Articles from Noam Galai

Shallow depth of field is something we can enjoy when shooting portraits, insects, products and other small and/or close subjects. But when shooting wide shots of landscapes and cities, it's technically pretty much impossible to achieve this effect with our normal day to day lenses (assuming most of you don't carry tilt-shift lenses or tilt adapters). Of course some parts of the image will be out of focus, but the general effect wont be as noticeable as when shooting close subjects with open apertures. This is when Photoshop comes into play.

The Clown Fish wasn't always a famous fish that people recognize or know about, but thanks to Pixar and Disney, it became one of the most popular fish in the world. Visually of course, not on the plate. 'Nemo' is a bright orange fish with 3 white stripes. Easy to recognize, and great to photograph. The Clown Fish spends most of the day hiding in and around sea anemones, which make the photographs look even more epic. Check out these awesome photos of Nemo found on Flickr.

Ever wondered how cool could it be to photograph different planets from close by and show how each one of them is different and unique? Well, unless you're an astronaut or a robot named 'Curiosity', you'll have to wait with that dream. But until then, why not making your own planets, all based on planet earth? Check out these awesome examples of mini-worlds (or "mini-planets", "Stereographic panoramas") found on Flickr.

With the advancement in technology in the past few years (and decades), music videos and videos in general use more and more computer generated imagery and effects. The band 'Travis' decided to go back to the basics and hired Matt Robinson and Tom Wrigglesworth of Wriggles & Robins to help them create a super creative video without using CGI and green screens. Instead, they just used a projector and breath. Yes, breath. Actually, freezing breath. They filmed below freezing temperatures, and when band members exhaled into the cold air the projection showed up in mid-air. Creative, simple and awesome.

Only 2 years passed since the 2011 Egyptian revolution where president Mubarak was replaced by president Morsi, and this week the people of Egypt decided to make another change and oust the elected president in what is now known as the largest political event in history of mankind. Over 14 million people flooded the streets of Egypt this week to protest against President Morsi, and Tahrir Square came to life once again.

Tom Parker, avid aerial photographer and videographer from Cambridge, UK, decided to try and make his own homemade MōVI rig without losing all his savings in the process. Parker is a Product Design and Manufacturing student at the University of Nottingham, where he got the knowledge on how to design and build the rig for his GoPro camera. The final result works great, and all he had to pay was $200. Not bad if you compare it to the $15,000 it will cost you to get the MōVI. Check out how he did it.

A number of deadly tornadoes touched down around Union City, Oklahoma on Friday afternoon, killing at least 5 people. Storm chasers Brandon Sullivan and Brett Wright were hoping to get as close as possible to the tornadoes to shoot videos of it, but when they realized that the tornadoes are coming right at them, it was (almost) too late to run away. The mounted video cameras in the car caught this crazy video of their attempt to save their lives while the city collapses around them. INSANE.

If you follow us here on Fstoppers, you know how much we love food and food photography. For the past few months we posted here countless of tutorials, methods, tricks and business tips to help you take your food photography to the next level. Now it's time for some inspiration: Check out this set of delicious-looking dishes that will leave you hungry. Very hungry.

Couples spend a lot of time, effort and money to make sure their wedding day will be captured the best way possible - after all it's one of the most important days in their lives. But what about another major life event, like the proposal itself? Most times, unless it's meant to be a viral proposal, the proposer is not thinking of documenting it and the moment will never be shared or shown to family and friends. Wedding photographer Richard B Flores proposed earlier this week, and he knew he wanted to have this memory documented forever.

On May 20th, one of the deadliest twisters in known history touched down in Moore, Oklahoma, a suburb of Oklahoma City. The Tornado caused catastrophic damage to homes (over 13,000 of them were destroyed), infrastructure, schools and a hospital. Take a look at these powerful images showing the aftermath of the deadly Tornado as found on (the new) Flickr.

In efforts to make Flickr "awesome again," Yahoo unveiled today their new and re-imagined Flickr with a new design and new features. Some of the major design changes include a new homepage featuring large images posted by your friends, new beautiful profile photosteam and new photo pages. Flickr also announced each user will get 1 Terabyte of storage for free, with the ability to upload hi-res photos, and many of them.

As photographers, we usually use two different techniques to capture our images: The first is freezing the moment and capturing the split second we are witnessing. The other option is using a long exposure, to show movement, changes, or show things we don't normally see with our eyes. But what if you combined these two concepts - freezing a moment while adding movement? Check out these creative and unique portraits using this technique.

