Pictures

Many of you are familiar with Blair Bunting, one of the premier commercial portrait photographers in the United States, and a good friend of mine. A couple weeks ago we were chatting about lenses when he brought up this project he did several years back. I instantly wanted to share it, and we tweeted an image of his 50mm f/1.4 next to his 110mm f/.95, which many of you thought was fake. It wasn't.

This is not the usual water-drop photo series you're used to see on many blogs (including FS) of splashing water and bouncing droplets. This set is not focused on the droplets, but on what you see in them. Check out this set of great images found on Flickr and let us know which are your favorites!

Robert Gallagher knows his way around commercial photography. On this assignment, he puts Matt Kemp, a baseball player for the Dodgers, in front of the camera to shoot the cover of Forbes Magazine. As can be seen in the video, the studio set up includes 4 different lights. With a few assistants, Robert also manages to snag a one-light shot in the tunnel heading out to the field.

4th Of July is the holiday of fireworks, so there is no better time to show you some of the best fireworks images found on Flickr. Taking interesting and 'good' pictures of fireworks is not an easy thing to do (if you tried it you know what im talking about) - and the photographers featured in this post did a great job with that. Check it out!

Week after week, month after month I am continually blown away by the talent pool found in our Fstoppers Facebook Group. What is more stunning is the level of improvement seen from members. I have watched those who went from boring, amateur, flawed images in January improve to jaw dropping, heart stopping dramatic masterpieces of posing and light in June. This past month has seen a slough of outstanding images, each truly great on their own merit.

In this scientific project, a group of researchers decided to find a way to make normal 2D prints react to light the same way 3D objects react to it. As you can see it works really great, but the photo quality is still not so good. I'm sure that with some more research and development it will get much better. This can change the way we print and see physical pictures the same way Lytro Changed the way people take pictures.

Days of preparation, hundreds of people, and 57 Profoto strobes culminated in just five minutes and forty-two seconds of fast-paced shooting. In photographer Art Streiber’s own words, “it was pretty huge, and a little out of control.” I’ll say. In an Fstoppers exclusive, we go behind the scenes of one of the largest and most sensitive group photo shoots ever undertaken with 116 of Hollywood’s greatest stars on one stage at one time to celebrate Paramount Studio’s 100th anniversary.

Alex Koloskov has had a few of his behind the scenes videos featured here on fstoppers. In this charismatic behind the scenes video, Alex takes the photography assignment of shooting some liqueur bottles in an attractive way and walks us through his set up. His in depth explanation of the lighting and staging process gives you a great understanding of how he got his final "sexy" shot.

Everybody know's Hawaii can be a dream vacation. Aaron Feinberg shows us how beautiful it actually can be. In three days, he traveled around the island of Kauai and spent the best hours of the day photographing some of the most beautiful places of the island.

No, relax, you're not going to see photos from recent zombie attacks (maybe next week?). Its just awesome looking faceless portraits. A face without eyes, mouth or a nose is not just weird, it also takes away any personality from the photographed person, which makes the photos even more special and unique. So, which is your favorite?

Sorry for the delay this month folks! I was traveling the Inland Empire (Idaho). That said, it's time to answer the question many of you wait patiently for every month: Who impressed us with the best images uploaded to our Fstoppers Facebook Group? Which images brought the most discussion? Which images were mind blowingly stunning, but went unnoticed? Take a look, because once again you all proved just how talented you are.

Photos of rainbows tend to look cheesy and kitschy, and people usually "abuse" the pictures with tons of crazy editing and heavy HDR effects to make it look cooler (and fail). But - when doing it tastefully, the results can be breath-taking - and breath-taking are exactly the kind of images we collected here for you. Check out all these amazing photos from all around the world and let us know which you liked the best in the comments!

A modern take on the little black dress, Emily Steel has found a way to make film a fashion statement. This dressed is adorned with film and backed with LED lights that give the effect. The idea was to create a wearable dress that fuses the idea of technology and art. The end result is intriguing to say the least. Check out the images and more details in the expanded post.

Most of us have seen some masterful camerawork when it comes to breathtaking time-lapses. Sean White sets a new precedent with this creation by gathering images from a total of 24 countries on all seven continents over the course of six years. The project was funded by Art Wolfe.

We all know the classic way to light paint photos, usually with a flashlight or a similar light source, but recently a new technique came to life: Light Stenciling. The idea is simple - instead of moving a flashlight in the frame to create shapes, you use a computer display (iPads, iPhones, Laptops) to add characters and items to the image by placing a graphic on top of a black background. The results are really awesome, so check out some of the best stencils we could find on Flickr.

Have you ever been going through the magazine rack of your local book store and just stood staring at the cover of a car magazine? No? Ok, well maybe that's just me. But when I see a photo of a blazingly fast sports car clinging to the corner of a race track it certainly piques my interest. Even if you aren't a "car person" chances are you have at least wondered how these cover shots are made.

These photos are almost like optical illusions. You won't believe what you're seeing for a while till you look twice. Some of them look downright wrong but thankfully there is a good explanation for each of them! Which ones were your favorite? Take a look and let us know what you think.

