beautiful

Michael Zhang

What Night Sky Photographs Will Look Like Over the Next 7 Billion Years

NASA astronomers announced today that they are certain that our galaxy is on an unavoidable collision course with the Andromeda Galaxy, the closest spiral galaxy to us. Don't worry though, it won't be happening for another 3.5 billion years or so. What's interesting is that the collision will drastically change what our night sky looks like, and the astronomers released a series of photo illustrations showing what future astrophotographers will be shooting when they point their cameras at the heavens.

Michael Zhang

Magical Scenes Created by Light Painting with Stencils

Flickr user TigTab creates beautiful scenes by light painting with hand-cut stencils. For each shot, the camera's shutter is left open while she moves about the location, firing her flash through the stencils in various locations to add the individual items to the scene. Some photographs take up to four hours to create from start to finish.

Michael Zhang

This Extremely Detailed Olympus Trip 35 Pendant Actually “Works”

Bellamy Hunt of Japan Camera Hunter recently got his hands on this amazing handmade camera pendant by jeweller Luke Satoru. The attention to detail is amazing: it's a tiny Olympus Trip 35 camera crafted from multiple pieces of brass, and the various components actually work! You can open up the back to look at the film plane, turn the rewind knob, move the advance winder, and the whole shebang.

DL Cade

Is This Britain’s Most Photogenic Face?

Beauty may only be skin deep, but apparently it's also scientifically measurable. At least that's what Lorraine Cosmetics was banking on when they put together the Britain-wide beauty contest "Lorraine: Naked." Contestants, who were not allowed to have had any plastic surgery, were asked to send in a photo with no makeup on, and after many different symmetry tests, input from experts and a nationwide vote over the top three, Florence Colgate emerged victorious.

Michael Zhang

Star Trails Above, City Trails Below

NASA astronaut Don Pettit shot this beautiful long exposure photograph showing star trails and city trails from the International Space Station. The image was created by combining 18 separate long-exposure photographs.

Michael Zhang

Beautiful Photographs of Patterns Seen from a Helicopter

Aerial photographer Stephan Zirwes shoots amazing images of patterns and repetition seen in landscapes while looking straight down from a helicopter. From his perspective, things like cars, shipping containers, and people blend together into abstract designs.

Michael Zhang

Ethereal Portraits Taken Underwater

Here's a gorgeous series of underwater portraits shot by photographer Jacob Sutton, the same guy who did the LED snowboarding shoot that we featured a while back. It's titled "Underwater Girl".

Michael Zhang

Colorful Photographs Showing Uniformity

"Mimicry" is a photo project by Dutch photographers Ilse Leenders and Maurits Gisen that's based around the idea of uniformity. They write,

The inspiration of the series Mimicry came from the uniformity of the human beings. People from whom the identity is missing and those who are inconspicuous in our society. Just like animals they adapt to their environment. Visually in this series it is shown by the use of similar costumes, position and sex.

Michael Zhang

Auroras, Meteors, and Photography from the International Space Station

Here's a fascinating video by NASA that explains what auroras are and what they look like from space. It's filled with beautiful photographs and time-lapse sequences captured by astronauts on the International Space Station. Astronaut photographer Don Pettit, who maintains a blog about his experiences, writes that taking pictures of Earth is harder than it looks.

Michael Zhang

Beautiful Macro Photos of the Insides of Musical Instruments

Photographer Bjoern Ewers directed this creative advertising campaign for the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra that shows beautiful views of the insides of various instruments. Shot using a macro lens, each one looks more like a giant music hall than a musical instrument.

Michael Zhang

Photos of High Powered Laser Rainbows Projected Across the Night Sky

"Global Rainbow" is an outdoor art installation by Yvette Mattern that consists of seven high powered lasers projecting a bright rainbow across the night sky. The rainbow was originally displayed in New York in 2009, but has since appeared in cities across the UK. If you're lucky enough to see the project in real life, be sure to take some photographs -- it's not every day you get to enjoy rainbows at night.

Michael Zhang

Stunning 360° Aerial Panoramas of the World’s Highest Waterfall

Angel Falls is the world's highest waterfall as well as the inspiration for Paradise Falls in the Pixar film Up. Unless you're planning on visiting the falls in the heart of Venezuela in person, the next best thing might be this stunning series of 360° aerial panoramas recently captured by photographer Dmitry Moiseenko over two days from a helicopter. Pan around, zoom into the scene, and become immersed in the otherworldly landscapes found at Angel Falls.

Michael Zhang

LED Light Suit Turns Snowboarder Into a Sole Light Source

Fashion photographer and filmmaker Jacob Sutton recently had the idea of capturing "a lone character made of light surfing through darkness". He had designer John Spatcher create an LED enveloped suit, and then had pro snowboarder William Hughes wear it while zipping down the slopes of the Rhône-Alpes region in south-east France.

Michael Zhang

Little Planet with the Aurora Borealis

Swedish photographer Göran Strand created this amazing "little planet" photo (AKA a stereographic projection) that shows the Aurora Borealis overhead. He titled it "Planet Aurora".

Michael Zhang

Dreamlike Photographs of Insects Found in a Garden

Malaysian photographer Peiling Lee captures beautiful, dreamlike macro photographs of tiny critters she finds in her garden. She uses a Canon 50D and a 100mm Macro lens. Her work reminds us of Nadav Bagim's Wonderland project that we shared last year.