Home / Art

Miniature Galaxies Created Through Tilt-Shift Technique

1082141698

With the use of a relatively simple photography technique, Italian artist Haari Tesla has reduced the cosmos to a microscopic level. Her series, Illuminated Code From Space, is experimentation in tilt-shift manipulation. By digitally adjusting the depth of field, contrast, and adding a gradient, Tesla has managed to transform photos of nebulae, galaxies, and supernovae into microorganisms. It’s incredible to look at these images and realize that they are actually photos of the largest place we know, rather than of something so small it can’t be seen with the naked eye.

The initial idea for the series came from the Greek Neo-Platonic schema of macrocosm and microcosm. Essentially, this is the recognition that the same traits appear in entities of many different sizes. Plato wrote about how we see these patterns reproduced in all levels, from the largest scale (macrocosm, or the universe) all the way down to a microscopic level (also know as microcosm).

Tesla’s artistic process involves research and experiments. After viewing other tilt-shift photography, she decided to try it for herself by using publicly distributed images of space. She's interested in the intersection of art and science, and combines them here in a spectacular way.

1082141714 1082141729 1082141754 1082141774 1082141796 1082141810 1082141823 1082141835

This image from the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope shows Sh 2-106, or S106 for short. This is a compact star forming region in the constellation Cygnus (The Swan). A newly-formed star called S106 IR is shrouded in dust at the centre of the image, and is responsible for the surrounding gas cloud’s hourglass-like shape and the turbulence visible within. Light from glowing hydrogen is coloured blue in this image.

Haari Tesla Behance page
via [Peanut Butter Tumblr]

Sara Barnes

Sara Barnes is a Staff Editor at My Modern Met, Manager of My Modern Met Store, and co-host of the My Modern Met Top Artist Podcast. As an illustrator and writer living in Seattle, she chronicles illustration, embroidery, and beyond through her blog Brown Paper Bag and Instagram @brwnpaperbag. She wrote a book about embroidery artist Sarah K. Benning titled 'Embroidered Life' that was published by Chronicle Books in 2019. Sara is a graduate of the Maryland Institute College of Art. She earned her BFA in Illustration in 2008 and MFA in Illustration Practice in 2013.
Become a
My Modern Met Member
As a member, you'll join us in our effort to support the arts.
Become a Member
Explore member benefits

Sponsored Content