Ph
o
tos
co
u
r
tes
y
of
B
r
oa
d
G
ree
n
P
ic
t
u
re
s
Dan Glass and his team create an effect
A visual representation of the formation of membranes
Red hot lava cools and hardens
truly beautiful pieces in their own
right.”
Imagery from the Hubble Space
Telescope and the 19th-century
paintings of Albert Bierstadt as-
sisted with the visual research. “The
recently upgraded Hubble telescope
sensor has spawned some freshly
stunning high-resolution imagery,
which acted as the foundation for
a few shots,” notes Glass. “Despite
the high-resolution source material,
we tried always to suggest a sense
of endless detail, as life itself con-
tains. We used a process we called
‘Bierstadting,’ after the landscape
painter Albert Bierstadt, that in-
volved patching areas of the frame
with textural detail shrunk down
from much larger images. The ef-
fect subconsciously suggests even
greater overall resolution and scale
to the frame.”
The team conducted a vast
amount of research and consulta-
tion for each era. “A small produc-
tion team accumulated papers and
visual references whilst reaching
out to and consulting with some of
the world’s leading experts in each
of their fields. The vast library of in-
formation was trawled through for
inspiration as shots were devised,
and as the work evolved, we con-
tinued to have the visuals vetted by
the scientists themselves so that we
never strayed from credibility,” adds
Glass.
The team utilized everything
