Spotlight

Cameras are great, but it’s what is done in photography with that technology that really matters. To that end, PetaPixel regularly shines a Spotlight on the incredible photos and videos created by talented artists from around the world.

Wet Plate Photography Makes Tattoos Disappear

Here's something you may not have known about the 1800s wet plate collodion photography process: it can make certain tattoos disappear in photos. It's a curious phenomenon that photographer Michael Bradley used for his portrait project Puaki.

This Underwater Short Film Was Shot on a Bare iPhone

London-based filmmaker Frederic van Strydonck made this creative short film titled Spltch, which teleports the viewer to different locations through taking dips below the water's surface. Everything was shot with an unprotected iPhone X.

These Photos Were Printed with Cake Frosting on Watercolor Paper

There are quite a few unusual photo printing ideas that have emerged over the years, but photographer Lawrence Sumulong's latest technique is one of the sweetest we've seen -- literally. For his project Lacuna, Sumulong printed his photos on edible frosting layers designed for use on cakes.

This Waterfall Photo Was Lit by Headlamps

Photographer Carley Nelson was backpacking at the Havasu Falls in the Grand Canyon last weekend when she asked her friends to point their headlamps at the falls while she captured a long-exposure photo. This is what resulted.

These Photos Show Why Everyone Wants to Go to Iceland

Iceland is booming. More than 2 million tourists visit Iceland every year. This comes as no surprise. As I am regularly guiding tours in Iceland, I have visited the country quite a few times over the years and the beauty of the country is simply out of this world. The moment you step out of Reykjavik is the moment you enter some a fantasy movie with beautiful scenery on every corner.

Photos of Divers with Massive Schools of Fish

Mexican photographer and social anthropologist Anuar Patjane uses his photos to drive attention to the beauty of Earth's oceans. In his impressive portfolio is a mesmerizing series of black-and-white photos showing divers being eclipsed by massive schools of swirling fish.

These Wildlife Photos Aren’t What They Seem

My photo project Wildlife is a series of black-and-white film photos showing some of the most amazing and beautiful animals in the world. But these photos aren’t what they appear to be.

Daydreamers: Street Photos of People with Closed Eyes

As a street photographer, I like catching those quiet moments of solitude people have amidst the busy and hectic life of the metropolis. That's how my Daydreamers series was born. While combing through my archives and Instagram posts, I noticed I had a lot of photos of people with their eyes shut.

Photos of Mushroom Clouds Made of Mushrooms

For their new project The Fallout of the Food System, photographer Henry Hargreaves and stylist Caitlin Levin created photos to capture the threat of nuclear war to the global food system. The series shows images of mushroom clouds created with actual mushrooms.

Photos Inside the Ruins of Luxurious Soviet Spas and Sanatoria

The Soviet Utopia: sending your hard-working state citizens on a health holiday to one of the empire's many sanatoria. Originally conceived in the 1920s, these USSR sanatoria offered a combination of health and medical benefits alongside thermal baths and spas. These institutions were once among the most innovative buildings of that era.

This is the Milky Way Photographed in a Crystal Ball

Photographer and astronomer Juan Carlos Munoz was browsing a flea market in Santiago, Chile, a few days ago when he stumbled across some crystal balls. He bought one for a few dollars and then decided to use it for astrophotography. This "cosmic marble" photo of the Milky Way in a crystal ball is what resulted.

How I Wait Years to Get My Photos

Landscape photography takes a lot of patience. When we share shots on the Internet, people often don't realize how much effort can go into creating some of them. I'm often told, "you’re always at the right place at the right time." And yes, I am sometimes at the right place at the right time, but it took me lots of effort and sometimes a bit of luck!

Unconditional Love: Portraits of People and Pets in a Seattle Homeless Camp

In October 2017, I visited a good friend in Seattle, Washington, who runs an international animal rescue organization. Animals can have a positive impact on people’s lives. Unfortunately, I also saw and learned how much animals suffer abuse around the world. During my visit, I saw that many homeless people kept animals with them, and it gave me an idea to document their connection and dependence on each other.

One of My Scariest Moments as a Photographer

This was one of my scariest moments as a photographer. What you don't see in this photo is the 100-meter (~330-foot) drop in front of me and the gale force wind from behind. Two minutes of light and then it was dark again.

Forget ‘Golden Hour’: The Arctic Circle Has ‘Golden Days’

In photography, the "golden hour" is the time right after sunrise or right before sunset in which sunlight is warmer and softer -- a look that's valued by landscape and portrait photographers. If an hour isn't enough time for you to get your fill of the special lighting, you might want to visit the Arctic Circle, where you can enjoy "golden days".

