fishtank

Photographer Jonti Wild demonstrates an unusual technique for capturing underwater photos without a protective camera housing: using a fish tank.

This is the archerfish from Asia. These amazing fish have the unusual habit of feeding on land-based insects. Even more unique is their method of hunting their chosen prey: they spit a powerful jet of water at their dinner knocking it from overhanging foliage into the water, where the fish quickly gobbles them up!

Flip through photographer Michael Jackson's "A Child's Landscape" series, and you'll find what appear to be vintage photographs of rocky coastlines that were captured with some old photographic process over a century ago. The images are actually modern photographs captured quite recently in Jackson's studio using rocks in a fish tank.

If you want to capture photographs or videos of otherworldly environments without using any computer generated imagery, one way is to create miniature worlds in your garage using a fish tank and salt water (a technique that has been used in numerous Hollywood movies). The video above is a tutorial on this trick by filmmaker and visual effects guru Joey Shanks.

This beautiful (and disorienting) photograph was made by Evan Sharboneau of Photo Extremist. If you can't make sense of it, try tilting your head 90-degrees to the left. The technique isn't too difficult -- it's taken the same way as photos of things dropped into water.