Our most basic principle is honesty. SOL3.Earth is a strictly real project of SOL3.MEDIA. Everything published here was recorded by our own cameras in the field, and it carries one mark: Field Captured.
SOL3.MEDIA also publishes art made from real captures and work made with AI. That work lives on separate pages at sol3media.com, and each piece carries its own mark, so you can never mistake one kind for another. This page is our policy for all of our marks. It says exactly what each one promises.
No outside body issues these marks. They are our word, and our reputation stands behind them. We maintain that reputation with care, because it is the only thing that gives the marks their value. Every marked piece also carries Content Credentials, the open C2PA standard, so you can check its record for yourself. Our rules for that are in the Content Credentials section below.
Field Captured
This mark means we were there. A SOL3.Earth camera recorded the image or footage at the place and time we state. Our first rule is that we never publish an image that falsely presents reality. Every rule below follows from it.
What is always real
- Everything in From the Field is our own photography and video. Nothing in it is generated.
- The footage and photos we license are real captures. We do not license AI imagery as photography.
- When we say we filmed or photographed an event, the images of that event are real.
What we publish with it
- The date of capture.
- The location. Where a precise spot is private or sensitive, we give the general area.
- The camera and lens and, for photographs, the exposure settings.
- Any technique used, such as tracking, stacking or time-lapse.
- Whether the image was adjusted and how, for example: exposure and blacks adjusted.
We do not type these details from memory. We read them from the record the camera writes into each original file at the moment of capture: the date and time, the camera and lens, and the exposure settings. Behind every Field Captured image there is a camera file with that record.
What editing is allowed
Our edits never go beyond what a camera could have recorded of that scene, with the best settings, filters and technique. Every photograph and film is developed, and we develop our photographs in Adobe Camera Raw. These steps change how a recording looks. They do not change what was there. Every adjustment, across the whole picture or in one area, must leave the picture true to the scene.
- Exposure, contrast, highlights and shadows, white balance, color, tone curve and color grading.
- Cropping, straightening, and lens and optics corrections.
- Local adjustments with masks, such as a sky, subject or brush mask, used only to brighten, darken or color an area. Like dodging and burning in a darkroom, they show what was there. They may not change what the scene was, such as turning dusk into night or a hazy sky into a clear one.
- Noise reduction and sharpening, including Adobe’s AI Denoise. If the tool is AI-assisted, we say so.
- Removing sensor dust and hot pixels. These are flaws of the camera and not part of the scene.
- Combining several exposures of the same scene, taken from the same position in the same session. This includes stacking, tracked sky blends, high dynamic range and panoramas. When we do this, we say so.
- Changing the speed of video, as in time-lapse and slow motion. When we do this, we say so.
- Reframing 360 degree video into a flat view. This is a crop of what the camera recorded. Nothing is added, and the caption says it was reframed.
What is not allowed
- Nothing generated. No generative fill, generative expand or generative remove, no AI sky tools, and no AI upscaling such as Super Resolution.
- No Lens Blur, or any other added or faked depth of field.
- No sky replacement, and no combining of elements from different places or times.
- No moving, enlarging or adding of the Moon, the Sun, stars or anything else in the scene.
- No removing of anything from the scene, with any tool. That includes power lines, signs, people, and aircraft and satellite trails. Those trails are part of the night sky we live under, and showing them is part of telling the truth about it.
Why stacking is still a photograph
Many night-sky images are built from more than one exposure. We sort that work into three kinds.
- Stacking. Several exposures of the same subject, taken from the same position in the same session, combined to reduce noise or to hold a wide range of brightness. Every pixel still comes from light that reached our camera from that subject. Nothing is invented. This is a photograph. It carries the Field Captured mark, and we name the technique.
- Compositing. Parts from different times, places or focal lengths joined into one picture. Each part may be real, but the scene never existed. A composite cannot carry the Field Captured mark.
- Generated detail. Software adding detail it predicts should be there. That is not a recording. It belongs under the AI Generated mark.
Our test is simple. Can every part of the picture be traced to light that came from the scene, at the place and time we state? If yes, it is Field Captured. If no, it is not.
What the mark covers
The mark covers the picture. Sound is credited separately. Much of our music is made with AI tools and shaped by us, and it is labeled that way. Location sound is recorded on site.
A film on SOL3.Earth contains no AI-made picture, not even an intro or an outro. Every frame was recorded by a camera.
What we keep
We keep the camera original of every Field Captured piece for as long as the piece is published. For a photograph, that is the raw file exactly as the camera wrote it, with its capture record intact. If a serious question is raised about a piece, we can show the original. Edits are always made on a copy. The original is never altered.
SOL3.ART
This mark is used on SOL3.MEDIA at sol3media.com, not on SOL3.Earth.
This mark means the piece is art. It is made from a real capture and edited by us for beauty. It is not a record of exactly what was there, so it never carries the Field Captured mark.
