boulder at night, with an addition

This is actually a composite.
The boulder was taken at sunset, the start field later and I added a meteor via PS to balance the image.

Which bring me to the use of PS.

What do people think of the use of PS to ADD features? I figured capturing a shooting star as next to impossible. Is it cheating?

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To me, it is only cheating if you are passing it off as an actual photo taken (Which you did not). There is nothing wrong with using the capabilities of PS or any other editing software to create interesting composites. In this case, I really like what you created. Well Done!!!

It's only really cheating if you were trying to pass it off as an actual shooting star to a museum or someplace that is actually looking for a real shooting star shot. I figure since the shot is for your personal enjoyment and to share with others as you see fit, you almost don't even need to disclose that it's fake unless you were asked and decided to tell the person.

Great photo.

In my opinion the use of photoshop to add features to a photo brings it into a somewhat different art form than photography. I view photography as artistically capturing what is present and adding something that wasn't originally there is breaking that boundary. Not sure what I would call it, but I like it!

First, I really like what you've created! The light, tonal values, and overall feel is great.

As far as ethics go, there's nothing wrong with what you've created as long as you don't ever claim that you captured a shooting star. By admitting that you created the image in post-production though, you've letting people know up-fromt and I see nothing wrong with that.

Nice looking image!

Bryan

Created a terrific image there; as long as you're not putting it up and representing it as a "photo", I don't see anything wrong with it.

What a cool image. I don't think there's anything wrong with using PS to enhance or create such an artful picture.

I don't usually think of this as the "created landscape" forum but I think your endeavor is valid and interesting.

When it's done (PS) well the emotion of the capture overwhelms the 'need to know'.
It's the clinical versus guttural approach to judging an image=from the head or from the heart.
What I see in your artistic photograph I'd be happy to see hanging on my wall.

Nice captures and well done, not cheating. It's what you wanted to express. Great job Paul.

At first blush, before reading the text, I thought this image was a composite. By stating this up front, you avoid the endless arguments as to whether this was a true single capture or not. Regardless, quite artistic and well done.