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My astrophotography in the movie Project Hail Mary

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Re: My astrophotography in the movie Project Hail Mary

#161
post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If there is no objectivity....then you would have no basis to explain why a film is better or worse than another This is indeed the case. You can consult many film experts and get very different top ten lists. Some critics may hate The Godfather. Some won't get Citizen Kane. Some love a good popcorn fluff movie and find this year's Oscar contenders pretentious. It becomes a matter of general consensus. And that con…

You say there is no objectivity, but then you immediately appeal to consensus, Rotten Tomatoes scores, and whether the film achieved its goal :-)) Those are all attempts at objective measurement. You are using objective frameworks to argue objectivity does not exist. :-) The fact that critics disagree does not prove there is no objectivity. People disagree about scientific questions too, but that does not mean scienc…

> You say there is no objectivity, but then you immediately appeal to consensus…

Yes? Consensus is frequently how we handle things that don't have an objective answer. Which restaurant is the best in your city? Who knows? But you can say "a lot of people like restaurant X" just fine.

> The whole reason you cited that score is because you believe it points to something real about the film quality.

Opinions are real. They're just not objective. Objectively, most of the vetted reviewers RT tracks seem to hold positive opinions of the film, as do their (much less trustworthy) regular old users.

If it's a box office flop after a few weeks, that'll be good evidence for your theory. I'll be surprised, though.

Re: My astrophotography in the movie Project Hail Mary

#162
post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> I'm curious how the starless versions are created. Its done with using dedicated astrophotography software (StarXTerminator). Example: https://astrobackyard.com/starnet-astrophotography/ So these are more artistic photo works than real science photos... Rod Prazeres the Astrophotographer, has given this interview where he talks about the process: https://www.astronomy.com/observing/the-astrophotography-of-...

> So these are more artistic photo works than real science photos... I disagree. If there are many flies around a statue, and I photograph the statue but remove the flies in the photo (via AI or any other technique), then I'm still producing an image of something that exists in the world - exactly as it appears in the world. I agree that the claim "no generative AI used" is technically incorrect, but I do feel that t…

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Re: My astrophotography in the movie Project Hail Mary

#163
post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> I'm curious how the starless versions are created. Its done with using dedicated astrophotography software (StarXTerminator). Example: https://astrobackyard.com/starnet-astrophotography/ So these are more artistic photo works than real science photos... Rod Prazeres the Astrophotographer, has given this interview where he talks about the process: https://www.astronomy.com/observing/the-astrophotography-of-...

> So these are more artistic photo works than real science photos... I disagree. If there are many flies around a statue, and I photograph the statue but remove the flies in the photo (via AI or any other technique), then I'm still producing an image of something that exists in the world - exactly as it appears in the world. I agree that the claim "no generative AI used" is technically incorrect, but I do feel that t…

AI-related definitions aside, if it's a strictly subtractive/destructive tool that only removes light, it's hard to characterise as "generative" and arguably not much different to filtering frequencies!

Re: My astrophotography in the movie Project Hail Mary

#164
post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So this part of the blog post is essentially false: "no generative AI of any kind" I have yet to see a precise technical definition of what "generative AI" means, but StarXTerminator uses a neural network that generates new data to fill in the gaps where non-stellar objects are obscured by stars. And it advertises itself as "AI powered".

I don't consider photos I take on iPhone to be "AI generated" or even "AI augmented" even though iPhone uses neural networks and "AI" to do basic stuff like low light photography, blurring backgrounds, etc.

As a photographer and machine learning guy, I would call a lot of modern phone photos AI augmented. AI to stack photos or figure out what counts as the background is a little bit of a gray area, but an img-to-img CNN is about as close as you can get to full AI generation without a full GAN or diffusion model.

Re: My astrophotography in the movie Project Hail Mary

#165
post #152

Hey everyone, I’m the astrophotographer, but I’m not OP. I’m assuming OP picked up my article and posted here and that’s ok! So I quickly created an account here to comment. Having a quick read through the comments I just want to say thank you for the kind words! Please follow my IG ( https://www.instagram.com/deepskyjourney ) to see more of my photography, and the reddit article if you want to drop a comment with an…

Hi Rod, the images you have on your gallery and instagram are stunning but very low-resolution (unless I'm missing something). You mention in the article about preparing IMAX-ready photographs. Is there a way to download those full-res versions of your images?

