striking

Tragic Photo of a Monkey in a Human Mask Wins GDT Wildlife Photographer of the Year

Earlier this week, The German Society for Nature Photography (GDT) unveiled the winners of its prestigious European Wildlife Photographer of the Year contest, crowning photographer Jasper Doest the "Overall Winner" for his moving photograph of a despondent macaque removing a human mask between performances in a sake house north of Tokyo.

These are the Winners of the 2020 Sony World Photography Awards

The World Photography Organization has revealed the winners of this year's Sony World Photography Awards, one of the most prestigious competitions in the industry. Each image—from the overall winner, to the category winners, to the Open, Student, and Youth winners—demonstrate the power of photography to not only capture a meaningful moment, but to send a powerful message.

Striking Twilight Portraits Capture the Loneliness of Lockdown

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.

Winners of the 10th Annual Audubon Photography Awards Revealed

The National Audubon Society has revealed the winners of its 10th annual Audubon Photography Awards: a competition that showcases the most incredible bird photography from across North America. The 2019 winners were selected from over 2,253 entrants who submitted from all 50 states, Washington D.C., and 10 Canadian provinces and territories.

Dress On the Edge: Extreme Portrait Adventures with a Parachute Dress

My wife and I have always loved photographing large, dramatic gowns. Anything big and flowy has always been fun to photograph, especially outside. We've always loved the contrast of the beautiful gown against the natural backgrounds we have nearby.

This is How a Camera Adds 10 Pounds

It's commonly said that a camera adds 10 pounds, making you look heavier than you actually are. Here's a striking animated GIF that shows how much the focal length of a lens affects your apparent weight in a portrait.

Pilot Captures Incredible Thunderstorm Photo from 37,000 Feet

If you're less-than-impressed with lightning captured at 240fps by an iPhone 6 Plus, then let this photo act as our apology. Captured from 37,000 feet above the Pacific ocean, it is, without a doubt, one of the most spectacular aerial storm images we have ever seen.

The Striking and Surreal Photoshop Creations of Vincent Bourilhon

At just 23 years old, Paris-based photographer and Photoshop artist Vincent Bourilhon is already showing more creative chops than some artists two and three times his age. His striking, surreal Photoshop creations explore the meaning and function of everyday objects in strange new ways.

Powerful Photos Illustrate the Real Damage Done by Verbal Abuse

Author note: The images in this post contain graphic language.

Most photographs, they say, are worth a thousand words, but these portraits by photographer Rich Johnson each tell the tale of only one word. It's a word that, in the worst kind of way, can be more powerful than a thousand others.

Intimate Black and White Portraits of Exotic Animals in Captivity

It's been a very news heavy couple of days, with much of the news being depressing or controversial at that. So if you need a break from all the Terry Richardsons and bankruptcies of the world, this stunning photo series by Czech photographer and graphic designer Lukas Holas should do the trick nicely.

These Breathtaking ISS Time-Lapses Make You Feel Like You’re Flying Through Space

Once in a while, you wake up in the morning with problems on your mind (or in your Inbox) and immediately start your day in a funk, focused on those problems. It's these mornings that benefit most from some perspective-giving imagery, and perhaps nothing puts our tiny Earth-bound problems in perspective quite as decisively as photographs taken from the International Space Station.

The time-lapses you see above and below will do just that, and do it in spectacular fashion as you fly over the Earth feeling a bit like Superman trying to turn back time (oh, I'm sorry, is my Nerd showing?)

Photog Uses Face Paint to Create Stunning Portraits that Look Two-Dimensional

The 2D or Not 2D series isn't the first time Russian photographer Alexander Khokhlov has dabbled in painting his models faces and taking striking portraits of the results. His Weird Beauty series got quite popular, with black and white designs jumping out at you from the faces of his made-up models.

2D or Not 2D, however, is different -- and not just because he used color this time. It's different because the point of each photo is to trick your mind into thinking you're looking at a two-dimensional painting.

Photos of Indonesia’s Striking Tri-Colored Crater Lakes at Kelimutu

If you're a sucker for natural wonders of the world and are constantly in search of places to add to your photography bucket list, you might want to look at paying a visit to Kelimutu, a volcano in Indonesia. It's known for the three crater lakes found at its summit, which are close in proximity but very different in appearance.

Striking Black and White Portraits of Art Painted on Faces

Moscow-based photographer Alexander Khokhlov has a striking series of portraits of models with various designs painted onto their faces. The faces are either painted completely black or completely white, and then used as a canvas for some kind of artwork (e.g. a Mickey mouse face, a silhouette, a keyhole). Khokhlov calls the series Weird Beauty.

Satellite Photographs Showing the Rapid Spread of Humans Across the Earth

2008 marked the first time in history that more of Earth's population lived in cities rather than in the countryside, and by 2050 nearly 70% of the world's population will reside in large cities. A new series of satellite photographs captured decades apart by NASA's Landsat department and the U.S. Geological Survey offers a striking look at how human cities have spread across the face of the Earth in just a few short years. The image above shows Las Vegas in 1984 and in 2011.