Ideas

When photography enthusiasts John and Sara Jennings found out they were expecting their first child, they decided to get capturing the pregnancy on camera. They shot a series of photos every week for 9 months while they painted a picture and set up the nursery. Afterward, they combined the shots into this creative 3-minute time-lapse video in which Sara gradually gets closer and closer to their daughter's birth as she's working on the room.

Pedro Berg Johnsen of Norway has an unusual hobby: in his spare time, he combines portraits of celebrities to create real-looking photos of people that don't actually exist. For example, the portrait above was created by blending the heads and faces of singer Taylor Swift and actress Emma Watson.

My name is Kristjan Järv. I'm a 17-year-old photographer from Estonia, and today I'll be sharing about how I recently created a surreal photo titled "Miseducated."

Any photographer who travels understands the hardship of being able to identify their bag amongst a sea of similar looking black travel kits. Luckily for us, the folks at Think Tank Photo have come up with a solution that they are calling ‘Roller Flair’. Easily decorate your Think Tank brand roller with a splash of color to make it stand out amongst the bags around it.

Missouri-based photographer Brendan Batchelor recently received a strange photo shoot request: a high school senior named Brittany Nicole Creech wanted to shoot senior portraits at a local Taco Bell.

It was a serious request, so Batchelor visited the restaurant with Creech to turn her shoot idea into a set of real portraits.

A few months ago I decided to do something a little different and create an iOS app to present my photography. I had been thinking about it for a while and had a vague idea of what I wanted the app to achieve and how I wanted it to work.

Portfolio websites are great for photographers to showcase their work to potential clients but unless the website has additional content, there is no reason for people to keep coming back. This is why many people add a blog to their website with behind-the-scenes or tips-and-tricks content.

Wedding photographer Paul Keppel created this helpful 3-minute video tutorial on how he goes about shooting consistent wedding ring photos using a cheap LED light and a macro lens.

After seeing the Paris through a Pentax video we published back in August 2014, filmmaker Keith Tedesco was inspired to turn the concept into a creative short film.

What resulted was "Him & Her," the 6-minute short film above that tells a love story through the viewfinder of a Hasselblad 501C medium format camera.

Over the years, we've posted a number of tutorials on how to develop film using coffee and vitamin C, which combine to create a photo process known as caffenol. The solution can be used to develop prints as well, and that's what photographer Gijs van den Berg did for a recent project that documents coffeehouses in Amsterdam.

After photographing each shop, Gijs printed the photos in his darkroom using caffenol created from that shop's coffee.

Photographer Anton Orlov has created what he believes is the world's first camera that's both completely transparent and fully functional. It's called CLERA, short for Clear Camera, and is a camera that you can also look into while a projected photo is being exposed.

What would fashion photos look like if the models in them were more... ordinary? French fashion stylist Nathalie Croquet recently decided to find out. She took a number of photos from the high fashion industry, recreated the sets, and stood in front of the camera herself as the model.

Want a light stick for light painting but don't want to spend a lot buying a commercial product? Light painting photographer Eric Pare recently discovered a cheap and easy solution: tube guards (also known as lamp guards).

How do you go about capturing music in a photograph? Photographer Stephen Orlando has an interesting answer: light painting. By attaching LED lights to the bows of violin, viola, and cello players, Orlando is able to capture a creative representation of the sounds created by musicians.

Photographer Trevor Mahlmann has a knack for capturing light trails showing the International Space Station zipping across the sky. Back in June, he made headlines by photographing the ISS from the seat of airliner as he cruised at 40,000 feet. Now he's back again with another neat feat: he shot a self-portrait of himself staring up at the ISS as it zipped by overhead.

Surf photography doesn't usually feature motorcycles, but this crazy shoot did. For its latest project titled "Pipe Dream," DC Shoes partnered with Australian stunt bike rider Robbie Maddison for dirt bike surfing. The team spent 2.5 years working on making the idea a reality, creating a modified bike that has boasts special fins for hydroplaning, a waterproof engine, and custom rear tires.

