I started in photography as a stepping stone into digital art. As with most photographers, I started taking pictures of everyone and everything. It was not fun hiking with me; I was the guy stopping every five minutes to take pictures of trees and rocks.
A California-based wedding photographer who experienced the devastating impact the pandemic had on his industry decided to experiment with something that combines his passions: mythical fantasy boudoir.
Two years ago in September, I was traveling in Kuusamo, Finland, and I had the opportunity to go see and photograph wild bears. We left our cars and started walking to the bear-watching hut with a small group. I felt nervous and it felt like a long walk in the woods, hearing all the little noises around us.
The latest installment of SmugMug Films brings up behind the scenes with fine art fashion photographer Bella Kotak, whose stunning imagery toes the line between fashion and fantasy, creating a look that's immediately recognizable and nearly always awe-inspiring.
Photographer Brandon Woelfel has a distinctive editing style that has netted him over 1.2 million followers on Instagram. This 15-minute crash course from photographer Aaron Hurt runs through the steps required to recreate the look in Lightroom and Photoshop.
Louisiana-based photographer Savannah Kate Bridges shoots custom portraiture for clients in a variety of genres, but in her free time she has been working on a series that faithfully recreates beloved fairy tale scenes from Disney movies as photos.
Photographer Karen Jerzyk turned abandoned spaces into dark fairy tales after the death of her father. After getting into trouble with that series, she created Colors, a series of fantasy scenes photographed in rooms dominated by a single color.
Lia Konrad is a 23-year-old photographer who grew up in small town Hof, Germany with big ideas. With a very small budget for a camera with a single lens—but none for lighting—and a homemade costume, she has created a marvelous series of fantasy environmental portraits.
Photographing abandoned spaces has exploded in popularity in recent years. For photographer Karen Jerzyk, however, finding those spaces is only the first step. She transforms each one into what she describes as a "dark fairy tale" scene.
Betrothed couple Alexis Loo and Alvin Lau are passionate about the video game Diablo III. So passionate, in fact, that they hired photographer and digital artist Mezame Shashin-ka to shoot some Diablo-themed pre-wedding photos that would do their gaming passion justice.
The world of the fantasy, fine art photographer typically involves a healthy helping of Adobe Photoshop. But if digital art and crazy composites are on one end of the spectrum, then photographer Adrien Broom is on the other—no Photoshop, just incredibly intricate hand-made props and sets.
One of my absolute favorite things to do in Photoshop is to play with lighting effects. Whether that be to make something glow, create a spotlight sort of effect, or set my hands on fire, I'm always so impressed with the many ways Photoshop allows you to alter lighting.
Because of the skills I've gathered for bending light to my liking, I no longer look at an image I've taken and think, "Oh man, I wish I would have brought some flash equipment with me so there could be light spilling through the archway from behind her." I now just think, "Wouldn't it be simply fantastic to have some magical light coming from behind her? Yes, yes it would... I think I'll add some."
After my Star Wars photo-manipulation went viral, I was contacted by a fellow in Hong Kong who wanted to surprise his wife with a bit of Wonderland. He gave me some photos of him and his bride, and then graciously gave me artistic freedom to create the photo above.
Canadian photographer and photo-manipulator Renee Robyn has had an unusual career journey -- one that started with a devastating motorcycle crash. After getting knocked off her bike and run over by a vehicle, she spent 5 days in the hospital and the next 6 months learning how to walk again.
Photography turned out to be the one thing she could do all the time during her physical rehab, and during that time Robyn ventured deep into the world of composite photo art.
Photographer Jonathan Diaz is using his imagination and portrait photography skills for a good cause. He's the founder of Anything Can Be, a Salt Lake City, Utah-based non-profit that's working to inspire hope in young cancer patients by bringing their dreams to life with photos.
Singapore-based photographer Mezame Shashin-ka is a big fan of incorporating science fiction themes into his photography. Recently an engaged couple approached him with a special request: they wanted a Star Wars-themed pre-wedding photo shoot that would be "out of this world." Shashin-ka delivered.
