beautiful

These Elegant Self-Portraits are a Masterclass in Minimalist Composition

In her ongoing series Reflections 2, photographer Ziqian Liu shows just how creative you can get when you limit your props and subject matter, and master composition instead. Throughout the series, Liu uses only herself, various plant life, the occasional fruit, and a round mirror to craft images that are at once symbolic and striking.

These Photos of Underwater Flowers Look Like Paintings

Underwater photographer Barbara Cole is best known for her beautiful portraits of people—stunning creations that seem to walk the line between photography and painting. But her most recent project, Appearances, explores a different subject: flowers.

An ‘Aural Ode’ to the Classic Zenza Bronica S2a

In response to the classic camera shutter sound video we shared yesterday, a reader sent over another, even more enjoyable entry into the "oddly satisfying" category. Created a few years ago by YouTube user Tywen Kelly, he describes his video as "a semi-instructional aural ode to [a] great medium format camera" the Zenza Bronica S2a.

Photographer Captures the Crumbling Luxury of an Abandoned French Chateau

French photographer Romain Veillon recently had the chance to explore a famous old chateau that represented the height of luxury in 1901. Now abandoned, the chateau in Veillon's images shows how the ravages of time spare no second thought for riches, leaving the place, quite literally, in tatters.

10 Tips for Photographing Little Mushrooms in the Forest

As I am a professional photographer and known mainly for my images with wide angle lenses, here is something new. It's been raining here for weeks already—not the greatest conditions for landscape photography—so I took out my macro lens to photograph some mushrooms in the forest. The great thing about this is that you can do this with any kind of light at any moment of the day.

This Stunning Supermacro Timelapse Captures the Hidden Beauty of Mold

Even the most mundane, unremarkable, or sometimes disgusting phenomena take on a totally new life when viewed at a supermacro scale. Case in point, a new timelapse film dubbed "The Rise of Molds" captures the mesmerizing growth of a subject we've all at one time or another cut out of a slice of bread or scrubbed off our bathroom walls: mold.

This Microscopic Time-Lapse of Chemicals Crystalizing is Hypnotic

The folks over at Envisioning Chemistry have created yet another spellbinding time-lapse that will appeal to photography nerds and science nerds alike. Using a polarized light microscope, they captured the kaleidoscope of colors as various substances crystalized in front of their lens.

This 10-Year Timelapse of the Sun was Made from 425 Million Images

NASA has released a new timelapse titled "A Decade of Sun," and it's exactly what it sounds like. Using 425 million images captured by the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) since it began monitoring the sun in 2010, NASA has created a timelapse of the sun in which every second represents one day.

How Harry Gruyaert Makes You Fall in Love with Color in His Photography

Martin, the host of about photography, has put together a timely and inspiring ode to the work of photographer Harry Gruyaert—a master of his craft and Magnum photographer whose approach to using color, and his passion for photography in general, is worth studying, admiring, and emulating.

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 and Why You SHOULD Blow Out Your Highlights Sometimes

Our friend Pye Jirsa over at SLR Lounge has put together a great portrait photography tutorial that explains when and why you SHOULD blow out your highlights sometimes. It might seem obvious to seasoned shooters, but a balanced exposure is not always the right choice.