> Is there a way to download those full-res versions of your images?

Maybe because HN is usually geared towards "programmers" rather than "artists", but asking for a (free?) download of full-res versions of a photographers photos is a bit like asking a developer who is publishing commercial desktop software for the source code of the program :)

Maybe at least ask to be able to pay for a high resolution version (not just printed), I know I'd be interested in that too!

Re: My astrophotography in the movie Project Hail Mary

#166

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Earth moves - that's how you get the next shot without repositioning the telescope. This time-lapse probably better visualizes it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFpeM3fxJoQ

Sure, but the nebulae also move along with the stars. The questions is how one can subtract the stars without also subtracting the nebulae. (I'm assuming different filters and/or a database of known star positions)

The ESA catalog is not precise enough to remove a star from an image of the structure of a nebulae - never mind Hipparcos. Filters while photographing and image processing in post are the way to go.

Don't forget that not only does the star need to be removed, but also the diffraction spikes. Those are internal reflections in the lens assembly - not mapped by any star catalog ))

Re: My astrophotography in the movie Project Hail Mary

#167
post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Its seems the post is part of a coordinated pump on the movie here by Amazon Studios Is there any evidence for this?

The studios behind Project Hail Mary have documented histories of fake online promotion and the industry to do it again is booming. I don't have proof that Amazon MGM Studios is astroturfing HN or Reddit about Project Hail Mary. What I do have is a chain of documented facts that should make anyone reading enthusiastic comments about this film pause and consider the source... Project Hail Mary is produced by Amazon MG…

I'm gonna just take a shortcut, and watch the movie, then make up my mind. Astroturfing or not, making up your own mind is part of the fun of being alive. Then "a genuine fan or a paid account" doesn't even matter anyway, because they're both as important when you make up your own mind.

Speaking about that, have you seen the movie yourself?

Re: My astrophotography in the movie Project Hail Mary

#168

Hey everyone, I’m the astrophotographer, but I’m not OP. I’m assuming OP picked up my article and posted here and that’s ok! So I quickly created an account here to comment. Having a quick read through the comments I just want to say thank you for the kind words! Please follow my IG ( https://www.instagram.com/deepskyjourney ) to see more of my photography, and the reddit article if you want to drop a comment with an…

Also a fellow astrophotography enthusiast here! I love to photograph deep sky objects in the context of their landscapes. There is a lot of math, stacking, tracking, and denoising in the process, but I keep every image very real as what you would see if your eyes were a lot more sensitive. A lot of people don't realize how big some objects are in the night sky -- for example, Barnard's Loop is as large as about half the entire constellation of Orion, and Andromeda appears 6 times the size of the moon. We just don't see them because many of these objects are very dim -- not small.

https://www.instagram.com/dheeranet

Re: My astrophotography in the movie Project Hail Mary

#169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMO if "fantasy" tries to explain things as being technology, it's (soft) sci-fi. If it describes it as magic, then it's fantasy.

Technobabble is just tech-sounding magic.

They have different writing styles generally, but it is still pointless to call Star Trek a fantasy for the same reason why you wouldn't call Lord of the Rings a science fiction. If you have a spectrum from fantasy to science fiction with 5 being the middle then maybe Star Trek would be a 6 and Star Wars being more of a 5.

Personally I'd classify Dune to be more of a fantasy than Star Trek just because of the style it is written in being very mystical and prophetic.

Re: My astrophotography in the movie Project Hail Mary

#170
post #152

Hey everyone, I’m the astrophotographer, but I’m not OP. I’m assuming OP picked up my article and posted here and that’s ok! So I quickly created an account here to comment. Having a quick read through the comments I just want to say thank you for the kind words! Please follow my IG ( https://www.instagram.com/deepskyjourney ) to see more of my photography, and the reddit article if you want to drop a comment with an…

Hi Rod, the images you have on your gallery and instagram are stunning but very low-resolution (unless I'm missing something). You mention in the article about preparing IMAX-ready photographs. Is there a way to download those full-res versions of your images?

I assume that is on purpose, you have to buy prints. Curious if the full res digital would be for sale but I am guessing not
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