Fine art astrophotography starts with an artistic vision, informed by knowledge of the night sky – when and where heavenly bodies show up and astro phenomena unfolds, in relation to the landscape. Planning, execution, and post-processing are equally important to achieving the desired outcome. Working under low light, high contrast conditions, attention to details is paramount. I use a variety of in-camera and post-processing techniques like long exposure, stacking, compositing, and tonal and contrast adjustments, to achieve the artistic outcome under the challenging imaging conditions.

Is astrophotography “real”? It’s an oft-asked question. My astrophotography images are both real, and better-than-real. All my astro-landscape images, including composites, depict the true relative sizes and positions of all objects – astro and terrestrial – from my chosen vantage point. On the other hand, the camera is vastly better than the human eyes in capturing details under low light conditions. These details are often difficult to see in a raw image coming straight out of the camera. Through skillful post-processing, I tease out the details in the raw images. The result are images that show real astro objects and phenomena, with far greater details than the eyes can see, to tell rich scientific stories through art.