These Cranes Were Caught Dancing In Sync with Ed Sheeran’s ‘Perfect’

Ilene Karlsberg-Gerstein of Clermont, Florida, was driving down the road last Wednesday when she came across two sandhill cranes dancing with each other. After she pulled out her phone to shoot video of the scene, Karlsberg-Gerstein found that the cranes were dancing beautifully to the song playing in her car, "Perfect" by Ed Sheeran.

How this Epic Volcano Photo Was Shot

While some may think that award-winning photos are simply snapshots created at the right place and right time, there's often a huge amount of time, effort, and dedication that goes into the process. For Mexican photographer Sergio Tapiro, it was over 15 years and over 300,000 photos.

Photographer Sees Mythical Creatures in Stormy Waves

Photographer Rachael Talibart spent a great deal of her childhood in southeast England staring at powerful ocean waves and imagining creatures in the sea. Through her ongoing photo project titled Sirens, Talibart is now sharing her imagination with the world.

This is What the Moon Looks Like with a Ginormous Camera Lens

Using lens compression to capture a giant moon is nothing new, but photographer Daniel López has taken things to a whole level. He set up an ultra-telephoto lens about 10 miles (16km) away from a volcano and captured this mind-blowing 2-minute video that shows a moonset in real-time.

Using Photos to Shine a Light on PTSD

My name is Connar L’Ecuyer, and one of my main ongoing projects is photographing Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, or PTSD, in military vets and first responders. Some people may have heard of PTSD and not know much about it, or have loved ones that suffer from PTSD. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is NOT a topic to hide in the background, and you are not weak for asking for help.

Tornado Forms in Front of a Timelapse Photographer’s Camera

It's extremely difficult to predict when and where a tornado will form and touch down, so stormchasing photographers rely on long days of chasing and waiting for luck. But luck is exactly what Mike Olbinski met with recently: he captured a tornado forming and touching down while shooting a timelapse.

This Eye-Popping Flyover of NYC Was Shot in 12K

Over the past several years, director Phil Holland has been specializing in high-res, large-format aerial cinematography. This gorgeous video titled "Above NYC" is a flyover of The Big Apple shot in 12K using a special rig comprising 3 RED Weapon Monstro 8K VV cameras.

I Shot Photos of Cameras Placed on Film

Last summer, I visited Gifford Stevens at his home in Bradley, Maine. He was one of the best teachers I've ever had. He taught English at Hampden Academy.

Shooting Portraits of Sonoma County Wildfire Victims

About six months ago, I created a portrait series titled Ashes Fell Like Snow, photographing people affected by the Northern California wildfires and gathering their stories to share with the world. Creating this collection of portraits required much effort in a short span of time.

Portraits of Athletes Before and After They Get Sweaty

For the last several years, photographer B.A. Van Sise has been working on a project titled Sweat. It's a series of diptychs of athletes: one portrait is shot as they're arriving at a stadium, and the second is captured immediately as they come off the field.

This Guy Shot Formula 1 with a Game Boy Camera and Phone Lens

Photographer and Formula 1 fan Tim Binnion recently attended the 2018 Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai. In addition to shooting the race with his Nikon DSLR, Binnion also decided to document it with a 0.016-megapixel Game Boy Camera from 1998... and the results are pretty awesome.

This Man Collects Mid-Century Modern Cameras

David Silver is a San Francisco-based camera collector who began collecting vintage cameras as a young man, eventually amassing over 2,300 of them. He has since developed a focus and whittled his collection down to a little over 200 of them. Here's a 5-minute video by Gizmodo that profiles Silver.

This is the World’s First Terapixel Macro Photo

Say hello to the world's first terapixel macro photo. The photo is of a food mosaic, and it was made by stitching together 629,370 separate photos. The final image has dimensions of 6,571,152x160,256 pixels, weighing in at a staggering 1053.07 gigapixels (or 1.053 terapixels).

Shooting Infrared Photos of Barn Owls at Night

Photographer Will Burrard-Lucas was recently challenged to recreate his photos of African wildlife in the UK. This 3.5-minute video shows how he went about shooting beautiful nighttime infrared photos of barn owls.

When You Want Romantic Photos, But You Only Have Yourself…

There are a lot of standard and cliché poses used by photographers shooting romantic portraits of couples in love. One of the key ingredients is having two people in the frame. Photographer Malley Victoria of LaGrange, Georgia, recently shot a series of portraits of a guy in the style of a couples photo shoot.

Portraits of Tattooed People, With and Without Clothes

Photographer Alan Powdrill has long been intrigued by tattoos and the idea that people would make permanent statements on their skin. For his project Covered, Powdrill shot portraits of heavily tattooed people in the UK both with and without clothes on.