tingilinde

beautiful photomicrographs

Nice photography!  (you probably can't guess what this one is)

 

anywhen

Like Pinterest, but vintage images...

(hat tip to Chris)

 

drive-by street photography

..  with studio lighting

impressive

 

(hat tip to Bjarne)

 

 

in diametric opposition

Digital photography has mostly eliminated the use of film, but it hangs on and even thrives as part of an artform.  One of these areas is 20x24 inch Polaroid work.  Alan notes a company that acquired Polaroid's old film stock and their film production process.  Years ago I saw an exhibit of 20x24" Polaroid photography and can only describe it as stunning.  Part of it is the nature of the film and the camera, but probably a more important component was the fact that only seriously good photographers attempt this and the shots tend to be very thought-out and deliberate.  

some truth about good photography

A lot of truth here.

There are so many times that I've seen wonderful photos taken with "terrible" equipment and terrible photos taken with the aid of state of the art and very expensive kit.  The trick to good photos is you need to be a good photographer, you have to have a camera with you when the potential for a photo exists, and you need a bit of luck and skill picking the time and place for a good photo.  

The camera only has to be good enough to capture an image given the conditions.  Expensive kit can extend the range of photos that can be captured, but often at the cost of availability - the camera might be too heavy to carry or too difficult to easily adjust.

It is bad enough that camera specs often have little to do with final photo quality.  Megapixels is a very counterproductive measure - and beyond crazy in smartphones.  On the other hand, a camera in a smartphone can be very useful as it is usually with you most of the time.

 

kit for photography

Unless you have a specialized need (like available light photography of difficult subjects or printing large enlargements), it may be that a minimal camera is sufficient.  There is a school of thought that living under the restrictions of such a camera, in the hands of a good photographer, leads to excellent photography and that learning with restrictions in a good thing and perhaps optimal.  

Mike notes some comments from a professional photographer.

Pros, of course, know how to find interesting images.  There is a lot most of us can learn with nearly anything and the combination of the low image cost of digital photography combined with the portability of a very small device that travels with you can be powerful.

Now if I only had the discipline to learn the art properly...  A friend noted that her high school had a fine arts requirement for graduation - everyone had to take one term of a music or art class - she took photography and it shows.  This happened about 20 years ago - it probably couldn't happen in a contemporary public high school with the obsession on testing and a very limited number of subjects.

 

 

 

 

wwii color photos of bomber crews

Some very good historical photography (Life Magazine)

(hat tip to Rich)

 

nice penguin photos

Jim notes some great National Geographic photography of his favorite bird.

landscape photography

take a few minutes (well - probably longer) and see what Adnan Bubalo has done...

for fun - with a warning that it can be a time trap - stroll through time images of others at 500px

 

 

 

 

 

360 gigapixel snapshot

British Telecom made this panorama mosaic of London from the top of the BT Tower using four Canon EOS 7D cameras that took 48,640  frames spread over three days.  

trying moving around and zooming in...

Amateurs can get invovled in photography like this (although likely not this ambitious) using a digital SLR and a computer controlled mount and stitching software from Gigapan.