water

Photographing an Upside-Down World Underwater

As the years pass by, our children use the pool less and less. I needed to compensate. I have always had a fascination for concepts that make it difficult to tell up from down or make sense of gravity. This summer, I started a new series: The Underside. I recreated, just below the surface, activities one normally expects above.

Geometric and Surreal Aerial Photos of Swimming Pools

The subject of German photographer Stephan Zirwes' series Pools is self-explanatory. But while any straight-down, aerial images of pools captured from a helicopter might make for an interesting photo subject, Zirwes' surreal twist to the images adds something extra.

How to Create Water Illusions Using a Camera

Here's a fun little 7-minute video tutorial on how you can create interesting water illusions using an ordinary camera and some sound. It has to do with syncing the water drops to your camera's frame rate.

25 Moods of an Ocean, As Seen by a Photographer at Eye Level

For the past 2 years, photographer Che Chorley has been working has been working on a seascape project. Each shot is captured with the surface of the sea at about eye level, and each mainly shows the ocean, horizon, and sky.

But different weather and times of day cause the photos to have drastically different appearances. Chorley has put together a set of 25 seascape photos showing 25 different "moods" the ocean showed him.

Photographer Captures Powerful Waves on Lake Erie as Liquid Mountains

Dave Sandford is a professional sports photographer of 18 years whose hometown is London, Ontario, Canada. Over the past 4 weeks, for 2 to 3 days per week, Sandford has been driving 45 minutes to Lake Erie, spending up to 6 hours a day photographing the lake.

The photos are awe-inspiring: Sandford gets in the water and shoots the powerful choppy waves in a way that makes them look like epic mountain peaks that are exploding into the atmosphere.

6K RED Camera on ISS Used to Capture Water Bubble Experiments

Did you know the International Space Station has a RED Epic Dragon in its camera arsenal now? The 6K camera was delivered to the station back in January 2015, allowing astronauts to capture footage at 300 frames per second and 6 times more detail than before.

To show off their new recording abilities, astronauts have posted a couple of videos in which they play with floating orbs of water in the microgravity environment of space. The experiments have been a hit: the 1-minute video above has gotten nearly half a million views in just the past few days.

Trident is an Underwater HD Camera Drone That Lets You Explore The Seas

We're in the dawn of a new camera drone age in which aerial units are readily available from a number of different manufacturers. In addition to taking to the skies, companies are also looking to take drone exploration in the other direction: to the depths of the seas. OpenROV has just launched a Kickstarter campaign for the Trident: a submersible drone geared toward the general population.

Photos of a Surfer Riding a Giant Wave… While on Fire

How do go about making photos of big wave surfing even more extreme? Here's one way: add fire to the mix. Surfer Jamie O'Brien recently tackled some of the world's heaviest and dangerous waves while wearing a wetsuit that was set on fire. Photographer Tim McKenna was on hand to capture the stunt.

I Captured California’s Drought Problem in Aerial Shots of Lake Tahoe

I woke up the morning of my 28th birthday last month with one thing on my mind: "What am I going to do today?"

I have always wanted to get an aerial view of my hometown of Lake Tahoe in the summer time, and I was visiting from Arizona. I had also just bought myself a nice new birthday gift: the Nikon D810... so I called up Reno Tahoe Helicopters and made an appointment for a noon flight.

The Photographer’s Sandbag Has Evolved… and Become the Donut-Like WaterWeight

When you're shooting on-location, you often want to pack as light as possible to minimize the physical effort needed to set things up. Just one problem: you're probably going to need to carry around big, cumbersome sandbags in order to hold down all that ultra-light gear you packed.

Here to change the game is WaterWeight, a creative reinvention of the sandbag by the folks at Inspired Photo Gear. Small, portable and versatile, these little beasts ensure that your lights will be staying right where you need them without weighing you down on the way to the shoot.

Video: Astronauts Trap GoPro in a Floating Water Bubble… for Science of Course

If this doesn't put a big fat smile on your face, we're not sure what will. As part of an experiment on 'the phenomenon of water surface tension in microgravity,' the astronauts of Expedition 40 managed to trap a GoPro inside a floating sphere of water.

The video above is a behind the scenes look at that experience, which is about 10% science and 90% astronauts/science nerds having the time of their lives... as it should be.

Make a Rain Machine to Spice Up Your Portraits for $20 and Some Elbow Grease

When Benjamin Von Wong was commissioned to do a series of black and white portraits of SmugMug employees for the company’s gym, he knew he wasn’t going to be taking the easy route. But just because he was going to try to do something really cool, didn’t mean things needed to get expensive.

To spice up the sporty portraits, Von Wong decided to add water into the equation, and thanks to some help from the folks at SmugMug, they were able to make it rain for only $20.

Astronaut Reid Wiseman Uses a Floating Sphere of Water as ‘The Ultimate Fisheye Lens’ on the ISS

If we asked you to name the ultimate fisheye lens, the comments would probably fill up with many gear suggestions. Some, like this rare Nikon 6mm lens that pops up for sale occasionally, would probably be named more than once, but there's one suggestion you probably wouldn't make: a floating sphere of water.

That, however, is ISS astronaut Reid Wiseman's entry for the Ultimate Fisheye Lens.

Math and Photography: How to Capture a Pellet Piercing a Water Drop

Water droplets can make for some beautiful high-speed photography, but how do photographers manage to capture such precise moments? And what if you add even more elements to the equation, such as shooting a tiny pellet through the drop as it reaches its peak?

While repetition and luck are one option, a far better approach is to use a clever triggering system called the Camera Axe.

Out of This World Aerial Photographs of Purple Salt Ponds in San Francisco

The colorful pond you see in the above image is not the work of clever post–production; nor is it the result of an accidental leak of hazardous material. In fact, it's 100% natural. What you’re seeing are millions of colorful microorganisms that live and breed in the vibrant salt ponds of San Francisco.

The above image and its accompanying series, titled San Francisco Bay - Purple, was captured by photographer Julieanne Kost as she flew over the ponds, located south of San Francisco.

13 Beautiful Cinemagraphs of Water’s Movements

Having a stressful week? Here's a series of images that's perfect for you. It's a set of cinemagraphs (i.e. partially animated GIFs) created by Julien Douvier of Strasbourg, France. Each one features the simple concept of water's movement.