FAQs

All of my images are totally real and not fake! They’re not just ‘photoshopped’ (although as part of the editing process I may have used photoshop - e.g. with star tracked images the sky is photographed with the tracker moving the camera at the same speed as the stars are moving, and then with the camera in the same position I’ll turn the tracker off and photograph the foreground - then the sky and foreground images are blended together in post-editing to create an image that is an accurate portrayal of the scene at the time and place but with better quality and detail than a single shot).
Nor are my images AI generated (which is a big problem in photography as AI generated images are getting more and more realistic).
Usually when people ask this question (or a variation of it), they’re referring to a night image of mine that looks a lot brighter and more vibrant than what the naked eye can see. This is because modern cameras are able to take long exposure photos that capture far more light, colour, and detail than what we are able to see (the human eye is not good at seeing in the dark). As well as an ‘astro modified camera’ I’m also using good quality lenses, and sometimes I’m also using a ‘star tracker’. This gear enables me to get a lot of colour and detail in my images than would otherwise be possible.
Some images may also be a combination of multiple images that have been stacked or overlaid (such as with a panorama mosaic). These techniques again enhance the result of the final image.
The other issue with realism is to do with the size of the stars or moon etc in comparison to the foreground (such as our mountain). In some shots the stars or the moon in the sky are made to look larger than they’d normally look by using a zoom lens with the mountain quite a few kms away, which creates an illusion called compression, where the background is made to look relatively bigger in comparison with the foreground.

A further issue is with my alignments - where the stars or the moon really in that position? Yes, they definitely were in that position. I use apps such as Planit Pro to help me work out exactly where and when I need to go to in order to get the alignment that I’m wanting. These apps are very precise and help me get incredible alignments such as the moon rising over the peak of Mt Taranaki, or the Matariki stars (Pleiades) rising over the peak. (In the case of the Pleiades alignment I’m one of the few photographers who have captured this particular alignment).

More FAQs to come (feel free to message me with any questions you have).