awesome

These Guys Strapped a RED Camera to a 100mph FPV Racing Drone

Filmmaker and YouTuber Potato Jet recently teamed up with first person view (FPV) racing drone pilot Paul Nurkkala to try something kind of crazy: they strapped Potato Jet's RED cinema camera to a custom-built, high-speed octa-copter and took it for a spin... and a flip... and a few more maneuvers besides.

How a Snapshot from 1987 Became a Book Cover in 2020

In 1987, choreographer Margo Sappington came to Houston to set her dance "Rodin, mis en vie" on the world-famous Houston Ballet at the invitation of Artistic Director Ben Stevenson. Not knowing who she was, but attracted by her energy and persona, I introduced myself.

How to Capture Creative, High-Quality Pinhole Photography in Your Backyard

Fine art photographer Martin Henson has published a wonderful behind-the-scenes look at his pinhole photography process that highlights the results you can get when you use a high-quality camera, you get creative, and you know what the heck you're doing. The result is a masterclass in capturing high-quality pinhole photography that actually qualifies as fine art.

Using a Drone to Create Stop-Motion Animations in the Sky

Before we jump into this blog post if you haven’t already read how I do drone light paintings horizontally in the sky be sure to check this out here. If you have done that already (or don’t wanna read something else) get ready to have your socks knocked off because we are flipping them into vertical space and animating our light paintings all with stop motion.

AI-Powered App Helps You Colorize Black & White Photos in Seconds

This is amazing. The researchers at UC Berkeley who came up with the automatic colorizer algorithm we first shared back in March, 2016 have released a major update. The software now lets you team up with the algorithm to colorize complex black and white photos accurately in seconds.

Squirrel Photobombs Engagement Shoot in the Best Way Possible

Hands up, cheeks bulging, food properly presented to the camera, if we didn't know better we'd say this squirrel had been perfecting her photobomb skills ahead of the big moment. When Dorota and Marcin Karpowicz of BDFK Photography clicked the shutter, months of training paid off... Olympics style.

‘Steampunk’ DIY Camera Obscura Made with a Flatbed Scanner, Magnifying Glass and Gold Duct Tape

Joe Barone is a recent college grad who enjoys the process as much as the result. Inspired by his love for old objects, knack for tinkering with things and growing up in his parents’ hardware store, Barone brought the camera obscure into the 21st century recently with the help of an old scanner, a magnifying glass and duct tape... well, gold duct tape.

The result is a glorious steampunk-esque contraption that yields some rather impressive images.

This Artist Has Put Together an Uber-Creative Diorama Every Day for the Past Three Years

For the past three and a half years, Japanese artist Tanaka Tatsuya's daily to-do list has included creating and photographing a miniature diorama. Part of his project Miniature Calendar, you can follow his little miniature figurines through all manner of creative adventures, starting in April of 2011 and still ongoing today.

In fact, the diorama for today, dubbed Deforestation, has already gone live.

Awesome Miniature Movie Stills Shot Using LEGO and Baking Powder

LEGO and baking powder, that and some Star Wars inspiration is all Finnish photographer (and PetaPixel reader, we might add) Vesa Lehtimäki needs to blow your mind and send you into a nerd frenzy that'll have you digging up your old D&D set.

Well, at least that's how we feel about it, because we couldn't have geeked out any harder than we did when we stumbled across Lehtimäki's miniature movie scene photography.

Photos Capture the Ecstatic Expressions of Dogs with Their Heads Out Car Windows

Our quest to improve dogs' standing in the world of photography continues today thanks to an awesome photo series by LA-based photographer Lara Jo Regan that's bound to put a smile on your face. The series is called "Dogs in Cars," and if you like what you see you'll be happy to know that it's being made available as a 2014 calendar.

Parents Recreate Famous Film Scenes with Cardboard Boxes and Their Baby Boy

I don't have kids just yet, so I can't say from experience, but it seems one of the benefits of having a child is the ability to feature the adorable little guy or gal in creative photography projects. Examples abound: from Queenie Liao's wondrous naptime photos, to Nagano Toyokazu's series My Daughter Kanna.

Now, another great project has popped up on our radar. This one is called Cardboard Box Office, and it's the result of a parenting duo's creativity, an excess of packing materials and the addition of a baby boy to the family.

Incredible Steel Wool Light Paintings Done to Look Like Rorschach Ink Blots

Light-painting, like time-lapse, is a genre of photography that is packed full of talent, making it really hard to pick quality work to feature (if you haven't already, check out this list of 10 amazing light-painting photogs you should follow right away).

We were thrilled, therefore, when we stumbled across Nicolas Rivals' series of steel wool light painting Rorschach tests dubbed, simply enough, Light Rorchach.

A Cat with Built-In Image Stabilization

A couple years ago we reported on the amazing fact that chickens have image stabilized heads, and shared some interesting "research" into using chickens as camera stabilizers. It turns out birds aren't the only creatures with IS systems built into their hardware: cats have it too!

Random Objects Turned Into Food Using Stop Motion

New York-based animator Adam Pesapane (who goes by the working name PES) creates some of the smoothest and most creative stop-motion videos we've seen. In the short video above, titled "Fresh Guacamole", he shows how you can create a guacamole dip out of random objects such as baseballs, golf balls, and dice.

Spray Can Light Makes Light Painting Fun for Graffiti Artists

Light painting is sometimes called light graffiti, but who does graffiti with flashlights? Halo is a neat light-painting tool designed by Aïssa Logerot that makes painting with light feel much more natural for people accustomed to creating... less-legal forms of art. Shaped like an aerosol can of spray paint, the tool includes interchangeable LED lights for painting in different colors and a battery inside that recharges when the can is shaken.

Zombie Attack Engagement Photos

Los Angeles-based photographer Amanda Rynda recently did an awesome engagement photo shoot with Juliana Park and Ben Lee, who wanted the photos to show them surviving a zombie attack. Needless to say, it turned out pretty epic.

Concept Ilford Film Package Doubles as a Twin-Lens Reflex Pinhole Camera

Film usually comes in pretty boring boxes, but what if you could reuse those boxes as a pinhole camera? Designer Linna Xu won the Packaging category of the 2010 Adobe Design Achievement Awards with this concept, creating these awesome boxes for Ilford medium format film that double as pinhole cameras resembling old school twin-lens reflex cameras. Each box allows users to explore the world of medium format photography without even having a medium format camera!

A Photo Gear Rube Goldberg Machine

Let's start off this week with something lighthearted and awesome. The folks at 2D Photography spent nearly six months working on building a giant Rube Goldberg machine using photo gear. Like the epic Battle at F-Stop Ridge video, it seems pretty likely that this video will soon be going viral.

Make a Giant Holga Camera Piñata

The next time you're planning a birthday party for someone who loves photography, try making a giant camera piñata using cardboard and paper-mache. You can fill it with candy and treats, or take your photo-geekness to the next level by filling it with photography-related gifts and accessories.