Opis
Description: Comet C/2025 A6 (Lemmon) above a lonely tree on a hilltop.
This was an incredible and unexpected experience, one not to be missed.
Most of my photos are created after extensive planning, but this time it was completely different.
At 10PM, after finishing my workday, a friend messaged me: “Can you get out for that comet shot ?” I replied: Yes, but in three weeks, not tonight. He told me the comet is already visible above the horizon. I quickly opened Planit Pro to check the comet’s location. Sure enough, that night, after moonset, the comet was 10 degrees above the horizon and rose to +35 degrees by the end of the night. I said to myself, “Unbelievable.” But where could I go to photograph it since I had no plan? I knew I wanted to capture the comet with a foreground, so I quickly scanned a map for familiar locations near my home.
“Yeeeeeees!” were the words when I spotted a very promising composition in PlanIt Pro— I just needed to stop on my way home and check it out in person.
Thanks to the strong moonlight, I was able to scout and photograph the location with my phone, getting a rough idea of how it would look with a 200mm lens. Becahse of all the rushing and excitement, I forgot to check the weather forecast.
To my great luck, it was predicted to be a perfectly clear night !
Everything fell into place within half an hour—something I’ve never experienced before.
At home, I recharged my batteries, prepared my equipment, and dressed warmly before heading to a nearby location. While waiting for the comet, I tried to choose the spot as precisely as possible based on the comet’s position above the tree, but when i saw on my lcd where the comet was located, I realized the planit pro had slightly miscalculated.
I had to move my equipment a few meters to the left and position the camera as high as possible to capture the comet above the tree while also achieving an excellent foreground composition. I admit it wasn’t easy, as I had to select the exact location based on the comet’s barely visible position looking on my backscreen camera lcd. Speed was crucial, and my years of experience came in handy here. Both, foreground and sky were both photographed from the same position with the same equipment.
I dedicate this photo to my dear mother, who underwent breast surgery due to a diagnosis of invasive cancer. I wish her a speedy recovery and all the best!
Gear:
Nikon Z6IIa
Tamron 70-200 G2 @200mm + FTZ II
Fornax Lightrack
Focus on star mask: https://focusonstars.com/ref/u
Category: Deepscape / tracked / stacked / blended
Exif:
- Sky: 200mm, iso800, f2.8, 30x 60s, without calibration frames
- Foreground: 200mm, iso1250, f2.&, 120s, 2x focus stacked
Location and date: Slovenija, Dolenjske Toplice, 03.10.2025
