!!

originally posted by: Creep Thumper
a reply to: gortex

I'm sorry, but that looks fake as hell.

The tilt-shift effect does make our brains think the images are fake -- like they are miniature models. Here is a great example:


The above example is a totally real scene, but the way the top and bottom are blurred and the center is not fools our brains into thinking it is a scene that is very close to the camera -- like what a picture miniature model sitting on a tabletop in front of us might look.

If the edges of the above street image were not blurred, the image would look like a perfectly normal picture of a city intersection to our brains.

Similarly for the galaxy image, the blurred top and bottom makes the entire scene look like it is real close to the camera -- or "at arm's length" as the photographer put it -- like if it were a fake model.

Just think Amdromeda is racing towards the Milky Way at 250,000 mph, Wish I could witness the night sky when it collides with the Milky Way.

After gazing at this powerful image for several minutes
the outside world disappeared thoughts faded silence happened
some distant and very small speck of awareness stretched out into the infinite
trying to perceive and comprehend scale

BOOM!!!!!

Mind blown awe stuck even
to see it for realz
sheez man when I fly free from this body gonna take a trip out that way on me way home

a reply to: ImprobabilityDrive

I hope to do the same, ID.



Excellent username, BTW.