Step by step

hen my image entitled ‘The Watcher’ won the ‘Aurora’ section of the 2019 Insight Investment Astrophotographer of the Year competition I was delighted. The final image (above) shows a view looking down on Norway’s Lofoten archipelago from Offersøykammen mountain. I chose the location because I like mountains and there aren’t many photos taken from this viewpoint. During the day I climbed the peak with a friend – he’s the person standing in the picture – and took pictures of the sunset, before waiting until it got dark. I took multiple images with the aim of creating a panorama of the wonderful aurora display that was taking place. When I set about processing the image, I wanted a result that would reflect just how special the moment was; I wanted to ensure that there were no areas that

W▲ Screenshot 1: The panorama images are selected in Lightroom: ‘Photo > Merge photos > Panorama’ [‘Foto > Zusammenfügen von Fotos > Panorama’]