VAST is a Collective of Photographers Who Shoot Gigapixel Fine Art Photos

VAST is a collective of photographers producing “exceptionally high-resolution fine art photos” that boast thousands of megapixels in resolution.

The breathtaking images are created with meticulous attention to detail — photographers capturing a huge number of images to create each final scene. A panorama that might take just 3 frames to capture on your phone would take these photographers over 300 to produce.

“We’ve had to innovate many new techniques to be able to create many of our ultra high-resolution VAST photos at that beautiful sunrise/sunset time so we can have technical and aesthetic merit in our photos,” says Dan Piech, the creator of VAST.

The team utilizes long lenses, up to even an 800mm, to capture every minute detail. Such techniques eliminate chromatic aberration and boast reduced noise as well.

“We utilize numerous techniques, including high dynamic range imaging, focus stacking, image blending, and have pioneered some new methods ourselves,” explains Piech. “The exposure process utilizes a number of specialty tools such as rotational gimbal mounts, modified tripods, wind shields, and field computers.”

The final results are spectacular. At 255 megapixels, this is one of their lower resolution images:

Here’s a zoomed-in look at the details of the above image (you can view it online and browse in high resolution here):

Impressive? Check out this image; at 6,410 megapixels it’ll blow your mind:

And here’s one phenomenal up-close crop, with the full resolution browsable online:

Or perhaps you’ll like this shot of San Francisco:

Astrophotography suits the technique rather well too, with the detail in the stars providing endless hours of joy to explore:

And finally, take a look at these leaves in high resolution:

You can view the rest of their collection, as well as purchase prints and license images, on the VAST website.