Meet Zach Cooley, A “Moon Chaser” Who Uses Camera Tricks To Make The Moon Look Really Huge

The moon has always fascinated the man, who showed his admiration through music, poetry, drawings, until one day, Edward “Buzz” Aldrin, Michael Collins, and Neil Armstrong landed there, an achievement that was marked in history and forever changed our perspective. One thing is certain: humanity has always kept an eye on the moon. In fact, our initial conception of a month was directly dependent on the moon’s cycle, and many languages reflect this (i.e. moon-month).

More: Zach Cooley, Instagram h/t: boredpanda

The moon is one of the favorite themes of landscape photographer Zach Cooley, and most of the time, he tries to get a shot of the full moon, if possible. Some people say that his photos are “fake” and Photoshopped, and the artist is often offended by the uneducated remarks. The photos are real, though they’re enhanced by a few camera tricks. Here’s a glimpse behind how he does his magic: He uses a telemetric zoom lens to get a few shots of his choice, then pieces them together with double exposure on a single frame. This is why his photos of the moon look so unnaturally large, but it should be noted that he doesn’t use Photoshop to artificially scale it; he does it manually, by hand. The photographer takes pride in his work.

Last October, he nailed it by capturing an image of the moon by opening a natural arc in Arches Natural Park in Utah, USA. With humans resting on the edge of one of the arcs, it looks like a god’s eye looking down on its creation. The image went viral across many platforms, and it piqued the interest of the person behind the monumental photo worthy of becoming wallpaper, and more.