Awesome Photography

While exploring the jungles of Venezuela, photographer and drone pilot Ellis van Jason visited Angel Falls. While there, he captured some spectacular and dizzying FPV footage of the 3121 foot-tall natural wonder, which holds the record for the tallest waterfall on the planet.

This plate-mounting system is designed to replace numerous photography tools with one. Its Z-shaped hinge and multiple mounting points let you use it as a stand, a handheld rig, chest brace, and a mount for poles and trees. It can be used standalone when traveling light or to augment your existing rigs like sliders and tripods.

Watching gymnast Oleg Chernyshenko pulling off the seemingly endless series of flips is impressive, but it’s the cameraman who managed to keep him in the frame the entire time while running sideways down the hill who takes the win in our minds. The second Instagram video shows the cameraman running alongside him.

In real-time and without a good macro lens, it’s hard to appreciate just how awesome insects can be. In this video from Ant Lab, we get a wonderful close-up look at seven species of moths for a look at their beautiful wing patterns and colors, captured at 6000 frames per second. Isn’t nature amazing?

Filmmaker Joerg Daiber has taken us to some exotic places through his Little Big World series. But during the pandemic he stayed closer to home, capturing amazing footage around Germany, including the snow-capped trees, medieval castles, and vintage railroads of the Erzgebirge, also known as the Ore Mountains.

A splashing droplet of liquid may seem inconsequential when viewed in real-time, but slow that down to 7000 frames per second, and each frame becomes a work of art. Jens Heidler of Another Perspective demonstrates with a montage of hypnotic images he shot using a Photron Fastcam Nova S16 high-speed camera.

Photographer Alexander Ladanivskyy worked with Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism to secure permission to fly a drone above the Great Pyramid of Giza, capturing incredible top-down views of this architectural wonder. Be sure to flip through the Instagram gallery for the zoomed-in shots of the bricks at the very top.

Macrofying takes us on a deep dive inside of a single cell in a honeycomb to see what bees see… and even what they can’t as they work their macro zoom magic all the way down to the microscopic level. We’re pretty sure those are individual sugar crystals there at the end.

We previously featured Noah Kalina’s photographic memoir, composed of a selfie a day since January 2000. His previous videos had a staccato look to them, but with AI tech and the help of data scientist Michael Notter, this new video smoothly transitions his aging process over the course of 20+ years.

Shimoda Designs creates backpacks for landscape and adventure photographers. The bags are designed for durability and all-day comfort and are carry-on friendly. The main section offers easy access to all your gear, which stores neatly in Shimoda’s optional padded equipment cubbies. Available in 25L, 30L, and 35L sizes.

Filmmaker Dennis Schmelz takes us on a wondrous photographic tour, sailing the waters of Disko Bay off of Greenland. Along the way, you’ll witness impressive icebergs, a pair of whales, incredible blue-green waters, gorgeous sunsets, and visit with the people of the world’s largest island.

Photographer Jens Heidler of Another Perspective offers a series of crisp close-up stills and video footage of animals and insects, revealing incredible details not visible to the naked eye. Check out his video on flash diffusers for some tips on capturing great macro images.

Drones can produce some outstanding video footage, but they also are restricted in many areas and require flying skills to get the most out of them. Learn Online Video shares some tips and tricks on ways to simulate the smooth flying look of drone videos using an extendable tripod and various stabilization technologies.

With the help of Tac Gas, drone pilot NURK FPV had the rare opportunity to visit an abandoned gas and oil platform. There, he zigged and zagged his aerial camera through the rusted out facility, capturing some fascinating and truly unique visuals. The over-water footage had us hanging on for dear life.

The vast majority of still and video images captured today are shot with digital equipment. But for more than 150 years, film was king. Destin from Smarter Every Day offers a deep dive into the physics and chemistry of film photography, along with some thoughts on the upsides of using the analog medium vs. digital.

Performance artist Butch Locsin creates amazing self-portraits that combine handmade skull masks with colorful smoke. Both the live footage and still photos of his performances are among the most visually striking we’ve seen. Check out his YouTube and Instagram channels for more images or to order prints.

Filmmaker Ben Ouaniche of Macro Room just blew our minds with this wild series of vingnettes which seamlessly combine slow-motion and normal speed footage. The result is something straight from the mind of Christopher Nolan, as time appears to move at multiple speeds at the same time.

Water is critical to the survival of almost all living things. This fascinating time-lapse short film by Christian Stangl provides a close-up look at what happens to organics as they run out of moisture. Stangl captured the images using a combination of macro lenses and microscopes. View a selection of stills on Flickr.

Between 2012 and 2020, photographer Keith Loutit captured thousands of frames of footage at locations around Singapore. By revisiting the same places and matching up shots, he chronicled the dramatic changes in the cityscape. The score by composer Michael Adler Miltersen perfectly reinforces the passage of time.

Photographer Joerg Daiber has taken us on some eye-opening journeys around the globe. Now take a virtual vacation a little closer to home with this time-lapse, tilt-shift, aerial footage of the City of Angels. Ravel’s Boléro serves as the perfect musical accompaniment to the bustle of the big city.

Turn any space into a video production studio with this inflatable green screen system. The whole kit packs up into a duffel bag and sets up in minutes. It works with a mobile app to do easy background replacement and other apps that support chroma key. The kit comes with lighting and an air compressor for quick inflation.

The Slypod Pro is an incredibly versatile piece of videography gear. This lightweight carbon fiber works as a monopod, an electric slider, and an extendable jib arm for reaching heights up to 54 inches. Its tripod base has a pivot mechanism allowing for smooth one-handed movements when used as a monopod.

We recently witnessed some amazing drone footage of an Icelandic volcano in action. Photographer Garðar Ólafs went one better by flying his drone directly over the volcano’s vent, sacrificing his equipment to bring us this spectacular footage. We only wish we had an exterior shot of the drone melting.