“Believe it or not, this was the first time I entered a photo contest at this level,” says photographer Ryan Imperio, who recently won the 2024 Astronomy Photographer of the Year award. “There was a lot of excitement and anxiety happening all at once,” he states, reminiscing about the time he captured the spellbinding photograph, which sealed his fate as the champion. Imperio’s documentation of the natural phenomenon called the “ring of fire” eclipse, since then, captured the hearts of not only the judges but also the world. And today, we take you behind the scenes to reveal his meticulous process.
An Analytic Approach
To understand the way Ryan Imperio photographs, we have to look at his first brush with the medium. Imperio took his initial steps in the world of photography as an ophthalmic photographer, a forte focused on imaging the human eye and its complex structures for medical diagnoses and research. It was here that he began to dabble with the fundamentals of photography, which were used specifically to help doctors. “After being asked by several patients if I took photos outside of work, I decided it was probably something I should try,” he tells us. Initially, he stuck to using a smartphone to create his imagery; but in 2017, when a total solar eclipse had to pass across the United States, Imperio purchased his “first real” camera. From there on, there was no looking back.
Imperiod continued exploring and experimenting with the medium in the coming years, further fueling his passion for capturing the natural world, a genre he resonates with. “It is a wonderful privilege to witness such incredible beauty our world has to offer and have the ability to share it with others,” he states. in 2023, this fascination with wilderness propelled the photographer to fly to Texas to document his soon-to-be award-winning photograph. “Up until a few days before the eclipse, I was anxiously watching the forecast when my friend and I decided to book a last-minute flight to Texas, which seemed to be the best option for a clear sky,” he adds.
Ryan Imperio and The Meticulous Pre-Planning
Unlike a total solar eclipse, the ‘ring of fire’ is even more captivating because it can create a circle of light when the moon covers the sun. This thin layer of glow resembles fire and has fascinated both astronomy enthusiasts and the general public. Another rare spectacle that occurs during the ring of fire eclipse is Baily’s beads. This natural wonder appears when the moon partially obscures the sun, and the sunlight shines through the moon’s valleys, creating a “beaded” appearance around the circle of fire. “While researching Baily’s beads, I found quite a few photos demonstrating this effect during a total eclipse; however, there did not seem to be as many examples captured during an annular eclipse,” Ryan Imperio states. “Of course, this excited me in the hope of capturing something special.”
Once Ryan Imperio and his friend found themselves at the University of Texas Permian Basin campus in Odessa, a variety of things happened. The day was unexpectedly windy, which required Imperio to take shelter next to a building to prevent his Nikon D810 with the Sigma 150-600mm Contemporary and iOptron SkyGuider Pro mount from shaking. Additionally, he also uses the Tokina 11-16mm and Tamron 24-70mm to document the celestial bodies.
To capture both phenomena, a lot depended on the precise time when the edge of the Moon would cross the Sun’s limb. “Fortunately, all the calculations can be found online using specific geographical coordinates,” he states. “As the moon entered and exited the eclipse, I knew from research that there was about 10 to 15 seconds of timeframe, in which the beads could potentially form.” One could credit his initial learnings and methodical process for helping him in this task.
Down to The Millisecond
When the eclipse began, Imperio, with his solar glasses on, was racing against time. “As the time for annularity quickly approached, I opened a timer app on my phone that uses servers connected to real atomic clocks to precisely keep track of the time down to the millisecond,” Imperio explains. Then, the next thing he did was set up his camera to shoot continuously at 3 frames per second. “Despite having the capability of shooting faster, I chose this frame rate because I wanted at least 30 seconds before the SD card started to buffer,” he explains.
Once he returned home, Imperio began to edit the photographs. “My eclipse photo was straightforward for the most part. I did some adjusting of exposure and contrast in Lightroom, but compositing the sequence being the most labor-intensive part in Photoshop,” he says. For the stacking process, the photographer separated each ring in the sequence with an equal number of pixels. After that, he used the masking tool to blend in the half that continued the sequence until no beads of sunlight were visible.
“Returning home from the eclipse and finishing the edit, I realized I had captured a pretty unique image,” he says. It was after following the Astronomer Photographer of the Year for several years that Ryan Imprio decided his image “seemed worthy enough to be entered into the contest.” At the time of submission, the goal was to showcase only the picture in the book published by the Royal Museums Greenwich. “I really wanted the image to be shared in some way. And, I guess you could say the dream actually came true,” he explains.
Now having won 10,000 pounds, Ryan Imperio hopes to advance his photography kit. “I think my next endeavor is to purchase an astro-modified camera. I enjoy Milky Way nightscapes and have always wanted to dive deeper with capturing the red, magenta hues resulting from hydrogen-alpha data,” he tells us. As a parting gift to our readers, Ryan emphasizes the importance of believing in oneself and never underestimating one’s abilities. “If you capture something you believe is worth sharing with others, do not be afraid to do so, including via photo contests.”
Ryan Imperio’s photograph not only depicts the power of creative thinking but also transcends the boundary of what is possible and impossible to achieve.
AUTHENTICITY STATEMENT
The Phoblographer works with human photographers to verify that they’ve actually created their work through shoots. These are done by providing us assets such as BTS captures, screenshots of post-production, extra photos from the shoot, etc. We do this to help our readers realize that this is authentically human work. Here’s what this photographer provided for us.
