Inspiration

Photography is all about light. To be more precise, photography is all about the quality of the light. This can be a particular challenge for outdoor/landscape photographers.

NASA photographers don't get a lot of love. Since they work for a government agency, their images are released into the public domain and are often only credited as "Photo by NASA." The agency's internal Photographer of the Year contest aims to provide some well-deserved recognition.

Sydney based aerial photographer Brad Walls recently ventured into the world of sports photography, to see if he could capture a unique perspective on sports like Gymnastics, Tennis, Figure Skating, and Synchronized swimming.

Whenever something is bothering wet plate photographer Markus Hofstaetter, he captures his anxiety with striking, creative imagery. Lately, the idea of "division"—in ourselves, our societies, and our world—has been on his mind, so he set about capturing a "division" portrait. The twist: he didn't want to capture any visible light.

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.

Insects and other animals have fascinated me since I was a small child. I remember well how I used to pick them up and simply stare at them in wonder for hours. The concept of photographing insects indoors had been on my mind for years, even when photography and playing with light was a hobby, and long before I considered photography a profession and way of life.

Matt Huber over at YouTube channel The Garage Learning has put together a fun and creative walkthrough that takes a different approach to splash photography. Instead of manually throwing water onto his subject, he designed a simple 'DIY catapult' that does the job much better than he can.

Consider this: think like a painter. Painting is basically an additive process: the painter adds paint to a canvas. Photography is basically subtractive: the photographer, through careful composition and cropping (or cloning in the digital darkroom), subtracts unwanted or distracting elements from a scene to create a vision -- or impression -- of a scene.

For the July issue of British Vogue, the iconic fashion magazine has decided to do something a bit differently. Rather than featuring models and high-fashion, they're using the opportunity to honor three front-line heroes: a train driver, a midwife, and a supermarket assistant.

Photographer and YouTuber Mathieu Stern has been getting into at-home photo printing lately. But after experimenting with cyanotypes, he decided to simplify even further by trying to print photos using beetroot juice, and nothing else. Dwight Schrute would be proud.

YouTube channel MotivationHub recently posted an inspirational snippet from a London Real interview with Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, in which he shares some life advice and reveals the motivation and meaning he finds in capturing photography from space.

When I speak to artistic photographers, those who are truly passionate about their work, I often begin by talking about the roller-coaster ride of all creatives. I say that on a roller coaster, the highs are high and the lows are low, but that roller-coaster ride is much more interesting than being on a merry-go-round.

Discussing what makes a “photographic” photograph can seem like a bit of a tautology, but I think that my understanding of what I’m trying to achieve with my photographs has been helped by this idea.

If you need a little end-of-week pick-me-up, this story should hit the spot. While out kayaking on Lake Erie with his friends, photographer Eric Tischler ran across a deer swimming away from shore, already almost a mile out. The trio immediately set about saving the poor creature, capturing photos and video along the way.

Photographer and YouTuber Julia Trotti has put together a helpful tutorial that'll help you capture more natural looking portraits. In this short BTS video, she shares some of the common posing 'prompts' she uses with her subjects to capture a variety of different looks in each session.

While stuck at home with his family, conservation and adventure photographer Benjamin Von Wong decided to create a series of "impossible" maternity photos for his adventurous sister, without leaving the comfort of their own home. How did he do it? Fruits and vegetables, of course...

Dutch commercial photographer Roelof Bos has, like many of us, been looking for a creative outlet ever since his professional work ground to a screeching halt. But while many photographers have opted for in-door projects or "porchraits," he wanted to create something more stylistic... and striking.

I look at hundreds of photographs everyday and I’ve noticed that how people take photos is in direct correlation to how they live their day to day lives. This may not sound like a startlingly profound fact but, put simply: your personality can create the biggest barrier to achieving interesting and unique photographs.

The folks over at COOPH have released a "Best of DIY Smartphone Rigs" video that covers some truly wacky ideas. From a DIY 'gimbal' to a scary looking spinning rig, there are at least a few ideas here you definitely haven't tried yet.

San Diego-based photographer Angela Garzon recently teamed up with fashion and art blogger Sarah Grossman to inject a bit of color and creativity into the world during these strange and difficult times. The result is a set of six monochromatic "group" shots captured using only the clothes and props they had at hand.

Expert wildlife photographer Steve Perry has created an excellent "crash course" in Bird in Flight photography that he's sharing for free with all of us. The video covers 10 techniques/tips that "will give you all the basics you need to start filling your memory card with wall-hangers."

Photographer Todd Dominey recently inherited a piece of photo history from his parents: an original Polaroid SX-70. This camera sent Dominey down the rabbit hole of instant photography history, as he discovered the story behind this world-shaking camera, and the man who invented it, Edwin Land.

Helsinki-based photographer and filmmaker Anders Lönnfeldt loves drone photography, architecture, and geometric compositions that draw you in. Now that he's found himself out of work due to the pandemic, he's bringing all three of those sensibilities together in a new series of done photos called Urban Aerials.

Adorama has just released a stunning cinematic tribute to the city of New York that could not come at a more poignant moment. At a time when the creative flame at the core of the city has been snuffed out by a small piece of genetic code, New York Rhapsody stands as a testament to the fire that is waiting to come roaring back.

Portrait and headshot photographer Ivan Weiss recently created a helpful tutorial that walks you through his entire portrait editing process in the popular Adobe alternative Affinity Photo. If you've been wanting to give Affinity a shot, this is a phenomenal resource.

Adobe's annual 99U conference is usually an expensive, in-person event in New York City for creatives who want to get some hands-on education and inspiration from experts across artistic disciplines. But this year, the event is moving online, and it's going to be free for everybody.

Focus stacking is a fun and easy technique you can do right at home with nothing more than your camera, lens, and editing software. In fact, the Fujifilm X-T2, X-T3, and X-T4 series of cameras—and many others—contain a "focus bracketing" feature that lets you do this automatically.