What editing is allowed
- Everything allowed for a Field Captured piece: exposure, color, contrast, cropping and lens corrections.
- Traditional retouching, the way photographers worked before generative AI: cloning, healing, dodging and burning.
- Removing distractions that spoil an otherwise beautiful scene, such as a wire, a sign or a stray object. We do this only with traditional tools, such as cloning and healing, that copy real pixels from the same photograph. We use a newer tool only after we have tested it and know it does not generate anything.
What we never do in SOL3.ART
- We never use generative AI. No generative fill or expand, no generative removal, and no AI-made skies, objects or detail.
- We never present SOL3.ART as Field Captured, or as a record of what was there.
How we label it
Every SOL3.ART piece carries this mark. It names the capture it came from, with the date and place, and says what was done to it. For example: SOL3.ART. From a Field Captured photograph, Brasstown Bald, October 2026. Power line removed. Color adjusted. No generative AI.
What we keep
We keep the untouched camera original of every SOL3.ART piece for as long as the piece is published, and we can show it. Edits are always made on a copy.
AI Generated
This mark is used on SOL3.MEDIA at sol3media.com, not on SOL3.Earth.
This mark means the image or video was made with AI tools, by us. It is not a recording.
Our AI imagery is made to inspire. It is made to look like art, not like a photograph. We check the Moon and planets in every image against planetarium software for the place and time shown. If an image does not pass that check, we call it an artist’s impression.
Where we use AI
- Illustrations. We use AI image tools for illustrations on SOL3.MEDIA, often for a sky event that has not happened yet.
- Video. We use AI the way older films used special effects. AI-made video is published on SOL3.MEDIA. SOL3.Earth films contain no AI-made picture.
- Sound. Much of the ambient music in our videos is made with AI music tools and shaped by us. Location sound, where we use it, is recorded on site.
- Writing. Some posts are drafted with help from an AI assistant. We check the facts and edit every post before it is published.
How we label it
Every AI piece carries this mark or a caption that says so, and names the tool. For example: AI-generated illustration (Midjourney).
We label the real work too. Our own photographs and footage carry the Field Captured mark.
Astronomical accuracy
AI tools make skies that look right. They do not always make skies that are right. That is why we check each image. When a sky matches a real place and time, we say so in the caption.
What we will not do
- We will not present an AI image as a photograph.
- We will not use AI to fake a place, an event, or a moment we claim to have recorded.
Content Credentials
Our marks are built on Content Credentials, the open standard published by the Coalition for Content Provenance and Authenticity (C2PA). A Content Credential is a signed record attached to an image or video. It says how the piece was made and what was done to it. Because the record is signed, any change made after signing shows.
Our rule
- Field Captured. The piece carries Content Credentials that identify it as a camera capture and list the edits made to it.
- SOL3.ART. The piece carries Content Credentials that list the edits made to the capture it came from.
- AI Generated. The piece carries Content Credentials that disclose it was made with AI.
- No credentials, no mark. If we cannot attach credentials to a piece, it does not get a mark. It gets a plain written label instead.
How to check a piece
Every Field Captured photograph on this site has a Verify link under it. Select it to open that image’s record. You can also upload any of our images to verify.contentauthenticity.org and read the record yourself.
What credentials can and cannot do
Our cameras cannot yet sign an image at the moment of capture. We attach credentials when we export a piece from our editing software, and they record the edits made from the camera original onward. That is why we still keep every camera original.
Many websites and social platforms remove credentials when they copy or resize an image. A copy without its record is not proof against us. The signed version we published, and the camera original behind it, still stand. The credentials support our word. They do not replace it.
If we get it wrong
If we mislabel a piece, we fix the label and note the correction on the piece itself. We do not quietly edit the record.
If you think something is mislabeled or inaccurate, tell us. Write to contact@sol3.earth.
This standard took effect in October 2026. Any change to it will be dated here.
October 14, 2026: stated that edits are always made on a copy and that captions say whether an image was adjusted.
October 15, 2026: added SOL3.ART as a third mark, for art made from real captures, with no generative AI.
October 16, 2026: added that reframing 360 degree video into a flat view is a crop and is labeled; stated that SOL3.ART removal of distractions uses only traditional tools until a newer tool is tested.
October 20, 2026: SOL3.Earth became strictly Field Captured. SOL3.ART and AI Generated work is published at sol3media.com.
October 21, 2026: our marks are now built on Content Credentials (C2PA). A piece without credentials gets a plain written label, not a mark. Added our first rule for Field Captured: we never publish an image that falsely presents reality. Added the test for edits: they never go beyond what a camera could have recorded of the scene, with the best settings, filters and technique. Named the Adobe Camera Raw tools we use and the ones we do not. Allowed local masks only to show what was there. Removed the exception for aircraft and satellite trails, so nothing is removed from a Field Captured scene.