When photographer Alessandro Della Bella's son Claudio was born in December 2014, he shared the happy news of the new family member by shooting a picture of Claudio sleeping in the main compartment of his camera bag.

Canadian singer Kalle Mattson just released a music video for his song "Avalanche" that creatively recreates some of the most famous album cover photos in the history of music. Over the course of 4 minutes, Mattson steps into 28 different sets to show what his album cover would look like as other iconic albums. The Ramones, Jay-Z, the Backstreet Boys, and Michael Jackson are some of the artists referenced. Brownie points if you can name the others.

Photographer Liam Hennessey runs a wedding photography studio in downtown Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. Recently he was hired to shoot a wedding at a hotel that was extremely close to his studio. Wanting to do something unique for the couple, an ambitious idea popped into Hennessey's head: "Why don't we have every guest come to our studio and get their photo taken?" he thought.

So they did.

This amazing 4-minute video is the world's first full mountain biking segment to be captured in a single continuous shot. Seen in the film unReal, the shot shows top slopestyle mountain biker Brandon Semenuk tackling a custom trail while the camera seemingly-magically follows his tricks down the hill.

The "Tri-clops," created by pinhole photographer Justin Quinnell," is the world's first multi-screen, wearable camera obscura. The device (and two extra I-scuras, as seen above) will be making the founds at several art and science festivals (e.g. Sidmouth and Green Man) in the UK over the coming months.

Now here's a bright idea: LumoPro today announced the LP742 LightSwitch, a new protective case for flash units that transforms into a light modifier of your choice.

What do you get when you combine 50 portraits of the same famous face and averaged the result? Reddit user Dwainosaur dared to not only ask the question but to pursue it. He gathered up a large collection of photos and wrote a script for averaging the results. Subjects include Brad Pitt, Jack Black, Billy Murray, and Barack Obama. Infamous faces include Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin.

Earlier this month, Reddit user magic976's parents celebrated their 40th anniversary as husband and wife. To mark the occasion, they decided to recreate two photos from their wedding day back in 1975.

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.

Artist Brian Kane recently purchased advertising time on digital billboards along interstate freeways in Massachusetts, but instead of putting up more ads to compete for commuter eyeballs, Kane decided to put up photographs of nature. The project is titled "Healing Tool."

Photographer Nathan Bett has an unusual series of photos titled Learning to Disappear, which shows New Yorkers walking by in various parts of their city. What curious about the images, however, is that most of the passers-by in the frames are staring straight at Bett's camera.

Any object can be seen as something else given the right perspective. In this instance, fairly common items have been used to create the effect of lava.

Forever 21 has unveiled what it calls the F21 Thread Screen. It's a 2,000-pound contraption that can display any Instagram photo using 6,400 mechanical spools of thread.

Warsaw-based creative agency Ars Thanea recently created a photograph called "The Ash," which shows a bouquet of charred roses sitting amidst glowing embers. While the same photo could be created through Photoshop manipulation, the agency decided to go a more "real" route with the project.

This music video, titled "ShotBySound," is the world's first music-video-and-fashion-shoot hybrid in which a band takes pictures of models by triggering cameras with their musical instruments.

The 24 Hours of Le Mans is one of the racing world's oldest, most famous, and most grueling races. Racing photographer Camden Thrasher covered the 2015 race last month and shot over 1,000 photos over the course of the day. Afterward, he took 1,158 of the photos he shot and turned them into this stop-motion video for Audi.

Audi calls the work "a fascinating homage to motorsport in general and Le Mans in particular."

The first annual men's fashion week in New York City was held over this past week, and hoards of fashionable photographers descended upon the city to capture the latest and greatest in men's fashion... and to show it off themselves.

Photographer Aymann Ismail visited Manhattan’s Hudson Square and shot portraits of the photographers holding their cameras and wearing their unique outfits.

Like the world’s tidal waters, photographic creativity ebbs and flows for many of us. Sometimes creativity can use a jump-start, an artificial method to get the photographer to start looking at the world in a new way in order to facilitate, restart, refine, or improve your photography.