A Spanish organization called "Aid to Children and Adolescents at Risk" (ANAR) created a new ad campaign to bring awareness to kids at risk, using a cool new idea (but a very old technique). By using Lenticular printing, they were able to show two different ads in one print - one for kids, and one for adults. Adults see a different image and message than what the kids see. Smart, creative and important.

Astrophotography is one of the most interesting types of photography, but it is also one of the rarest ones. Shooting galaxies, stars and planets is among the the hardest forms of photography, and in order to do it you need to get the right equipment, and also the knowledge and techniques.

Earlier today Zach Sutton posted a creative way to use baby powder as a smoke replacement for your photoshoots. Now we're taking that to a different level. Have you ever tried to shoot powder as just, you know, plain powder? By throwing powder (flour, baby powder or color pigments) on your models, you can get some very creative results. Check out these great examples found on Flickr and get inspired.

Last week, exactly 2 months after the Superbowl 'Unflattering photos' fiasco, Beyoncé started her 'Mrs. Carter Show' world tour. As someone who followed the 'Unflattering' story very closely, and as someone who is a big fan of hers, I had no doubt Beyoncé and her publicist will learn from their mistakes on how to deal with bad pictures taken of her, and wont make horrible mistakes again. I was wrong. Beyoncé banned all professional photographers from her shows, hoping this way no unflattering photos will make it to mainstream media. She was wrong.

As someone who spends a lot of time looking at photos online - if it's on Flickr, Facebook or Tumblr - I come across hundreds of photos of couples every month. The problem is: the photos are almost always kitschy, boring and make you feel sick inside. You know what i'm talking about. This is why I chose to feature some great images of couples that will actually make you stop and think. Maybe even smile.

Adobe just released a teaser video for their May 6th event where they will announce few new products and features. In this video they show one of their new tools for Photoshop - "Camera Shake Reduction". This tool will allow photographers to save photos that were always considered as garbage - photos taken in a rush, or in low-light situations. The tool analyzes the photo, and deblur it to make it sharp.

Kevin Jairaj, wedding and sports photographer based in Dallas, is usually shooting for USA Today Sports Images or for different unknown couples. Recently Kevin was hired by one of the most famous girls in the world to shoot her new set of images, for her own portfolio. Her name is McKayla Maroney, and she has more Olympic Gold medals than you. Check out the BTS video, and the final results.

If you're a photographer who likes to keep track of your images, and know who has used it and how, this post is for you. In the past, photographers had no real way to search for their photos online and finding illegal uses of those images was almost impossible - unless they came across it by chance. Today with reverse imaging technology by TinEye and Google Images, you can find all the different uses of your photos and in seconds. Here are five tips and tricks on how to find even more of your images online.

Shooting underwater is not a simple task, and usually not very affordable. To shoot underwater you need not only the knowledge, but also expensive DSLR housing (or point and shoot cameras designed to shoot underwater) and also underwater lighting system if you want to fully control the lighting. Once you get underwater with your subject, the water lets you create striking and beautiful images, that you can never create out in the fresh air. Check out these great examples of underwater photography.

After Bar Refaeli took over the Superbowl with her controversial commercial, Bar found time to do something she never did before: pose nude for a magazine shoot. The magazine that paid her to do that is currently unknown, but somehow the photos leaked earlier today. Check out the BTS and the final results in the post.

Double Exposure is something most of us who ever had a film camera experienced at least once. By accident. It happened when the film got stuck, or when we used a used film again by mistake. With the digital age coming in and replacing film, in-camera double exposures became a very rare kind of photography, but in recent years, many DSLRs added the option to create a double exposure in camera, and this old style came back to life. Check out these great examples of Double Exposure found on Flickr.

Mirrors. Something each one of us owns. Most people use it to make sure they look OK, but some people use it to create awesome portraits. Using a mirror can give depth to your image, give you more detail you'll never get without it. It shows you things that are usually hidden from the camera. Portraits using a mirror as a prop also tell a stories - they make you think about the situation and the story behind it. Using mirrors is also a great way to show the surroundings - it gives you a way to see whats behind the camera as well as whats in front of it.

There is no doubt Adobe Lightroom simplified the post processing workflow for photographers and retouchers since it came out. The simple layout, the easy to use sliders and the useful presets - all made post processing a much better experience. Then came Paddy, a personal code project by Dorfl, and made the process even easier. OK, not just easier - but way cooler. Paddy connects a MIDI Controller Desk to Lightroom, and lets you edit the photo directly from there.