Adelastro1
24-10-2011, 03:54 PM
The organisers of the prestigious 2011 ANZANG nature photography competition held by the South Ausralian Museum have disqualifed a finalist astrophotograph after they found it to be 'manufactured'. The photo shows star trails centred around the SCP with Cradle Mt and rocks in Lake St Clair in the foreground (sorry I don't have the image to show - and maybe I'm not allowed to anyway!). The photo appears in the printed catalogue still however.
After the announcement of the winners and finalists in each category a member of the public questioned the photo in regard to the startrails. The photo was sent to the Dean of Sciences at the University of Adelaide to check, who passed it on to the Physics Department. The Head of Physics (who is an astrophysicist) showed a colleague who agreed that it was fake. He then showed me the photo as he knew I took similar type star trail images. I confirmed with him that it was clearly a fake.
Why is it fake? The image is of NORTHERN hemisphere star trails!!
As the competition acronym implies, and the rules state, all photographs have to be taken in Australia, NZ, PNG or their territories, hence the photographer breached the rules (more than one rule in fact as it was also a composite of two images in different locations - if in fact it is Cradle Mt)
The reasons it is fake are:
1. the 'SCP' is too low to the horizon for Tasmania (it looks about 20deg up);
2. there is a very bright star right next to the celestial pole (Polaris);
3. After looking at the exposure details at the museum I also determined that the image couldn't have been taken with those settings. It was listed as being taken with a Nikon D3x, 18mm Carl Zeiss lens (which is fine), but at f16 and ISO 100!! The star trails are very bright and therefore cannot be taken with those settings. Also the photographer stated he spent over an hour in freezing conditions to take the image, however looking at the arc of star movements he would have needed to be there close to 3 hours!
The photograph has now been removed from display with the following notice in its place:
"The image Vincent (Starry Starry Night) has been removed from the ANZANG exhibition following and independent review.
Experts have advised that the angle of the star trail depicted does not comply with the lattitude of the location, nor is there a relatively bright star near the south celectial pole, such as the one depicted. This indicates that an alternate sky has been inserted into the image, which is in breach of the competition rules.... "
In this digital age and ease of photo manipulation it is good to see that some fake images can still be picked up, although you wonder how many aren't! Last year's World Wildlife Photograph of the Year overall winner (run in the UK and THE most prestigous wildlife competition) was disqualifed as well. It was of a fox jumping a wooden fence at night just like in the Red Riding Hood fairytale, but it was found to be a composite of two images!
The fantastic ANZANG exhibition is currently on display at the SA museum and I highly recommend a vist, or alternatively the major winners are posted on their website: http://anzang.samuseum.sa.gov.au/index.php/blog/category/4.html
After the announcement of the winners and finalists in each category a member of the public questioned the photo in regard to the startrails. The photo was sent to the Dean of Sciences at the University of Adelaide to check, who passed it on to the Physics Department. The Head of Physics (who is an astrophysicist) showed a colleague who agreed that it was fake. He then showed me the photo as he knew I took similar type star trail images. I confirmed with him that it was clearly a fake.
Why is it fake? The image is of NORTHERN hemisphere star trails!!
As the competition acronym implies, and the rules state, all photographs have to be taken in Australia, NZ, PNG or their territories, hence the photographer breached the rules (more than one rule in fact as it was also a composite of two images in different locations - if in fact it is Cradle Mt)
The reasons it is fake are:
1. the 'SCP' is too low to the horizon for Tasmania (it looks about 20deg up);
2. there is a very bright star right next to the celestial pole (Polaris);
3. After looking at the exposure details at the museum I also determined that the image couldn't have been taken with those settings. It was listed as being taken with a Nikon D3x, 18mm Carl Zeiss lens (which is fine), but at f16 and ISO 100!! The star trails are very bright and therefore cannot be taken with those settings. Also the photographer stated he spent over an hour in freezing conditions to take the image, however looking at the arc of star movements he would have needed to be there close to 3 hours!
The photograph has now been removed from display with the following notice in its place:
"The image Vincent (Starry Starry Night) has been removed from the ANZANG exhibition following and independent review.
Experts have advised that the angle of the star trail depicted does not comply with the lattitude of the location, nor is there a relatively bright star near the south celectial pole, such as the one depicted. This indicates that an alternate sky has been inserted into the image, which is in breach of the competition rules.... "
In this digital age and ease of photo manipulation it is good to see that some fake images can still be picked up, although you wonder how many aren't! Last year's World Wildlife Photograph of the Year overall winner (run in the UK and THE most prestigous wildlife competition) was disqualifed as well. It was of a fox jumping a wooden fence at night just like in the Red Riding Hood fairytale, but it was found to be a composite of two images!
The fantastic ANZANG exhibition is currently on display at the SA museum and I highly recommend a vist, or alternatively the major winners are posted on their website: http://anzang.samuseum.sa.gov.au/index.php/blog/category/4.html