Inspiration

I Shot Macro Photos That Capture the Beauty of Peacock Feathers

My name is Can Tunçer. I'm a photographer living in Turkey, and I have been shooting macro photographs for about 7 years now. As someone who likes to photograph the tiny details of nature, I recently chose the peacock feather as a subject and started a special project on it.

How to Fake the Look of ‘Bullet Time’ Using a Single Camera

Here's a new 3-minute music video by Russian/Ukrainian group 5'Nizza. In it, the band finds themselves in a variety of situations, but as the action is frozen they keep on singing while the camera pans around them. How was it done? It turns out the effect was created with a single moving camera and a green screen.

How I Shot Cliff Divers with a Total Solar Eclipse

This is a post about photography plus trigonometry. I remember half joking with my math teachers in high school, asking “why do we need to learn this? I’m never going to use it in life.” Fast forward to 4 months ago when Red Bull Media House calls and wants to shoot a cliff diver eclipse photo.

Why to Shoot 2,300 Photos Even if You Only Need 3

What's the point in shooting thousands of frames when your client only wants a few? In this 10-minute video from The Slanted Lens, Jay P Morgan shares his entire process during a shoot and why he takes thousands of different shots.

This Guy is a Master of Mind-Bending Camera Illusions

Back in May, artist Kevin Parry released a viral illusion video of himself walking into a mirror in a forest and emerging out the other side. If you liked that one, check out Parry's new video above featuring a compilation of many similar illusions.

My Photo Shoot with Jennifer Lawrence

We all have our dreams. Some are simple, while others are complex, buried under an overwhelming mountain of hurdles. It’s not often that people live out their dreams. But, what happens when you do? What happens when you achieve every single goal in your path? How do you plan for the future when you have nothing to chase?

Dazzling Photos of Summer Firework Festivals in Japan

Every summer in Japan, there are around 200 separate firework festivals, known as "Hanabi Taikai," which light up the sky in all sorts of colors. Japanese photographer Keisuke spent his time trekking to several of the shows this summer, an effort which allowed him to capture some mesmerizing firework photos.

4 Lessons in Creativity for Photographers

Creativity in any discipline is about finding new and original ideas. When they strike, creative thoughts seem to appear out of nowhere -- light bulb moments. Sometimes it seems like creativity is something intangible that we can’t control. But are there ways you can nurture your own creativity? How can we better create the conditions for those moments of inspiration to strike?

Steve Irwin’s 13-Year-Old Son is Quite a Photographer

The late Steve Irwin achieved worldwide fame as "The Crocodile Hunter," wowing audiences around the world by getting up close and personal with Earth's diverse (and often dangerous) wildlife. But here's something you might not know: Irwin's 13-year-old son Robert is making his own name as a top notch nature photographer.

Finalist Shots of Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2017

The prestigious Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition is now in its 53rd year, and this year's edition certain won't disappoint. Today the competition offered a glimpse into this year's finalists, which will be displayed in an exhibition that will tour museums and galleries around the world.

High Magnification at a Low Price: How I Built a Super Macro Rig for $230

Last year, I bought a macro lens for the summer. Just a normal one with 1x magnification. I fell into a beautiful and mesmerizing world of minuscule flowers and bugs. I found that in macro photography, you don't have to travel to beautiful places to take beautiful photos -- you can just walk around in your backyard, and discover a whole new world.

What I’ve Learned from Shooting at Night on the Alps

The night has fallen. I am alone, on top of a mountain, at an altitude of 3,000 meters (~9,800 feet). Fog is floating along through the valleys below, illuminated by the pale light of the moon. For a moment I feel like I've landed on a distant planet, lost in space. It's a privilege to be here, a refreshment of the soul.

I Turned a Camper Into a Giant Camera and Portable Darkroom

Last year, I built a (very rudimentary) 16x20” ultra large format camera out of a bunch of plywood, a pane of glass and some cheap blackout material from the local fabric shop. I borrowed a 20” military aerial lens off a friend and took it on the road to Latvia in my campervan. The problem with it was that I only made one dark slide, and this wasn’t exactly light tight!

Photographer Uses Burned Teapot as a Camera to Shoot Wildfire Damage

Back in August 2016, the Blue Cut wildfire tore through Cajon Pass in Southern California, burning 37,000 acres, dozens of cars, and over 300 homes and structures. Local photojournalist James Quigg documented the fire's damage in a creative and unusual way: he found a burned teapot and turned it into a pinhole camera.