Photographer Antti Karppinen was recently hired to do a portrait photo shoot with Cardiff-based singer and songwriter Jammy Harris. For one of the shots, Karppinen decided to create a mind-bending image of Harris sitting on a stone ledge over rough waters using a creative perspective and photo-manipulation.
Ok, let's just be honest for a second here: everyone and everything in the world looks drastically cooler with wings. Period. It's just the way it is.
In middle school when I was heavily into my "drawing magical fantasy creatures" phase (it never ended by the way... just ask my sketchbook), I used to check out this "how to draw animals" book from the library all the time. Really they should have just given it to me, I had it checked out so often.
German photographer Jan von Holleben is known for creating imaginative scenes by having kids lie on the ground and carefully arranging everyday objects around them. One of his first viral projects that featured this style was "Dreams of Flying".
His latest one is the most ambitious and elaborate of them all. Titled "Konrad Wimmel is in Town," the series features gigantic scenes that took a year to create.
Mike Fry recently bought a GoPro, and like many before and after him …
Photographer and mother Holly Spring's photography has always been about her daughter. Born with only one hand and suffering from something known as Hirschprung's disease, little Violet almost died from surgical complications before Holly ever got a chance to take a single picture of her.
Shortly after that, her husband bought her a DSLR, and she has been taking pictures of Violet ever since.
Photoshopped fantasy wedding photos have gotten quite trendy over the past couple of years, and often involve the wedding party running away from large and scary things (e.g. dinosaurs and AT-ATs). Louisville, Kentucky-based wedding photographer Shane Elliott recently took the concept to the next level with a set of wacky groomsman photos.
Montreal-based photographer Benjamin Von Wong's underwater fantasy fashion shoot in a Bali shipwreck has quickly become the most popular project he has ever released. And even though he shared some behind the scenes details when the series first debuted, he's back today with a much more detailed look at how exactly these now-viral photos came to be.
No photoshoot goes off without a hitch. But with the correct amount of planning in the way of a vision, schedule, proper team and backup equipment, the risk that you'll run into a big hitch is dramatically reduced.
One photographer who seems to have mastered putting all of those components together seamlessly is Benjamin Von Wong, but it took all of his skill and more to make sure that his most recent crazy adventure came together seamlessly.
Two years ago, photographer and musician David Niles was watching his son Nathan let his imagination run wild as he played with his favorite toys. It was then that he was inspired to put Nate, now 9 years old, into these worlds with a little help from Photoshop. Thus was born the Nate's Adventures series.
Photography purists might want to look away on this one. The above video is a 9 minute time-lapse that speeds up 7+ hours worth of Photoshop CC work. That work was spent creating an intense composite that wound up consisting of 284 layers before it was all said and done.
Creative, imagination-filled wedding photographs are starting to become quite trendy -- at least online. Earlier this year, we shared viral photos of bridal parties running for their lives from a T-Rex and from Star Wars Imperial Walkers.
Chicago-based wedding photographer Steven Kowalski also joined in on the fun, creating the epic Star Wars-themed photograph above at a wedding earlier this month.
How old were you when you first started working with Photoshop? 14-year-old Natick, Massachusetts-based photographer and retoucher Zev has been at it for 6 years now, which means he first picked up his camera and laid his mouse cursor on Photoshop's Toolbox when he was just eight years old!
Claudia Nallely Agres works as a bridal model for a living, but she hasn't yet had the joy of being a bride in a wedding of her own. Wedding photographer Ryan Brenizer wanted to change that, so he recently held a special photo shoot for Agres that resulted in some beautiful and unusual bridal portraits.
Slovenia photographer Matej Peljhan has a touching series of photographs titled The Little Prince, which stars a 12-year-old boy named Luka. The images show the boy exploring an imaginary world created by laying colored sheets and household objects on the ground. Peljhan created the images to give Luka the feeling of being able to do things he can't.
You see, Luka suffers from muscular dystrophy, a disease that causes his body to become weaker and weaker over time.