Alien Worlds That Exist on Earth

Start with real geology, then change one thing

The most convincing alien worlds are usually one step away from Earth. Take a real landscape and change a single thing: the color of the water, the size of the rocks, the number of suns. The viewer's eye still recognizes the real erosion, layering and texture underneath, so the place feels solid. Change too much at once and it starts to look like a random pattern.

Color: sulphur, bacteria and salt

On Earth, the strangest colors come from minerals and microbes.

• Sulphur Lakes: 347 photos of a geothermal park near Rotorua with colorful lakes and boiling streams, from two trips: sunny (54 photos) and overcast (293 photos).
• Thermal Valley: 571 photos of terraces colored red and green by bacteria that live in hot, mineral-rich water. It includes 9 short video clips of steam vents, mud pools and hot springs.
• White Salt Fields Farming: 500 photos of salt farms in Udon Thani, Thailand. The drone views turn the flat white fields into a pure geometric pattern.
• Salt Desert: 77 photos of a salt desert in southwest Tunisia, with 17k panoramas.

Motion: mud, steam and geysers

A living planet moves. These packs capture sequences, so you can study the motion frame by frame.

• Bubbling Bursting Mud Pools: 848 photos taken over 3 days near Rotorua, sorted into mud bursts in daylight (426), mud bursts in overcast light (268) and smaller bubbles (144). Plus 3 short video clips. 3D educator Anton Tenitsky used this pack in his work "Mudworld: Patrol".
• Volcanic Valley: 571 photos sorted into acid streams, a blue crater, a boiling lake, colored and white terraces, steam and swamp. It also has 18 short video clips.
• Geyser: 208 photos of eruption sequences from a geyser that shoots 10–20 meters high, plus 2 short videos.

Form: columns, spikes and pinnacles

Shape is what makes a skyline read as alien from far away.

• Rhyolite Volcanic Columns: 313 photos of huge columns left by an acidic eruption at Mt Somers, with black moss where water leaks through.
• Razor-Sharp Coral Formations: 280 photos of a field of fossil coral spikes near the Togo Chasm, with palms growing between them and sheer cliffs above the open ocean.
• Yellow Porous Volcanic Beach Rocks: 296 photos of twisted yellow rock in Taiwan, carved into a web of holes over thousands of years.
• Gray Mud Pinnacles: 255 photos of eroded clay pinnacles on the Wainuiomata Coast, with 4 videos and 10 raw 3D scans of the surfaces.

Deserts that already play other planets

Iconic Jordan Desert Valley has 275 photos of Wadi Rum in southern Jordan, at 6240 × 4160. Many science fiction films have used this desert as another world. Iceland Geothermal Arid Valley adds 140 photos of a bare geothermal valley at 7360 × 4912. For more lava and craters, see our volcanic and lava reference.

Frequently asked questions

Which packs include video?

On this page: Bubbling Bursting Mud Pools, Volcanic Valley, Thermal Valley, Geyser and Gray Mud Pinnacles. The clips are short and handheld, filmed for reference, not as stock footage.

Can I change the colors and shapes in my artwork?

Yes, and you should. The photos are reference and raw material. Recolor the water, scale up the rocks, add a second moon. Your finished artwork is your own work.

How do I make a volcanic scene look alien rather than just volcanic?

Change scale and color first. Make the columns ten times taller, or turn the sulphur yellow into violet. Then add one element that can't exist on Earth, such as rings in the sky. Keep the real textures, because they are what make the scene believable.

Can I build 3D terrain from these photos?

Yes. The license allows you to create your own 3D models and textures from the photos for your projects. Gray Mud Pinnacles even includes raw 3D scans to start from.