Although the creation of the upcoming horror flick "Dark Harvest" has less production value than what you would get from Hollywood, it might relate to the average photographer a little better for that reason. In their behind the scenes, Tim Tabke and Joel Hinojosa team up to show us a glimpse of what it took to kick off the new indie film with a teaser poster. The mood they capture is as much about interacting with the actors as it is the lighting and drama of the shot. I find their work encouraging as it shows you dont need a hollywood budget to be able to produce a quality piece of work...

Anyone who has picked up a magazine with photographic content is well aware of the amount of retouching and massaging that goes into many of the photos displayed in advertisements or in editorial features. But at what point does the 'retouching' go too far?

Underwater photography is a kind-of-rare form of photography. Its way less accessible for most of us, as most of us cant afford the super expensive DSLR underwater housing, and Intagram will probably fail in this mission as well. Most of underwater shots we get to see are of nice looking fish, or a cool coral reef - but this time we're bringing you something even cooler - the best underwater shots of sunken wrecks: ships, planes and cars.

The square Instagram App icon has become very well known to most of us. What if it was real? The team over at ADR studios rendered what it would look like if the icon became a real camera. Would it be something that you would buy if it was a possibility?

For many of us, Polaroid cameras hold a special place in our hearts. What started as the original instant camera evolved into an art form beloved by hipsters and pro photographers alike. Polaroid has struggled lately, as digital photography has forced the instant photo classic out onto the fringes. App developer Appadana licensed the Polaroid name to build an iOS version of their cult classic camera and make it modern. The result: Polamatic.

I bet most of you never heard of the term "Scanography" before, but its ok, I just learned about it a week ago. The idea of Scanography is using a regular paper scanner as a camera, and take pictures of whatever can fit in or around the scanner. The results are somewhere between scary to magical. Check out the best Scanography photos found on Flickr!

Smoking is totally bad for your health, and the health of the people around you. BUT, I think we can all agree smoking is awesome for your pictures. With the right light, location or theme, you can get great and memorable shots when the model is smoking.

Personally I never smoked, and never going to try, but I really enjoy looking at portraits of smoking girls and guys. Check out this collection of 15 amazing portraits of smoking people.

Today, Bon Appetit featured a very comprehensive blog post from food photographer William Hereford. Rather than just talking about just a particular technique or style, Hereford also writes to the burgeoning food photographer/enthusiast and tries to answer the question: What is the camera you should go with if you want to get into commercial food photography? The answer may surprise you.

This is what it looks like when day and night meet in a single image. Including the prep time, it took photographer Chris Kotsiopoloulos thirty hours to capture the hundreds photos needed to stitch this together. The shot was taken in Sounio, Greece. It got so cold at times that he had to use a hairdryer to keep the lens from fogging up. See the full post for more details!

Massoud Hossaini, who is also the first Afghani to win a Pulitzer Prize. Hossaini's work captures the horrors of violence that occur in Afghanistan on a regular basis. The photo was captured just as a suicide bomber took his own life and that of many others in the vicinity. A girl dressed in green screams as blood runs down her face, and she is surrounded by bodies of the wounded and dead.

It's easy to think that models are perfect in every way because when we see images of them they have had hours of hair and makeup, they are lit by some of the most talented photographers on the planet, and then they are retouched by the most meticulous Photoshop artists around. In this post we get to see side by side comparison shots between each model without makeup and then after the full production. Each of these models looks pretty normal except for the last one that looked incredible even without makeup.

Photographer turned wet-plate artist Ian Ruhter basically dropped everything and cashed in his life's savings to follow his passion, morphing his van into a massive camera and making enormous wet plate prints as he travels the country. From hand-making the silver emulsion to the financial risks of shooting at a whopping $500 a plate, this video "Silver & Light" gives an in-depth

A great photo makes us feel. It makes us stare. It takes us places we have never been, or even places we long to remember. Great photos show us a side of the world we wish was real, or perhaps what is all too real. We are all capable of truly great photos, and our Fstoppers Facebook Group proves that every single day. To honor these great Fstoppers of the world, we award the best of the best from each month with a badge of honor: the Fstoppers Featured Photo. Here are the best from March 2012.

Remember the World Press Photo contest winners from earlier this year? Well, World Press Photo recently introduced (just last year, actually) a similar contest for multimedia and video entries. The winner is a stark, harrowing, and sobering documentary view into the Kommandokorps in South Africa, an apartheid-era relic that still lingers in the country.

Clowns are usually known for making kids happy (or scared to death), and for smiling and laughing all the time. They are also known for being active and with a lot of good energy. But what happens when clowns go back home and back to reality?

Try wrapping your head around these statistics. Approximately 3.5 trillion photos have been taken since Daguerre captured Boulevard du Temple 174 years ago. The global photo count is rising swiftly due to the accessibility of digital cameras and camera phones. Today, more pictures are taken every two minutes

With a lot of the recent Photoshop screwups we've all seen in the media, people have been asking us what some of the before shots look like and what post processing goes into a cover photo. We'll, here it is.

Who doesn’t love watching the X Games? Those athletes are crazy. Just as captivating, though, is this behind-the-scenes two-part video on The Northface and X Games Baldface commercial. Director Todd Jones pulls out all the stops in this two part BTS documentary, breaking out a Phantom HD Gold, a helicopter, and building one really enormous jump.