I Gave My 3-Year-Old Daughter a DSLR, and Here’s What Happened

My 3-year-old daughter is at that phase in which she wants to do everything that daddy does. Apparently photography is not immune to this phase and seeing this as a potentially huge win (it's not easy to coax her into driving 6 hours to go shoot some waterfall) I dug out my old Canon 40D DSLR and a 50mm prime lens that I had lying around and let the experiment begin!

How It Was Shot: A Climber and a Total Solar Eclipse

On August 21st, 2017, a large swath of the United States was treated to a sighting of a solar eclipse. Naturally, this inspired photographers around the country to grab their cameras and immortalize the event in a photo. Two of the most viral images were captured by photographers Ted Hesser and Andrew Studer.

These Aerial Photos Show Why Iceland is So Popular for Movies

Everyone knows the classic images of Iceland. The famous Skogafoss, The Black Beach, The Blue Lagoon, you name it. On a recent trip to Iceland, we decided we wanted to shoot something a little bit different.

How to Shoot Magical Portraits in the Pouring Rain

When it starts pouring outside, most photographers may run for cover and hide from the rain. For photographer Ilko Allexandroff, heavy rain becomes an opportunity to shoot stunning backlit portraits of subjects. Here's a 20-minute video in which Allexandroff discusses his methods, helpful tips, and 6 types of lighting setups he uses.

The Best Photos of the Great American Eclipse

Of the endless stream of Great American Eclipse photos being shared online, there are some notable gems that are going wildly viral on social media. Here's a roundup of the amazing shots that are wowing viewers across the Web.

I Biked Across the Canadian Rockies to Build a Photo Portfolio

I decided a while ago that for my high school graduation and summer trip, I was going to photograph the Canadian Rockies. I started pursuing landscape photography seriously a little over a year ago and wanted to build a photography portfolio.

4 Top NYC Photographers Shoot the Same Model

Here's a new 13-minute video showing a shootout recently done between four popular NYC-based photographers: Joey L, Dani Diamond, Brandon Woelfel, and Jessica Kobeissi. All four are extremely popular online, with hundreds of thousands of followers each just on Instagram (Woelfel has around 1.3 million).

The Masterful Photo Compositions of Henri Cartier-Bresson

Ever wonder what it is that makes Henri Cartier-Bresson's "decisive moment" photos "work"? Photographer Tavis Leaf Glover put out a two-part video series in which he explores Cartier-Bresson's famous photos and shows how they conform to various ideas and principles of composition.

Photos of a Diver Under an Oil Rig

Here's an incredible series of underwater photos showing a diver being dwarfed by the gigantic structure of an oil rig. They were shot by award-winning Mexican photographer Anuar Patjane Floriuk.

This Famous Pepper Photo by Edward Weston Was a 4hr+ Exposure at f/240

Edward Weston is considered to be one of the most influential American photographers of the 20th century. One of his most famous works, titled Pepper No. 30, is a B&W photo of a single green pepper with beautiful, soft lighting. Here's a fascinating, little-known fact about the piece: it was shot at an aperture of f/240 with an exposure time of 4-6 hours.

How to Create Long Exposure Light Trails in Video with After Effects

In this tutorial, I'll break down how I create light trails from video and how you can create a video panning shot. A panning shot is where a camera pans horizontally to track a subject in a frame, keeping the subject sharp, while blurring the background.

How to Shoot Corporate Headshots: 3 Looks in 30 Minutes

When you’re taking corporate headshots, you often have a tight window in which to fit everything in. But usually you're also going to be expected to create more than one look. Jay P. Morgan of The Slanted Lens runs through his simple setup in this 5 minute video.

101-Megapixel B&W Photos of Pre-War Era Racing

Photographer Rick Wenner was recently sent to Wildwood, New Jersey, to shoot a peculiar event called "The Race of Gentlemen." It's a gathering of drag racers who speed across a beach on pre-war era hot rods and motorcycles -- the "perfect event for black-and-white photography," Wenner says.

These Mozart Photos Were Created in Camera, Not Photoshop

Austrian adventure photographer Sebastian Wahlhuetter has just released an amazing new project titled "Amadé". It's a series of photos showing Mozart walking across the air on musical notation, created entirely in-camera instead of through Photoshop "faking."