Awesome Photography

The colorful image you see here wasn’t created with digital effects, but using a combination of optical filters. After trying to learn how a color-changing LCD panel worked, Posy discovered how polarizing filters can produce such surreal and otherworldly images. The coolest part is how these effects can be achieved using cheap, off-the-shelf items.

Turn your smartphone into a powerful microscope with DIPLE 2. This next-gen science gadget offers 25x to 1500x magnification, polarized optics, and illumination for studying biology, minerals, coins, and more. The portable kit includes an adjustable smartphone stand, light sources, and two or four lenses. Available for pre-order on Kickstarter.

Saturday Night Live is celebrating 50 years of laughs and music. This coffee table book from resident photographer Mary Ellen Matthews showcases some of the many fun-filled photos she’s taken of hosts and musicians over the past two decades. The book features more than 200 portraits and behind-the-scenes images along with a forward by Lorne Michaels.

Artist Victor Haegelin, aka patagraph, and his team created this clever stop-motion animation by sticking a series of poster-sized photographic images to a wall. After photographing a girl in the studio, each frame had to be printed, cut out, pasted on the wall, and removed to create the illusion of motion.

Take a flight through the French Alps courtesy of drone pilot Romano FPV. The smooth 10-minute flight lifts off from Chamonix at an altitude of 1030 m (3379 ft) and ascends towards the peak of Aiguille du Midi, which tops out at 3842 m (12605 ft). The structures at the top of the mountain include observation platforms that are accessible by cable car.

With air temperatures as low as -37°F, photographer and filmmaker Drew Simms captured a series of extraordinary images of Yellowstone National Park. In the extreme cold of winter, the park is devoid of tourists, so it provides an extraordinary opportunity to witness the frozen bison, coyotes, mountain goats, and other snow-covered wildlife.

Most videos from The Slow-Mo Guys involve some kind of destruction. This one is a bit more tame. With the help of some super-crisp macro and microscope lenses from Laowa, Gav captured incredibly detailed images of an Omega Speedmaster watch movement in super slow-motion. It’s also a good opportunity to learn how he dials in his camera gear.

“They are so lost in their own…performance that they don’t see me with the camera.” For two decades, bassist Colin Greenwood’s been using his small Yashica T4 Super camera to take fugitive snaps of his band, Radiohead. How to Disappear is Colin’s insider POV of the unguarded moments of the 21st century’s most influential band.

Filmmaker Joerg Daiber traveled to the wonderland of Alaska. While he says the weather wasn’t great during his visit, he still captured some incredible aerial footage of its natural beauty, including glaciers, wildlife, waterways, plus some of its urban areas. As always, Joerg used time-lapse and tilt-shift techniques to produce a magical, miniature effect.

There’s a big difference between the dirty, packed snow we get in cities and the beautiful, unspoiled snow in the country. Photographer Marius Krey captured this brief but incredible footage of snow-capped trees while snowmobiling through Finland’s northernmost region, Lapland. The picturesque scene is like something from another planet.

Head to the top of Sweden, and you’ll find yourself in Lapland. This northernmost part of the Scandinavian nation offers peaceful natural vistas and, depending on the time of year that you visit, the midnight sun or the Northern Lights. Little Big World takes us on a tilt-shifted journey to this largely unspoiled part of the world for some outdoor adventures.

The DJI Air 3S has a 1″ CMOS 50MP wide angle primary camera and a 1/1.3″ CMOS 48MP 3x telephoto camera. Both cameras can shoot at up to 4K/60fps with 14 stops of dynamic range, or at 4K/120fps. The drone also has a bottom-facing camera, improved obstacle detection, and a LIDAR sensor for easier control and smarter return capability.

Ben Quaniche of Macro Room returns to YouTube with a bang. Instead of his usual close-up shots of everyday objects, EDEN is a short film made of montages that question humanity’s trajectory and priorities. As revealed in the post-credits reel, each scene overlays Ben’s distinctive slow-motion shots on CGI landscapes.

Those Laowa probe lenses capture unique macro perspectives, but they only work with standalone cameras. Sandmarc’s version is made for iPhones. The 12-inch-long lens can squeeze into tight spaces, offers a much wider depth of field than ordinary macro lenses, and has built-in LED lighting. For smooth shots, pair it with their Cinema Slider.

Artist Felix Alejandro Hernandez creates what he calls “dream photography.” He works with miniatures and unexpected materials to create his fantastic little scenes. In this short Instagram clip, he shows how he made a tiny city out of staples and pins. The addition of smoke and some digital enhancements really help create a mood.

Zung Hoang’s LEGO ZH1 is a fully functioning 35mm film camera. The ZH1’s components are all standard, available LEGO pieces, including the magnifying glass lens. It captures soft, dreamy photos in daylight conditions. It achieved the 10,000-supporter milestone in LEGO Ideas, so it might become an official set. Lens expert Mathieu Stern tested a prototype.