There are many ideas on how to get yourself to push through an artistic block or inspire you to further expand your boundaries. Not all of them involve the camera. Several websites and books publish a mix of assignments or exercises for the intrepid photographer. I prefer the exercises that 1) involve using your camera, 2) are less assignment-based, and 3) are fun!

San Francisco-based writer David Sikorski was getting tired of the lovey-dovey photos dominating his Facebook feed, so he partnered with photographer Kristina Bakrevski for a photo shoot with his own "one true love": the burrito. The duo trio traveled around San Francisco and shot stereotypical engagement photos showing Sikorski's intense love for his burrito, which was dressed beautifully in foil.

We recently shared how the film Mad Max: Fury Road mostly used real stunts, physical effects, and compositing instead of relying on computer generated imagery.

Here's another (even crazier) example of people actually doing something on camera rather than using CGI: for a scene in the upcoming film Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation, actor Tom Cruise was actually strapped to the outside of an a military transport plane while it took off.

The Lumenati CS1 is a cinematic smartphone case aimed at bringing a more enjoyable experience to shooting video. Designed by Lumenati, a collection of filmmakers, animators, and designers in Denver, Colorado, the CS1 looks to "combine the technological features of a digital device with the cool design, ergonomic ease and natural narrative that the lo-fi classic camera is known for." Basically, it transforms your iPhone 6 into an old-school cinema camera.

COOPH just released this fun little 3-minute video that shares 8 tips, tricks, and ideas for smartphone photography. It's a dose of inspiration for getting creative with the camera in your pocket.

Photographer Hayden Williams made this abstract photo by shooting a triple exposure with his Canon AE-1 and FD 50mm f/1.8 lens. It's an idea you can do entirely in-camera.

Shooting splashes is always great fun, even if it’s a simple image with a coffee cup and a falling piece of refined sugar. Plus, there is always so much room for experimentation for even more fun!

An unusual family of animals is winning hearts on Instagram. The account @bob_goldenretriever has attracted over 77,000 followers so far by regularly sharing snapshots from the life of one man's pets: a eccentric but tight-knit group that consists of one golden retriever, one hamster, and eight birds.

Want to be blown away by the size and beauty of the Milky Way? …

Kaleta Bartosz was on a boat with his girlfriend off the coast of …

Having failed woodworking at school, probably the worst thing I could have done is venture into the world of wet plate photography.

Back in 2012, I learned the dark art of the silver stuff, just around the time the wave of interest was starting to build worldwide. However, as I live in New Zealand, an island nation, it has taken a while (and is still taking a while) to reach us. As a result, getting anything wet plate-related is quite a task. One does not simply walk into a store and buy a 'wet plate kit'.

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.

Light-painting photographer Darren Pearson released this 3.5-minute video tutorial on how to paint …

Believe it or not, the image above isn't a digital composite created in Photoshop -- it's a light painting photo captured using a film camera. Photographer Jason D. Page spent four years planning for this shot before finally capturing it in just the right conditions recently.

Since 2011, photographer Murad Osmann has been shooting a hugely popular series of photos titled "Follow Me" showing his significant other leading him through scenic locations around the world, from his point of view. We featured the project back in 2013, but recently Osmann's girlfriend led him by the hand one last time in the photo above... down the aisle at their wedding.

Adriana Napolitano is a 31-year-old Italian artist and photographer who creates beautiful paper props by hand for portrait and advertising photo shoots. Her creations include everything from food to costumes to phones to water gushing out of a crying woman's face.

New York-based photographer Dana Stirling is no stranger to rejection. In the course of her photography career, she has received numerous rejection letters in various forms and from various sources. Instead of letting them derail her dreams, Stirling has compiled the letters into a new book titled "Dear Artist, We Regret to Tell You."

Shooting a self-portrait a day over many years to create "passage of time" videos has been a popular project ever since Noah Kalina's everyday video took the Internet by storm several years back. One of the latest ones to surface is one of Daily Show host Jon Stewart that spans a whopping 16 years -- and neither Stewart nor his show had anything to do with it.

The 2-minute above is a fan-made time-lapse showing 16 years of Stewart discussing news on The Daily Show.